Tibet Center

The Perspectives of a Contemporary Abbot

Geshe Lharampa Yonten Dhamchoe

Geshe Lharampa Yonten Dhamchoe

Join the UVA Tibet Center for a talk by the 79th abbot of Drepung Gomang monastery in India where Geshe Lharampa Yonten Dhamchoe will share his perspectives on Tibetan Buddhist monastic organization.

In 2009, His Holiness the Dalai Lama appointed Geshe Lharampa Yonten Dhamchoe as the 79th Abbot of Drepung Gomang Monastery, South India. Khen Rinpoche is a highly accomplished scholar with over 30 years teaching experience who specializes in Madhyamika (Middle Way) Philosophy.

Learn more: Drepung Gomang Monastic College

UVa Directions/Map to: Cocke Hall

• location: UVA Campus - Cocke Hall, Room 115

Minorities Studies and Tibet Research in the PRC

A Seminar on Minzuxue with Professor Liu Zhiyang

On January 28, Visiting Professor Liu Zhiyang led a seminar on minorities studies and Tibet research in the PRC. Hosted by the Tibet Sustainable Governance Program, the seminar provided UVa students and faculty a opportunity to learn about a research and scholarly field that has undergone a significant transition over the past generation.

A professor at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, Liu Zhiyang himself specializes in Tibetan studies and has conducted extensive field research, both in Lhasa and in the Tibetan-Yi corridor of Pingwu county and elsewhere on the Sino-Tibetan frontier. He has been resident at the University of Virginia through the Tibet Center over the past academic year.

In his seminar, Professor Liu discussed the meaning and direction of minzu xue in China. He also spoke on the direction that China’s Tibetan studies (zang xue) are heading. In particularly, he discussed the complexity of the term minzu. The concept has denoted different meanings at different times. Its translation into English has, correspondingly, led to some confusion. Today, according to Professor Liu, it is a politicized concept.

Liu Zhiyang contrasted the development of minorities studies with the discipline of anthropology (renleixue). Considered politically suspect, anthropology was eliminated as a field of study in China in favor of minorities studies. Today, the two fields have converged, with the one clear distinction that Chinese anthropology also includes within its purview the study of cultural difference among the “Han” nationality, while minorities studies does not.

Professor Liu recently returned to Guangzhou where he will continue teaching anthropology, minorities studies and Tibetan studies.

Contemporary Art in Lhasa, a Visual Introduction

by Ian Alsop

Contemporary Art in Lhasa explores the world of the young Tibetan artists who walk the borderline of artistic expression in a fast-changing world. Lhasa is a place which inhabits the imagination of so many people, but where the reality may come as a bit of a surprise. The talk will offer an introduction to the vital contemporary art scene in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, and the artists who inhabit it. The presentation will draw heavily upon recent photographs.

Ian Alsop has been traveling regularly to Lhasa since his first trip in 1986, and since 1993 has represented several of the contemporary artists of Lhasa at his gallery in Santa Fe New Mexico. He also wrote one of the first articles on the subject for Orientations June 2007.

Ian Alsop lived in Kathmandu, Nepal from 1970 to 1988, where he eventually learned the Newari language and became a student of Nepalese cultural history. From 1980 he was involved in a project to produce a classical Newari dictionary, which is presently available on-line at Newari.net. He has written numerous articles on Nepalese and Tibetan art and culture in Orientations, Arts of Asia, and Artibus Asiae, and was a contributor to the MacMillan Dictionary of Art , The Art of Tibet: Towards a Definition of Style and the Marg volume on the Art of Nepal. He is also editor of an online Journal, Asianart.com. He and his wife Lois own and run a gallery of Asian fine art in Santa Fe, Peaceful Wind, and the associated gallery of Himlayan Contemporary art, PWContemporary now both managed by their son Vajra.

• location: Clark 107, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

The Mushrooming Fungi Market – Transforming rural Tibet

By Daniel Winkler, Tibeto-ecologist

Daniel Winkler in Nantong.

The collection of wild edible fungi has a long-standing history in Tibet. Today, a wide variety of mushrooms is collected to supplement rural income. Because of the lucrative economic return, rural Tibetans have increased their gathering activities substantially. The trade of Dbyar rtswa dgun ‘bu (dongchong xiacao), as Tibetans know caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis), has developed into the main source of income in rural Tibet. It accounts for 40 percent of rural cash income and is spurring a globally unique commodification of fungi in the TAR. In 2008 the value of the best-quality Dbyar rtswa dgun ‘bu in Lha sa (Lasa) traded for around CN ¥80,000 (nearly US $12,000) per pound. The value of the 50 ton annual harvest of Cordyceps in TAR surpassed the value of the industry and mining sector in 2004. Most county agencies have established a permit system and require collectors to obtain licenses. The ever-growing economic importance of these fungi raises concerns regarding sustainability of current harvest levels and regarding the social impact of this annual income.

Daniel Winkler is a freelance “Tibeto-ecologist”. Trained as a geographer and ecologist (LMU in Munich and FU Berlin) Daniel specialized in rural development for High Asia. Daniel works as an environmental consultant and researcher living in Kirkland, Washington – USA. For the last twenty years his research and professional work focused on the environment of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. Daniel’s special interest is balancing local landuse, nature-based income generation, and resource management to secure conservation and sustainable development for rural communities. Daniel has published in scientific journals on topics ranging from forest ecology and forestry to traditional landuse practices and medicinal plants and in recent years especially mushrooms. Most of his papers and much more (photo essays etc.) can be found on his website www.danielwinkler.com. Daniel is also frequently leading tours to Tibet [www.mushroaming.com].

Sponsored by the Tibet Center at the University of Virginia

Surviving the Dragon

Surviving the Dragon is the story of Arjia Rinpoche’s growing up as the reincarnated abbot in Kumbum, one of Tibet’s major monasteries. His life in Tibet was one of great oscillations between fame and suffering. As a child, he was treated like a living Buddha; as a young man he emptied latrines during the Cultural Revolution. Then after the death of Mao Tse Tung, he rose to prominence within the Chinese Buddhist bureaucracy. He became Vice-chairman of the Buddhist Association of China and was slated to become its Chairman. At the height of his rise, he decided to flee China to the US, after being pressured to become tutor to the boy whom the Chinese government had controversially named the 11th Panchen Lama instead of the candidate selected by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The conflict was especially difficult for Arjia Rinpoche, since the 10th Panchen Lama had been his own teacher. As a result of his feeling that this would compromise his integrity as a Buddhist teacher in Tibet, he fled into exile rather than yield to the pressure.

Surviving the Dragon opens a window to events from inside Tibetan-Chinese history during the final half of the twentieth century, a conflict that continues today between China and its ethnic minorities.

Arjia Rinpoche will present the book to the public by giving a talk about his life and events in Tibet that took place during the time period of the book. In addition, he will sign copies of his book after the talk.

About the Author

Arjia Rinpoche is one of the most prominent Buddhist teachers and lamas to have left Tibet. At age two, he was recognized by the Panchen Lama as the 20th Arjia Danpei Gyaltsen, the reincarnation of Lama Tsong Khapa’s father, Lumbum Ghe, and the throne holder and abbot of Kumbum Monastery. He has trained with lineage teachers, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Panchen Lama, and Gyayak Rinpoche–from whom he received many sacred teachings and ritual instructions.

During the Cultural Revolution, Arjia Rinpoche was forced to attend Chinese schools and work in a forced labor camp for sixteen years, yet secretly continued to practice and study with his tutors. Following the Cultural Revolution, Rinpoche served as Abbot of Kumbum, one of the greatest of monasteries in Tibet. He oversaw renovations in the monastery and the reestablishment of monastic studies, and also launched a variety of other projects, including:

Red Cross Organization in Kumbum
Disaster Relief Project for local villages
Clinic for villagers run by monks of the Tibetan Medical Institute and
School for local village children

In 1998, due to the strained political climate in Tibet, Arjia Rinpoche went into exile, stating that he would not compromise his spiritual beliefs and practices. He escaped to the United States and started the Tibetan Center for Compassion and Wisdom (TCCW) in Mill Valley, California. In 2005, he was appointed Director of the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center (TMBCC) in Bloomington, Indiana by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. Presently, he directs both TCCW and TMBCC. Both centers are dedicated to the preservation of Buddhist teachings, art and culture within and outside of Tibet and Mongolia.

Arjia Rinpoche is the only Tibetan high lama of Mongolian descent. Throughout his life, Arjia Rinpoche was tutored by specialized teachers in the area of Buddhist philosophy, sutra and tantra teachings, as well as in Buddhist art and architectural design.

• location: Minor Hall 125, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Tangut Legends and Legacies in Tibet

By Elliot Sperling, former chair of the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, director of the department’s Tibetan Studies Program

The Tanguts, a Tibeto-Burman people, were a major presence on the Sino-Tibetan frontier for centuries, ultimately establishing a strong dynastic state known as Xixia in Chinese. The state’s destruction by the Mongols led to a migration of many Tanguts back onto the Tibetan Plateau where, under their Tibetan appellation, Mi-nyag, they appear as components of lineages stretching from Khams and A-mdo in Eastern Tibet, to Sikkim, in modern India, and even into Western Tibet. Claims of descent from the Tangut imperial clan appear in several Tibetan clan
histories; indeed in the lineage of Sikkim’s traditional rulers as well. Although the Tangut state still looms as little more than a bit of arcane lore for most Tibetanists, the fact is its impact on the Tibetan and Himalayan world-and particularly on the way that world imagined itself-was greater than many have long assumed

Sponsored by the East Asia Center and the Tibet Center at the University of Virginia.

• location: Clark Hall 108, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

Improving Maternal Health Outcomes in Tibet

By Dr. Kunchok Gyaltsen, MIIM, MPH, PhD

Dr. Gyaltsen is a Tibetan medical doctor, Buddhist monk, and leader in Tibetan rural development. He will present his work on maternal health and education in Tibet. Dr. Gyaltsen has worked on public health initiatives within Tibet through NGOs, and the Chinese government. Dr. Gyaltsen is currently a PhD candidate at the UCLA School of Public Health.

Sponsored by the Tibet Center and Machik at UVa

• location: Minor Hall 125, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Interpretations of a Tibetan Buddhist Temple:
An Art Historical and Ethnographic Analysis

By Melissa Kerin, Visiting Scholar and Assistant Professor, College of William and Mary

Ellen Bayard Weedon Lectures in the Arts of Asia presents:
Following completion of her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 2008, Melissa Kerin received a Mellon/ACLS Recent Doctoral Recipients Fellowship to continue her research on West Tibet’s late medieval painting traditions. While documenting and analyzing the art and architecture of the Tibetan cultural zone, Kerin pays particular attention to socio-political and aesthetic interactions between Tibet and its neighboring areas of India, Nepal, and China. Within this geographic scope, much of her published and current work relates to thematic issues of reuse, appropriation, memory, and replication. Kerin’s most recent publication is a catalogue entitled Artful Beneficence: Selections from the David R. Nalin Himalayan Art Collection (Rubin Museum of Art, 2009). For the current academic year, Kerin is a Visiting Scholar and Assistant Professor at the College of William and Mary, where she is teaching courses on Indian, Nepalese, and Tibetan art history.

With the generous support of the Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation, the Museum presents four lectures on South and East Asian art each year.

• location: Campbell 153, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Machik at UVa presents: Nomad Life in Tibet

This panel will serve as a reflection on the lives and culture of Tibetan nomads, as well as a discussion of their concerns as their pastoral traditions confront rapid modernization. Q&A to follow.

A 15 minute trailer of the upcoming documentary release “A Nomad’s Life” will also be screened.

Participants, who are all former nomads, will include Gen. Thubten Phuntsok, Yangmotso, and Rabten Shatsang.

Sponsored by Machik at UVa and the Tibet Center at UVa.

• location: Clark Hall 108, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Tibetan Medicine and Global Health: Rethinking the Relationship between Tradition and Modernity

By Thubten Phuntsok, Professor of Tibetology at Central Nationalities University in Beijing and founder of Tibetan Aids Prevention Association (TAPA)

Prof. Thubten Phuntsok will discuss the relationship between traditional Tibetan ideas of a healthy ecosystem and the modern conception of Global Health.  The lecture will introduce the Four (or Five) Elements theory in Tibetan Medicine, the causes of disease as imbalance, and the relation of Traditional Tibetan Medicine to the environment. During the course of the lecture Prof. Thubten Phuntsok will also address related aspects of Tibetan history and religion. 

Thubten Phuntsok is a Distinguished International Fellow and Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia for 2009. He is a senior professor of Tibetology at Central Nationalities University in Beijing and a leading scholar of Tibetan medicine and Tibetan history. Trained as a medical doctor in the Tibetan tradition, he has published numerous books in a range of disciplines. Among his publications are a Grammar of Tibetan Language (1987) Chengdu, a two-volume History of Tibet (1994) Chengdu, Elements for the Study of the Physical Condition (1999) Beijing, Therapeutic Principles in Tibetan Medicine (2000) Beijing, The Relationship Between Mind and Body (2003) Lhasa, and Elements for the Study of Tibetan Medicine (2009) Beijing.

Professor Thubten Phuntsok is the founder and president of TAPA (Tibet Association for the Prevention of AIDS), the first non-governmental organization on the Tibetan Plateau focused on advancing AIDS awareness and medical training. He also serves on the advisory board of the non-profit Machik.

Sponsored by the Tibet Center

• location: Clark Hall 107, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA