Tibetology (
Tibetan: བོད་རིག་པ།,
Wylie: bod-rig-pa) refers to the study of things related to
Tibet, including its
history,
religion,
language,
culture,
politics and the collection of Tibetan articles of historical, cultural and religious significance.[1] The last may mean a collection of Tibetan statues, shrines, Buddhist icons and holy scripts,
Thangka embroideries, paintings and tapestries, jewellery, masks and other objects of fine
Tibetan art and craftsmanship.[2][3]
History
The
JesuitAntonio de Andrade (1580–1634) and a few others established a small mission and church in
Tsaparang (1626), in the kingdom of
Guge (Western Tibet) in the
17th century. When the kingdom was overrun by the king of
Ladakh (1631), the mission was destroyed.[4]
A century later another Jesuit, the
ItalianIppolito Desideri (1684–1733) was sent to Tibet and received permission to stay in
Lhasa where he spent 5 years (1716–1721) living in a Tibetan monastery, studying the language, the religion of the
lamas and other Tibetan customs.[5] He published a couple of books in Tibetan on
Christian doctrine. Because of a conflict of jurisdiction (the mission was entrusted to the
Capuchins, and not to the
Jesuits) Desideri had to leave Tibet and returned to Italy, where he spent the rest of his life publishing his Historical notes on Tibet. They were collected, in 4 volumes, under the title of Opere Tibetane (Rome;1981–1989). Desideri may be considered as the first Tibetologist and he did much to make Tibet known in Europe.[6]
Desideri was however a pioneer, and as such what he produced were rather 'observations' on Tibet, a work he did with objectivity and sympathy, but not always perfect accuracy. The inception of Tibetology as an authentic academic discipline is thus associated with the Hungarian
Sándor Kőrösi Csoma (1784–1842) who is considered as its founder to present day,[7] the other early Tibetologists of note being
Philippe Édouard Foucaux who in 1842 occupied the first chair for Tibetan studies in Europe[a] and
Isaac Jacob Schmidt, who was primarily the pioneering
mongolist residing in Saint Petersburg.[8]
In recent decades, particularly in English-speaking countries, the study of Tibet and Tibetology has opened out towards other disciplines, prompting works with an interdisciplinary approach. This has become most obvious in the regular conferences of the IATS (International Association of Tibetan Studies), held at intervals of three years in different cities around the world. Examples of such broader-based research include the work of the American anthropologist
Melvyn Goldstein, among others, who has produced publications on subjects such as lexical questions, Tibetan nomadism, and the modern history of Tibet. Other recent research includes the work of
Robert Barnett,
Matthew Kapstein,
Elliot Sperling, Alex McKay, Geoffrey Samuel,
Flavio Geisshuesler, among others.[10]
Gallery
Professor Turrell Wylie in 1979 at the University of Washington Department of Asian Languages and Literature
Shakabpa on the Tibetan Passport 1947 issued to Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa (Tibetan: ཞྭ་སྒབ་པ་དབང་ཕྱུག་བདེ་ལྡན།), then "Chief of the Finance Department of the Government of Tibet"[11][12][13]
Sir Charles Alfred Bell, Author of the "Biography of the Dalai Lama" about the 13th Dalai Lama
^At the school of Oriental Studies in Paris. See:Le Calloc'h, Bernard. "Philippe-Edouard Foucaux: First Tibetan teacher in Europe." Tibet Journal 12.1 (1987): 39-49.
^Pommaret, Françoise (February 2011). "Reviewed Work(s): One Hundred Thousand Moons: An Advanced Political History of Tibet". The Journal of Asian Studies. 70 (1): 230–233.
JSTOR41302243.
Other sources
Tsering Shakya: The Development of Modern Tibetan Studies. In: Robert Barnett (Hg.): Resistance and Reform in Tibet (Bloomington/Indianapolis, Indiana University Press 1994),
ISBN0-253-31131-4, S. 1–14.
SHAKABPA, W. D. 1967. Tibet: A Political History [With plates and maps.].
Yale University Press: New Haven & London.