History

Gendun Chopel (1903–1951) was, arguably, the most important—and certainly the most controversial—Tibetan intellectual of the twentieth century. He was a brilliant philosopher, a superb poet, and the first Tibetan to paint in a “modern style.” This lecture will survey his fascinating career (he wrote the first sex manual in Tibetan and was imprisoned for this political views) and present some of his watercolors from his travels to India and Sri Lanka in the 1930s.

Jetsün Kushok Chimey Luding was born into the prestigious Sakya Khön family, which was established in the eleventh century by Khön Könchok Gyelpo. In the Sakya Khön family, the daughters are known as Jetsünmas and have an important role as religious practitioners and teachers. Until she was twenty-one years old, she lived in the Sakya Khön Dolma Palace in Sakya, and left Tibet for India in 1959. Presently she resides in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, with her family but as a popular lama, she travels all over the world to give teachings.

Scholar and writer Tseten Dorje will present his research on the culture, customs and cuisine of eleventh-century Tsongkha, an extensive region in contemporary Qinghai Province. This culturally diverse region, situated at the confluence of Tibetan, Mongolian, Turkic and Han cultures, is generally considered to have included modern-day Xining, Kumbum, Datong, Drotsang, and Kokonor. The region is the birthplace and namesake of Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of Ganden Monastery near Lhasa, and the Gelukpa School of Tibetan Buddhism.

Kadrung Nornang’s Rules for Formal Letter Writing was written in 1888 by Nornang Wangdü Tsering, a Chair-Secretary in the Tibetan government. The book is a comprehensive manual of the rules and etiquette in the composition of all manner of correspondence, including formatting and margins of letters, how to properly address letter recipients according to their rank or position, how to use a seal and wax to close the letter, and so on.

Latse Library unveils a unique collection of Tibetan stamps and correspondence from the first half of the twentieth century. Over one hundred items from three collections will be presented together to showcase the breadth and depth of Tibetan letter writing in the period—from postage, to rules of composition, to the personal relationships captured in these unique letters. The premiere will include talks by experts in Tibetan culture and philately and will be followed by a reception.

This talk will explore the importance of medicine in Tibetan cultural history, and the ways in which it drew on Buddhist ideas but also was frequently at odds with the aims of Buddhism. It will also examine the implications of medicine for the Tibetan Buddhist state, especially during the heyday of the Fifth Dalai Lama and his regent Desi Sangye Gyatso. In some ways the interaction between the fortunes of medicine and Buddhism in Tibet was not unlike that between religion and science in early modern Europe, but in other ways the differences are striking.

The talk focuses on the origin and growth of the mythical view of Tibet in the Western world. Travelogues, novels, fictional movies, and special events —which will be reviewed in a chronological sequence with the support of images— have contributed to the mystification of the Land of Snows and its reshaping as a virtual entity often detached from reality.

Trace Foundation celebrates the release of the much-anticipated History of Amdo by author and scholar Hortsang Jigme. This six-volume work is the result of nine years of careful research by the author, and covers this whole history of the Amdo region, from the first appearance of inhabitants to the 1950s. Each area of the region is examined, and within each region the forts, monasteries, temples, and individuals that comprise the rich fabric of Amdo.