RT Article
T1 Assessing and Adapting Rituals That Reproduce a Collectivity  The Large-Scale Rituals of the Repkong Tantrists in Tibet
JF Religion and society
VO 9
IS 1
SP 160
OP 175
A1 Sihlé, Nicolas
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1585175056
AB Tantrists, non-monastic religious specialists of Tibetan Buddhism, constitute a diffuse, non-centralized form of clergy. In an area like Repkong, where they present a high demographic density, large-scale supra-local annual ritual gatherings of tantrists are virtually synonymous with, and crucial for, their collective existence. In the largest of these rituals, the ‘elders' meeting' is in effect an institutionalized procedure for evaluating the ritual performance, its conditions and effects, and, if necessary, for adjusting aspects of the ritual. At a recent meeting, the ‘elders' decided to abandon a powerful and valued but violent and problematical component of the ritual, due to its potential detrimental effects on the fabric of social relations on which the ritual depends for its continued existence. Thus, a highly scripted, ‘liturgy-centered' ritual (per Atkinson) can be adapted to the social context. The specialists of these textual rituals demonstrate collectively an expertise that extends into the sociological dynamics surrounding the ritual.
K1 Tibetan Buddhism
K1 Conflict
K1 liturgical ritual
K1 ritual aggression
K1 ritual assessment
K1 ritual change
K1 Ritual violence
K1 tantrists
DO 10.3167/arrs.2018.090112