Mario Ignacio Aguilar | |
---|---|
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 the Tibetan people 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 current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso,who lives as a refugee in India. The Dalai Lama is also considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara,the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
Tibet is a region in East Asia,covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi). It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpa,Tamang,Qiang,Sherpa and Lhoba peoples and is now also home to considerable numbers of Han Chinese and Hui people settlers. Tibet is the highest region on Earth,with an average elevation of 4,380 m (14,000 ft). Located in the Himalayas,the highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest,Earth's highest mountain,rising 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft) above sea level.
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.
Sonam Gyatso was the first to be named Dalai Lama,although the title was retrospectively given to his two predecessors.
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. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition,with its spiritual authority second only to 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.
Güshi Khan was a Khoshut prince and founder of the Khoshut Khanate,who supplanted the Tumed descendants of Altan Khan as the main benefactor of the Dalai Lama and the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1637,Güshi Khan defeated a rival Mongol prince Choghtu Khong Tayiji,a Kagyu follower,near Qinghai Lake and established his khanate in Tibet over the next years. His military assistance to the Gelug school enabled the 5th Dalai Lama to establish political control over Tibet.
Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal,abbreviated to Thubten Gyatso was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet,enthroned during a turbulent era and the collapse of the Qing Empire. Referred to as "the Great Thirteenth",he is also known for redeclaring Tibet's national independence,and for his 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.
Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth,being a key religious and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet. Gyatso is credited with unifying all Tibet under the Ganden Phodrang after a Mongol military intervention which ended a protracted era of civil wars. As an independent head of state,he established relations with the Qing empire and other regional countries and also met early European explorers. Gyatso also wrote 24 volumes' worth of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects.
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.
The 14th Dalai Lama,known as Gyalwa Rinpoche to the Tibetan people,is the current Dalai Lama. He is the highest spiritual leader and former head of state of Tibet. Born on 6 July 1935,or in the Tibetan calendar,in the Wood-Pig Year,5th month,5th day. He is considered a living Bodhisattva;specifically,an emanation of Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit and Chenrezig in Tibetan. He is also the leader and an ordained monk of the Gelug school,the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism,formally headed by the Ganden Tripa. The central government of Tibet,the Ganden Phodrang,invested the Dalai Lama with temporal duties until his exile in 1959. On 29 April 1959,the Dalai Lama established the independent Tibetan government in exile in the north Indian hill station of Mussoorie,which then moved in May 1960 to Dharamshala,where he resides. He retired as political head in 2011 to make way for a democratic government,the Central Tibetan Administration.
Samten Gyeltsen Karmay (1936-) is a writer and researcher in the field of Tibetan Studies. His work is focused on the study of Tibetan myths,beliefs,the Bon religion and religious history.
Human rights in Tibet are a contentious issue. Although the United States advocates and provided funds to Dalai Lama's independence movement,the United States does not recognize Tibet as a country. Reported abuses of human rights in Tibet include restricted freedom of religion,belief,and association;arbitrary arrest;maltreatment in custody,including torture;and forced abortion and sterilization. The status of religion,mainly as it relates to figures who are both religious and political,such as the exile of the 14th Dalai Lama,is a regular object of criticism. Additionally,freedom of the press in China is absent,with Tibet's media tightly controlled by the Chinese leadership,making it difficult to accurately determine the scope of human rights abuses.
Buddhism was first actively disseminated in Tibet from the 6th to the 9th century CE,predominantly from India. During the Era of Fragmentation,Buddhism waned in Tibet,only to rise again in the 11th century. With the Mongol invasion of Tibet in the 13th century and the establishment of the Mongol Yuan dynasty,Tibetan Buddhism spread beyond Tibet to Mongolia and China. From the 14th to the 20th century,Tibetan Buddhism was patronized by the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the Manchurian Qing dynasty (1644–1912).
Galia Sabar is the president of Ruppin Academic Center,one of Israel leading public colleges. 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.
Tibet under Qing rule refers to the Qing dynasty's relationship with Tibet from 1720 to 1912. During this period,Qing China regarded Tibet as a vassal state. Tibet considered itself an independent nation with only a "priest and patron" relationship with the Qing Dynasty. Scholars such as Melvyn Goldstein have considered Tibet to be a Qing protectorate.
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Per Kjeld Sørensen is a prominent Danish Tibetologist who specialises in Tibetan and Himalayan history,literature and culture. Since 1994 he has been Professor of Central Asian Studies at Leipzig University,Germany.