The Himalayan range from the Terai

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The Himalayan range from the Terai (What the
Buddha could see on a clear day, from a
foothill...)
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(Re)-Constructing the Pastwith Asians having
little voice as Europeans had dominating power
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Edward Said Knowledge is always connected to
power in colonial era scholarship aimed to
define, contain, and control the East in the
popular Western imagination.
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Napoleon invades Egypt, 1801
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British in Burma, 1908
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Colonialism is built on the control of the world,
both culture and nature Expertise to aid in the
colonial project defines to some extent the
origins of scholarship on the region.
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Early Authorities and Interpreters of Asians,
their cultures, religions
Curzon, 1911
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Expeditions of exploration/expropriations
Aurel Stein in Central Asia
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Dutch teahouse built on the Buddhist Stupa of
Borobodur
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Stereotypes and Attitudes from the colonial past
endure to the present ORIENTALISM IN THE
POST-COLONIAL WORLD
Treatments of The West
Our Oriental Heritage
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Asian sacred teachings/texts converted in modern
media to clichés sages, holy men portray as
fools
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Dismissive of Asia, Asians, Asian religions
Go ahead! Ask me and see if I am not as smart as
any holy man.
Hey! If I knew the meaning of life, would I be
sitting here in my underpants?
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OrientalismExpropriation of Buddhism to the
West for marketing
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Etc. etc.
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• (Getting it Completely wrong)

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Expropriation of Asian traditions Global
Medicine
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II. Hyper- Idealizing mode of Orientalism

• Hyper-idealization of Asian Peoples, Religions

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New York Times Magazine One Year ago...
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Case Study
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1950
1984
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Case Study
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The Original Film FRANK CAPRA

• Premiered in San Francisco on March 2,1937
  Opened in New York City March 3, 1937 Opened in
  Los Angeles March 10, 1937General release,
  September 1, 1937
• Multiple versions of the film exist
• 118 minute version (early Television broadcasts)
• 134 minute reconstructed version (available on
  DVD AMAZON.COM )
• 95 minute version for 1952 reissue and early
  Television broadcast.
• 180 minute version (original cut, with Ronald
  Coleman onboard a ship with flashback to
  Shangra-La. No known versions of this original
  cut are known to exist. )

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LOST HORIZON The Sequel1973
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• Pauline Kael To lambaste a Ross Hunter
  production is like flogging a sponge.
• Roger Ebert The worst single piece of cinema
  and choreography you've ever seen in your life.
  The dancers march about and twirl their scarves
  as if Leni Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will had
  somehow been gotten pregnant by Busby Berkeley.
• Phil Hall Lost Horizon is a sincere but inert
  bore, a good idea that went nowhere strictly
  because it lacked the imagination to fly... The
  right ingredients in the wrong pot that no one
  bothered to heat.

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Idealizing Discourse of Western converts
reduction of Buddhism to Meditation and
Philosophywith disinterest in ritual
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Return to the FRONTIER ANALYSIS Cultural
middlemen who first brought Buddhism and Hinduism
to The West were often marginal to both
societies Some were rogues, scholarly poseurs,
seekers on the new frontier of Asia.
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• Rules for Doing Comparative Religion
• Original formulation by Rev. Krister
  Stendahl further development by Prof. Todd
  Lewis
• 1. People represent themselves.
• Comment Bear no false witness. Read original
  texts. Hear from believers directly.
• 2. Compare like to like match level to level.
• Comment When comparing ideal teachings,
  carefully match your ideal with the others
  ideal(s).
• Beware of comparing your ideal to the others
  real, and vice versa.
• 3. Base Comparison on the center of the Bell
  Curve,
• not those on the far ends ??????
• 4. 'Holy envy' is OK.
• Comment How could the world religions survive
  so long without offering sources of inspiration?
  There is much to admire in other faiths
  scholasticism, spiritual exercises, ethical
  stands, etc. In other words, one need not hate
  all others to love one's own spouse faithfully.
• 5. Faith in the Golden Rule.
• Comment Loving kindness was articulated by the
  Indian and Chinese sages centuries before Christ.
  The Golden Rule of treating others as one would
  like to be treated is universal. Extending
  oneself with empathy and respect will be
  reciprocated by similar attitudes from all people
  of good will.
• 6. Hypothesis God may Enjoy Diversity.

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II

• Pioneer Scholars/Scholarsof Tibetan Buddhism

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Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz (1878 1965)
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Lama Govinda (1898-1985)
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Lobsang Rampa, aka Cyril Hoskins (1910-1981),
wrote 'The Third Eye', a bestseller in 1955
Hoskin told the press that he'd been knocked out
when he had fallen out of a tree in Surrey and
when he came to the Tibetan monk took over his
body.
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NICHOLAS ROERICH(1874 - 1947)
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AN ASIDE Theosophy
Western Mystical Esotericism

• Madame Helena Blavatsky in 1888 published her
  major work The Secret Doctrine, an attempt...to
  reconcile science, the Ancient Wisdom, and human
  culture through...cosmology, history, religion,
  and symbolism. The chief aim is to reconcile all
  religions, sects and nations under a common
  system of ethics, based on eternal verities.
  "...the ecstatic trance of mystics and of the
  modern mesmerists and spiritualists, are
  identical in nature, though various as to
  manifestation." "

Blavatsky claims she spent several years in Tibet
and India being initiated into occult mysteries
by various "masters"  (mahatmas or adepts) who
were said to dwell in the Himalayas, Egypt, Tibet
and other exotic places
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Theosophy Powerful Influence on Buddhist
Modernism

• If you ask how we should organize, I point you
  to our great enemy Christianity, and bid you to
  look at their large and wealthy Bible, tract,
  Sunday School, and Missionary Societies the
  tremendous agencies they support and keep alive
  to spread their religion. We must form similar
  societies, and make our most practical and honest
  businessmen their managers. Christians spend
  millions to destroy Buddhism we must spend to
  defend and propagate it. We must call upon the
  whole nation. Col Henry Stele Olcott

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Alexandra David-Neel (1868-1969)
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Heinrich Harrer (1912-2006)
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Guiseppe Tucci (1894-1984)
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III

• Issues and Problems in Tibetan Buddhist Studies
  Today

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