Feeling the Way to Revelation
Patterns of Doubt and Persuasion in Tibetan Buddhist Auto/biographical Treasure Narratives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9205309 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dominique Townsend (Interdisciplinary Study of Religions, Bard College Annandale-On-Hudson, NY USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 5-6 |
| Pages | 513-539 |
| Publication date | 2021-09-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Numen (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0029-5973 • E-ISSN: 1568-5276 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/15685276-12341638 |
| OpenAlex | W3203835928 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 12 |
In the Tibetan Buddhist Treasure ( gter ma ) tradition, communities cohere around the marking of certain visions as offering insight into the proper method of ritual practices, the veracity of reincarnation claims, decisions about institutional structures, assertions of lineage relationships, and most importantly for the purposes of this article, the phenomenology of Buddhist enlightenment for readers lacking such experience. There is a long and robust history of doubt around such visions and their narrative accounts. Doubters seek to debunk and disenfranchise those whose visions they dispute. This article analyzes the emotional dynamics and aesthetic charge of five exemplary visionary accounts from the 17th–20th century, with a focus on how doubts are overcome through intense positive sensory experiences within their life stories. Such narratives generate a sense of religious belonging in Tibetan Buddhist Treasure communities, beginning with the visionary him- or herself whose successful navigation of doubt is resolved by the persuasive power of intensely positive aesthetic experience
Aesthetics · Art · Buddhism · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Literature · Narrative · Revelation · Sociology · Treasure · Vision · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · History · History of Emotions Research · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Philosophy
Contemporary Art and the Politics of Aesthetics
Communities of Absence
Apparitions of the Self
Love Letters from Golok
Feeling Apart
Love and Liberation
Buddhist Ritual as “Connectionwork
The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism
The Life of Milarepa
The Logic of Legitimation in the Tibetan Treasure Tradition
The History of Emotions
Revisiting the "Secret Consort" (gsang yum) in Tibetan Buddhism
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2021 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |