This book provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to Tibet, its culture and history.A clear and comprehensive overview of Tibet, its culture and history.Responds to current interest in Tibet due to continuing publicity about Chinese rule and growing interest in Tibetan Buddhism.Explains recent events within the context of Tibetan history.Situates Tibet in relation to other Asian civilizations through the ages.Draws on the most recent scholarly and archaeological research.Introduces Tibetan culture particularly social institutions, religious and political traditions, the arts and medical lore.An epilogue considers the fragile position of Tibetan civilization in the modern world.

Matthew T. Kapstein is Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago and Director of Tibetan Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. His recent publications includeThe Presence of Light (2004),Reasons Traces (2001),The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism (2000) andBuddhism in Contemporary Tibet (1998).

List of Photographs.

List of Maps.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

A Note on Transcription and Translation.

1. The Vessel and Its Contents.

High Peaks, Pure Earth.

Peasants, Nomads, and Traders.

The Tibetan Language.

2. Prehistory and Early Legends.

Sources of Archeological Evidence.

Children of the Ape and the Ogress.

Tibetan Religion Before Buddhism.

3. The Tsenpo's Imperial Dominion.

The Rise of the Tibetan Empire.

Later Monarchs and the Promotion of Buddhism.

The Empire's Implosion.

4. Fragmentation and Hegemonic Power.

Dynastic Successors and the Kingdom of Gugé.

The Buddhist Renaissance.

Mongols and Tibetan Buddhists.

Successive Hegemonies.

Tibetan Buddhism and the Ming Court.

5. The Rule of the Dalai Lamas.

Monastics and Monarchs.

Between Mongols and Manchus.

Regency and Retreat.

Cultural Developments in Eastern Tibet.

The Life and Times of the Great Thirteenth.

6. Tibetan Society.

Property, Economy, and Social Class.

Government and Law.

Marriage and Kinship.

Women in Traditional Tibet.

7. Religious Life and Thought.

Propitiation, Therapy, and the Life-cycle.

Buddhist Basics.

Monastic Institutions and Education.

Tantrism and Yoga.

Major Orders and Schools.

Festivals, Pilgrimages, and Ritual Cycles.

8. The Sites of Knowledge.

The Speech Goddess's Mirror.

Formations of Body, Speech, and Mind.

Medicine, Astronomy, and the Divinatory Sciences.

9. Tibet in the Modern World.

The End of Traditional Tibet.

Rebellion and Exile.

The Promise and Peril of a Century's End.

Notes.

Spellings of Tibetan Names and Terms.

Bibliography.

Index.