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首次尝试用西方语言来分析和记录西藏东部热贡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世纪的时期，当时Rebkong密宗社区的影响力处于顶峰。它作为一个连贯的宗教和社会团体出现，威胁要削弱该地区占主导地位的宗教机构。该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维持其声誉。该项目将通过探索西藏东部特定宗教社区的历史，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。这也提出了一些问题，即如何构建和/或恢复社区形象，以避免统治机构的霸权，以及如何在对抗统治集团的同时确认和谈判利益和价值观。成立于17世纪的热贡密宗社区的传承一直发展到文化大革命（1966 - 76）。该团体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。密宗社区的成员实践西藏密宗，属于非寺院佛教传统。热比贡密宗社区的与众不同之处在于它表现出强烈的凝聚力，并制定了正式的社区法律和法规。其成员包括未受戒的瑜伽修行者和独身的僧侣。热比贡密宗团体的声誉因其精心制作的仪式规定和最先进的瑜伽修行者对密宗能力的报道而得到提高。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人种学信息。该项目将研究的主要文本是娘囊多杰的自传（1798/1874？），他是一位备受推崇的学者和隐士，在热比贡密宗团体的历史、成长和发展中发挥了重要作用。该项目将参考一些其他手稿，这些手稿包含有关热贡密宗传统及其主要主角的演变的重要信息，包括热贡密宗教育中使用的一系列手册和教科书。该项目将通过在对Rebkong和相关地点进行实地考察期间与该社区现有成员进行访谈来收集人种学数据，以便初步了解该社区自过去二十年重新出现以来的当代做法和社会作用。

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.