Holly Gayley
\nUniversity of Colorado, Boulder<\/p>\n
This article examines the ideological underpinnings of ethical reform currently underway in Tibetan areas of the PRC, based on a newly reconfigured set of ten Buddhist virtues and consolidated into vows taken en masse by the laity. I focus on texts of advice to the laity by cleric-scholars from Larung Buddhist Academy, one of the largest Buddhist institutions on the Tibetan plateau and an important source for an emergent Buddhist modernism. In analyzing texts of advice, I am interested in how lead-ing Buddhist voices articulate a \u201cpath forward\u201d for Tibetans as a people, calling simultaneously for ethical reform and cultural preservation. Specifically, I trace the tensions and ironies that emerge in their attempts to synthesize, on the one hand, a Buddhist emphasis on individual moral action and its soteriological ramifications and, on the other hand, a secular concern for the social welfare of the Tibetan population and the preservation of its civilizational inheritance. In doing so, I view ethical reform as part of a broader Buddhist response to China\u2019s civilizing mission vis-\u00e0-vis Tibetans and new market forces encouraged by the post-Mao state. <\/p>\n
Read article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ISSN 1076-9005 Volume 20, 2013 Reimagining Buddhist Ethics on the Tibetan Plateau Holly Gayley University of Colorado, Boulder This article examines the ideological underpinnings of ethical reform currently underway in Tibetan areas of the PRC, based on a newly reconfigured set of ten Buddhist virtues and consolidated into vows taken en masse by the laity. … Continue reading Reimagining Buddhist Ethics on the Tibetan Plateau<\/span>