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

这项拟议的研究是第一次尝试用西方语言来分析和记录西藏东部热布江密宗修行者社区的宗教和社会历史。该项目的重点是从17世纪到19世纪，当时热布港密宗社区的影响达到了顶峰。它作为一个连贯的宗教和社会团体出现，有可能削弱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的时间里设法维持其声誉。该项目将通过探索特定藏族东部宗教社区的历史，促进学术界对社会和宗教运动的组织和发展日益增长的兴趣。这也提出了如何构建和/或恢复社区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谈判利益和价值观的问题。热布港密宗社区成立于17世纪，一直发展到文化大革命(1966-76)。该社区在当代西藏重新出现，并在振兴西藏宗教和传统文化方面发挥了重要作用。密宗团体的成员练习藏传密传，属于非僧侣佛教传统。热布港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。它的成员既包括未经任命的瑜伽士，也包括独身僧侣。热布港密宗社区的声誉因其精心设计的仪式条款和关于其最先进的瑜伽修行者的治疗能力的报道而得到提升。该项目将利用两种来源：1)历史、传记和宗教文献；2)通过与社区成员的访谈收集的民族志信息。该项目将研究的主要文本将是南阳朗色多杰(1798/1874？)的自传，他是一位备受尊敬的学者和隐士，在热布港密宗社区的历史、成长和发展中发挥了重要作用。该项目将参考其他一些手稿，这些手稿包含了关于热布孔密宗传统及其主要主角的演变的重要信息，包括一系列用于热布孔密宗教育的手册和教科书。该项目将通过实地访问热比港和相关地点期间与社区现有成员的访谈收集人种学数据，以收集对社区自过去二十年重新出现以来的当代做法和社会作用的初步了解。

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.