Forging the Golden Urn - The Qing Empire and the Politics of Reincarnation in Tibet

A Qing law mandated that the reincarnations of prominent Tibetan Buddhist monks be identified by drawing lots from a golden urn. In Forging the Golden Urn, Max Oidtmann traces how a Chinese bureaucratic technology was exported to the Tibetan and Mongolian regions of the Qing empire and transformed into a ritual for authenticating reincarnations.

List of contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Act I: The Royal Regulations
Act II: Shamanic Colonialism
Act III: Amdowas Speaking in Code
Conclusion: Paradoxes of the Urn and the Limits of Empire
Chronology of Key Events
List of Usages of the Golden Urn Ritual
Tibetan Orthographic Equivalents
Translation of the Qianlong Emperor’s Discourse on Lamas
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the author

Max Oidtmann is professor of Chinese history at the Institute for Sinology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Summary

A Qing law mandated that the reincarnations of prominent Tibetan Buddhist monks be identified by drawing lots from a golden urn. In Forging the Golden Urn, Max Oidtmann traces how a Chinese bureaucratic technology was exported to the Tibetan and Mongolian regions of the Qing empire and transformed into a ritual for authenticating reincarnations.

Additional text

An immensely valuable work in the studies of Qing imperialism in Tibet.

Product details

• Authors: Max Oidtmann, Max (Professor Oidtmann, Oidtmann Max
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.07.2018
• EAN: 9780231184069
• ISBN: 978-0-231-18406-9
• No. of pages: 352
• Series: Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University; Studies of the Weatherhead Eas; Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; China, HISTORY / Asia / China, RELIGION / Buddhism / Tibetan, Asian History, Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese history