The Csoma de Koros – Symposium on Tibetan, Central Asian and Buddhist Studies held at Velm near Vienna in 1981 demonstrated the quickly expanding development of the more and more differentiated field of Tibetan Studies. Alongside of the traditionally established fields of tibetological research, history, cultural history, linguistic, and literature, the new presence of research in the original theoretical contribution of the Tibetans within their religious and philosophical culture was a distinguishing feature of this conference. That the originality of the Tibetan masters goes well beyond their fascinating achievements in Buddhist exegesis, is clearly recognized. It is the contents, variety, details and significance of their theoretical thought that are now to be defined and explained on the basis of critical philological work and historical interpretation. Fifty-eight scholars from East and West participated in the meeting, and 48 original papers – 37 in English, 9 in German, 2 in French – are presented in the two systematically divided volumes of the proceedings. Both volumes went quickly out of print. Only the present reprint makes this recent significant step in the development of Tibetan Studies available to the general public.
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