Taking two early Tibetan texts as his starting point, Jacob Dalton explores the ways in which violence has been integral to the development of Tibetan Buddhism. Paying particular attention to the so-called age of fragmentation, Tibet's dark age that spanned from 842 to 986 C.E., he draws on previously unstudied manuscripts discovered in the famous 'library cave' near Dunhuang, on the old Silk Road. These demonstrate how this supposedly inactive period in Tibetan history was in fact crucial to the Tibetan assimilation of Buddhism, and particularly to the spread of the violent themes of tantric Buddhism, at both the local and popular levels. From the late tenth century onward, this period and its mythic and ritual themes of violence, demon taming, and blood sacrifice came to play important symbolic roles in Tibetan history and politics. Despite its reputation as a tradition utterly opposed to violence, Tibetan Buddhism has long been haunted by violent rituals and imaginative associations. The resulting history challenges our own tendencies to romanticize or demonize the rich and ancient culture of Tibet.

About the Author

Jacob P. Dalton is assistant professor of Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He gained exceptional access to the Dunhuang manuscripts at the British Library while conducting research for the International Dunhuang Project.

Reviews

"Jacob Dalton's "Taming the Demons" is the single best book to date on Buddhists' (and especially Tibetans') struggle to come to terms with the religious sanctioning of violence. Staggering in its breath, and covering 2000 years of Buddhist textual history, the book explores Buddhist attitudes toward violence in literature as diverse as Indian monastic texts, tantric myths and rites, moral treatises, biographies, and legal speculation. A major contribution to our understanding of Buddhism."-- Jose Ignacio Cabezon, UC Santa Barbara

--Jose Cabezon (11/23/2010)