Tibetan Witchcraft Research

Magic,which can force supernatural beings,and its definition is also hard to confirm,has influenced the social,political and cultural life of Tibetan from the pre-Buddhism period until modern time.One aim of this work is to study the origin of Tibetan culture.Studies about Tibetan early civilization are drawback till now.About its prehistoric era,there were full of myths and legends in Tibetan traditional books.Documents of later ages were particularizing the blossom of Buddhism.At the same time,Bon researchers see Tibetan prehistoric culture as an early stage of Bon religion,and ignored the ancient "Bon" is in fact virtually different from the Bon religion later on.As a product of spiritual and practical activity of human-being,magic played an irreplaceable role in people's productive activities and normal life,so a study on Tibetan magic culture is in fact a discussion about Tibetan's early civilization in this high plateau.The second aim of this study is for grasping soberly the essence of modern Tibetan culture,and it has a practical significance.It is necessary to untangle the history of Tibetan magic culture for overturning a view,that Tibetan cultural means only Buddhism and Bonism,and also understanding more about Tibetan history.There are two parts in this work:part one is a brief history of Tibetan magic culture,part two is texts studies about Tibetan magic.In part one,there are three chapters:Chapter One,an overview of ancient Tibetan magic culture;Chapter Two,Tibetan magic culture's ripping and declining in Tubo Dynasty;Chapter Three,Tibetan magic culture and necromancers after the Tubo Dynasty.Part two,in which related Tibetan documents are translated and analyzed,is also real evidences for part one and includes three chapters:Chapter Four,Tibetan divination documents from Dunhuang;Chapter Five,magic ceremonies in early Tibet;Chapter Six,divination documents and magic ceremonies after Tubo Dynasty.And a conclusion is in the end.Starting with Tibetan magic culture,making use of new materials,the author has combed the history of Tibetan magic culture from ancient time till now,and tried to find the inside and outside dynamics for its development.It is also a new interpretation of Tibetan history.Tibetan magic is an interaction between human-beings and deities,but based on in fact demands of human beings.As a spiritual activity,it has based on supernatural idea,performed as consuming a large number of manpower and material resources,so it was also a mirror of real material conditions during historical periods of time.It shows individual practical material benefits and expresses political appeals as a group at the same time.During the study of its expressive style,its inherent rules,its domestic and foreign momentum of Tibetan magic culture,we can see not only this kind of Tibetan miraculous science in detail,but also understand more about local people's spirit world from ancient time till now,and discover Tibetan history through the mirror of magic cultural.In the transition history of Tibetan magic,we can see a profound influence from Chinese traditional culture and Indian Buddhism culture,show the indigenous cultures both in Tibetan Buddhism and in Bonism later on,and find some important words have in fact different contents in different period of time.Based on all works above,conclusions come out naturally.Firstly,the need of people's life is one of the inexhaustible motivations for Tibetan magic culture.Yearning for supernatural power to satisfy desires of human beings,magic was born at the right moment,developed and changed with demands of people.Secondly,cultural exchange is another important motivation for the transition of Tibetan magic cultural.Cultures around have continuously provided new forms and contents for Tibetan magic culture.Located at the joint of several civilizations,Tibetan has absorbed kinds of extraneous cultural factors,spread its influence later on to the surrounding regions and contributed also a lot to the whole Asian culture from ancient Zhang Zhung period of time till now.It is obvious that Buddhism has strongly influenced Tibetan culture,but traditional Chinese culture has also profound effect and it is engraved in Tibetan cultur for ancient time till now.Thirdly,local political demands have played the most striking role in the development of Tibetan magic culture.So to speak,political environments and demands in Tibet Plateau have directly and effectively decided the developing and changing theme of Tibetan magic culture.Re-inspecting Tibetan history from the viewpoint of magic culture,using traditional historical materials both in Tibetan and in Chinese,combining with the related studies which had congealed the heart blood of former scholars at home and abroad,and applying plenty of original Tibetan material,the author has analyzed and demonstrated the history of Tibetan magic culture.The materials in this work are concrete and true,so the conclusion is neither a subjective speculation,nor only following other people's words,and every point of view has texts at different time as its undoubted support.Spending a lot of time on reading Tibetan texts in different times,analyzing their similarities and changes,finding the internal and external reasons for these changes have been the author's ground work till now.Traditional historical documents,which were written by Tibetan Buddhism or Bon Religion monks,are full of biases and unrealities indeed,but by comparing their writings with Dunhuang documents,we can also restore the true face of history in this high land.It is difficult,and is also a feature of this work.