38 research outputs found
The Paradox of Bon Identity Discourse: Some Thoughts on the rMa Clan and on The Manner of bsGrags pa bon, ‘Eternal’ Bon, New Treasures, and New Bon
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How the Medical Category of ‘Brown Phlegm’ Came to Tibet (abstract and PPT)
No full textDrugs, Fluids, and Other Matters: Medical History through the Lens of Things (Natalie Köhle) How the Medical Category of ‘Brown Phlegm’ Came to Tibet? This is a modest contribution to ongoing investigation of so-called ‘brown phlegm’ (disorders) in Tibet (Tib. bad kan smug po). The main hypothesis of this long-term research engagement is that the Tibetan medical category of ‘brown phlegm’, which looks to be a Tibetan innovation, may be of Graeco-Arab origin (‘black bile’). This cultural contact thesis was introduced at the ICTAM VII, as a rather tangential concern, and was published as such, with the promise to revisit it.* The research logic was laid out at the ICAS 9 (esp. the Tibetan side of the equation), while a preliminary survey of the Graeco-Arab side was discussed further at the IATS XIV. The precise historical contact between these medical epistemes has had to remain elusive and speculative, however. For the ICTAM IX, I propose to look into a possible point of contact. There are two main aspects to this endeavour: 1.We will take a closer look at the history of ideas of ‘brown phlegm’ in Tibet, particularly between earlier and later Tibetan sources. 2.We will examine a possible point of contact in space and time: the so-called ‘Bi ji’, ‘Bi ci’ or ‘Be ci’ lineage and a figure called Tsan pa shi la ha (eighth c. CE), parsed as: Tsan – Pa shi la ha, i.e., Basilius or Bāsil of Tsan.** ________________________________________ * See Blezer, H.W.A., Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines 23 (2012) ), pp.117–168, based on a paper presented at the ICTAM VII, in Thimpu, Bhutan 2009, and see now also an abbreviated or isolated version in Tibetan and Himalayan Healing: an Anthology for Anthony Aris, pp.43–64, Kathmandu: Vajra Publications, 2015. ** See Martin, D.P., “Greek and Islamic medicines' historical contact with Tibet”, in Islam and Tibet: Interactions along the Musk Routes, edited by Anna Akasoy, Charles Burnett and Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim, pp. 117–143, Farnham: Ashgate, 2011
A New Sense of (Dark) Humour in Tibet:Brown Phlegm and Black Bile
No full textBased on a wide cross section of Tibetan and Greco-Arab medical sources, Henk Blezer argues that the articulations of the, apparently, novel category of “brown phlegm” disorders in Tibetan medicine may derive from an earlier Greco-Arab prototype of “black bile” disorders, particularly those of the hypochondriac subtype (that is, melancholia pertaining to the viscera below the sternal cartilage of the ribs, or in this case the diaphragm). The article builds on his earlier hypothesis, yet to be conclusively argued, that Tibetan canonical descriptions of “brown phlegm” disorders seem to show signs of a confluence or, perhaps, even a clash of “humoral” systems that seem to pertain to different medical epistemes (Greco-Arab and Indo-Tibetan in origin). He posits a plausible trajectory of development in the construction of “brown phlegm” disorders in Tibet, where treatises that presumably have developed later, eventually, seem to set the “brown phlegm” disorders apart as a so-called “combined disease” (that is a category of diseases in which several noxious substances, the so-called “humors”, appear together). Lastly, on a more speculative vein, the author addresses relevant surviving indications, if not traces, in Tibetan historical narratives for Greco-Arab influence on Tibetan medicine
A New Sense of (Dark) Humour in Tibet: Brown Phlegm and Black Bile
No full textBased on a wide cross section of Tibetan and Greco-Arab medical sources, Henk Blezer argues that the articulations of the, apparently, novel category of “brown phlegm” disorders in Tibetan medicine may derive from an earlier Greco-Arab prototype of “black bile” disorders, particularly those of the hypochondriac subtype (that is, melancholia pertaining to the viscera below the sternal cartilage of the ribs, or in this case the diaphragm). The article builds on his earlier hypothesis, yet to be conclusively argued, that Tibetan canonical descriptions of “brown phlegm” disorders seem to show signs of a confluence or, perhaps, even a clash of “humoral” systems that seem to pertain to different medical epistemes (Greco-Arab and Indo-Tibetan in origin). He posits a plausible trajectory of development in the construction of “brown phlegm” disorders in Tibet, where treatises that presumably have developed later, eventually, seem to set the “brown phlegm” disorders apart as a so-called “combined disease” (that is a category of diseases in which several noxious substances, the so-called “humors”, appear together). Lastly, on a more speculative vein, the author addresses relevant surviving indications, if not traces, in Tibetan historical narratives for Greco-Arab influence on Tibetan medicine
Modelling Buddhism(s):Foundational Reflections on the ‘Spread’ or Emergence of ‘Buddhism’
No full textAsian Studie
Towards a Definition of Local Orthographies of Bon Manuscripts:A Pilot Study
No full textTibetan manuscripts in general, and Bon manuscripts in particular, are often characterised by orthographic inconsistencies and multiple contracted forms (Tib. bsdus tshig or bskungs yig). While these features may be a nuisance to the reader, they deserve to be analysed more systematically: it is possible that these heterodox spellings and other scribal peculiarities, far from being random errors, may represent local writing conventions. On the basis of an extended study of facsimile reproductions of Bon manuscripts from Bsam gling monastery in Dolpo, Nepal, this chapter aims to explore the best way forward towards defining local orthographic styles and other codicological features. A major starting hypothesis to be tested is that ‘heterographies’ may help us to detect oral and written modes of transmission
Antecedents of Bon:On rMa Folks and the Origins of gShen Ritual Specialists
No full textThere is no or desperately little reliable early evidence to support the historicity of the grand pre-Buddhist Bon Zhang zhung Empire of later Bon po sources and their western aficionados. Imagination is nonetheless plentiful. In the PIATS 2016, I discuss the oldest historical textual sources relevant to a heartland of Bon, which is variously conceptualised as Zhang zhung, Ta zig and 'Ol mo lung ring, with special reference to a central stronghold and main seat of power in Zhang zhung: the so-called Silver Castle of Garuḍa Valley or Khyung lung Dngul dNgul mkhar. If one carefully examines the genealogy of knowledge and the history of invention of that grand Zhang zhung Bon Empire and its legendary Khyung lung castle, one cannot help but notice that our ideas about them derive from surprisingly late discourse, which postdates any relevant historical and geographical realities by a long stretch. The later Bon Zhang zhung literary construct is to be distinguished clearly from a probably historical and probably also small principality by the name of Zhang zhung, that is located west of Central Tibet, roughly centred on the Kailash area and that seems to have had a northern extension as well. But, interestingly, that historical Zhang zhung in its descriptions carries no significant Bon po associations and in time also significantly precedes Bon traditions as we know them now. ... In the following, we will examine the earliest evidence for a ‘location’ of the origin of Bon, or at least for the origin of its narratives. We find those in non-Buddhist ritualistic narratives of the Dunhuang period. For an overview and analysis of Dunhuang historical narratives, I refer to PIATS 2006 (but see also Macdonald 1971). The analysis of ritualistic narratives is significantly more involved than that of historical sources. It requires fragile attempts at connecting clusters of narrative elements that in Dunhuang sources appear loosely assembled around important names and locations to the earliest, self-consciously Bon sources, such as the mDo ‘dus, the Klu ‘bum and other sources, with special attention to those names and locations, of course, that are already familiar from later strata of emerging Bon. The latter begin to emerge in around the 10th–11th century AD and thus may be closely contiguous with the redaction of Dunhuang materials. The nature of the rituals cannot be elucidated here, for reasons of space
