A Lotus Blooms in the End Times: Cosmological Topography and the Tibetan State
The ruler of the central Tibetan state, the Desi Sangyé Gyatso (1653-1705), recognized its capital city of Lhasa as having the radial form of an eight-petaled flower or eight-spoked wheel. This article examines the Desi’s writings to reflect on the relationship between symbolically ordered space and...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Year: 2020, Volume: 88, Issue: 4, Pages: 1049-1086 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The ruler of the central Tibetan state, the Desi Sangyé Gyatso (1653-1705), recognized its capital city of Lhasa as having the radial form of an eight-petaled flower or eight-spoked wheel. This article examines the Desi’s writings to reflect on the relationship between symbolically ordered space and cosmology. Scholars have often explained such spaces as representing a cosmological model, assigning that model the role of a static foundation and distancing it from human activity. This Tibetan case is read as evidence for another way of thinking about cosmological topography, namely as a creative process in a self-consciously critical relationship with its encompassing world. At stake is the general question of how humans both inhabit the cosmos and actively participate in ordering it. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfaa047 |