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visions and treasure-locating powers draw investigate folk rituals among Tibetans in
on traditional patterns. As such, he has Qinghai province. In the Repgong region
inaugurated a network of pilgrimage an annual musical festivity called luröl, dedi-
sites, ‘reawakening the mythic landscape cated to the deity Anye Shachung who is
of ancient Tibet’ and even extending regarded by some as an eighth-level bodhisat-
the concept to the heart of China itself. tva, has been celebrated for the last millen-
Germano argues that this re-establishment nium. The chapter examines the rituals of
of the Ter tradition today in many ways 1991. Clear fertility elements are present.
parallels the changes that the Nyingma Older men engage in blood-letting rites, and
tradition had to make in the eleventh some of the younger males dance with skew-
century when it successfully re-invented ers through their cheeks. When asked about
itself against a background of persecution this, younger informants, who have now
and the large-scale importation of new been exposed to the modern Chinese edu-
cultural information from India. cational system expressed embarrassment.
Matthew Kapstein’s ‘A Pilgrimage of Quite apart from any fear of pain, a factor
Rebirth Reborn’ focuses on the re- surprisingly not considered by the authors,
emergence of an important pilgrimage the new generation seems to regard the ritual
ritual, the Powa Chenmo, based on par- as something primitive which they were re-
ticipant observation in 1992. The valley luctantly obliged to perform by their elders.
site, around 120 miles northeast of The volume provides some intriguing
Lhasa, includes a number of important snapshots of religious activity in Tibetan
monasteries of the Drigung Kagyü order regions in the 1990s. The contributions
founded by Jikten Gönpo in the late are all of a high order but actually cover
twentieth century. Traditionally, the quite disparate phenomena. As such, they
valley was entirely sealed off for the dur- are insufficient to provide solid evidence
ation of the pilgrimage, which was, in of the general religious revival alluded to
part, connected with monastic revenue in the book’s subtitle, but, given the dif-
raising activities. The festival culminated ficulties associated with fieldwork in the
with an esoteric rite called ‘Planting the region, this limitation is to be expected.
Stalk’ (‘jag-zug-ma), which, if properly What the reader does gain is a good
conferred and subsequently developed insight into the resilience and adaptability
through practice, opens the fontanel of a of Tibetan religious traditions despite dif-
dying person sufficiently for consciousness ficult circumstances. Clearly, more work
to leave the body and travel to the Pure along similar lines will be necessary, and
Land of Amitåbha. The events of 6–13 the editors and contributors are to be
August 1992 deviated from tradition in a congratulated for having provided an ini-
number of ways. The valley was not sealed tial impetus in this direction. The book
from the secular realm, and its association has a useful bibliography and is largely
with monastic economic and spiritual free of typographical errors. It would,
power was much attenuated since the or- however, have benefited from a map.
der’s estates were dismantled and are now a
thing of the past. Indeed, the two principal IAN HARRIS
lamas of the Drigung Kagyü, now living in St Martin’s College, Lancaster
Indian exile, did not attend. Nevertheless,
Kapstein’s prose succeeds in evoking the doi:10.1006/reli.1999.0220, available online at
atmosphere of the pilgrimage site. http://www.idealibrary.com on
In the concluding essay, ‘Ritual,
Ethnicity and Generational Identity’, Bassam Tibi, The Challenge of Fundamental-
Lawrence Epstein and Peng Wenbin ism: Political Islam and the New World