Locating Culture, Religion and the Self: A Study of the Tantric Community in Rebkong (East Tibet)

这项拟议中的研究是第一次尝试用西方语言分析和记录西藏东部热空密宗修炼者社区的宗教和社会历史。该项目侧重于17至19世纪的时期，当时Rebkong密宗社区的影响力处于鼎盛时期。它作为一个连贯的宗教和社会团体出现，威胁到该地区占主导地位的宗教机构。这项研究将评估其出现背后的因素，以及该社区如何在两个多世纪内保持其声誉。该项目将通过探索西藏东部一个特定宗教团体的历史，促进对社会和宗教运动的组织和发展日益增长的学术兴趣。它还提出了关于如何构建和/或恢复公共形象以逃避主导机构的霸权以及如何在对抗主导群体的同时确认和协商利益和价值观的问题。热空密宗成立于17世纪，一直延续到文化大革命（1966-76）。在当代西藏，藏族人重新出现，在西藏宗教和传统文化的复兴中发挥了重要作用。密宗社区的成员实践藏传密宗，属于非寺院的佛教传统。Rebkong密宗社区的不同寻常之处在于，它表现出强烈的凝聚力，并制定了一套正式的社区法律法规。其成员包括未受戒的瑜伽修行者和独身僧侣。雷布孔密宗社区的声誉因其精致的仪式规定和由其最先进的瑜伽师报告的创伤能力而得到加强。该项目将利用两种来源：1)历史、传记和宗教文献；2)通过对社区成员的采访收集的民族志信息。该项目研究的主要文本将是Nyang Nangse Dorje（1798/1874?）的自传。Nyang Nangse Dorje是一位备受尊敬的学者和隐士，他在Rebkong密宗社区的历史、成长和发展中发挥了重要作用。该项目将参考许多其他手稿，这些手稿包含了关于Rebkong密宗传统演变及其关键人物的重要信息，包括一系列用于Rebkong密宗教育的手册和教科书。该项目将在实地考察雷布岗和相关地点期间，通过与社区现有成员的访谈，收集民族志数据，以便初步了解该社区在过去二十年中重新出现后的当代实践和社会角色。

The proposed research is the first attempt in a western language to analyse and document the religious and social history of the tantric practitioner community in Rebkong, east Tibet. The project focuses on the period from the 17th to 19th centuries when the influence of the Rebkong tantric community was at its height. It emerged as a coherent religious and social group which threatened to weaken the dominant religious institution in the area. The research will assess the factors behind its emergence and how the community managed to sustain its reputation for more than two centuries. The project will contribute to the growing scholarly interest in the organization and development of social and religious movements by exploring the history of a particular eastern Tibetan religious community. It also raises questions about how communal images are constructed and/or restored in order to evade the hegemony of a dominant institution and how interests and values are affirmed and negotiated while countering the dominant group.Founded in the 17th century, the lineage of the Rebkong tantric community developed without interruption until the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). The community has re-emerged in contemporary Tibet and has come to play a significant role in the revitalisation of Tibetan religious and traditional culture. The members of the tantric community practice the Tibetan Tantra and belong to a non-monastic Buddhist tradition. The Rebkong tantric community is unusual in that it exhibits a strong sense of cohesion and developed a formal code of communal laws and regulations. Its members include both unordained yogins and celibate monks. The reputation of the Rebkong tantric community has been enhanced by its elaborate ritual provisions and reports of thaumatological abilities by its most advanced yogins. The project will draw on two kinds of sources: 1) historical, biographical and religious literature 2) ethnographic information gathered through interviews with the members of the community. The main text to be studied by the project will be the autobiography of Nyang Nangse Dorje (1798/1874?), a highly regarded scholar and hermit who played a formative role in the history, growth and development of the Rebkong tantric community. The project will consult a number of other manuscripts that contain important information about the evolution of the Rebkong tantric tradition and its key protagonists, including a range of manuals and textbooks used in the education of the Rebkong tantrikas. The project will collect ethnographic data through interviews with current members of the community during fieldwork visits to Rebkong and related sites in order to gather a preliminary understanding of the contemporary practice and social role of the community since its re-emergence over the past two decades.