Joerg Heimbel - Tibetan Studies

Film Projects

2009-10-03T14:26:00.010+02:00

Last year I was involved in the translation of various interview material from the Dolpo region of Nepal for two documentary films directed by Jan Kerckhoff: "Über die höchsten Pässe der Welt - Mit einer Yak-Karawane durchs Dolpo" and "Yak!". The first film was screened in February 2009 on ARTE and the second will be shown on 17th October at 19:00 o'clock on Bayrisches Fernsehen. The latter movie was awarded by Nature Vision first place in the category "Bavarian Film Award" and with the second place for "Best Story".

This year I translated the speeches of H.H the Sakya Trizin and Klu sdings mKhan Rin po che for the DVD of the Inauguration Ceremony of the Sakya Institue of Vajrayana (12th November, 2008) in Manduwala (Dehradun, Uttarkhand, India) close to the Ngor Ma dgon which is now available.

Tibetan Bookstore, dPal brtsegs Publications

2009-09-17T16:39:00.004+02:00

For all of You who are interested in getting some of the great Tibetan language publications of the dPal brtsegs bod yig dpe rnying zhib 'jug khang, please don't hesitate to have a look at my newly set up Tibetan Bookstore at http://www.tibetanbookstore.org/

Sakya Research Centre

2009-08-16T21:39:00.007+02:00

Together with two colleagues of mine, I set up a new website providing various research material focussing on the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. Please have a look and feel free to comment and/or contribute.
Sakya Research Centre

PhD Candidate, University of Hamburg, Germany

2008-06-16T09:18:00.008+02:00

The Ngor Tradition: The Life of its Founder Ngor chen Kun dga' bzang po (1382-1456) and the History of its Main Monastic Seat, the Monastery Ngor E waṃ chos ldan
My research focuses on the foundation and historical development of the monastery Ngor E waṃ chos ldan and the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that originated from there, the Ngor pa school. The Ngor school is an important subdivision in the Sa skya tradition and is now considered as one of their three main sub-schools, along with the Sa skya tradition proper and the Tshar pa (sa ngor tshar gsum). The founder of the Ngor school and its head monastery was Ngor chen Kun dga' bzang po (1382–1456)—a great tantric master who was also known to be a strict monk upholding the vinaya rules. To revitalize Sa skya monasticism and religious practice, Ngor chen founded the monastery of E waṃ chos ldan in 1429 in the remote Ngor valley located around 20 km southwest of gZhis ka rtse. Under Ngor chen and his successors on the throne of Ngor, the monastery developed quickly to an important centre for tantric studies in the Sa skya tradition attracting students and patrons from many regions of Tibet. It became the main institution for the transmission of the Path with Its Fruit (lam 'bras) teachings—the main tantric cycle of the Sa skya tradition—according to its exoteric transmission in larger assemblies known as the "explication for the assembly" (tshogs bshad).
My project deals firstly with the life of Ngor chen Kun dga' bzang po and the foundation of Ngor E wam chos ldan on the basis of his compilatory biography by Sangs rgyas phun tshog (1649-1705): rGyal ba rdo rje 'chang kun dga' bzang po'i rnam par thar pa legs bshad chu bo 'dus pa'i rgya mtsho yon tan yid bzhin nor bu'i 'byung gnas. In the following the rise of Ngor and the Ngor pa school will be studied by means of different sources such as the biographies of individual Ngor abbots (many are available now for the first time) and the four gDan rabs' of Ngor monastery. Moreover, based on works by 'Jam mgon A myes zhabs Ngag dbang kun dga' bsod nams (1597-1659) and 'Jam dbyangs Blo gter dbang po (1847-1914) I hope to be able to elaborate some specific features of the Lam 'bras lineage of the Ngor school.

Related Publications:
"Biographical Sources for Researching the Life of Ngor chen Kun dga’ bzang po (1382–1456)"(forthcoming in Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines, Proceedings of the ISYT, Paris 2009)

Some Papers

2008-05-03T21:39:00.013+02:00

During my years of study in Tibetology and Social Anthropology at Hamburg University I prepared a couple of papers on different topics. With the hope that they might be of some interest and use for someone out there I uploaded them here.

Untersuchung zur Konstruktion des Mythos Tibet und seiner Rückwirkung auf die tibetische Diaspora Download

Bibliogaphie zu tibetischer Architektur / Bibliography on Tibetan Architecture Download

Freundschaftsbeziehungen in der Ethnologie. Eine Untersuchung veranschaulicht anhand von Freundschaftsbeziehungen unter Migranten in Westafrika Download

Untersuchung der Zusammenhänge zwischen Musik und Trance in Besessenheitskulten und im Schamanismus (Gilbert Rouget, Music and Trance – A Theory of the Relations between Music and Posession, 1985) Download

Bhangra und Asian Underground - Eine Betrachtung zweier Musikstile der südasiatischen Diaspora Großbritanniens

A khu sTon pa

2008-03-25T11:13:00.008+01:00

I posted a new blog dedicated to the Tibetan trickster and folk tale hero A khu sTon pa.
A khu sTon pa Blog

Pictures Tibet (2007)

2007-12-31T11:32:00.006+01:00

Some pictures of my recent travels in the Tibetan provinces of dBus, gTsang and Khams (sDe dge, dKar mdzes, gSer rta) in September and October 2007 are now online.

M.A.Thesis (2007): The Life and Works of the 5th gDong thog sPrul sku bsTan pa'i rgyal mtshan (b. 1933)

2007-10-31T21:59:00.007+01:00

The full German title of my M.A. thesis reads "Das Leben und Gesamtwerk des 5. gDong thog sPrul sku bsTan pa'i rgyal mtshan (geb. 1933): Eine Erschließung seiner Autobiographie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner Lebenszeit im indischen Exil und eine Zusammenstellung und Beschreibung seines bisherigen Gesamtwerkes".
The M.A. thesis is dedicated to the life and literary work of the outstanding Sa skya scholar and historian gDong thog sPrul sku bsTan pa'i rgyal mtshan (b. 1933), better known as T. G. Dhongthog Rinpoche. Born in 1933 in the region of Tre hor in Khams, Dhongthog Rinpoche was identified by Sa skya bDag chen Ngag dbang Kun dga' rin chen (1902-1950) as the rebirth of Ngag dbang kun dga' rgyal mtshan (1885-1933), the 4th gDong thog sPrul sku, and already in 1937 he was enthroned as the 5th sPrul sku of gDong thog Rig grol phun tshogs gling, a Sa skya monastery situated only some kilometres southeast of dKar mdzes town. Dhongthog Rinpoche studied in

Tibet

under numerous masters of different traditions considering Khang gsar mKhan chen Ngag dbang blo gros gzhan phan snying po (1876-1953) and rDzong gsar mKhyen brtse 'Jam dbyangs Chos kyi blo gros (1839-1959) as his two main spiritual masters. Under Chos kyi blo gros he studied for a total of around 3 years at the prominent scriptural seminary of rDzong gsar monastery, the Khams bye bshad grwa, in the region of sDe dge. Under the growing pressure of the Chinese communist occupation of Tibet, Dhongthog Rinpoche left his homeland in 1957 for India, where he continued his studies under Chos kyi blo gros, who already had escaped from Tibet in 1955, and upon whose advice he relied on bDud 'joms 'Jigs bral yes shes rdo rje (1904-1988) as his third main spiritual teacher. For more than 13 years Dhongthog Rinpoche served the Tibetan Government in Exile in different functions/numerous positions: among others he worked for the Tibetan Freedom Press in Darjeeling and was the librarian of the Tibet House in New Delhi. Disappointed by the conditions in some departments of the Tibetan Government in Exile, he followed the invitation of Sa skya Phun tshogs Pho brang bDag chen Kun dga' bsod

nams

(b. 1927) and immigrated in 1979 to the

United States of America

. Settling down in Seattle, he founded in 1987 the Sapaṇ Institute—a small institute dedicated to Buddhist studies and practice that also publishes works on Tibetan culture and religion. Regular travels lead Dhongthog Rinpoche numerous times to

India

and

Nepal

, to

Singapore

Malaysia

Taiwan

and different countries in Europe and once even back to

Tibet

. Dhongthog Rinpoche's life in

India

and the

U.S.A.

is characterized by his vast literary contributions. As a polymath, he composed numerous books, smaller writings and articles on Buddhist practice and doctrinal issues as well as astrological, grammatical, lexicographical, historical and biographical works. In the context of the controversy on the practice of rDo rje shugs ldan / Dol rgyal, Dhongthog Rinpoche, as a proponent of an anti-sectarian approach, wrote important refutations against the practice of this deity. As editor, he continuously published over the years numerous works and work collections. He, moreover, is a gifted poet and calligrapher. During his first years in

India

, he worked under Lokesh Chandra as a Tibetan scribe of printing plates in the International Academy of Indian Culture and wrote for more than 20 of his publications the lithographs by hand. In 2004 he published his autobiography, on which large parts of my thesis are based, looking back at his past life in a very detailed, straightforward and honest way. Nowadays Dhongthog Rinpoche is still living in Seattle and continues to engage in his scholarly activities.
Part I of this thesis gives an overview on the history of the Tre hor region as well as the gDong thog monastery and presents biographical sketches of the first four gDong thog sPrul skus. Part II provides an overview on the scarce previous research and available references on the life and works of Dhongthog Rinpoche. In Part III the autobiographical sources on Dhongthog Rinpoche are introduced. Part IV is dedicated to the eventful life of Dhongthog Rinpoche consisting in a summarized presentation on his lifetime in

Tibet

(1933-1957), a word by word translation of the chapter on his life in

India

(1957-1979) from his autobiography, and a summary on his life after his immigration to

America

(1979-2004). Part V gives an historical overview on the controversy concerning rDo rje shugs ldan and introduces Dhongthog Rinpoche's contributions in the scope of this debate. Part VI is dedicated to Dhongthog Rinpoche's writings and lists in an annotated bibliography all the works in which he functioned as author, editor or translator and also gives a descriptive catalogue on all the works he authored. Four appendices and a bibliography conclude the thesis. I plan to publish my M.A. thesis in English in the near future.

Bibliography of Dhongthog Rinpoches works (German) Download
M.A. Thesis:
Table of Contents (German) Download
Table of Contents (English) Download

Projects

2007-10-31T21:57:00.003+01:00

Translation of Tibetan folk stories of A khu ston pa (A khu ston pa, 2002, Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang)
Translation of histories of Tibetan monasteries:

dPal 'brug pa'i gdan sa ra lung me tog mdangs 'phrog dgon gyi gnas yig bsdus pa

Compiling elements of Colloquial Tibetan

Field Research Training in Kathmandu,Nepal (2005)

2007-10-31T21:09:00.003+01:00

In connection with my studies in Social Anthropology I did a two month field research training (Feldforschungspraktikum) in two Thangka Painting Schools in Kathmandu in January and February 2005. In the Tsering Art School and the Dharmapala Thangka Center I did some research on the two schools' history, the biographies of their main teachers, the composition of the body of students and the schools curriculum. Moreover I worked on differences between a "real" / "original" Thangka and a Tourist-Thangka by also taking the perspectives of the artist, practitioner and buyer in to account. The results of my field research training I put together in the field research account "Thangkamalerei in Kathmandu: die Tsering Art School und das Dharmapala Thangka Center - Eine Untersuchung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Thangkas als Touristenware".

Feldforschungspraktikum / Field Research Training (German) Download