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If we are to believe later traditions, and there is in my opinion no reason not to do so, the first Tibetan historiographic writings date from Tibet's imperial period (seventh-ninth centuries), which coincided with her relations with the Nepalese, Indians, Arabs, Turks, Uighurs, 'A zha and, above all, Tang China. Only a fragment of this literary corpus, falling into two broad classes, has survived.
The Popol Vuh is a Colonial period K'iche' Mayan text that is considered to be the bible of Mayan civilization. It was transscribed by the Dominican priest Francisco Ximénez in or near 1701. It chronicles the creation of humankind, the actions of the gods, the origin and history of the K’iche’ people, and the chronology of their kings to 1550. Although written during the period of Chistianization, it is considered by scholars to be an invaluable source of knowledge about Preclassic and Classic period Mayan mythology and culture. The text itself appears to be based on an earlier but now lost version, written in K’iche’ by a Mayan author (or authors) sometime between 1554 and 1558....
In the following essays, Dreyfus provides us with a wonderful introduction to the Tibetan monastic educational system, discussing such topics as memorization, commentary, the educational curriculum, the theory and practice of debate, the schedule of monastic educational institutions, and finally the different geshé degrees awarded.1 Dreyfus’s years of experience as a scholastic monk in the Geluk tradition make his account detailed and accurate. At the same time, his first-hand familiarity with the tradition shines through in every section. His work is especially valuable in dispelling many of the myths surrounding life in Tibet’s great monastic academies.
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An introduction to the functions of the song "Samyekyi Salang" and a brief exposition on some of its lyrics.
An account of the origins, constituent activities, and social functions of sang, an annual ceremony conducted by women in Ura village, Bumthang.
A summation of the rationale for the development of an altruistic mind.
The word serkem is an honorific term for offering libation. Kem is an old term for alcohol or container of alcohol. So offering of alcohol from a wooden jug or from a container is called offering kem. When the kem is poured into a bowl or a cup, made of or plated with gold (ser), then the offering becomes serkem.
This piece was initially published in Bhutan’s national newspaper Kuensel in a series called "Why we do what we do".
A basic description of the consecration process for serto, the topmost architectural element of religious buildings in Bhutan.
Most Bhutanese Buddhist rituals contain the set of seven practices known as yoen lak duen pa (ཡན་ལག་བདུན་པ་). The seven practices prostration (ཕྱག་), offering (མཆོད་པ་), confession (བཤགས་པ་), rejoicing (རྗེས་སུ་ཡི་རང་བ་), request to live long (བཞུགས་པར་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས་པ་), request to turn the wheel of Dharma (ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་སྐོར་བར་བསྐུལ་བ་) and to dedicate the merits (བསྔོ་བ་).
This piece was initially published in Bhutan’s national newspaper Kuensel in a series called "Why we do what we do".
Taken from url: http://places.kmaps.virginia.edu/descriptions/1271.xml
A summary of the plot of the Shawa Shachi dance and the meanings behind its major characters.
An introdcution to the origins of and curricula for Himalayan Buddhist institutes of higher education known as shedra.
The role of the Heart Sutra in Bhutanese Buddhist practice and worldview, as presented for a local audience.
An overview of three ways in which Bhutanese can pacify non-human spirits through ritual actions.
Through this exercise participants experientially investigate stress responses due to the ubiquity of smartphones in their environments.
A practice to cultivate deeper awareness and attentiveness to a single sense, such as sound.
Taken from url: http://places.kmaps.virginia.edu/descriptions/1306.xml