Sociology and Theology

Collectively, the papers of this volume reveal the cultural dynamism of Tibet in the period between 900 and 1400CE, when the fundamental contours of Tibetan Buddhism were still fluid and highly contested. The papers address a spectrum of issues in Tibetan religion and literature, ranging in time and space from the far eastern oasis of Dunhuang in the tenth century through 'high classical' developments in Central Tibet in the early fifteenth century. It is divided into four parts, addressing respectively literary and religious issues in tenth-century Dunhuang, the textual history of the "Old Tantric Canon" ("Rnying ma'i rgyud 'bum"), the development of Tibetan religious literature in the new translation period, and the history and transmission of several influential systems of esoteric Buddhism.