Trans-Himalayan Buddhism Reconnecting Spaces, Sharing Concerns The ambit of Buddhist studies reflects not only the spiritual and philosophical domain of Buddhism but also a symbiotic relationship between the monastic establishment and protectors of cultural tradition-a trend that one sees in the context of Buddhist revivalist projects in Mongolia and Buryatia. The presence of a Buddhist order in the political realm has revived intellectual debates about the relationship between spiritual and temporal authority. The interface between South Asian and South East Buddhism on the one hand and Central Asian Buddhism on the other is also delicately balanced in Buddhist cultural discourse. The relevance of Buddhism in a globalized world has also given a new direction to the realm of Buddhist studies. This book takes into account the competing discourses of preservation and revival of Buddhism in the trans-Himalayan sector. It not only deals with the cultural ethos that Buddhism represents in this region but also the diverse Buddhist traditions that are strongly entrenched despite colonial intervention. Juxtaposed to the aesthetic variant is the extremely sensitive response of the Buddhist communities in India and Asiatic Russia centred round the issue of displacement. It is this issue of duality of common traditions and fractured identities that has been dealt with in the present volume. Suchandana Chatterjee, Fellow of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata, has been associated with the institute since 1993. Her research interests include regional and connected histories of Eurasia, marginalised identities, representations on Eurasia’s transition, the Buddhist space of Asiatic Russia and Central Asia, etc. Her publications include The Steppe in History-Essays on a Eurasian Fringe (New Delhi: Manohar, 2010), Mind and Vision: Perceptions of reform in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (Bookwell, 2006) and Politics and Society in Tajikistan in the aftermath of the Civil War (Greenwood Press and Hope India Publications, 2002). Trans-Himalayan Buddhism Reconnecting Spaces, Sharing Concerns Edited by Suchandana Chatterjee Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies Kolkata in association with KNOWLEDGE WORLD KW Publishers Pvt Ltd New Delhi 2011 BEST PUBLISHERS AWARD (ENGLISH) Firstpublished2020 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 52VanderbiltAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2020MaulanaAbulKalamAzadInstituteofAsianStudies TherightofSuchandanaChatterjeetobeidentifiedastheauthoroftheeditorialmaterial, andoftheauthorsfortheirindividualchapters,hasbeenassertedinaccordancewith sections77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilisedinany formorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented, includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem, withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintenttoinfringe. PrinteditionnotforsaleinSouthAsia(India,SriLanka,Nepal,Bangladesh,Pakistanor Bhutan) BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenrequested ISBN:978-0-367-43589-9(hbk) ISBN:978-1-003-00452-3(ebk) TypesetinMinionPro byKWPublishers Contents Contributors vii Introduction ix 1. Construction of Buddhist Civilisation in Central Asia: A Preliminary Review 1 Jeta Sankrityayana 2. Buddhist Traditions of the Himalayas and Central Asia 23 Benoy K. Behl 3. Buddhist Milieu in Termez: Links in Architecture and Archaeology 37 Ranjana Mishra 4. The Integration of Buddhism in Mongolia: the Echo of Seasonal Moods 55 Andrea Loseries 5. Heritage, Development, and Concerns of Mongolia’s Monasteries 75 Krisztina Teleki 6. Medical Institution Building in India: Following the Tibetan Case 91 Somraj Basu 7. Tibetan Culture in Exile: Preservation and Reform 105 Dagmar Bernstorff Contributors Jeta Sankrityayana, Professor of Economics, North Bengal University. Benoy K Behl, Visiting Professor, College of Art, University of Delhi. Ranjana Mishra, Associate Professor and Head, Department of History, MD Shah Mahila College, SNDT University, Mumbai. Andrea Loseries, Professor, Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies and Former Director of the Centre for Buddhist Studies, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. Krizstina Teleki, Research Fellow, Department of Inner Asian Studies, ELTE University, Budapest. Somraj Basu, Currently Graduate Student of Anthropology at the University of Colorado, USA. Dagmar Bernstorff, Editor of Exile as Challenge – the Tibetan Diaspora, New Delhi: Vibrant Arts 2003. Introduction The Trans-Himalayan connections of Buddhism and the northern reach of Buddhism have regained centrality in the discourse about revival of Buddhism. On the whole, there seems to be significant interest in the Buddhist dispensation and the Buddhist setting, i.e. the monastic landscape represented by the Buddhist monasteries in India’s northern state of Kashmir and north-eastern region belonging to the Himalayan belt and comprising of Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim as well as the datsans and dugans in Asiatic Russia and Mongolia. Apart from a basic interest in Buddhist pilgrimage as tradition, scholarship has revolved round various aspects of Buddhist culture, e.g. Buddhist art and architecture, manuscripts and texts, role of individuals and institutions which has resulted in new assessments about a Buddhist space. The presence of a Buddhist order in the political realm has revived intellectual debates about the relationship between spiritual and temporal authority. The relevance of Buddhism in a globalized world has also given a new direction to the realm of Buddhist studies. The spirit of tolerance in Buddhism is juxtaposed to the intolerant and restless behaviour in politics and society. There seems to be new ways of determining community relations and sharing of concerns in the Buddhist space. Trans-Himalayan Buddhism is not merely a cultural spectacle across spaces north and south, east and west of the Himalayas. It is also a subject of interactive behaviour among nation states and Buddhist communities who have been dispersed across time and space and have shared memories over the Kunlun mountains or the Kashgar markets which have been the meeting points of pilgrims, traders, envoys and cultural enthusiasts. The northern reach of Buddhism is incomprehensible without reflections about shared concerns and this is what the symposium has tried to focus on. This volume opens with the article by Jeta Sankrityayana on the appeal of Buddhism as a cultural thread binding the civilizations of South and Central Asia. He indicates the contemporary relevance of a Himalayan discourse about trans-national civilizational links. In