Comments on: Christianity in early Tibet http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/ Notes, thoughts and fragments of research on the history of Tibet Sun, 06 May 2012 02:21:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: allenstrouse http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-2206 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:49:00 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-2206 fascinating!

]]> By: MatthewTan http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-1894 Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:41:58 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-1894 More,

http://www.pacificrim.usfca.edu/research/pacrimreport/pacrimreport36.html

Pacific Rim Report No. 36, December 2004
When Christianity and Lamaism Met: The Changing Fortunes of Early Western Missionaries in Tibet
by Hsiao-ting Lin

]]> By: MatthewTan http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-1893 Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:20:06 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-1893 Look up for the following on newadvent.org
1911-1912 encyclopedia.

• CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Tibet
Includes information on geography, history, and missions.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14718a.htm
• CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Agra
The Archdiocese of Agra is an outcome of the Tibet Mission, which was the first regularly established in this part of India. Pellegrino da Forli in his …
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01225a.htm
• CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Evariste Regis Huc
Since the travels of the Englishman, Thomas Manning, in Tibet (1811-1812), no foreigner had visited Lhasa. The authenticity of Huc’s journey was disputed …
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07510a.htm

]]> By: Jonathan Jarrett http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-589 Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:22:52 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-589 Ach: just found the FAQ. I do apologise.

]]> By: Jonathan Jarrett http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-588 Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:21:52 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-588 Fascinating stuff; this is like discovering the Christian mission to Kerala in India for me, just never knew about anything this far east. Could you provide a reference for the finds of Syriac MSS in Tibetan cave explorations? It would be a wonderful thing to be able to cite. Thanks for your efforts so far.

]]> By: Frog in a Well - The Korea History Group Blog http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-587 Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:03:22 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-587 [...] The Early Tibet blog offers a look at Christianity in Early Tibet and evidence that shows the work of missionaries there and in Central [...]

]]> By: earlytibet http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-464 Tue, 25 Dec 2007 20:04:10 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-464 Or should that be Ho Ho? At least nobody has yet accused St Nick of travelling to Tibet.

Merry Christmas to you too!

]]> By: Dab http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-457 Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:04:27 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-457 Dear Early,

OK, now that you’ve given in an inch, I can just say that you’re probably perfectly correct that it’s a Christian cross. Well, at the very least just a little bit. Ha ha :->])

Merry Christmas!
- † Dab

]]> By: earlytibet http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-440 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:26:39 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-440 I guess that unless the Uighur scribbles on J 766 turn out to be saying “here is a Christian cross,” you are within your rights to maintain your sceptical stance. And it’s true that cultural conditioning is a factor in our immediate reaction to these percepts (though I’m not sure that you or I haven’t seen and received the imprints of as many a crossed vajra as a crucifix). Still, we have the rational capacity to think around our conditioning, I hope. So I do agree–just a little bit.

]]> By: Dab http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-439 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:15:25 +0000 http://earlytibet.com/2007/12/02/christianity-in-early-tibet/#comment-439 Dear Early,

It’s been fun crossing swords. But one final thrust and parry if you will permit. Underlying the presence of the crossed Vajra as the basis for the mandala is the (simple, totally non-Christian) cross, composed of the first two lines that are drawn as part of the construction of the mandala. That’s the four-path of the Indian texts.

I didn’t intend to make a crossed-vajra vs. Nestorian cross comparison. That’s your contribution. I just wanted to call attention to the fact that there were crosses in Indian & Tibetan culture that did and do have nothing to do with Christianity. Therefore, a wider social context in which Christianity was a (mere?) possibility is not enough to tell me that a cross is a Christian cross, regardless of the number of balls on the ends of the arms, not in the absence of a more specific context. In the case of a manuscript “cross,” it ought to have confirmation in the writing on that manuscript (and in the same ink and penmanship). That people brought up in Christian countries have minds that refuse to acknowledge the non-cross-ness of crosses is just a result of their imprinting. It’s an instant reflex. (The same principle is at work in the ‘recognition’ of other symbols…) Likewise, seeing some of those embroidered Asian/Nestorian crosses, as a Tibetan Buddhist I would be able to see nothing but mandalas, and nobody could tell me otherwise. Go ahead, tell me I’m silly, and that they are really crosses. I’d answer you that if that’s the case they must have copied them from our mandalas after all.

Cultural conditioning is powerful stuff, even when taken in moderation. Don’t you agree just a little bit?

Yours,
Dab

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