Henk Blezer | Free University of Amsterdam (original) (raw)
Academic Papers and Book chapters by Henk Blezer
A Life in Tibetan Studies: Festschrift for Dieter Schuh at the Occasion of his 80th Birthday, 2022
Much ink has been spilled over the periods of 'spread' or 'diffusion' (snga dar and phyi dar) or ... more Much ink has been spilled over the periods of 'spread' or 'diffusion' (snga dar and phyi dar) or also 'translation' ('gyur) of Buddhism to Tibet. Some of the authors and editors of this felicitation volume, including the recipient, happen to have been involved in also clarifying the understudied intermediate period (creatively styled as the bar dar; see Schuh et al. 2017). Significantly less reflection has been exercised regarding the implied metaphors and models of diffusion etc. that are deployed in such emic and etic descriptions. There is a world of difference whether we speak, e.g., of Tibetan or Chinese Buddhism, or Buddhism in Tibet or China, let alone the essentialisation of Buddhism to begin with, before it supposedly 'spread' anywhere. Agricultural metaphors such as transplanting, taking root and grafting, are all-time favourites. We tend to take the main elements of such convenient shorthand characterisations for granted, such as Buddhism, Tibet, or China, as if these were stable and unproblematic designations (with the notable exception of the contentious and much debated political status of Tibet). In this article, I should like to initiate and partly also continue, and if possible, inspire, further reflection on the (etic) constructions of Buddhism as a Religious Studies category and so-called World Religion, in view of its emergence in or throughout Asia and beyond. I shall lay this out in bullet speak, only lightly annotated; without, for example, repeating the critiques on colonial entanglements of the discipline of Comparative Religion and concomitant notions of World Religions, or referencing details from the vast literature on patronage of Buddhism. For now, I shall mainly aim at the bigger picture, hopefully inducing a Gestalt switch of sorts, and recommend that it may be profitable to re-examine the tacit assumptions that are engaged when we refer to the ‘spread of Buddhism’ to Tibet or elsewhere, for opening up new vistas.
Bon and Naxi Manuscripts, Studies in Manuscript Cultures, 2023
Tibetan manuscripts in general, and Bon manuscripts in particular, are often characterised by ort... more Tibetan manuscripts in general, and Bon manuscripts in particular, are often characterised by orthographic inconsistencies and multiple contracted forms (Tib. bsdus tshig or bskungs yig). While these features may be a nuisance to the reader, they deserve to be analysed more systematically: it is possible that these heterodox spellings and other scribal peculiarities, far from being random errors, may represent local writing conventions. On the basis of an extended study of facsimile reproductions of Bon manuscripts from Bsam gling monastery in Dolpo, Nepal, this chapter aims to explore the best way forward towards defining
local orthographic styles and other codicological features. A major starting hypothesis to be tested is that ‘heterographies’ may help us to detect oral and written modes of transmission.
Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines: From Khyung lung to Lhasa, A Festschrift for Dan Martin Edited by Jonathan Silk & Leonard van der Kuijp, 2022
There is no or desperately little reliable early evidence to support the historicity of the grand... more There is no or desperately little reliable early evidence to support the historicity of the grand pre-Buddhist Bon Zhang zhung Empire of later Bon po sources and their western aficionados. Imagination is nonetheless plentiful. In the PIATS 2016, I discuss the oldest historical textual sources relevant to a heartland of Bon, which is variously conceptualised as Zhang zhung, Ta zig and 'Ol mo lung ring, with special reference to a central stronghold and main seat of power in Zhang zhung: the so-called Silver Castle of Garuḍa Valley or Khyung lung Dngul dNgul mkhar.
If one carefully examines the genealogy of knowledge and the history of invention of that grand Zhang zhung Bon Empire and its legendary Khyung lung castle, one cannot help but notice that our ideas about them derive from surprisingly late discourse, which postdates any relevant historical and geographical realities by a long stretch. The later Bon Zhang zhung literary construct is to be distinguished clearly from a probably historical and probably also small principality by the name of Zhang zhung, that is located west of Central Tibet, roughly centred on the Kailash area and that seems to have had a northern extension as well. But, interestingly, that historical Zhang zhung in its descriptions carries no significant Bon po associations and in time also significantly precedes Bon traditions as we know them now. ...
In the following, we will examine the earliest evidence for a ‘location’ of the origin of Bon, or at least for the origin of its narratives. We find those in non-Buddhist ritualistic narratives of the Dunhuang period. For an overview and analysis of Dunhuang historical narratives, I refer to PIATS 2006 (but see also Macdonald 1971). The analysis of ritualistic narratives is significantly more involved than that of historical sources. It requires fragile attempts at connecting clusters of narrative elements that in Dunhuang sources appear loosely assembled around important names and locations to the earliest, self-consciously Bon sources, such as the mDo ‘dus, the Klu ‘bum and other sources, with special attention to those names and locations, of course, that are already familiar from later strata of emerging Bon. The latter begin to emerge in around the 10th–11th century AD and thus may be closely contiguous with the redaction of Dunhuang materials. The nature of the rituals cannot be elucidated here, for reasons of space.
![Research paper thumbnail of “Martelaarschap in vergelijkend perspectief” [“Martyrdom in comparative aspect”]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/80406114/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Dan Liever Dood: Over martelaren en hun religieuze drijfveren [I’d rather Die: About martyrs and their religious motivations], 2021
Concluding chapter: De ‘martelaarsdood’ is schokkend en ingrijpend, voor alle betrokkenen, en bew... more Concluding chapter:
De ‘martelaarsdood’ is schokkend en ingrijpend, voor alle betrokkenen, en beweegt mensen. Hij beroert zelfs buitenstaanders die niet vertrouwd zijn met het concept en de achterliggende narratieven. En deze bundel onderstreept nog eens, vooral in zijn vergelijkende aspecten met hindoeïstisch en boeddhistisch Azië, dat martelaarschap inderdaad een sterk historisch bepaald en cultuurgebonden begrip is. Het heeft een complexe ontstaansgeschiedenis in Abrahamitische contexten en wordt daarbinnen vooral bemiddeld door christelijk geïnspireerde vormen van discours. Deze bundel maakt ook nog eens duidelijk dat martelaarschap een omstreden begrip is, en bovendien een narratief dat voortdurend aan constructie en reconstructie onderhevig is. Wat voor de één een ‘nobele dood’ is, is voor de ander een laakbare praktijk. ['Martyrdom' is shocks and has impact, for everyone involved, and it moves people. It even touches outsiders who are not familiar with the concept and the underlying narratives. And this volume, especially in its comparative aspects with Hindu and Buddhist Asia, underlines once again that martyrdom indeed is a strongly historically determined and culturally bound concept. It has a complex genesis in Abrahamic contexts and is mainly mediated by Christian-inspired forms of discourse. This collection also confirms that martyrdom is a controversial concept, and moreover is a narrative that is constantly subject to construction and reconstruction. What is a 'noble death' for one person is a reprehensible act for another.]
![Research paper thumbnail of ‘Martelaarschap’ in boeddhisme: Perspectieven, regels, verhalen & praktijken [‘Martyrdom’ in Buddhism: Perspectives, rules, stories & practices]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/80323271/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Dan Liever Dood: Over martelaren en hun religieuze drijfveren [I’d rather Die: About martyrs and their religious motivations], 2021
Dit boek gaat over martelaarschap. Op het eerste gezicht lijkt dit een universeel begrip, maar bi... more Dit boek gaat over martelaarschap. Op het eerste gezicht lijkt dit een universeel begrip, maar bij nadere beschouwing is het misschien toch een sterk cultureel en historisch bepaalde notie. In deze bijdrage poog ik hierop te reflecteren door een select aantal mogelijke parallellen aan te dragen vanuit verschillende boeddhistische wereldbeelden. De hoofdvragen: is er in boeddhisme sprake van martelaarschap en kan boeddhistisch cultuurgoed iets verhelderen of toevoegen aan het huidige discours over martelaarschap? Ik zal beginnen met de oudste paradigmata, die voor het aanzien van boeddhisme het meest gezichtsbepalend zijn, om dan, in ruwe tijdsdoorsneden, een reis door Azië en tevens door millennia aan te vangen. Dit zal noodzakelijkerwijs een incomplete exercitie zijn. [This book is about martyrdom. At first glance, this may seem like a universal concept; but on closer examination, it may decloak as a strongly culturally and historically determined notion. In this contribution, I elaborate this, by presenting a select number of possible parallels from various Buddhist worldviews. The main questions: can we speak of martyrdom in Buddhism at all and can Buddhist cultural heritage clarify or add something to the current discourse on martyrdom? I shall start with the oldest paradigms, which also are prominent for the general outlook of Buddhism, and then, in rather coarse temporal cross sections, embark on a wide-ranging journey through Asia and also through millennia. This will therefore necessarily be a woefully incomplete exercise.]
![Research paper thumbnail of Inleiding (Introduction) - Het pompeblêd en de lotus: J.H. Halbertsma "Het buddhisme en zijn stichter" [ 1843 ] (The Pompeblêd and the Lotus: J.H. Halbertsma "Buddhism and its Founder [ 1843 ])](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/90839444/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Milinda/Asoka, 2020
De eerste publicatie in het Nederlands over het boeddhisme dateert, voor zover bekend, uit 1843. ... more De eerste publicatie in het Nederlands over het boeddhisme dateert, voor zover bekend, uit 1843. ‘Het buddhisme en zijn stichter’ van de doopsgezinde predikant dr. J.H. Halbertsma (1789-1869) verscheen in een oplage van 50 exemplaren en werd, gesigneerd door de auteur, verspreid onder vrienden en relaties. Halbertsma probeerde in zijn geschrift een parallel te trekken tussen Boeddha en Christus; een nieuwe benadering die een kantelpunt betekende in hoe men destijds tegen het boeddhisme aankeek. Nu, 175 jaar later, is het boeddhisme in Nederland gemeengoed geworden en is de naam Halbertsma nog niet vergeten. De bijdragen in dit boek schetsen de context en het tijdsbeeld waarin de publicatie van Halbertsma is ontstaan, met bijzondere aandacht voor de boeiende en soms obscure randverschijnselen waardoor deze historische tekst ook voor de hedendaagse lezer tot leven komt. Ten slotte wordt ook de positie en de geschiedenis van het boeddhisme in Nederland onder de loep genomen. Dit is de eerste uitgave in de reeks ‘De geschiedenis van het boeddhisme in Nederland’ en komt tot stand in samenwerking met het Nederlands Boeddhistisch Archief (NBA).
![Research paper thumbnail of Voorwoord (Foreword) - Het pompeblêd en de lotus: J.H. Halbertsma "Het buddhisme en zijn stichter" [ 1843 ] (The Pompeblêd and the Lotus: J.H. Halbertsma "Buddhism and its Founder [ 1843 ])](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/90839320/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Milinda/Asoka, 2020
De eerste publicatie in het Nederlands over het boeddhisme dateert, voor zover bekend, uit 1843. ... more De eerste publicatie in het Nederlands over het boeddhisme dateert, voor zover bekend, uit 1843. ‘Het buddhisme en zijn stichter’ van de doopsgezinde predikant dr. J.H. Halbertsma (1789-1869) verscheen in een oplage van 50 exemplaren en werd, gesigneerd door de auteur, verspreid onder vrienden en relaties. Halbertsma probeerde in zijn geschrift een parallel te trekken tussen Boeddha en Christus; een nieuwe benadering die een kantelpunt betekende in hoe men destijds tegen het boeddhisme aankeek. Nu, 175 jaar later, is het boeddhisme in Nederland gemeengoed geworden en is de naam Halbertsma nog niet vergeten. De bijdragen in dit boek schetsen de context en het tijdsbeeld waarin de publicatie van Halbertsma is ontstaan, met bijzondere aandacht voor de boeiende en soms obscure randverschijnselen waardoor deze historische tekst ook voor de hedendaagse lezer tot leven komt. Ten slotte wordt ook de positie en de geschiedenis van het boeddhisme in Nederland onder de loep genomen. Dit is de eerste uitgave in de reeks ‘De geschiedenis van het boeddhisme in Nederland’ en komt tot stand in samenwerking met het Nederlands Boeddhistisch Archief (NBA).
Knowledge and Context in Tibetan Medicine (BTSL 43), 2019
Based on a wide cross section of Tibetan and Greco-Arab medical sources, Henk Blezer argues that ... more Based on a wide cross section of Tibetan and Greco-Arab medical sources, Henk Blezer argues that the articulations of the, apparently, novel category of “brown phlegm” disorders in Tibetan medicine may derive from an earlier Greco-Arab prototype of “black bile” disorders, particularly those of the hypochondriac subtype (that is, melancholia pertaining to the viscera below the sternal cartilage of the ribs, or in this case the diaphragm). The article builds on his earlier hypothesis, yet to be conclusively argued, that Tibetan canonical descriptions of “brown phlegm” disorders seem to show signs of a confluence or, perhaps, even a clash of “humoral” systems that seem to pertain to different medical epistemes (Greco-Arab and Indo-Tibetan in origin). He posits a plausible trajectory of development in the construction of “brown phlegm” disorders in Tibet, where treatises that presumably have developed later, eventually, seem to set the “brown phlegm” disorders apart as a so-called “combined disease” (that is a category of diseases in which several noxious substances, the so-called “humors”, appear together). Lastly, on a more speculative vein, the author addresses relevant surviving indications, if not traces, in Tibetan historical narratives for Greco-Arab influence on Tibetan medicine.
Ancient Civilisation of Tibet and its Inheritance —— Proceedings of First Beijing International Conference on Shang shung Cultural Studies, 2018
If evidence is weak, fragmentary or opaque, such as it rather notoriously is in our study of Zhan... more If evidence is weak, fragmentary or opaque, such as it rather notoriously is in our study of Zhang zhung before the tenth to eleventh century CE, from a heuristic and methodological point of view, the biggest obstacle in research may well be what we wittingly or unwittingly thought we knew, such as may be apparent in our explicit or implicit hypotheses, starting assumptions, personal biases or preferences and the like.
The discussion on Zhang zhung, much like that on so-called ‘early’ Bon, stands to benefit greatly from distinguishing clearly which source or register of data is being accessed. For example, late Bon or Buddhist religious historical narratives on Zhang zhung; references to Zhang zhung in Dunhuang sources; or ‘pre-Buddhist’ archaeological remains from (larger) Western Tibet, deemed to pertain to Zhang zhung, are not necessarily concerned with the same ‘Zhang zhung’, nor do they always resound from the same culture-historical registers. I shall argue that each of these major domains of data first needs to be discussed from its own contexts of use or occurrence and, if applicable, with a view on its emic or etic narrative framings. This way we can avoid rather ubiquitous anachronisms and the pitfalls of conflating what au fond may be only loosely or dis-connected or even incommensurable.
Just to be absolutely clear on the matter: I do not start from the assumption that any of the mentioned domains necessarily are incommensurable—far from it! But we should not assume that they are otherwise before we have thoroughly examined and appreciated (also) potential disconnects.
In my analyses, I start from the assumption that fully narrativised religious histories, to a much larger degree than we have been willing to accommodate, tend to be creative and inventive in their narrativisations of facts and events, and, more often than not, are not primarily concerned with events and chronologies, but also, and usually more significantly, with narrative vectors that reveal various ideological investments, factional framings & identities, and the like. I furthermore assume that so-called ‘invention of tradition’, in a Hobsbawmian/Rangerian sense, is not the exception but rather the rule: traditions that have survived for an extended period of time usually are ‘traditions of invention’.
Therefore, in genuinely Popperian spirit, especially when data are scarce and hard to come by, we should systematically scout for dissonances and disconnects, later historical overlays and reinventions, before historicising and, perhaps naively, correlating evidence from possibly dis¬parate domains and from various religious or academic registers of narration.
For these intents and purposes, I shall here survey some of my findings over the past few years of research on Bon and Zhang zhung. My research has specifically focussed on data from periods that are closely contemporaneous to the earliest events that, when it comes to releasing reliable facts on Zhang zhung, tantalisingly border on being underdetermined. I sincerely hope that these preliminary and admittedly fragile findings may contribute to an ongoing, constructively deconsctructive discussion on Zhang zhung and ‘early Bon’.
Henk Blezer
Leiden University
Amsterdam Free University
NB. merely an updated (bibliography) and edited version of LIRI, 2013.
Single file version; see also (Gurung and Rath). Selected proceedings of Bon, Shangshung, and Ear... more Single file version; see also (Gurung and Rath).
Selected proceedings of Bon, Shangshung, and Early Tibet, proceedings of the international conference on Bon, Shangshung, and early Tibet, SOAS, London, Sept. 9th–10th, 2011
Zhang zhung-related Scripts 'Zhang zhung' Royal Seal of Lig myi rhya Bon sgo, Vol.8 (1995), p.55 ... more Zhang zhung-related Scripts 'Zhang zhung' Royal Seal of Lig myi rhya Bon sgo, Vol.8 (1995), p.55 (discussed below) As stories go, in the good old days of Bon, larger or smaller parts of what we now call Tibet outshone the Yar lung dynasty. In the ancient, Western Tibetan kingdom of Zhang zhung, long-lived masters and scholars transmitted Bon lore in their own Zhang zhung languages. These were not only colloquial, but also literary languages, written in their native Zang zhung scripts, such as Smar chung and Smar chen. Documents supposedly were also extant in other varieties of scripts, called Spungs so chung ba and Spungs so che ba, which are said to derive-it is not clear how 1 In this paper we present some preliminary results and hypotheses based on a pilot study on Zhang zhung-related
From the Summary "In the ancient, Western Tibetan kingdom of Zhang zhung, long-lived masters and ... more From the Summary
"In the ancient, Western Tibetan kingdom of Zhang zhung, long-lived masters and scholars transmitted Bon lore in their own Zhang zhung languages. These were not only colloquial, but also literary languages, written in their native Zang zhung scripts, such as Smar chung and Smar extant in other varieties of scripts, called Spungs so chung ba and Spungs so che ba, which are said to derive—it is not clear how exactly—from a region called Ta zig, an area which generally is located somewhere in the far west, beyond the borders even of Western Tibet.
Where did these scripts come from and when did they first evolve? Can we tell at all, or is this one of those many bonpo enigmas that we simply cannot yet solve with sufficient certainty, another incentive, no doubt, to devote more research to those fascinating Bon religious historical narratives?
This article is mainly devoted to a preliminary examination of extant samples of the scripts. Most of these are surprisingly recent. Space does not allow us to present and discuss the various, interesting, traditional narratives on the matter (except when they are directly relevant to issues of dating)—these will have to await a separate publication."
Based on a paper at the International Conference, Exploring Tibet’s History and Culture, 19th–21s... more Based on a paper at the International Conference, Exploring Tibet’s History and Culture, 19th–21st November 2009, Delhi University and the Central University for Tibetan Studies (CUTS); extracted from “William of Ockham, etc.”, Paris 2010
Proceedings of the Golden Jubilee Conference of the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, 2008
A Life in Tibetan Studies: Festschrift for Dieter Schuh at the Occasion of his 80th Birthday, 2022
Much ink has been spilled over the periods of 'spread' or 'diffusion' (snga dar and phyi dar) or ... more Much ink has been spilled over the periods of 'spread' or 'diffusion' (snga dar and phyi dar) or also 'translation' ('gyur) of Buddhism to Tibet. Some of the authors and editors of this felicitation volume, including the recipient, happen to have been involved in also clarifying the understudied intermediate period (creatively styled as the bar dar; see Schuh et al. 2017). Significantly less reflection has been exercised regarding the implied metaphors and models of diffusion etc. that are deployed in such emic and etic descriptions. There is a world of difference whether we speak, e.g., of Tibetan or Chinese Buddhism, or Buddhism in Tibet or China, let alone the essentialisation of Buddhism to begin with, before it supposedly 'spread' anywhere. Agricultural metaphors such as transplanting, taking root and grafting, are all-time favourites. We tend to take the main elements of such convenient shorthand characterisations for granted, such as Buddhism, Tibet, or China, as if these were stable and unproblematic designations (with the notable exception of the contentious and much debated political status of Tibet). In this article, I should like to initiate and partly also continue, and if possible, inspire, further reflection on the (etic) constructions of Buddhism as a Religious Studies category and so-called World Religion, in view of its emergence in or throughout Asia and beyond. I shall lay this out in bullet speak, only lightly annotated; without, for example, repeating the critiques on colonial entanglements of the discipline of Comparative Religion and concomitant notions of World Religions, or referencing details from the vast literature on patronage of Buddhism. For now, I shall mainly aim at the bigger picture, hopefully inducing a Gestalt switch of sorts, and recommend that it may be profitable to re-examine the tacit assumptions that are engaged when we refer to the ‘spread of Buddhism’ to Tibet or elsewhere, for opening up new vistas.
Bon and Naxi Manuscripts, Studies in Manuscript Cultures, 2023
Tibetan manuscripts in general, and Bon manuscripts in particular, are often characterised by ort... more Tibetan manuscripts in general, and Bon manuscripts in particular, are often characterised by orthographic inconsistencies and multiple contracted forms (Tib. bsdus tshig or bskungs yig). While these features may be a nuisance to the reader, they deserve to be analysed more systematically: it is possible that these heterodox spellings and other scribal peculiarities, far from being random errors, may represent local writing conventions. On the basis of an extended study of facsimile reproductions of Bon manuscripts from Bsam gling monastery in Dolpo, Nepal, this chapter aims to explore the best way forward towards defining
local orthographic styles and other codicological features. A major starting hypothesis to be tested is that ‘heterographies’ may help us to detect oral and written modes of transmission.
Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines: From Khyung lung to Lhasa, A Festschrift for Dan Martin Edited by Jonathan Silk & Leonard van der Kuijp, 2022
There is no or desperately little reliable early evidence to support the historicity of the grand... more There is no or desperately little reliable early evidence to support the historicity of the grand pre-Buddhist Bon Zhang zhung Empire of later Bon po sources and their western aficionados. Imagination is nonetheless plentiful. In the PIATS 2016, I discuss the oldest historical textual sources relevant to a heartland of Bon, which is variously conceptualised as Zhang zhung, Ta zig and 'Ol mo lung ring, with special reference to a central stronghold and main seat of power in Zhang zhung: the so-called Silver Castle of Garuḍa Valley or Khyung lung Dngul dNgul mkhar.
If one carefully examines the genealogy of knowledge and the history of invention of that grand Zhang zhung Bon Empire and its legendary Khyung lung castle, one cannot help but notice that our ideas about them derive from surprisingly late discourse, which postdates any relevant historical and geographical realities by a long stretch. The later Bon Zhang zhung literary construct is to be distinguished clearly from a probably historical and probably also small principality by the name of Zhang zhung, that is located west of Central Tibet, roughly centred on the Kailash area and that seems to have had a northern extension as well. But, interestingly, that historical Zhang zhung in its descriptions carries no significant Bon po associations and in time also significantly precedes Bon traditions as we know them now. ...
In the following, we will examine the earliest evidence for a ‘location’ of the origin of Bon, or at least for the origin of its narratives. We find those in non-Buddhist ritualistic narratives of the Dunhuang period. For an overview and analysis of Dunhuang historical narratives, I refer to PIATS 2006 (but see also Macdonald 1971). The analysis of ritualistic narratives is significantly more involved than that of historical sources. It requires fragile attempts at connecting clusters of narrative elements that in Dunhuang sources appear loosely assembled around important names and locations to the earliest, self-consciously Bon sources, such as the mDo ‘dus, the Klu ‘bum and other sources, with special attention to those names and locations, of course, that are already familiar from later strata of emerging Bon. The latter begin to emerge in around the 10th–11th century AD and thus may be closely contiguous with the redaction of Dunhuang materials. The nature of the rituals cannot be elucidated here, for reasons of space.
Dan Liever Dood: Over martelaren en hun religieuze drijfveren [I’d rather Die: About martyrs and their religious motivations], 2021
Concluding chapter: De ‘martelaarsdood’ is schokkend en ingrijpend, voor alle betrokkenen, en bew... more Concluding chapter:
De ‘martelaarsdood’ is schokkend en ingrijpend, voor alle betrokkenen, en beweegt mensen. Hij beroert zelfs buitenstaanders die niet vertrouwd zijn met het concept en de achterliggende narratieven. En deze bundel onderstreept nog eens, vooral in zijn vergelijkende aspecten met hindoeïstisch en boeddhistisch Azië, dat martelaarschap inderdaad een sterk historisch bepaald en cultuurgebonden begrip is. Het heeft een complexe ontstaansgeschiedenis in Abrahamitische contexten en wordt daarbinnen vooral bemiddeld door christelijk geïnspireerde vormen van discours. Deze bundel maakt ook nog eens duidelijk dat martelaarschap een omstreden begrip is, en bovendien een narratief dat voortdurend aan constructie en reconstructie onderhevig is. Wat voor de één een ‘nobele dood’ is, is voor de ander een laakbare praktijk. ['Martyrdom' is shocks and has impact, for everyone involved, and it moves people. It even touches outsiders who are not familiar with the concept and the underlying narratives. And this volume, especially in its comparative aspects with Hindu and Buddhist Asia, underlines once again that martyrdom indeed is a strongly historically determined and culturally bound concept. It has a complex genesis in Abrahamic contexts and is mainly mediated by Christian-inspired forms of discourse. This collection also confirms that martyrdom is a controversial concept, and moreover is a narrative that is constantly subject to construction and reconstruction. What is a 'noble death' for one person is a reprehensible act for another.]
Dan Liever Dood: Over martelaren en hun religieuze drijfveren [I’d rather Die: About martyrs and their religious motivations], 2021
Dit boek gaat over martelaarschap. Op het eerste gezicht lijkt dit een universeel begrip, maar bi... more Dit boek gaat over martelaarschap. Op het eerste gezicht lijkt dit een universeel begrip, maar bij nadere beschouwing is het misschien toch een sterk cultureel en historisch bepaalde notie. In deze bijdrage poog ik hierop te reflecteren door een select aantal mogelijke parallellen aan te dragen vanuit verschillende boeddhistische wereldbeelden. De hoofdvragen: is er in boeddhisme sprake van martelaarschap en kan boeddhistisch cultuurgoed iets verhelderen of toevoegen aan het huidige discours over martelaarschap? Ik zal beginnen met de oudste paradigmata, die voor het aanzien van boeddhisme het meest gezichtsbepalend zijn, om dan, in ruwe tijdsdoorsneden, een reis door Azië en tevens door millennia aan te vangen. Dit zal noodzakelijkerwijs een incomplete exercitie zijn. [This book is about martyrdom. At first glance, this may seem like a universal concept; but on closer examination, it may decloak as a strongly culturally and historically determined notion. In this contribution, I elaborate this, by presenting a select number of possible parallels from various Buddhist worldviews. The main questions: can we speak of martyrdom in Buddhism at all and can Buddhist cultural heritage clarify or add something to the current discourse on martyrdom? I shall start with the oldest paradigms, which also are prominent for the general outlook of Buddhism, and then, in rather coarse temporal cross sections, embark on a wide-ranging journey through Asia and also through millennia. This will therefore necessarily be a woefully incomplete exercise.]
Milinda/Asoka, 2020
De eerste publicatie in het Nederlands over het boeddhisme dateert, voor zover bekend, uit 1843. ... more De eerste publicatie in het Nederlands over het boeddhisme dateert, voor zover bekend, uit 1843. ‘Het buddhisme en zijn stichter’ van de doopsgezinde predikant dr. J.H. Halbertsma (1789-1869) verscheen in een oplage van 50 exemplaren en werd, gesigneerd door de auteur, verspreid onder vrienden en relaties. Halbertsma probeerde in zijn geschrift een parallel te trekken tussen Boeddha en Christus; een nieuwe benadering die een kantelpunt betekende in hoe men destijds tegen het boeddhisme aankeek. Nu, 175 jaar later, is het boeddhisme in Nederland gemeengoed geworden en is de naam Halbertsma nog niet vergeten. De bijdragen in dit boek schetsen de context en het tijdsbeeld waarin de publicatie van Halbertsma is ontstaan, met bijzondere aandacht voor de boeiende en soms obscure randverschijnselen waardoor deze historische tekst ook voor de hedendaagse lezer tot leven komt. Ten slotte wordt ook de positie en de geschiedenis van het boeddhisme in Nederland onder de loep genomen. Dit is de eerste uitgave in de reeks ‘De geschiedenis van het boeddhisme in Nederland’ en komt tot stand in samenwerking met het Nederlands Boeddhistisch Archief (NBA).
Milinda/Asoka, 2020
De eerste publicatie in het Nederlands over het boeddhisme dateert, voor zover bekend, uit 1843. ... more De eerste publicatie in het Nederlands over het boeddhisme dateert, voor zover bekend, uit 1843. ‘Het buddhisme en zijn stichter’ van de doopsgezinde predikant dr. J.H. Halbertsma (1789-1869) verscheen in een oplage van 50 exemplaren en werd, gesigneerd door de auteur, verspreid onder vrienden en relaties. Halbertsma probeerde in zijn geschrift een parallel te trekken tussen Boeddha en Christus; een nieuwe benadering die een kantelpunt betekende in hoe men destijds tegen het boeddhisme aankeek. Nu, 175 jaar later, is het boeddhisme in Nederland gemeengoed geworden en is de naam Halbertsma nog niet vergeten. De bijdragen in dit boek schetsen de context en het tijdsbeeld waarin de publicatie van Halbertsma is ontstaan, met bijzondere aandacht voor de boeiende en soms obscure randverschijnselen waardoor deze historische tekst ook voor de hedendaagse lezer tot leven komt. Ten slotte wordt ook de positie en de geschiedenis van het boeddhisme in Nederland onder de loep genomen. Dit is de eerste uitgave in de reeks ‘De geschiedenis van het boeddhisme in Nederland’ en komt tot stand in samenwerking met het Nederlands Boeddhistisch Archief (NBA).
Knowledge and Context in Tibetan Medicine (BTSL 43), 2019
Based on a wide cross section of Tibetan and Greco-Arab medical sources, Henk Blezer argues that ... more Based on a wide cross section of Tibetan and Greco-Arab medical sources, Henk Blezer argues that the articulations of the, apparently, novel category of “brown phlegm” disorders in Tibetan medicine may derive from an earlier Greco-Arab prototype of “black bile” disorders, particularly those of the hypochondriac subtype (that is, melancholia pertaining to the viscera below the sternal cartilage of the ribs, or in this case the diaphragm). The article builds on his earlier hypothesis, yet to be conclusively argued, that Tibetan canonical descriptions of “brown phlegm” disorders seem to show signs of a confluence or, perhaps, even a clash of “humoral” systems that seem to pertain to different medical epistemes (Greco-Arab and Indo-Tibetan in origin). He posits a plausible trajectory of development in the construction of “brown phlegm” disorders in Tibet, where treatises that presumably have developed later, eventually, seem to set the “brown phlegm” disorders apart as a so-called “combined disease” (that is a category of diseases in which several noxious substances, the so-called “humors”, appear together). Lastly, on a more speculative vein, the author addresses relevant surviving indications, if not traces, in Tibetan historical narratives for Greco-Arab influence on Tibetan medicine.
Ancient Civilisation of Tibet and its Inheritance —— Proceedings of First Beijing International Conference on Shang shung Cultural Studies, 2018
If evidence is weak, fragmentary or opaque, such as it rather notoriously is in our study of Zhan... more If evidence is weak, fragmentary or opaque, such as it rather notoriously is in our study of Zhang zhung before the tenth to eleventh century CE, from a heuristic and methodological point of view, the biggest obstacle in research may well be what we wittingly or unwittingly thought we knew, such as may be apparent in our explicit or implicit hypotheses, starting assumptions, personal biases or preferences and the like.
The discussion on Zhang zhung, much like that on so-called ‘early’ Bon, stands to benefit greatly from distinguishing clearly which source or register of data is being accessed. For example, late Bon or Buddhist religious historical narratives on Zhang zhung; references to Zhang zhung in Dunhuang sources; or ‘pre-Buddhist’ archaeological remains from (larger) Western Tibet, deemed to pertain to Zhang zhung, are not necessarily concerned with the same ‘Zhang zhung’, nor do they always resound from the same culture-historical registers. I shall argue that each of these major domains of data first needs to be discussed from its own contexts of use or occurrence and, if applicable, with a view on its emic or etic narrative framings. This way we can avoid rather ubiquitous anachronisms and the pitfalls of conflating what au fond may be only loosely or dis-connected or even incommensurable.
Just to be absolutely clear on the matter: I do not start from the assumption that any of the mentioned domains necessarily are incommensurable—far from it! But we should not assume that they are otherwise before we have thoroughly examined and appreciated (also) potential disconnects.
In my analyses, I start from the assumption that fully narrativised religious histories, to a much larger degree than we have been willing to accommodate, tend to be creative and inventive in their narrativisations of facts and events, and, more often than not, are not primarily concerned with events and chronologies, but also, and usually more significantly, with narrative vectors that reveal various ideological investments, factional framings & identities, and the like. I furthermore assume that so-called ‘invention of tradition’, in a Hobsbawmian/Rangerian sense, is not the exception but rather the rule: traditions that have survived for an extended period of time usually are ‘traditions of invention’.
Therefore, in genuinely Popperian spirit, especially when data are scarce and hard to come by, we should systematically scout for dissonances and disconnects, later historical overlays and reinventions, before historicising and, perhaps naively, correlating evidence from possibly dis¬parate domains and from various religious or academic registers of narration.
For these intents and purposes, I shall here survey some of my findings over the past few years of research on Bon and Zhang zhung. My research has specifically focussed on data from periods that are closely contemporaneous to the earliest events that, when it comes to releasing reliable facts on Zhang zhung, tantalisingly border on being underdetermined. I sincerely hope that these preliminary and admittedly fragile findings may contribute to an ongoing, constructively deconsctructive discussion on Zhang zhung and ‘early Bon’.
Henk Blezer
Leiden University
Amsterdam Free University
NB. merely an updated (bibliography) and edited version of LIRI, 2013.
Single file version; see also (Gurung and Rath). Selected proceedings of Bon, Shangshung, and Ear... more Single file version; see also (Gurung and Rath).
Selected proceedings of Bon, Shangshung, and Early Tibet, proceedings of the international conference on Bon, Shangshung, and early Tibet, SOAS, London, Sept. 9th–10th, 2011
Zhang zhung-related Scripts 'Zhang zhung' Royal Seal of Lig myi rhya Bon sgo, Vol.8 (1995), p.55 ... more Zhang zhung-related Scripts 'Zhang zhung' Royal Seal of Lig myi rhya Bon sgo, Vol.8 (1995), p.55 (discussed below) As stories go, in the good old days of Bon, larger or smaller parts of what we now call Tibet outshone the Yar lung dynasty. In the ancient, Western Tibetan kingdom of Zhang zhung, long-lived masters and scholars transmitted Bon lore in their own Zhang zhung languages. These were not only colloquial, but also literary languages, written in their native Zang zhung scripts, such as Smar chung and Smar chen. Documents supposedly were also extant in other varieties of scripts, called Spungs so chung ba and Spungs so che ba, which are said to derive-it is not clear how 1 In this paper we present some preliminary results and hypotheses based on a pilot study on Zhang zhung-related
From the Summary "In the ancient, Western Tibetan kingdom of Zhang zhung, long-lived masters and ... more From the Summary
"In the ancient, Western Tibetan kingdom of Zhang zhung, long-lived masters and scholars transmitted Bon lore in their own Zhang zhung languages. These were not only colloquial, but also literary languages, written in their native Zang zhung scripts, such as Smar chung and Smar extant in other varieties of scripts, called Spungs so chung ba and Spungs so che ba, which are said to derive—it is not clear how exactly—from a region called Ta zig, an area which generally is located somewhere in the far west, beyond the borders even of Western Tibet.
Where did these scripts come from and when did they first evolve? Can we tell at all, or is this one of those many bonpo enigmas that we simply cannot yet solve with sufficient certainty, another incentive, no doubt, to devote more research to those fascinating Bon religious historical narratives?
This article is mainly devoted to a preliminary examination of extant samples of the scripts. Most of these are surprisingly recent. Space does not allow us to present and discuss the various, interesting, traditional narratives on the matter (except when they are directly relevant to issues of dating)—these will have to await a separate publication."
Based on a paper at the International Conference, Exploring Tibet’s History and Culture, 19th–21s... more Based on a paper at the International Conference, Exploring Tibet’s History and Culture, 19th–21st November 2009, Delhi University and the Central University for Tibetan Studies (CUTS); extracted from “William of Ockham, etc.”, Paris 2010
Proceedings of the Golden Jubilee Conference of the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, 2008
Kloppen onze vooronderstellingen wat betreft onze eigen 'tolerantie' ten opzichte van andere reli... more Kloppen onze vooronderstellingen wat betreft onze eigen 'tolerantie' ten opzichte van andere religies als jodendom en islam, en de veelgeprezen geweldloosheid van anderen, zoals boeddhisten, wel? PERSPECTIEF | Henk Blezer Boeddhisme: 'de Ander'
Our place in the Mandala: who are we that we are interested in mindfulness, yoga and spirituality... more Our place in the Mandala: who are we that we are interested in mindfulness, yoga and spirituality?
In this minor on Buddhism, Yoga and Spirituality, together we explore the mainstreaming of mindfulness, yoga, and the flourishing of various forms of spirituality in an academic frame, including, self-reflexively, our own position. Both the culture dynamics of the reception history and the religious or spiritual content will be considered. In addition, those who feel so inclined will be given the opportunity to engage in some of the practices discussed, such as mindfulness and the practice of yoga. Applications in therapy, business and leadership will also be addressed.
Flyer VU Amsterdam Summer School 2019
Since the late nineteenth century, various forms of Buddhism have emerged from modernizing Asia a... more Since the late nineteenth century, various forms of Buddhism have emerged from modernizing Asia and, with apparent ease, have penetrated new cognitive, spiritual and cultural domains—many far removed from their origins, geographically as well as epistemically. But how has this happened? What does the most recent global rise of interest tell us about Buddhism, and what does it reveal about those who are interested in it? Outside Asia and Asian communities abroad, Buddhism has almost become synonymous with meditation. More often than not, Buddhism is framed as a 'science of the mind' or 'non-modern psychology'—as if it were not a contradiction in terms, given that psychology is the very flagship of modernity. The common language of popular Buddhism thus mostly derives from pop psychology. This language and particular mode of understanding indeed has become a prominent characteristic of global Buddhist modernism. So when and how did this hermeneutical practice arise? As you will have ample opportunity to discover on this course, these somewhat complex processes of framing have been going on for quite some time; in fact, almost since the very birth of psychology as a discipline. In the end, such preferred readings of Buddhism may reveal more about the receiving cultures and the rise of global modernity than they do about Buddhism in its 'original' Asian contexts. This course on Buddhism and Psychology thus provides a rare journey of self-discovery, touching the very core of modern self-understanding, across receiving cultures globally. A journey on which we critically examine everything we meet on our way, questioning modernist Buddhist assumptions, received wisdom of current Buddhist Studies discourse, and even some of the points of departure of this very course, and where needed fundamentally to revise or reframe them.
Flyer VU Amsterdam Summer School 2018
Since the late nineteenth century, various forms of Buddhism have emerged from modernizing Asia a... more Since the late nineteenth century, various forms of Buddhism have emerged from modernizing Asia and, with apparent ease, have penetrated new cognitive, spiritual and cultural domains—many far removed from their origins, geographically as well as epistemically. But how has this happened? What does the most recent global rise of interest tell us about Buddhism, and what does it reveal about those who are interested in it? Outside Asia and Asian communities abroad, Buddhism has almost become synonymous with meditation. More often than not, Buddhism is framed as a 'science of the mind' or 'non-modern psychology'—as if it were not a contradiction in terms, given that psychology is the very flagship of modernity. The common language of popular Buddhism thus mostly derives from pop psychology. This language and particular mode of understanding indeed has become a prominent characteristic of global Buddhist modernism. So when and how did this hermeneutical practice arise? As you will have ample opportunity to discover on this course, these somewhat complex processes of framing have been going on for quite some time; in fact, almost since the very birth of psychology as a discipline. In the end, such preferred readings of Buddhism may reveal more about the receiving cultures and the rise of global modernity than they do about Buddhism in its 'original' Asian contexts. This course on Buddhism and Psychology thus provides a rare journey of self-discovery, touching the very core of modern self-understanding, across receiving cultures globally. A journey on which we critically examine everything we meet on our way, questioning modernist Buddhist assumptions, received wisdom of current Buddhist Studies discourse, and even some of the points of departure of this very course, and where needed fundamentally to revise or reframe them.
Flyer VU Amsterdam Summer School 2017
Amsterdam Summer School: Course on Buddhism and Psychology From 8 to 22 July 2017 (course starts ... more Amsterdam Summer School: Course on Buddhism and Psychology
From 8 to 22 July 2017 (course starts Monday 10 July)
These are links to work in progress on a rare and interesting variety of Bon Chö (gcod), "Cutting... more These are links to work in progress on a rare and interesting variety of Bon Chö (gcod), "Cutting", the so-called Zab gcod (Profound Chö), of which I was fortunate to observe a performance in 2008, by one of the possibly last adepts of this tradition (a fragile tradition, threatened with extinction): Meme (Grandfather) Khemchok Dorje (then around 80 years old; also interviewed on the topic). Thanks to the kind collaboration of Bruno van den Bogaert and Rudi de Bleser (sic …!), and many others, there now are video recordings of this unique performance.
See links in PDF for radio interview (in Dutch).
A late calling ... All well considered, rather than venturing out on this huge undertaking on my ... more A late calling ... All well considered, rather than venturing out on this huge undertaking on my own resources, with an individual paper (or a series of them ...), I'd love to work on this with colleagues, and use the 2022 IATS in Prague as a kick-off meeting for a Brill publication. Also folks who would like to revisit earlier work on the topic are welcome (I know, it's not entirely new ;o).
This panel proposes to query the imaginings of the quotidian, the ordinary and flawed 'self', as they are implicit in medical discourses, ranging from articulations in terms of the 'faults' (or less accurately 'humours') all the way to affects related to disturbing spirits and demons. These classificatory systems, medical, demonological and the like, are every bit as complex as are perhaps more familiar (tantric) Buddhist and Bon articulations of personality traits, whether put in terms of disturbing emotions, the elements, and various other factors, paired with transcendent wisdoms and the like, or articulations in terms of subtle channels, centres, winds, droplets and what have you. And like in chos and bon conceptualisations, more than anything else it are the ordinary traits & flaws that define who we are as a person (in view of 'non-self', karma may best represent what and who we are, in a relative sense). Articulations of perfection, obviously also by pedagogical design, do not carry a convincing vector of personal identity; our afflictions, obscuration and flaws however, do so eloquently. Is awakening au fond the absence of ignorance & suffering, health is the absence of disease. In view of better known Buddhist and Bon typologies of 'the human' and their 'ideal types', it may be interesting to peel out assumptions that underlie the imaginings of our humanity and personal identity specifically from Tibetan medical discourses.
Dear colleagues, Allow me to share with you a preview of a somewhat experimental piece, formatte... more Dear colleagues,
Allow me to share with you a preview of a somewhat experimental piece, formatted as a Shorthand ‘long-form’ (never mind the paradox in the names), and open it for comments: https://preview.shorthand.com/Vs8IsiY2CyGXfyvi. It uses Shorthand visual storytelling techniques for communicating academic ideas to wider audiences in a much abbreviated manner.
While more customary in news media and other audience-driven commercial ventures, in academia this ‘soundbite’ visual approach no doubt is less common. This draft publication is the outcome of a stimulating and edifying, experimental workshop on ‘Fluids’, Fluid Matter(s), which convened December 15–17, 2017, in Canberra Australia, and was generously hosted by the Australian Centre for China in the World, at ANU. The ideas for this novel style of academic communication and for the workshop were conceived in ongoing dialogue between (and with) Shigehisa Kuriyama and Nathalie Köhle, and the conference was organised by the same and by Lena Springer (https://fluidmattersblog.wordpress.com/).
A question that every academic may occasionally have had to grapple with is: which information actually sticks when ‘reading’ (double entendre intended …) a complex paper, even if it is well presented and structured?
One obvious advantage of publishing in Shorthand is that it is, indeed, short and it does not demand much reading time and attention to convey the gist of the idea. Visual narration may moreover aid and facilitate that process. Yet the downside is obvious too: the format does not encourage or even allow laying out the densely annotated terrains that we are accustomed to traverse; and visual registers may also distract, and compete for the reader’s attention.
I would love to receive your reader’s impressions and comments on whether this format may be helpful for spreading academic ideas in an accessible, yet, hopefully also academically responsible manner. With the exponential growth of knowledge, retrievability and accessibility become ever more urgent issues.
Please note that this Shorthand preview has not yet been optimised for viewing on smartphones and the like: on a smartphone not all the graphics will appear properly centred. The manner of display of the footnotes still is under consideration. Also the picture credits still need to be formalised.
This publication has a special focus on ‘black bile’ and on problems related to mood disorders: from the old category of melancholia all the way across to its presumed ‘modernist’ offshoots, such as dysthymia and depressive disorders. It relates those to Buddhist framings of possibly overlapping human conditions, such as in Buddhist insight meditation, and to recent palliative, complementary mindfulness-based interventions, such as in MBCT approaches to depression.
Thanks and stay safe, Henk Blezer
Draft proposal prepared by Ganzevoort, Mosher, Bijlert, Altiner, Blezer, with input by several ot... more Draft proposal prepared by Ganzevoort, Mosher, Bijlert, Altiner, Blezer, with input by several others. The conference dates are yet to be determined. Temporarily uploaded in order to make it available for discussion elsewhere on Academia.
This is a call for fundamental reflection on environmentalism. We broach the topic from Religious Studies perspectives but enter into dialogue with specialists from other disciplines and practitioners from 'the field'. What, if anything, can Religious Studies contribute to our understanding of environmental issues? We encourage thinking outside the box, which has been dominated by theist notions of Stewardship and delimited by deeply cultural concepts that are foundational to that discourse, such as 'nature', 'humans/culture' and 'the divine'.
As stories go, in the good old days of Bon, larger or smaller parts of what we now call Tibet out... more As stories go, in the good old days of Bon, larger or smaller parts of what we now call Tibet outshone the Yar lung dynasty. In the ancient, Western Tibetan kingdom of Zhang zhung, long-lived masters and scholars transmitted Bon lore in their own Zhang zhung languages. These were not only colloquial, but also literary languages, written in their native Zang zhung scripts, such as Smar chung and Smar chen. Documents supposedly were also extant in other varieties of scripts, called Spungs so chung ba and Spungs so che ba, which are said to derive—it is not clear how