Panel Proposal
IATS XIII, Ulaanbaatar
Monastic institutions, tantrist (sngags-pa) communities and their relations in Amdo
Panel organizer: Nicolas Sihlé
Chair: Nicolas Sihlé (tbc)
Discussant: Jane Caple (Manchester University, UK)
Amdo is reputed both as a region with a very strong Geluk monastic base and as the area with
the most substantial tantrist (sngags-pa) demographic presence in Tibet. Thus in the Repkong
district, home to Rongwo Gönchen monastery as well as to the famous “Repkong collectivity of
tantrists” (Repkong Ngakmang), approximately 10-15% of the adult males are either monks or
tantrists, in roughly comparable proportions. This apparent symmetry is however misleading:
Geluk monasticism is much more centralized and structured, and was traditionally strongly
linked to centers of political power (when it did not itself hold political power, as in the case of
the Jamyang Shepa incarnation lineage in Labrang), whereas tantrists (mainly Nyingma, but also
with a strong Bönpo minority) are more diffusely spread out among politically / geographically
more peripheral village communities. This panel brings together scholars with substantial firsthand knowledge of these religious institutions and communities. It seeks to approach these
major poles of the Amdo religious sphere, the monastic institutions and the tantrist communities,
through a combination of, and dialogue between, historical and anthropological perspectives,
with a particular focus on institutional dynamics, ritual institutions, and the broad spectrum of
diverse relations between monasteries and tantrists. Beyond clichés of Geluk-Nyingma
antagonism, this panel brings localized, historically and ethnographically informed elements on
these often, but not exclusively, tense inter-sectarian relations. The panel also explores the
Amdo religious sphere both in its regional specificities and in its integration within a larger web
of religious relations that reach out to Central Tibetan monastic centers as well as Kham Ris-med
centers.
Current participants (discussions with other potential participants are in progress):
Humchen Chenaktsang (Ngakmang Institute, Xining): Historical overview of the relations
between the Repkong Ngakmang and the Repkong Geluk monasteries.
Nicolas Sihlé (Center for Himalayan Studies, CNRS, France): The Zhi-khro Chen-mo, the largest of
the Repkong Ngakmang annual ritual gatherings: current dynamics and 20th century
historical context (with reference to Nyingma-Geluk relations).
Heather Stoddard (INALCO, France): Ongoing links between the sNgags mang community in Amdo and the Ris-med movement in Khams (18th-21st century): Masters, teaching lineages
and centres of study and practice.
Brenton Sullivan (UVA, United States): 17th century changes in the financial organization of
major Geluk monastic centers: the case of Dgon-lung monastery in Amdo, and the relations
with Drepung Gomang.
Rinchen Kyi (MUC, Minzu University of China): རྕྭ་ས་སྔགས་སྡེ་དང་བླ་བྲང་སྔགས་པ་གྲྭ་ཚང་གཉིས་ཀི་གཤིབ་སྡུར། /
A comparison of the ngakpa village community of Tsasa and the Ngakpa Dratsang of
Labrang, a ngakpa community with more monastic forms.