Transforming Technologies and Buddhist Book Culture: The Introduction of Printing and Digital Text Reproduction in Tibetan Societies

这个项目将探讨佛教文化和技术变革之间的关系，将“书”视为藏传佛教背景下的文物、沟通的媒介、政治权威的象征和仪式对象。通过使用AHRC以前资助的项目的团队(成员来自剑桥大学、大英图书馆和西藏研究机构)，它将确保坚实的知识基础和良好的性价比。它将对广泛从事西藏文化遗产保护的学者和土著学者以及参与迅速发展的国际书史领域的所有学者具有世界范围的多学科吸引力。藏书文化反映了佛教思想，即文本是文物，分发是一种功德行为。这些思想对7世纪中国印刷术的发明以及后来印刷术在东亚和包括西藏在内的蒙古帝国的传播产生了重大影响。受书籍是佛陀话语化身的观念的启发，藏人将书籍视为值得尊敬的人，可以赐福于人，也可以行动于人。这些想法和态度导致了西藏采用印刷技术，并发展了一种独特的、无与伦比的图书文化，远远超出了西藏高原。该项目将调查两个核心问题：将雕版印刷引入西藏，以及目前数字技术在西藏藏品保存中的应用。对15-16世纪藏族版画的初步调查显示，印刷技术促进了专业工艺的发展，并导致了动员人员和资源的独特方式。这本书的佛教道德推动了包括尺子以及西藏内外的世俗和僧侣社区成员在内的赞助网络的发展，以支持印刷项目。藏区频繁的政治动荡并没有导致佛教书籍文化的破坏，而是导致了恢复和保存经文的更持续的努力。同样，在文化大革命(1966-76)后，僧侣、尼姑和世俗学者组成的网络出现，以寻找丢失的收藏品，重新整理僧侣档案和恢复文本；这一努力现在得到了数字技术的采用。该项目建立在AHRC以前资助的两个项目的基础上：一个是揭示英国早期藏书印刷的一些非凡例子(特别是在Young ghusband收藏中)，另一个是出版了一位15世纪公主的传记，她在西藏贡塘地区印刷术的引入中发挥了开创性的作用，那里的古代图书馆仍然存在。对该地区早期版画、传记和活着的传统进行全面调查，将为更广泛地探索印刷技术传入西藏及其社会和文化影响提供基础。此外，该项目将在数字技术的帮助下，对寺院和世俗学者基层网络进行的文本恢复和编目过程进行民族志调查。这项围绕藏书和印刷的文化实践的开创性研究将阐明藏传佛教文化未被探索的方面，并为该书的比较研究提供宝贵的材料。它将制作一个数据库、一个网站、几份学术出版物、一个世界领先学者网络、一次专门的会议以及在大英图书馆和剑桥举办的展览。因此，它将在学术和大众层面上为AHRC资助的研究提供可见性。它还将促进知识和技能向英国和西藏的初级学者转移，并将鼓励在政治敏感领域的对话与合作。

This project will explore the relationship between Buddhist culture and technological transformations by looking at 'the book' as artifact, medium for communication, symbol of political authority, and ritual object in the context of Tibetan Buddhism. By using a team from previous AHRC-funded projects (with members from Cambridge University, the British Library and Tibetan research institutions) it will ensure a firm knowledge base and good value for money. It will have world-wide multidisciplinary appeal for a broad range of academics and indigenous scholars engaged in the preservation of Tibetan cultural heritage and for all scholars involved in the rapidly growing international field of the history of the book.Tibetan book culture reflects Buddhist ideas that texts are relics and that their distribution is an act of merit. These ideas had a significant bearing on the invention of printing in 7th century China and on its later spread throughout East Asia and the Mongolian empire, including Tibet. Inspired by the notion that books are embodiments of the words of the Buddha, Tibetans treat them as persons worthy of respect who can bestow blessings and act on people. These ideas and attitudes led to the adoption of printing technologies in Tibet and the development of a unique and unrivalled culture of books reaching far beyond the Tibetan plateau.The project will investigate two core issues: the introduction of block printing into Tibet, and the current use of digital technologies in the preservation of Tibetan collections. A preliminary survey of 15th-16th century Tibetan block prints showed that printing technologies promoted specialised craftsmanship and led to distinctive ways of mobilising people and resources. A Buddhist morality of the book propelled the development of networks of patronage involving rulers and members of lay and monastic communities, both within Tibet and beyond, in support of printing projects. Frequent political upheavals in the Tibetan areas resulted not in the destruction of Buddhist book culture, but in more sustained efforts to recover and preserve texts. Similarly after the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) networks of monks, nuns and lay scholars emerged to search for lost collections, re-order monastic archives and recover texts; an effort now being assisted by the adoption of digital technologies.The project builds on two previous AHRC-funded projects: one brought to light some remarkable examples of early Tibetan printing kept in the UK (especially in the Younghusband Collection) and the other published the biography of a 15th century princess who played a seminal role in the introduction of printing in the Gungthang region of Tibet where ancient libraries are still in existence. A comprehensive survey of colophons of early prints, biographies and the living tradition in this region will provide the basis for a broader exploration of the introduction of printing technologies into Tibet with their social and cultural ramifications. In addition, the project will conduct an ethnographic investigation of the hitherto undocumented process of recovery and cataloguing of texts carried out by grass-root networks of monastic and lay scholars with the help of digital technologies.This pioneering study of cultural practices surrounding Tibetan books and printing will illuminate unexplored aspects of Tibetan Buddhist culture while providing valuable materials for comparative studies of the book. It will produce a database, a website, several academic publications, a network of world-leading scholars, a dedicated conference, and exhibitions at the British Library and in Cambridge. It will therefore provide visibility for AHRC-funded research at the academic and the popular level. It will also promote the transfer of knowledge and skills to junior scholars in the UK and Tibet and will encourage dialogue and cooperation in politically sensitive areas.