Anna Sehnalova | University of Oxford (original) (raw)

Papers by Anna Sehnalova

This paper aims to contribute to the debate of the ‘social’ and ‘religious’ as finely intertwined... more This paper aims to contribute to the debate of the ‘social’ and ‘religious’ as finely intertwined domains in both cosmological understandings and actual practice, within which we can find certain resonances and actual similarities between imperial Tibet and present-day East Tibet. The work does not examine the concepts of the ‘social’ and the ‘religious’ theoretically but rather tries to point out to the multiple intrinsic ‘social’ dimensions inherently embedded in what is commonly etically conceptualised as ‘religion.’
The case I study is the burial practices of social elites. These practices clearly manifest high or the highest social status and supremacy of political power. Hence they reveal notions of social arrangements and stratification, and yet Western academic audiences usually view them primarily as religious ritual. In this paper, I suggest reconsider these notions and practices and thus revealed perceptions of kingship and rulership, social power and identity, ancestry and progeny, prosperity and territorial integrity as prevalently ‘social’ and ‘political’ elements. Within these elements arise traditions of ancestor cults that derive from and also govern local social order and organisation in terms of both kinship and social hierarchy, in contrast to the transcendentalism of the universal doctrine of Buddhism. They pertain to treasures (gter) and perceived forces of vitality and prosperity, above all bla and g.yang. The article draws attention to significant cultural continuities of divine noble ancestry and kingship, territorial divinities (yul lha, gzhi bdag, etc.), funerary treatments, and specific treasure practices.

In: Hazod, Guntram, Christian Jahoda, and Mathias Fermer (eds.). 2022. The Social and the Religious in the Making of Tibetan Socieites. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 221-282.

Glimpses of The Oral History of Tibetan Studies

Buddhist Studies Review, 2021

The Oral History of Tibetan Studies (OHTS) project collects memories of individuals who have cont... more The Oral History of Tibetan Studies (OHTS) project collects memories of individuals who have contributed to the formation of Tibetan Studies as an independent academic discipline in the second half of the twentieth century. Through interview recordings, it explores two aspects: the development of the discipline itself, and the distinctive life-stories of the individuals involved. The project includes scholars and academics, Tibetan teachers and traditional scholars, artists, photographers, book publishers, and sponsors. The oral testimonies also provide crucial information on related academic fields, such as Buddhist and Religious Studies, Anthropology, and Asian Studies more generally, and present a kaleidoscope of broader social, cultural, and educational developments. Of particular interest is the interconnection with Buddhist Studies, as exemplified in the UK and through links with the International Association of Buddhist Studies. This report aims to introduce the project, its open access online archive, and future plans.

Inner Asia, Volume 21: Issue 2, pp. 216–282, 2019

The paper focuses on one of the most sacred mountains of Tibet, A-myes-rma-chen, located in east ... more The paper focuses on one of the most sacred mountains of Tibet, A-myes-rma-chen, located in east Tibet (contemporary mGo-log Prefecture, Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China). It deals mainly with two topics: the ongoing vivid revitalisation of the cult of the mountain and its deity since the Cultural Revolution, and how this interacts with the current changes at the site due to state-planned modernisation and development within the 'Great Development of the West' (Xibu da kaifa) strategy extensively implemented since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Particular attention is paid to the recent great circumambulation pilgrimage to A-myes-rma-chen, performed once every 12 years in a Horse Year, which took place in 2014/15, in the Horse Year 2143 of the Tibetan calendar. The article shows the present form of the pilgrimage, its reflection of and accustomisation to these changes, and the resulting quick transformation of the institution of pilgrimage. Pilgrims' and local people's understandings and views, alterations and modifications of their behaviour and pilgrimage practice, as well as actual reactions, are discussed. The article argues that the site of A-myes-rma-chen is currently being reinterpreted by the state in a secularised, commodifying and territorialising discourse in order to incorporate the area more closely, both politically and culturally. A-myes-rma-chen thus represents a space contested by different cultural and interest groups.
https://brill.com/view/journals/inas/21/2/inas.21.issue-2.xml

Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines, no. 52, Octobre 2019, pp. 5-45, 2019

This article is dedicated to the memory of our beloved teacher, Tsering Gonkatsang (1951-2018), with whom I read parts of the mendrup recipe, and whom we lost too early.

ERRATA LIST p. 170, 171: Nyépa – should be in italics ! p. 179, Table 6 (line 2, column 5): "béke... more ERRATA LIST
p. 170, 171: Nyépa – should be in italics
! p. 179, Table 6 (line 2, column 5): "béken (earth, water)" – should be replaced by: "The cold and cooling water medicine:"
p. 179, 181-182, Table 6: Cyananthus spp.; Delphinium sp.; Morina sp.; Cremanthodium sp.; Aucklandia lappa – all should be in italics

Sehnalova, Anna. 2019. Medicinal Mandala: Potency in Spatiality. HIMALAYA 39(1): 164-188. In a special thematic section on “Approaching Potent Substances in Medicine and Ritual across Asia”, guest co-edited by Barbara Gerke and Jan M. A. van der Valk.

This article explores the complexities of accomplishing potency, nüpa (nus pa), within a Tibetan healing, rejuvenation, and longevity ritual practice known as ‘medicinal accomplishment,’ mendrup (sman sgrub). The study is based on the observation and examination of the Light-Swirled Mendrup performed in the Tibetan exile Bonpo community in Nepal in 2012. The mendrup represents a meditative sādhana practice, which involves the production and consecration of ritual materia medica derived from the Tibetan medical Sowa Rigpa tradition as well as Buddhist tantric heritage. The article analyzes the generation of potency based on spatiality within the mendrup ritual—the potency of the ritual itself and of its main substance, the consecrated ritual materia medica referred to as ‘mendrup medicine.’ It argues that within its cosmological scheme, the mendrup ritual follows a spatial pattern of categorization of substances that impacts their potency based on their pharmacological properties and effects. This categorization reflects the ritual’s categorization of diseases. The ritual incorporates various spheres of knowledge into its notions of potency, such as medicine, pharmacy, and botany. The organizational cosmological scheme of the ritual, with its central mandala comprising the five directions and the five fundamental elements, structures the space of the ritual, and also its consecrated medicines. The scheme structures and generates the potency of the ‘mendrup medicine’ substance. Other aspects co-create the potency: the deities invoked, the acting religious figures and their blessings, suitable medicinal ingredients used, the right ‘fermenting agent,’ the depth of meditation of the performers, proper empowerment practices, and the time and space of the rite. This study shows that it is also the allocation of specific substances into particular spatial arrangements that makes them potent, especially in relation to the whole of the ritual space. The Bonpo Light-Swirled Mendrup creates this structure of potency through its fivefold mandalic scheme typical of tantric ritual.

Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines, Number 50, Juin 2019 - Tibetan Religion and the Senses, edited by James Gentry, 2019

History of Science in South Asia, special issue Transmutations: Rejuvenation, Longevity, and Immortality Practices in South and Inner Asia, edited by Dagmar Wujastyk, Suzanne Newcombe, and Christèle Barois, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 143-180., 2017

The article presents the traceable history of the Tibetan Bonpo mendrup ritual practice in textua... more The article presents the traceable history of the Tibetan Bonpo mendrup ritual practice in textual sources, as it has been recorded by the Bonpos themselves. These records are put into context with the current performance of the practice by the Bonpo exile community.
The study aims to embrace all the relevant Bonpo historical material accessible, and thus deals with documents of a wide time spam, from the eleventh or twelfth century onwards until the early twentieth century. The Bonpo mendrup is a healing, longevity, rejuvenation and enlightenment-seeking contemplative meditational practice of the Tibetan tantric tradition with a strong emphasis on its medicinal component. It embodies various spheres of knowledge and their principles, as the Indian tantrism, a strong Buddhist cosmological organisational and soteriological framework, the Tibetan medical tradition, with embedded elements of alchemy and Tibetan indigenous religious notions. As the studied sources reveal, its origin can be traced to the intellectually vibrant times in Tibet of around the twelfth century, where all these fields of expertise came together. Thus the case provides an example of such a complex composed of tantra, medicine and alchemic influences specific for Tibet.
Since then, the Bonpo mendrup can be followed by varied records in a number of Bonpo literary sources of different genres. These are compared with the present form of the ritual. The sources support the ritual’s anticipated transmission and practice throughout the history. They show that different ideas apply to its origin, and particularly its revelation as a treasure text, and that the ritual existed in varied forms, and was shared and imparted among different lineages of Bon. The most important finding is that the practice is actually traceable throughout the history, and likely have never ceased to be active over the centuries from the very early times until today.

Nový Orient (Journal of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague), vol. 72, no. 2, pp. 17-26, 2017

Introduction to Tibetan Medicine II.: Fundamental Principles

Nový Orient (Journal of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague), vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 41-48, 2015

Introduction to Tibetan Medicine I.: Historical Overview and the Gyüzhi Treatise

Nový Orient (Journal of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague), LXVII, 1, pp. 20-23, 2012

Nový Orient (Journal of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague), LXIII, 1, pp. 22-24, 2008

Talks and talk series by Anna Sehnalova

Wolfson College Oxford, Tibetan and Himalayan Studies Centre, 2019

The seminar is focused on the Tibetan treasure traditions within an interdisciplinary perspective... more The seminar is focused on the Tibetan treasure traditions within an interdisciplinary perspective, with the aim of coming to a better understanding of their possible origins. As Tibet sits at the crossroads of inter-cultural communication, it is important to understand the nature of South and East Asian influences on Tibetan traditions, as well as the extent to which indigenous traditions have been preserved. Moreover, since the treasure traditions are related to the anthropological problem of value, we aim to examine this dimension, in order to avoid the danger of confusing an anthropological universal with a cultural influence.

Asian Treasure Traditions Seminar Series, University of Oxford, 2019

Media by Anna Sehnalova

Lidé a Země (Prague), vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 56-63, 2015

Pro většinu cestovatelů je nepálské Horní Dolpo téměř mytický kraj. Horské pastviny, na kterých s... more Pro většinu cestovatelů je nepálské Horní Dolpo téměř mytický kraj. Horské pastviny, na kterých se prohánějí stáda jaků, křišťálově čisté řeky razící si cestu hlubokými kaňony mezi zasněženými štíty. Jaká je ale skutečnost?
Krajina posetá malovanými buddhistickými stúpami, v níž cestu ukazují modlitební praporky a kameny s vytesanými mantrami. Vesnice se starými kamennými domy, které připomínají orlí hnízda, a s Tibeťany v tradičním oblečení. Jedno z posledních míst na zemi, kde nejsou žádná auta, silnice a elektřina je tam vzácností. Tak prezentuje Horní Dolpo nepálská vláda.

Lidé a Země (Prague), vol. 61, no. 2, pp. 100-108, 2012

Každý rok uprostřed místního léta, tedy 24. ledna, se centrum bolivijské metropole La Paz na jede... more Každý rok uprostřed místního léta, tedy 24. ledna, se centrum bolivijské metropole La Paz na jeden den změní v obrovský trh miniatur. Hlavní náměstí a okolní ulice jsou lemovány stánky a místo aut se ulice plní indiány z města i širšího okolí. Všichni nakupují zmenšeniny nejrůznějších předmětů a doufají, že si prostřednictvím miniatur zajistí blahobyt a štěstí v příštím roce. Nadešel jeden z nejoblíbenějších svátků roku, Alasitas. Slaví ho Ajmarové a Kečuové, původní indiánští obyvatelé andské náhorní planiny Altiplano. Svátek má původ v dávných dobách. Archeologické nálezy dokazují, že miniatury byly k rituálním účelům používány ve starých andských kulturách po tisíce let. Měly zajistit blahobyt a štěstí v příštím roce.