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Tibetan Studies News from JIATS Issue 3

Date: December 2007

Note: News items for the next issue should be sent to the editor, Prof. David Germano.

Publications

PIATS 2003

Ten volumes of the Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies (2003) are now available from Brill. Jonang Publication Series

The first set in the Jonang Publication Series (jo nang dpe tshogs, mi rigs dpe skrun khang, Beijing, 2007) is now available for purchase from the Jonang Foundation website. This annual series of select Tibetan Buddhist philosophical classics features important works by major Jonang authors from all genres of sūtra and tantra. Each work in this ongoing series, in dbu can, is chosen from the corpus of Jonang literature to reflect the contemporary scholastic curriculum within Jonang monastic universities inside Tibet. To view the inaugural set of 8 books (10 volumes), and to purchase, visit the Publications page under “Resources” on the Jonang Foundation website: http://www.jonangfoundation.org/publications-tibetan-text

Conferences

Ladakh Studies Conference

The 13th colloquium of the International Association of Ladakh Studies (IALS) took place at the La Sapienza University in Rome, September 7-11, 2007. There were panels on religion and society, history, history of art, medicine, ecology, and development. For further details please see: www.ladakhstudies.org, or contact John Bray.

Young Tibetologists Conference in London

The first meeting of the International Seminar for Young Tibetologists (ISYT) was held at SOAS, London, August 9-13, 2007. ISYT was born of the IATS at the 2006 meeting in Königswinter, and now has approximately 40 delegates attending from around the world. The group has been given generous funding from the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK) to bring delegates from India, China, Tibet, and the other Himalayan States. Further details can be found on the website: www.ISYT2007.com.

Buddhism Conference at Visva Bharati

The Centre for Buddhist Studies at Visva Bharati University held an international conference on the topic of “Buddhism and Its Social Significance for the Asian World,” September 25-28, 2007, in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. For further details contact the convener, Dr. Andreas Loseries.

Traditional Asian Medicine Conference: Call for Papers

The International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine (IASTAM) will hold its Seventh International Congress (ICTAM) September 7–11, 2009, at the Institute of Traditional Medicine Services in Thimpu, Bhutan. The theme for the Seventh Congress is “Asian Medicine: Cultivating Traditions and the Challenges of Globalisation.” IASTAM invites proposals for papers on the cultivation of the body, plants, and traditional knowledge and practice. IASTAM also invites proposals on the challenges faced by the globalization of traditional Asian medicines, tensions between local and global production, interpretation, professionalization and evaluation, as well as issues of trade, economy, and ecology. IASTAM encourages papers from scholars from all science and humanities disciplines as well as from practitioners of traditional Asian medicine (Unani, acupuncture, Sowa Rigpa, Ayurveda etc.). Proposals on any theme or topic are welcome, but papers that address the themes of cultivation and globalization will be given preference. Proposals for organized panels will also be given preference over individual papers. A list of panels and additional information about registration, etc., will be available on the conference website http://www.iastam.org/conferences.htm. Panel and paper abstracts of not more than 250 words should be sent as e-mail attachments to Emma Griffin. Deadline for abstract submission is January 1, 2008.

Exhibitions

Bhutanese Art

The Honolulu Academy of Arts will be hosting an exhibition, “The Religious Art of Bhutan,” that will begin February 24, 2008 and run for six months. The show will then travel to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and to the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. A catalogue will be published by Serindia.

Bon Art

The Rubin Museum of Art in New York is hosting the first exhibition of the art of Bon, “Bon: The Magic Word,” from October 5, 2007 until January 14, 2008. A catalogue will be published by Wilson (U.K.). For announcements about this and other exhibitions at RMA, please click here.

Photography Exhbition on Newars in Nepal

A selection of images from Michael Muehlich’s photo-documentation of “Buddhist Initiation of the Newars in Nepal” is currently on display at Tibethaus, Frankfurt, presented with English as well as German captions. A small catalogue, published in 2004 by the Lumbini International Research Institute, on the documentation of the ritual is also available (ISBN 99946-933-0-1, liri at mos dot com dot np). Visitors interested in relations between Tibet and Nepal are welcome for a reception and talk on September, 28, 2007 (pre-register by September 25). Details about hours and other information can be found at: www.tibethaus.com.

New Academic Programs

New Diploma Program in Tibetan Buddhist Studies in India

In 2007-08, the Department of Chinese and Tibetan Languages of Panjab University, Chandigarh, India will begin offering a PG Diploma in Buddhist Studies, with Tibet and the Himalayas as one of several areas of specialty.

New Doctoral Program and Language Classes in Scotland

As part of their growing postgraduate-taught program, the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research at the University of Aberdeen announces the introduction of a new doctoral program in Himalayan Research designed to allow students to continue forward from the Centre’s existing masters programs in Himalayan Studies and Himalayan Ethnobotany. Each program includes recently introduced language courses in Nepali and Tibetan.

Other News Items

New Group Formed at AAS

A new Tibetan Studies Group affiliated with the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) was founded at the San Francisco AAS meeting in 2006. The group plans to have regular meetings at the AAS and hopes to advocate for the growth and support of Tibetan Studies within (and beyond) the AAS. With the support of David Germano and the staff at the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library, an electronic mailing list has been established to facilitate communication and exchange by faculty, independent scholars, and graduate students across disciplines with specialized interest in Tibetan Studies who belong to AAS. Those wishing to subscribe may do so at: https://list.mail.virginia.edu/mailman/listinfo/aastibet. Those who have subscribed are free to directly post messages to the list-serv. Profs. Gray Tuttle and Carole McGranahan request that IATS members share this information with anyone who may be interested.

Tibetan Text Input Service

The International Trust for Traditional Medicine (ITTM), a registered non-profit organization based in Kalimpong, India (www.ittm.org), is now offering to scholars worldwide the service of transliterating Tibetan texts into Wylie. Two full-time Tibetan data input operators, each with seven years of experience, have almost completed the transliteration of twenty-one seminal Tibetan medical texts. To raise funds to complete the final proofreading of these texts and to continue giving employment to these two Tibetan women, ITTM is offering transliteration services of Tibetan texts to individual scholars. Prices are determined by the size of the resulting text file in kilobytes (KB). Student discounts are available. Contact infoittm at gmail dot com for details.