Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity

Following the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution, the People's Republic of China gradually permitted the renewal of religious activity. Tibetans whose traditional religious and cultural institutions had been decimated during the preceding two decades, took advantage of the decisions of 1978 to begin a Buddhist renewal that is one of the most extensive and dramatic examples of religious revitalization in contemporary China. The nature of that revival is the focus of this book. The authors discuss ways that Tibetan Buddhists are restructuring their religion through a complex process of social, political, and economic adaptation. These essays reveal not only the vibrancy of that ancient religion in contemporary Tibet but also the problems that religion and Tibetan culture in general are facing in a radically altered world.