"Texts as Relics, Relics as Texts" Shedding Light on the Terma Tradition of Tebetan Buddhism

Evan Sigmund

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Newman, John

Keywords

Tibet, Buddhism, Terma

Area of Concentration

Religion

Abstract

This thesis seeks to analyze the understudied terma (�treasure�) tradition of Tibet, often characterized by contemporary academics as a reactionary pseudepigraphic movement intended to allow for scriptural innovation after the collapse of the Yarlung Empire. While such an understanding of the terma tradition might not be altogether incorrect, I wish to reconsider the emphasis placed on terma as a textual tradition. I argue that the �event� of a given terma text�that is, the tripartite process of its revelation, presentation, and public reception�is and has historically been more important than its specific content. I apply this argument with respect to the visionary who claims to discover said texts, the tert�n, whose revelation confirms a central feature of his self-identity, as well as to the greater religious community, for which these texts are less often read as books than revered as relics of the forefather of Tibetan Buddhism. Finally, I consider terma as a model for what anthropologist Clifford Geertz called a �text,� and ask what reading them in such a light might reveal about Tibetan religious culture.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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