Tantra and Popular Religion in Tibet

The papers in this collection, with one exception, originated in a session on Tibet and Himalayan Societies held at the Australian Anthropological Society conference at the University of Newcastle, Australia, in August 1988. The conveners of the session wanted as wide a representation as possible of Tibetan and Himalayan specialists from Australia and New Zealand. They suggested that participants might choose to address a common theme, "Tantra and Everyday Religion". The term "everyday" or "popular" religion was meant to include both the formal religious traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon as part of everyday Tibetan life and the so called "folk religion" (Tucci 1980:163-212). The theme intended to suggest that Tantra formed an integral part of this whole area of 'everyday religion'. These essays provide a significant series of attempts to explore a side of Tibetan religious experience which is of central importance but which has remained on the sidelines of most work on Tibet. By its very nature, the topic crosses boundaries between conventional disciplines and established approaches. Here it is dealt with from a variety of perspectives, from the literary and textual to the ethnographic and anthropological. The first collection of Tibetan and Himalayan studies from Australian and New Zealand also serves to demonstrate that Australasia is now a significant part of the world Tibetanist community.Santiniketan as Professor of Painting at Kala Bhavan in 1980. On his retirement in 1989, he was made Professor Emeritus. He continues to live and work in Santiniketan.