BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//6.4.7.1//EN TZID:America/Toronto X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Toronto BEGIN:VEVENT UID:29@buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto;VALUE=DATE:20171215 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto;VALUE=DATE:20171218 DTSTAMP:20171113T162009Z URL:https://buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca/events/hiddenlands/ SUMMARY:Hidden Lands in Himalayan Myth and History DESCRIPTION:Hidden Lands in Himalayan Myth and History: Transformations of Beyul (sBas yul) through Time\nFriday\, 15th December – Sunday 17th Dece mber 2017\nConvened by Dr. Frances Garrett\, Professor Geoffrey Samuel\, E lizabeth McDougal and Ian Baker\n\nSponsored by the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto\, the Body\, Health and Religion Research Group of Cardiff University\, and the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai Yehan Numata Program in Buddhist Studies at the Unive rsity of Toronto.\n\nVenue: Rooms 317 and 318\, Jackman Humanities Buildin g\, University of Toronto\, 170 St George St\, Toronto\, ON M5R 2M8\nCanad a\n\nPROGRAMME\n\nFriday\, 15th December 2017\n\n9.00 – 10.30 REGISTRATI ON AND TEA\n\n10.30 – 11.45 Professor Geoffrey Samuel\, Welcome and keyn ote lecture: "Hidden Lands of Tibet in Myth and History"\n\n11.45 – 1.30 LUNCH\n\n1.30 – 2.45 Dr. Callum Pearce\, "Hidden Lands for Buried Villa ges: The Meaning of sbas yul in Ladakh"\n\n2.45 – 4.00 Annie Heckman\, " Opening Hidden Lands: Geomancy and Prophecy in the Life of Tangtong Gyalpo "\n\n4.00 – 4.15 TEA BREAK\n\n4.15 – 5.30 Amber Moore\, "Twilight Worl ds of the Yoginī: Landscape Interpretation and Ritual Construction at Guh yeśvari and Sankhu Vajrayoginī\, Nepal"\n\n6.00 DINNER\n\nSaturday\, 16t h December 2017\n\n9.00 – 10.15 Ian Baker\, "Outer\, Inner\, and Secret Pemakö: The Tibetan Quest for an Immanent Paradise in the Eastern Himalay as"\n\n10.15 – 10.30 TEA BREAK\n\n10.30 – 11.45 Dr. Fabian Sanders\, " Understanding Beyul Pemakö within the Space-Time of Guru Padmasambhava"\n \n11.45 – 1.30 LUNCH\n\n1.30 – 2.45 Elizabeth McDougal\, "Shapeshiftin g Goddess: The Consecration of Pemakö’s Yang Sang Chu Region by the 20t h Century Tertön\, Dudjom Drakngak Lingpa (a.k.a. “Tertön Ngagey”)"\ n\n2.45 – 4.00 Dr. Samuel Thévoz\, "First Manifestations of Pemakö in the Western world: Adrup Gönbo’s Impressions of France and Jacques Baco t’s Le Tibet révolté"\n\n4.00 – 4.15 TEA BREAK\n\n4.15 – 5.30 The 11th Lelung Rinpoche\, "Opening Sites in the Hidden Lotus Land"\n\n5:30 – 6.00 Jon Kwan\, FILM: "Glimpses from a Hidden Land"\n\n6.00 DINNER\n\n Sunday\, 17th December 2017\n\n9.00 – 10.15 Dr. Hildegard Diemberger\, " Did Beyuls Play a Part in the Development of Tibetan Book Culture?"\n\n10. 15 – 10.30 TEA BREAK\n\n10.30 – 11.45 Kerstin Grothmann\, "The Hidden Land of Pachakshiri: Transformation from Cultural and Political Territory to a Unique Himalayan Travel Destination"\n\n11.45 – 1.30 LUNCH\n\n1.30 – 2.45 Barbara Hazelton\, "Pilgrimage Guides of Padma-bkod: Walking the Body of Dorje Phagmo"\n\n2.45 – 4.00 Dr. Lindsay Skog\, "Beyul Khumbu: H idden Valley to Activist Package"\n\n4.00 – 4.15 TEA BREAK\n\n4.15 – 5 .30 FILM: Anna Balikci’s "Pang Lhabsol"\n\n6.00 DINNER\nAbstracts and Bi os\nProfessor Geoffrey Samuel (University of Sydney): Hidden Lands of Tibe t in Myth and History\n\nAn opening presentation and discussion. The sourc es of the concept of beyul in Indian Buddhist thought and its initial deve lopment in the post-imperial period in Tibet will be traced\, as will its historical evolution and the subsequent development of Western scholarship in this area. Particular attention will be given to the different kinds o f beyul\, their transformations over time\, and the different ways in whic h scholars have approached beyul. The paper will conclude with a discussio n of the possibilities for a more integrated and holistic understanding of the beyul phenomenon.\n\nGeoffrey Samuel is Emeritus Professor at Cardiff University\, Wales\, U.K. and Honorary Associate at the University of Syd ney\, Australia\, where he directs the Body\, Health and Religion (BAHAR) Research Group. His academic career has been in social anthropology and re ligious studies\, and his books include Mind\, Body and Culture (1990)\, C ivilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies (1993)\, Tantric Revisioni ngs (2005)\, The Origins of Yoga and Tantra (2008) and Introducing Tibetan Buddhism (2012). His current research interests include Tibetan yogic hea lth practices\, Tibetan medicine\, and the dialogue between Buddhism and s cience.\n\nDr. Callum Pearce (University of Aberdeen): Hidden Lands for Bu ried Villages: The Meaning of sbas yul in Ladakh\n\nTo go by local stories \, beyul are seemingly ubiquitous in Ladakh: hidden in the higher valleys\ , beneath the mountains and even on the desert plain beside the region’s single airstrip. Yet descriptions of these places rarely accord with text ual representations of beyul from elsewhere in the Himalaya\, and there is no history of migration-pilgrimages as in other areas. In Ladakh the term s beyul and beyulpa are used somewhat loosely\, and carry multiple connota tions: beyul may be the sites of future villages\, the domains of spirits or repositories of buried treasure\, while the ambiguity of beyulpa allows these figures to connect the personal experiences of Ladakhis with the pa n-Asian stories of threatening spirits and the actions of enterprising mod ern tulku. These oral descriptions often seem to echo accounts given by an thropologists working in the Nepal Himalaya\, and suggest that the living beyul is something inherent in the landscape: not merely an item of myth a nd history\, but with an\nactive potential that might be glimpsed out of t he corner of one’s eye\, that is hinted at by stories and is only later harnessed by those charismatic authority figures who claim the ability to open the beyul to the world.\n\nCallum Pearce is an anthropologist\, curre ntly employed as the Teaching Fellow in Asian Religions at the University of Aberdeen. He has recently completed a PhD in Social Anthropology at Abe rdeen on spirits\, landscape and perception among Buddhist laity in Ladakh \, based on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Leh valley and central Zangskar. Prior to this he studied at the University of Oxford and the University of London\n(UCL and SOAS).\n\nAnnie Heckman (University of Toronto): Opening Hidden Lands: Geomancy and Prophecy in the Life of Tang tong Gyalpo\n\nWhile the non-human turn and critiques of the division betw een nature and society are important themes in contemporary philosophy\, t heir impact is just now being explored more fully in studies of Tibetan li fe literature. The 1609 life story of yogin\, blacksmith\, and civil engin eer Tangtong Gyalpo (d. 1485) states that its protagonist opened numerous hidden lands\, or beyul\, along the edges of the Himalayas in southern Tib et. These hidden lands are among many sacred sites in the story where anim als and deities both aid and challenge the yogin in his quest to collect i ron\, construct bridges\, and establish reliquaries. Building on the work of scholars who have examined the transmission of Buddhist teachings via T angtong Gyalpo’s visionary experiences\, this paper sketches a geographi cal and historiographical account of the hidden lands appearing in his lif e story. Placing this narrative in conversation with other Tibetan texts a bout these specific hidden sites\, such as pilgrimage guides\, histories\, and prophecies\, this paper demonstrates the importance of non-humans\, l and features\, and yogic accomplishment in shaping 17th-century southern T ibetan regional narratives.\n\nAnnie Heckman is a doctoral student in the Department for the Study of Religion. After receiving her MFA in Studio Ar t (New York University\, 2006)\, Annie spent several years working in the visual arts as an educator\, artist\, and designer\, teaching at DePaul Un iversity and at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Examining certain Tibetan texts as part of her studio research\, Annie studied Tibetan langu age through the University of Chicago’s Graham School before relocating to Toronto to pursue further studies. She has since received the Dipty Cha kravarty Award for excellence in the study of South Asian Society\, Histor y\, and Culture\, and the Phool Maya Chen Award in Buddhist Studies. Her r esearch focuses on the agency of non-humans in Tibetan life literature.\n\ nAmber Moore (University of Toronto): Twilight Worlds of the Yoginī: Land scape Interpretation and Ritual Construction at Guhyeśvari and Sankhu Vaj rayoginī\, Nepal\n\nSankhu Vajrayoginī\, identified as Khaḍgayoginī o r Ugratārā/Ekajaṭī\; the fierce guardian of dzogchen tantras and term as\, is located North-East of the Kathmandu Valley near the ancient Newar town of Sankhu. Guhyeśvari\, a śakti pīṭa\, is referred to as Vārāh ī’s Womb Fluid (phagmo mngalchu) by the Tibetans and is located in Deo Patan\, the ancient Newar settlement of Kathmandu. These power places situ ated at major Newar centers along the trade route to Tibet\, were both rev ealed from under pre-historic lakes and comprise two of the four principle yoginī sites of the valley venerated by Vajrayāna Buddhists. I will be discussing the multivalent origin myths\, narrative mappings and “hidden ” meanings associated with these tantric sites and their related literat ure within the context the Newar social milieu of Nepal Mandal as it has h istorically interfaced with Tibetans. I utilize the undated Newar and Sans krit Maniśailamahāvadāna\, Khenpo Menlha Phuntsok’s Balyul gnas yig a nd Orgyan Lingpa’s Ka’thang sde lnga as literary lenses into these ‘ twilight’ worlds.\n\nAmber Marie Moore is currently enrolled in the Ph.D program at the Dept. for Religious Studies\, University of Toronto. Her p resent research\, grounded in both textual finds and material/ritual cultu re\, focuses on narrative emplacement of the Newar and Sanskrit Maṇiśai lamahāvadāna at Sankhu\, Nepal in the tradition of the Newar Buddhist Va jracāryās. Having completed her B.A. in Kathmandu on Tibetan Buddhist St udies and Himalayan Languages where she completed a translation of the Gol den Rosary from Lonchenpa's Khandro Nyingtik\, she is also interested in s hedding light on the opaque history of religious interface and transmissio n between Tibetan and Newar Buddhists. Having spent time in retreat in Tib et and Labchi mountain\, Nepal\, the ne of Korlo Dompa's speech\, she has guided pilgrims across the Tibetan plateau\, from Yeshe Tsogyal's cave in Nangchen\, Kham to the Kathmandu Valley and Buddhist Heartland. The revela tion of hidden sacred geography and texts in the tantric Buddhist context is a topic that has been close to her heart for more than 15 years.\n\nIan Baker (University of Strathclyde): Outer\, Inner\, and Secret Pemakö: Th e Tibetan Quest for an Immanent Paradise in the Eastern Himalayas\n\nThis illustrated presentation will chronicle Tibetan accounts of the Hidden-Lan d of Pemakö through the tantric Buddhist rubric of ‘outer\, inner\, sec ret\, and innermost secret’\, as it was applied to the landscapes of hid den-lands (beyul) and to Pemakö in particular. The paper will argue that such an approach allowed beyul to be considered simultaneously as geograph ical phenomena and mutable projections of human consciousness\, and thus a s fertile fields for deepening levels of tantric Buddhist practice. As a c orollary\, tantric Buddhist practice itself will be examined in light of i ncreasing pilgrimage activity in Lower Pemakö in the wake of rapidly adva ncing infrastructure and ecologically impactful development. The presentat ion\, and associated paper\, will also offer a visual overview of Beyul Pe makö's most iconic sacred sites\, based on a series of ten expeditionary pilgrimages to the region between 1990 and 2015.\n\nIan Baker was honoured by National Geographic Society as one of seven "explorers for the millenn ium” for his ethno-geographical field research in Tibet's Tsangpo gorges and his team's documentation of a waterfall that had been the source of g eographical speculation for more than a century\, and which Tibetans descr ibe as the portal to the innermost realm of Beyul Pemakö\, the ‘Hidden Land Arrayed Like Lotuses’. He is the author of seven books on Himalayan and Tibetan cultural history\, environment\, art\, and medicine\, includi ng ‘The Heart of the World: A Journey to Tibet’s Lost Paradise’\, wh ich chronicles his research on the Himalayan phenomena of ‘hidden-lands ’ (beyul) from a variety of perspectives. Baker has also contributed art icles and photography to National Geographic Magazine\, as well as written for academic journals and publications. He is currently affiliated with t he Department of History at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow\, Sco tland.\n\nDr. Fabian Sanders (Shang Shung Institute) Understanding Beyul P emakö within the Space-Time of Guru Padmasambhava\n\nThe life and deeds o f the great Tantric master Guru Padmasambhava took place in the general fr amework of Indian and Tibetan cosmological traditions. Many of the activit ies of the Guru from Oḍḍiyāna seem to be concerned in particular with the preparation of a set of doctrinal and methodological devices intended to provide assistance to beings faring in particular locations – notabl y the Himalayas – and in particular epochs\, like the remaining part of the “age of strife” (rtsod dus). One such device is definitely the gte r ma tradition\, and another less known one is the consecration of particu lar places as ‘hidden lands’ (sbas yul)\, designed to provide the circ umstances for certain necessary processes to take place. In my talk I will try to put forward some ideas and reflections based on some relevant text s and oral traditions I have come across\, with special reference to the s bas yul padma bkod\, trying to find answers to a few questions while raisi ng many more.\n\nFabian Sanders was born in Salo’\, Italy\, from German parents. After studying Chinese and Sanskrit languages he deepened his kno wledge of Eastern\, Central and South Asian traditions and cultures\, fina lly focusing on those of the Tibetan world. He began working with the 9th Khalkha Jestun Dampa on the history of his lineage and his biography for h is PhD Thesis and became a student of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. Alongside hi s research on and translation of classical Tibetan texts\, he devotes hims elf to the endeavour of carefully understanding the doctrinal principles a nd spiritual practices of the Himalayan region. Currently he teaches Tibet an language and translation for the Shang Shung Foundation and is academic director of the Shang Shung Institute for Tibetan Studies\, UK branch.\n\ nElizabeth McDougal (University of Sydney): Shapeshifting Goddess: The Con secration of Pemakö’s Yang Sang Chu Region by the 20th Century Tertön\ , Dudjom Drakngak Lingpa (a.k.a. “Tertön Ngagey”)\n\nThis paper looks at the emergence of the Yang Sang Chu region of lower Pemakö as a focal point for contemporary Pemakö pilgrims. It looks at the life and guideboo ks of the 20th century Pemakö Tertön\, Dudjom Drakngak Lingpa (a.k.a. Te rtön Ngagey)\, and how these consecrated the Yang Sang Chu tributary regi on of the Lower Tsangpo River and firmly placed there the navel and secret chakras of the goddess Vajravārāhī\, along with several of the 24 Sa ṃvara/Hevajra pīṭha. Looking to the Tertön’s hagiography\, néyig and the oral accounts of Pemakö pilgrims\, the paper considers how focus on the geographical layout of Pemakö has extended southwards since the tu rn of the 20th century. It questions how Tertön Ngagey’s visions and wr itings have been forces behind this extension\, and whether or not Pemakö ’s most sacred centre\, Chimé Yang Sang\, has been\nreconceived in the process.\n\nElizabeth McDougal is a Canadian doctoral student at the Unive rsity of Sydney whose current research focuses on the practice lineages of Eastern Tibet\, particularly that of a nuns’ community in Nangchen\, an d their responses to a rapidly modernizing worldview in China since the 19 80s. She lived and studied as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in India and Tibet fo r seventeen years\, and completed an MA in Indian Philosophy in Varanasi\, India\, followed by an MA dissertation at the University of Sydney. Her f ascination with Beyul is aside to her doctoral research\, but relevant in considering the psychological qualities of Tertön Ngagey’s practice lin eage and how they would have influenced his revelation of Pemakö guideboo ks and sacred sites.\n\nDr. Samuel Thévoz (Robert HN Ho Family Foundatio n\, Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research): First Manifestatio ns of Pemakö in the Western world: Adrup Gönbo’s Impressions of France and Jacques Bacot’s Le Tibet révolté\n\nIn my contribution\, I intend to re-examine the first\, multi-faceted\, manifestations of Pemakö in th e Western world and their “global” implications. Following on Pandit K inthup’s heels\, and prior to Capt. Bailey\, the French explorer and Tib etologist-to-be Jacques Bacot gave an account of his quest for this hidden -land in his travel narrative Le Tibet révolté (which\, interestingly en ough\, has not been translated into English). By the time Bacot’s travel ogue was published in 1912\, French readers had already had access in peri odicals and newspapers to a guide-book to Pemakö of its own kind: the tra vel narrative of Adrup Gönbo to France in 1908 translated into French by Bacot. Based on this understudied material\, I would like to argue that th e multi-polar and geographically shifting uses of the toponym “Pemakö ” at stake here highlight the process of the (re)discovery of this hidde n-land in the specific context of the dawn of twentieth century and provid e crucial insights into the “transformations of Beyül through time.” \n\nDr. Samuel Thévoz’s research focuses mainly on European travel lite rature to Tibet and modern Buddhism in theater. He is the author of Un hor izon infini: Explorateurs et voyageurs français au Tibet (1846-1912). Par is: University Press of Paris-Sorbonne\, 2010 and edited the re-print of M arie de Ujfalvy-Bourdon\, Voyage d’une Parisienne dans l’Himalaya\, Pa ris: Transboréal\, 2014. Recent articles in English include “The French for Shangri-La: Tibetan Landscape and French Explorers” published in Fr ench Cultural Studies 25/2 (2014): 103–120\; and “On the Threshold of the ‘Land of Marvels:’ Alexandra David-Neel’s in Sikkim and the Maki ng of Global Buddhism” In Transcultural Studies 1 (2016): 149–186.\n\n 11th Lelung Rinpoche (Oxford University): Opening Sites in the Hidden Lotu s Land\n\nFollow in the footsteps of the 5th Lelung Rinpoche as we trace h is two journeys to Pemako\, prophesised by dakinis\, and made in order to open sacred sites. Drawing on two separate first-hand accounts from the 5t h Lelung Pema Shepa Dorje\, the 11th Lelung Tulku will present material on his predecessor’s visits and shed light on a broad range of subjects to do with his auspicious journeys\; including his motivations for going\, w ho accompanied him\, as well as obstacles he encountered along the way. We will discover more details\, such as the methods used and ingredients req uired for the recognition and opening of significant sites within this sac red land\, including the most useful places to pray\, self-arisen objects\ , as well as introducing names of the locations and temples that were buil t in his time.\n\nLelung Rinpoche completed his Buddhist philosophy studie s at Loseling College of Drepung University\, India\, becoming Geshe Tsora mpa in 2004\, then studied Tantra at Gyuto Monastery. His current work is focused on the publication of the 46 volumes of his predecessor the 5th Le lung. He has undertaken the responsibility to preserve this tradition by g iving teachings and talks in monasteries and universities in the East and West. In reproducing the 5th Lelung’s work\, he has special access to hi s works\, including his accounts of the sacred Beyul of Pemako. In 2006 he founded the Geden Phacho Bhucho Preservation Centre in India and has sinc e organised passing on the oral transmissions of many rare teachings to th e younger generation. He is continuously engaged in researching and findin g rare Buddhist texts and their oral transmissions\, oral commentaries\, r ituals and empowerment lineages. He also gives teachings on Buddhist philo sophy to general\, academic\, and practitioner level students in the East and West in an effort to bring happiness to all. Lelung Rinpoche is an Ass ociate of the Tibetan &\; Himalayan Studies Centre at Wolfson College\, Oxford University\, and gives many talks there and at other academic inst itutions.\n\nJon Kwan (Film presentation): Glimpses from a Hidden Land\n\n Go on a journey through time and space in the sacred hidden land of the Yo lmo Snow Enclosure. Experience some of the sacred sites in the area\, from Guru Rinpoche’s self arisen Sun and Moon cave\, to the caves of Yeshe T sogyal and Milarepa\, through the eyes of pilgrims arriving there for the first time. Working with an original soundtrack\, this artistic interpreta tion is intended to be a felt experience\, inspired by the energy and feel ing of being there\, the profound history of the\nplace and the great bein gs who graced it. Featuring footage from two short visits made to this bey ul\, one before and one after the infamous earthquake of 2015\, the film a lso includes some commentary from Khenpo Nyima Dondrup\, author of the Gui de to the Hidden Land of the Yolmo Snow Enclosure and its History.\n\nJon Kwan is a filmmaker working with traditional and 360 (VR) films. His recen t work is focussed on supporting the Buddhist teachings and capturing the essence of sacred spaces\, taking him across India\, Nepal\, Mongolia\, an d to teachings such as the Kalachakra and the Kagyu Monlam.\n\nDr. Hildega rd Diemberger (University of Cambridge) Did Beyuls Play a Part in the Deve lopment of Tibetan Book Culture?\n\nBeyuls were not only significant as sa cred sites of spiritual realisation and secluded areas in which people cou ld take refuge in times of turmoil\, but they were also important sources of medicinal plants\, wood\, bamboo and paper plants. Combining recent res earch on Tibetan book technology with the study of the geography and histo ry of various Beyuls\, this paper explores the question of whether access to these hidden sacred lands facilitated the introduction of printing and the transformation of book culture in Central Tibet.\n\nHildegard Diemberg er is the Research Director of Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies unit (MIASU ) at University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Pembroke College. Trained as a social anthropologist and Tibetologist at Vienna University\, she has pu blished numerous books and articles on the anthropology and the history of Tibet and the Himalaya as well as on the Tibetan-Mongolian interface\, in cluding the monograph When a Woman becomes a Religious Dynasty: the Samdin g Dorje Phagmo of Tibet (Columbia University Press 2007)\, the edited volu me Tibetan Printing – Comparisons\, Continuities and Change (Brill 2016) and the English translation of two important Tibetan historical texts (Au strian Academy of Science 1996\, 2000). She has designed and coordinated a number of research projects funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council\, the British Academy and the Austrian Science Fund. She is curre ntly the general secretary of the International Association for Tibetan St udies.\n\nKerstin Grothmann (Humboldt University): The Hidden Land of Pach akshiri: Transformation from Cultural and Political Territory to a Unique Himalayan Travel Destination\n\nPrior to 1950 the Memba of Mechukha were k nown as Nänang and their valley\, situated on the southern slopes of the Eastern Himalaya\, as Pachakshiri. They are followers of the Nyingmapa tra dition of Tibetan Buddhism and developed as a dominant power in the area\, controlling land distribution and acting to some extent as intermediaries in trade between neighbouring Tibeto-Burman-speaking highland societies t o the south and Tibetans to the north. The paper will present an example o f a non-monastic bca’ yig titled “The regulations for public guidance ‘What to adopt and discard by people’ or the new decree ‘Country fil led with light’”. The text describes how the Hidden Land of Pachakshir i was discovered and explored by Buddhist masters from the mid-eighteenth century onwards\, and gradually colonised by various people from the Tibet an plateau\, the wider Tawang region\, and Eastern Bhutan who established a single society in the hidden land. By providing an overview of the bca ’ yig’s content and an account of the circumstance of how the present copy of the text came into existence\, the paper will show that the text s hould not be treated as an account providing accurate historical facts abo ut the exploration and colonisation of the hidden land\, but rather as an account narrating how today’s Memba community imagines the establishment of the political and cultural territory. Territorial and political change s during the second half of the twentieth century in the region and the di sputed status of the international border have continuously challenged the Memba in maintaining the valley as a hidden land. The paper will further discuss what strategies the Memba appropriate to negotiate between their t ransnational (Tibetan) and national (Indian) affiliation.\n\nKerstin Groth mann is a Ph.D. Candidate in Tibetan Studies at Central Asian Seminar\, Hu mboldt University\, Berlin. Between 2007 and 2009 she conducted research i n Arunachal Pradesh (India) among the Memba community of Mechukha (West Si ang District)\, as well as initial research among the Memba of Pemakö (Up per Siang District). Her research focuses on narratives of migration and s ettlement history\, the community’s social organisation\, and their terr itorial and economic practices in the context of shifting territorial rule and geo-political changes. She is author of the book “Wie der süße D uft der Blumen” - Die Arshe. Eine Untersuchung von Arbeitsliedern aus de m traditionellen tibetischen Bauhandwerk (Harrassowitz\, 2011).\n\nBarbara Hazelton (University of Toronto): Pilgrimage Guides of Padma-bkod: Walkin g the Body of Dorje Phagmo\n\nIn the ritual practice of pilgrimage to holy places in Tibet\, ritual guidebooks are commonly used to help the pilgrim navigate the various sacred spots along a pilgrimage route. These handboo ks are found in various forms\, such as oral stories\, hasty notes scribbl ed down and passed from pilgrim to pilgrim\, simply printed guidebooks pro viding directions and explanations of the holy spots along the circumambul ation pathway. They also come in the form of highly refined scholarly work s doctrinally explaining multiple meanings of the sacred landscape\, histo rically\, biographically and in terms of tantric mandalas of deities and c elestial pure lands. Using a number of these guidebooks\, particularly rev elatory guidebooks of Tantric adepts\, this paper analyzes the important T ibetan hidden land of Padma-bkod in Southwestern Tibet. More specifically\ , it explores the phenomenon of this holy landscape as the body of the god dess Dorje Phagmo and the ritual pilgrimage of Padma-bkod as travelling th rough the ‘cakras’ of the deity’s body as a Tantric pilgrimage pract ice. The central inquiry of the paper is to explore the unique manner in w hich pre-modern Tibetan Tantric adepts envisioned their relationship with the environment as intrinsic to Tantric deity practice within their sacred mandalas\, and how these practices were often intimately linked with the discovery of the ritual treasure texts (gter ma) in the form of pilgrimage guide books obtained through visionary experiences. This paper will discu ss this complex system of concealing and revealing sacred knowledge and ho w it underpins and invigorates the pursuit of realization.\n\nBarbara Haze lton\, PhD Candidate at University of Toronto\, Buddhist Studies. BA in Fi ne Art History and MA in Buddhist Studies. Dissertation on The King Gesar of Ling revelatory tradition. Research focus on Tibetan epic literature an d performance. A practicing artist studying with a Thangka painter in Toro nto. A background in Tibetan visual imagery and ritual through studies wit h Tibetan scholars and ritual specialists. A particular interest is the sa cred landscape of Tibet as the confluence of envisioned imaginative world of landscapes\, structures\, liberation stories\, rituals\, pilgrimage rou tes and literature.\n\nDr. Lindsay Skog (Portland State University/Univers ity of Colorado) Beyul Khumbu: Hidden Valley to Activist Package\n\nNestle d in the heart of the Himalaya at the base of Chomolungma (Mt. Everest) an d surrounded by snow-capped peaks\, the Sherpa homeland of Beyul Khumbu ce rtainly gives the impression of a hidden valley. Yet\, the status of Khumb u as a beyul (sbas-yul) remains contested for some. Regardless of this con tested history\, some Khumbu Sherpas along with others from outside the co mmunity have worked to mobilize Beyul Khumbu in order to support environme ntal conservation and indigenous rights. These efforts\, however\, have be en meet with limited success. This paper will trace the history of Khumbu as a beyul from the rise of the Buddhist monastic community in the region through efforts to mobilize the sacred landscape within global environment al conservation and indigenous rights discourses. In so doing\, this paper will explore the ways in which Sherpa relations with the Nepali state hav e shaped the uptake of the beyul concept among Khumbu Sherpas today.\n\nLi ndsay Skog is currently an instructor in the Department of Geography at Po rtland State University and the Division of Continuing Education at the Un iversity of Colorado at Boulder. Her current research considers the role o f spiritual and cultural values in human-environment relations with partic ular attention to adaptation to climate change. Dr. Skog earned her PhD in Geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2015. Her dissert ation explores spatiality in the cultural politics of religion as claims o f authority and territory from monastic institutions\, localized place-bas ed deities\, and the state overlap in Khumbu\, Nepal. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca/wp-content/u ploads/2017/11/buddhist_500x350_3.jpg CATEGORIES:Conference LOCATION:Jackman Humanities Building\, Rm 318\, 170 St. George St\, Toronto \, ON\, M5R2M8\, Canada GEO:43.6677316;-79.4002638 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=170 St. George St\, Toronto \, ON\, M5R2M8\, Canada;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Jackman Humanities Buil ding\, Rm 318:geo:43.6677316,-79.4002638 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Toronto X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Toronto BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20171105T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR