... play an important role in Bangladeshi politics, which has historically oscillated between an 'Islamic' pole, represented by the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and the spe... more abstract... play an important role in Bangladeshi politics, which has historically oscillated between an 'Islamic' pole, represented by the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and the specifically Islamic parties, and a more secular and 'Bengali' polarity, represented by the Awami League and ...

Cultural Studies and Law

Publication Date: 2010

Publication Name: Women's Studies International Forum

Cultural Studies and Material culture of religion

Publication Date: 2012

Publication Name: Culture and Religion

In our research with young Bangladeshis, we have been repeatedly struck by the popularity of television, DVD and Internet material that offers a modernist, quasi-scientific defence of Islamic knowledge against both ‘w... more abstractIn our research with young Bangladeshis, we have been repeatedly struck by the popularity of television, DVD and Internet material that offers a modernist, quasi-scientific defence of Islamic knowledge against both ‘western’ scientific criticisms and US fundamentalist Christians. The South Indian doctor Zakir Naik's programmes, broadcast on his own television channel (Peace TV) and also available widely on DVD, are

Climate Change, Multidisciplinary, United Kingdom, and Contemporary South Asia

Publication Date: 2010

Publication Name: Contemporary South Asia

Note: I have now replaced the earlier version of this paper with the published (and considerably revised) version, also downloadable from the open-access journal Religions (mdpi.com/journal/religions/), where it forms... more abstractNote: I have now replaced the earlier version of this paper with the published (and considerably revised) version, also downloadable from the open-access journal Religions (mdpi.com/journal/religions/), where it forms part of a special issue on Science and Religion: Buddhist and Hindu Perspectives.

Buddhism, Neuroscience, Science

More Info: Keynote Lecture for Buddhism and Science Workshop, University of Toronto, Scarborough, 12 April 2013 (revised version with error in workshop date corrected)

Ecology, Environment, Buddhism

More Info: This was a lecture given at the Seymour Centre, University of Sydney, on 20 September 2010, as part of the Sydney Ideas series.

Note: A revised version of this paper is available from http://www.plateauculture.org/writing/zomia-new-constructions-southeast-asian-highlands-and-their-tibetan-implications

More Info: Paper for IATS conference, Vancouver, August 2010

Concerned with the aspects of human behaviour which have been traditionally described as cultural or social, the author draws on his background in physics to suggest a scientific approach involving a reconcept... more abstract Concerned with the aspects of human behaviour which have been traditionally described as cultural or social, the author draws on his background in physics to suggest a scientific approach involving a reconceptualization of many of our assumed concepts. Are culture, society and similar concepts from anthropology and sociology of any real use in making sense of human social life? How can we understand the relationship between the social group and the individual human beings, with their self-awareness and sense of personal identity, who make it up? Drawing on his background in physics, Geoffrey Samuel suggests a scientific approach involving a reconceptualization of many of the concepts we take for granted. The multimodal framework, or MMF, derives from this approach. It incorporates many of the insights of social and cultural anthropology, particularly the work of Gregory Bateson and Victor Turner, as well as being influenced by recent developments in the philosophy of science and related fields. Finally, the book considers some of the implications of the MMF for biological approaches, and focuses on questions of brain structure and on evolutionary explanations for human social behaviour.

Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Consciousness (Anthropology), Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 16 more

Civilized Shamans examines the nature and evolution of religion in Tibetan societies from the ninth century up to the Chinese occupation in 1950. Geoffrey Samuel argues that religion in these societies developed as a ... more abstractCivilized Shamans examines the nature and evolution of religion in Tibetan societies from the ninth century up to the Chinese occupation in 1950. Geoffrey Samuel argues that religion in these societies developed as a dynamic amalgam of strands of Indian Buddhism and the indigenous spirit-cults of Tibet. Samuel stresses the diversity of Tibetan societies, demonstrating that central Tibet, the Dalai Lama's government at Lhasa, and the great monastic institutions around Lhasa formed only a part of the context within which Tibetan Buddhism matured. Employing anthropological research, historical inquiry, rich interview material, and a deep understanding of religious texts, the author explores the relationship between Tibet's social and political institutions and the emergence of new modes of consciousness that characterize Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. Samuel identifies the two main orientations of this religion as clerical (primarily monastic) and shamanic (associated with Tantric yoga). The specific form that Buddhism has taken in Tibet is rooted in the pursuit of enlightenment by a minority of the people-lamas, monks, and yogins-and the desire for shamanic services (in quest of health, long life, and prosperity) by the majority. Shamanic traditions of achieving altered states of consciousness have been incorporated into Tantric Buddhism, which aims to communicate with Tantric deities through yoga. The author contends that this incorporation forms the basis for much of the Tibetan lamas' role in their society and that their subtle scholarship reflects the many ways in which they have reconciled the shamanic and clerical orientations. This book, the first full account of Tibetan Buddhism in two decades, ranges as no other study has over several disciplines and languages, incorporating historical and anthropological discussion. Viewing Tibetan Buddhism as one of the great spiritual and psychological achievements of humanity, Samuel analyzes a complex society that combines the literacy and rationality associated with centralized states with the shamanic processes more familiar among tribal peoples. N.B. As of 2014, the Mandala Book Point edition is still available and can be ordered by internet from the publishers. The Smithsonian Institution Press edition has been out of print for some years. An e-book version is planned with Shambhala Books and should appear in 2015.

Buddhism, Tibetan Studies, Tibet, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism, and 2 more

Papers presented at a session of a conference held at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, in August 1988. Contents: Span Hanna: "Vast as the sky. The terma tradition in modern Tibet" (pp. 1-13); D... more abstractPapers presented at a session of a conference held at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, in August 1988. Contents: Span Hanna: "Vast as the sky. The terma tradition in modern Tibet" (pp. 1-13); David Templeman: "Dohá, vajragíti and caryá songs" (pp. 15-38); Toni Huber: "When what you see is not what you get. Remarks on the traditional Tibetan presentation of sacred geography" (pp. 39-52); Geoffrey Samuel: "Ge Sar of gLing. Shamanic power and popular religion" (pp. 53-78); John Draper: "Lama knows. Religion and power in Sherpa society" (pp. 79-134); Ana Marko: "'Cham [sacred dance]. Ritual as myth in a Ladakhi gompa [monastery of Spituk]" (pp. 135-53); Elisabeth Stuchbury: "The making of gonpa. Norbu Rinpoche from Kardang and Kunga Rinpoche from Lama gonpa" (pp. 155-204)

Tibetan Studies, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism, and Tantra

While traditional religions are in decline, Paganism is an area of unprecedented growth. This book offers an informed, state of the art insight into this fascinating area of cultural change. Drawing on accounts from p... more abstractWhile traditional religions are in decline, Paganism is an area of unprecedented growth. This book offers an informed, state of the art insight into this fascinating area of cultural change. Drawing on accounts from practitioners and academics, it shows nature religion evolving from a blend of environmental activism, feminism, critiques of capitalism and innovative forms of spirituality, such as dedication to the Goddess. This is a cutting-edge study which raises important questions about the recovery of tradition in late modernity, as well as nature religion's relationship with the global but fragmented religious resurgence known as the New Age.

Paganism, New Age (Western Esotericism), New Age spirituality, Neo-Paganism and Western Esotericism, Religion and nature, and 3 more

What is the current state of traditional healing practices in contemporary Asian societies? How are their practitioners faring in the encounter with Western science and its biomedical approach? How are traditional hea... more abstractWhat is the current state of traditional healing practices in contemporary Asian societies? How are their practitioners faring in the encounter with Western science and its biomedical approach? How are traditional healing practices being transformed by the politics of health within the modern nation-state and by the processes of commodification typical of modern economies? How do patients in Asian societies see the various healing options now open to them? The authors, all of whom are anthropologists, observe the clashes and complementarities between traditional therapies and biomedicine, which, in its many manifestations, is the dominant form of medicine supported by national governments, and is emblematic of the modernity to which they aspire. Some of the medical traditions, such as the sophisticated herbal-humoral systems of Tibetan medicine and Indian Ayurveda, are becoming well known in the West, both through scholarly study and through their increasing popularity with Western patients interested in their healing potential. This book adds a new dimension to their study, being focused unlike most previous writing on practice rather than textual tradition.

Korean Studies, Shamanism, Malaysia, Tibet, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, and 6 more

Hariti is the ancient Indian goddess of childbirth and women healers, known at one time throughout South and Southeast Asia from India to Nepal and Bali. Daughters of Hariti looks at her 'daughters' today, female midw... more abstractHariti is the ancient Indian goddess of childbirth and women healers, known at one time throughout South and Southeast Asia from India to Nepal and Bali. Daughters of Hariti looks at her 'daughters' today, female midwives and healers in many different cultures across the region. It also traces the transformation of childbirth in these cultures under the impact of Western biomedical technology, national and international health policies and the wider factors of social and economic change. The authors ask what can be done to improve the high rates of maternal and infant deaths and illnesses still associated with childbirth in most societies in this area and whether the wholesale replacement of indigenous knowledge by Western biomedical technology is necessarily a good thing.

Obstetrics, Gender and religion (Women s Studies), Childbirth Practices, Medicalization of Childbirth, Buddhism in Southeast Asia, Women in Buddhism, Religion and local culture, and 8 more

Tantric Revisionings presents stimulating new perspectives on Hindu and Buddhist religion, particularly their Tantric versions, in India, Tibet or in modern Western societies. Geoffrey Samuel adopts an historically an... more abstractTantric Revisionings presents stimulating new perspectives on Hindu and Buddhist religion, particularly their Tantric versions, in India, Tibet or in modern Western societies. Geoffrey Samuel adopts an historically and textually informed anthropological approach, seeking to locate and understand religion in its social and cultural context. The question of the relation between 'popular' (folk, domestic, village, 'shamanic') religion and elite (literary, textual, monastic) religion forms a recurring theme through these studies. Six chapters have not been previously published; the previously published studies included are in publications which are difficult to locate outside major specialist libraries. Contents: Preface; Part I Starting Points: Introducton; Tibet as a stateless society and some Islamic parallels. Part II Historical: The dissenting tradition of Indian Tantra and its partial hegemonisation in Tibet; Tibetan Tantra as a form of Shamanism: some reflections on the Vajrayana and its Shamanic origins; Buddhism and the state in 8th century Tibet; Shamanism, Bon and Tibetan religion; The Indus valley civilisation and early Tibet; Ge-sar of gLing: the origins and meaning of the east Tibetan epic. Part III Religion in Contemporary Asia: Tibet and the southeast Asian Highlands: rethinking the intellectual context of Tibetan studies; The Vajrayana in the context of Himalayan folk religion; The effectivenss of goddesses, or, how ritual works; Women, goddesses and auspiciousness in south Asia. Part IV Buddhism and Other Western Religions: Tibetan Buddhism as a world religion: global networking and its consequences; The westernisation of Tibetan Buddhism; The attractions of Tantra: two historical moments. Index. This book is co-published by Ashgate (UK) and Motilal Banarsidass (India). Introductory material and contents table attached.

Buddhism, Hinduism, Tibetan Studies, Buddhist Studies, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, and 2 more

Yoga, tantra and other forms of Asian meditation are practised in modernized forms throughout the world today, but most introductions to Hinduism or Buddhism tell only part of the story of how they developed. ... more abstract Yoga, tantra and other forms of Asian meditation are practised in modernized forms throughout the world today, but most introductions to Hinduism or Buddhism tell only part of the story of how they developed. This book is an interpretation of the history of Indic religions up to around 1200 CE, with particular focus on the development of yogic and tantric traditions. It assesses how much we really know about this period, and asks what sense we can make of the evolution of yogic and tantric practices, which were to become such central and important features of the Indic religious scene. Its originality lies in seeking to understand these traditions in terms of the total social and religious context of South Asian society during this period, including the religious practices of the general population with their close engagement with family, gender, economic life and other pragmatic concerns. • Explores the origins of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, yoga and tantra within an open-minded but critical perspective • Gives full weight to the grounding of the more esoteric and abstruse aspects of Indic religious life • Gives a balanced treatment of the evolution of the three major religious traditions foregrounding their common features and close connections

Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhist Studies, Yoga, and 11 more

This forms an independent section of Vol.II II: Body, Performance, Agency and Experience of the five-volume publication Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual, deriving from the conference of the same name held in ... more abstractThis forms an independent section of Vol.II II: Body, Performance, Agency and Experience of the five-volume publication Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual, deriving from the conference of the same name held in Heidelberg from September 29 to October 2, 2008 by the collaborative research center SFB 619 "Ritual Dynamics". The international conference "Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual" assembled most of the leading experts on rituals studies and more than 600 participants for the purpose of reassessing the traditional subject in view of the latest research. The results, which are presented in five volumes (see below), are pathbreaking for future transcultural, interdisciplinary and multi methodical research on rituals. The convention was marked by the broad range of disciplines and the corresponding diversity of methods. It embraced a tremendous variety of topics in terms of cultural geography and spanned a time horizon from the antiquity to the present. The proceedings show how broadly the term ritual can be defined, as well as the conditions, modes and functions of ritual actions in different cultures of the present and past. One of the most important conclusions of the conference is that there cannot be "one single" model for rituals and that interdisciplinary collaborations are the key to research on rituals. This also includes the development and use of creative research methods. Volume I: Grammars and Morphologies of Ritual practices in Asia Volume II: Body, Performance, Agency and Experience Volume III: State, Power and Violence Volume IV: Reflexivity, Media and Visuality Volume V: Transfer and spaces A set price for all 5 Vols is offerred (978-3-447-06206-0)

Buddhism, Buddhist Studies, Ritual, Tibetan Buddhism, Santo Daime, and 2 more

Special double issue of Women’s Studies International Forum, vol.33 no.4, 2010

Sikhism, Islamic Contemporary Studies, Pakistan, Islamic Studies, Contemporary Sufism, and 8 more

Special Issue of Contemporary islam, vol.5 no.3 (September 2011)

Islamic Studies, Women and Gender Issues in Islam, Islam, Islam (Anthropology), Gender issues in Islam, and 2 more

Special Issue of Culture and Religion, vol.13 no.2 (2012)

Islamic Studies, Women and Gender Issues in Islam, Muslim Minorities, Muslims in Europe, Islam, and 10 more

Vol.7 no.1 of Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity

Daoism, Daoism and Medicine, Tibetan Medicine, Tibetan medicine, Tibetan materia medica, Tibetan traditional plant knowledge., Medical Anthropology, History of Medicine, Tibetan Studies, and 3 more

Vol.7 no 3. of East Asian Science, Technology, and Society

Tibetan Studies, Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalayas, Tibetan Medicine, Tibetan medicine, Tibetan materia medica, Tibetan traditional plant knowledge., Tibetan medicine, Buddhisim, medical anthropology and public health, and 1 more

Special issue of the online journal Religions, 2014-2015. The intention of this special issue is to look critically at the dialogue so far between religion and contemporary science in the Asian context. One of us (Sam... more abstractSpecial issue of the online journal Religions, 2014-2015. The intention of this special issue is to look critically at the dialogue so far between religion and contemporary science in the Asian context. One of us (Samuel) organised an international workshop on this theme at the University of Toronto in April 2013; the other (Hogendoorn) took part in the conference, which included seven papers on Buddhist and two on Hindu perspectives. Most of these papers are included in the special issue, along with several additional papers exploring related themes. The central focus of the issue is on the possibilities for a mutual, non-reductionist translation between Western scientific, and Buddhist and other traditional Asian, modes of understanding of consciousness and its place within human society and the planetary ecology.

Buddhism, Hinduism, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Mindfulness, and 4 more

The Western encounter with Tibetan Bon monasteries and Bonpo scholars from the 1960s onwards led to a radical rethinking of Bon, based on the understanding of Bon as a contemporary Tibetan religious tradition closely ... more abstractThe Western encounter with Tibetan Bon monasteries and Bonpo scholars from the 1960s onwards led to a radical rethinking of Bon, based on the understanding of Bon as a contemporary Tibetan religious tradition closely allied with Buddhism. However this tradition (G.yung drung Bon) is not the only kind of Bon still practised in Tibetan cultural regions. There remains a range of local, village-based religious practices among contemporary culturally Tibetan populations which are referred to as Bon but which have no obvious connection with the sophisticated scholarly tradition of G.yung drung Bon lamas, monks and lay practitioners. What are these practices, and do they belong together in some sense? Why are they called Bon, and what relationship if any do they have to the sophisticated scholarly tradition of G.yung drung Bon? What kind of historical sense might we make of this situation? This paper can be downloaded from the open access online Journal of the International Association of Bon Research (see link).

Tibetan Studies, Tibetan Buddhism, and Tibetan and Himalayan societies

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and other “mindfulness”-based techniques have rapidly gained a significant presence within contemporary society. Clearly these tec... more abstractMindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and other “mindfulness”-based techniques have rapidly gained a significant presence within contemporary society. Clearly these techniques, which derive or are claimed to derive from Buddhist meditational practices, meet genuine human needs. However, questions are increasingly raised regarding what these techniques meant in their original context(s), how they have been transformed in relation to their new Western and global field of activity, what might have been lost (or gained) on the way, and how the entire contemporary mindfulness phenomenon might be understood. The article points out that first-generation mindfulness practices, such as MBSR and MBCT, derive from modernist versions of Buddhism, and omit or minimize key aspects of the Buddhist tradition, including the central Buddhist philosophical emphasis on the deconstruction of the self. Nonself (or no self) fits poorly into the contemporary therapeutic context, but is at the core of the Buddhist enterprise from which contemporary “mindfulness” has been abstracted. Instead of focussing narrowly on the practical efficacy of the first generation of mindfulness techniques, we might see them as an invitation to explore the much wider range of practices available in the traditions from which they originate. Rather, too, than simplifying and reducing these practices to fit current Western conceptions of knowledge, we might seek to incorporate more of their philosophical basis into our Western adaptations. This might lead to a genuine and productive expansion of both scientific knowledge and therapeutic possibilities.

Buddhist Studies, Mindfulness, Meditation, Mindfulness and well being, Neuronal activity in Meditation, and 2 more

Panentheism originated as a Western theological position in the early 19th century, and much of the recent writing on panentheism has been in an essentially Western context. The problems which panentheism addresses, ... more abstractPanentheism originated as a Western theological position in the early 19th century, and much of the recent writing on panentheism has been in an essentially Western context. The problems which panentheism addresses, however, occur in non-Western traditions as well, and some of the solutions found have much in common with panentheism as understood in the West. This chapter is concerned primarily with Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism in Tibetan societies, and I shall be examining in particular a set of ritual practices concerned with health and longevity that can perhaps teach us something about how a panentheistic position might work in practice.

Buddhism, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Tibetan Buddhism, Tantra, and 2 more

Geoffrey Samuel. 2015. 'Zomia': New Constructions of the Southeast Asian Highlands and Their Tibetan Implications in Gerald Roche, Keith Dede, Fernanda Pirie, and Benedict Copps (eds) Asian Highlands Perspectives 37 C... more abstractGeoffrey Samuel. 2015. 'Zomia': New Constructions of the Southeast Asian Highlands and Their Tibetan Implications in Gerald Roche, Keith Dede, Fernanda Pirie, and Benedict Copps (eds) Asian Highlands Perspectives 37 Centering the Local, A Festschrift for Dr. Charles Kevin Stuart on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday, 221-249. The concept of 'Zomia' was first advanced in a paper published in 2002 by the Dutch scholar Willem van Schendel (van Schendel 2002). Van Schendel's early work concerned the hill peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tract in Eastern Bangladesh (e.g. van Schendel 1992). In his 2002 paper, he pointed to the arbitrariness of the divisions we make between regions of Asia – South, Southeast, East, Central – for purposes of area studies. This, I might add, is already a major issue for Tibet, the region within which my own work has mostly been situated. The study of Tibetan societies, for historical and political reasons, has found itself on the margins between these divisions, and without a really comfortable home in any of them. A map in van Schendel's article (van Schendel 2002: 652, Fig.1) allocates it to 'Central Asia,' but Central Asia for area studies purposes usually tends to mean Muslim Central Asia plus the Mongols.

Geography, Tibetan Studies, Tibet, China, and Zomia

Parapsychology, Anthropology, Shamanism, Pagan Studies, Afterlife studies, and 6 more

Location: Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California

More Info: Symposium at the Esalen Institute's Centre for Theory and Research, October 2013

Publication Date: Oct 26, 2013