Mario Ignacio Aguilar | |
---|---|
Born | 10 March 1959 |
Awards | Adèle Mellen Prize (2004) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of London |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of St Andrews |
Mario Ignacio Aguilar FRAS FRSA FRAI (born 10 March 1959) [1] is the Chair of Religion and Politics at the School of Divinity (St. Mary's College) of the University of St Andrews,Scotland. [2]
He completed his PhD in Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies,University of London. Since joining the University of St Andrews in 1994,he has held various positions including,Dean of Divinity (2002-2005). [3] Aguilar is also the current director and a founding director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics [4] (known as the CSRP) based within St Mary's,and the centre only accepts PhD researchers. He is also the coordinator of the Scholars at the Peripheries Research Group. [5]
Aguilar's research includes what is considered to be the largest study of its kind,a ten-year research project (2007-2017) on religion and politics in Tibet. The project reflects on the challenges that will be faced by the 15th Dalai Lama and how "Tibetans are going to manage religion and politics as two geographically separated entities within a Tibetan Buddhist practice that incorporates past histories and a Tibetan region that remains part of contemporary China." [6] In addition in July 2012 De Gruyter announced the engagement of Aguilar as the general editor of a three volume Handbook on Liberation Theology. [7]
Dalai Lama is a title given by Altan Khan,the first Shunyi King of Ming China in 1578 AD at Yanghua Monastery to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism,the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and incumbent Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso,who lives in exile as a refugee in India. The Dalai Lama is considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara,the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
Colin Macmillan Turnbull was a British-American anthropologist who came to public attention with the popular books The Forest People and The Mountain People,and one of the first anthropologists to work in the field of ethnomusicology.
The Central Tibetan Administration is the Tibetan government in exile,based in Dharamshala,India. It is composed of a judiciary branch,a legislative branch,and an executive branch,and offers support and services to the Tibetan exile community.
The 3rd Dalai Lama,Sonam Gyatso;(1543–1588) was the first in the tulku lineage to be entitled formally as the Dalai Lama. In 1578 Altan Khan presented the spiritual title of Dalai Lama,in honor of Sonam Gyatso's profound teachings conferred in Mongolia,which soon became a Tibetan Buddhist country. He founded Kumbum Monastery,Lithang Monastery,and Namgyal Monastery. The spiritual title was retrospectively given to his two tulku lineage predecessors,the 1st Dalai Lama and the 2nd Dalai Lama.
The Gelug is the newest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419),a Tibetan philosopher,tantric yogi and lama and further expanded and developed by his disciples.
The Panchen Lama is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition,with its spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas,he is in charge of seeking out the next Dalai Lama. Panchen is a portmanteau of Pandita and Chenpo,meaning "great scholar".
Dan Mark Cohn-Sherbok is a rabbi of Reform Judaism and a Jewish theologian. He is Professor Emeritus of Judaism at the University of Wales.
While the Tibetan plateau has been inhabited since pre-historic times,most of Tibet's history went unrecorded until the creation of Tibetan script in the 7th century. Tibetan texts refer to the kingdom of Zhangzhung as the precursor of later Tibetan kingdoms and the originators of the Bon religion. While mythical accounts of early rulers of the Yarlung Dynasty exist,historical accounts begin with the introduction of Tibetan script from the unified Tibetan Empire in the 7th century. Following the dissolution of the empire and a period of fragmentation in the 9th-10th centuries,a Buddhist revival in the 10th–12th centuries saw the development of three of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
The 13th Dalai Lama,Thubten Gyatso was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet,enthroned during a turbulent modern era. He presided during the Collapse of the Qing Dynasty,and is referred to as "the Great Thirteenth",responsible for redeclaring Tibet's national independence,and for his national reform and modernization initiatives.
St Mary's College,founded as New College or College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,is the home of the Faculty and School of Divinity within the University of St Andrews,in Fife,Scotland.
The 5th Dalai Lama,Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was recognized as the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to hold both political and spiritual leadership over Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth,being a key religious and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet. He is credited with unifying all of Tibet under the Ganden Phodrang,after Gushri Khans successful military interventions. As an independent head of state,he established relations with both Mongolians and with the Qing dynasty,as well as with neighboring countries. He began the custom of meeting early European explorers. The 5th Dalai Lama built the Potala Palace,and also wrote 24 volumes' worth of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects.
Alexander Berzin is a scholar,translator,and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism.
Reting Monastery is an historically important Buddhist monastery in Lhünzhub County in Lhasa,Ü-Tsang,Tibet. It is also commonly spelled "Radreng."
Sir Charles Alfred Bell was the British Political Officer for Bhutan,Sikkim and Tibet. He was known as "British India's ambassador to Tibet" before retiring and becoming a noted tibetologist.
Ivan Petrella is an Argentine social theorist and liberation theologian. He is the Secretary of Culture in Argentina's Ministry of Culture and currently teaches at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires,Argentina. He was an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Miami in Coral Gables,Florida and co-executive editor of the “Reclaiming Liberation Theology”book series with SCM Press.
The 14th Dalai Lama,Tenzin Gyatso is,as the incumbent Dalai Lama,the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. Before 1959,he served as both the resident spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet,and subsequently established and led the Tibetan government in exile represented by the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala,India. By the adherents of Tibetan Buddhism,he is considered a living Bodhisattva,an emanation of Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit,and Chenrezig in Tibetan. The Dalai Lama,whose name means "Ocean of Wisdom," is known to Tibetans as Gyalwa Rinpoche,"The Precious Jewel-like Buddha-Master," Kundun,"The Presence," and Yizhin Norbu,"The Wish-Fulfilling Gem." His devotees,as well as much of the Western world,often call him His Holiness the Dalai Lama,the style employed on his website. He is also the leader and a monk of the Gelug school,the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism,formally headed by the Ganden Tripa.
Human rights in Tibet has been a subject of intense international scrutiny and debate,particularly since the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China. Before the 1950s,Tibet's social structure was marked by inequality and described as a caste-like system or,controversially,as serfdom. Severe punishments,including permanent mutilations of body parts,were common,although capital punishment was banned in 1913. Muslim warlord Ma Bufang caused widespread destruction and deaths in Amdo which is northeast of Central Tibet.
Protests and uprisings in Tibet against the government of the People's Republic of China have occurred since 1950,and include the 1959 uprising,the 2008 uprising,and the subsequent self-immolation protests.
Buddhists,predominantly from India,first actively disseminated their practices in Tibet from the 6th to the 9th centuries CE. During the Era of Fragmentation,Buddhism waned in Tibet,only to rise again in the 11th century. With the Mongol invasion of Tibet and the establishment of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) in China,Tibetan Buddhism spread beyond Tibet to Mongolia and China. From the 14th to the 20th centuries,Tibetan Buddhism was patronized by the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the Manchurian Qing dynasty (1644–1912) which ruled China.
Galia Sabar is the a researcher at the department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. She was the president of Ruppin Academic Center between September 2016 and October 2021. Prior,she was a professor of African Studies at Tel Aviv University and the Chair of African Studies at the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University,where she also served as the coordinator of African Studies at the S. Daniel Abraham Center for International and Regional Studies. Sabar has published seven books and dozens of articles in professional journals. In addition to her academic research,Sabar has been a leading social activist in Israel mainly in relation to Ethiopian immigrants as well as in partnership with various NGOs assisting African labor migrants and asylum seekers. In May 2009,in recognition of her work combining academic rigor with social activism,Sabar received the Unsung Heroes of Compassion Award,sponsored by the international organization Wisdom in Action and delivered by the 14th Dalai Lama.