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Archeology website on Tibetan Buddhist history

CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
edited March 2012 in Philosophy
I stumbled upon this remarkable website devoted to the history of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism from a historian and archeological standpoint. It's fascinating and a non-historian can easily follow it. It has nothing to do with the current problems or has an ax to grind, just objective historical knowledge to show what a fascinating culture this was and is.

http://earlytibet.com/

Comments

  • DharmaChakraDharmaChakra
    As a history teacher I love this! Thanks so much for sharing!
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Thanks for this great resource! DId you happen to find info on where Miran is located, exactly? I get that it was somewhere in Xinjiang, but that covers a huge area.
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    A map and more information on Miran as an important archeological site can be found at http://www.atarn.org/chinese/miran/Bows and Arrows from Miran.html

    The red silk road is how Buddhism spread from India to China and Korea, long before it made it to Japan.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    @Cinorjer If you're into this stuff, I'd appreciate more OP's along these lines. :)

    The map, we should bear in mind, shows political boundaries as the are today, more or less. What's now labeled "China", to the right of the map, was eastern Tibet. And at one time, Tibet's northern borders extended through most of Xinjiang, and west to include Ladakh. At its greatest extension, the peak of its empire, Tibet extended west as far as Kabul, on one map I saw.
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    @dakini as I stumble upon or rediscover informative websites, I'll start posting links here for everyone.

    People are most amazed to discover that at one time, Tibet had invaded and conquered China! At least, the Chinese empire as it was at the time. And when they did so, they brutally suppressed the Chinese culture and made everyone speak Tibetan, write Tibetan, and even wear Tibetan style clothes or be punished by their Tibetan overlords. It was what you did to a conquered people then. After all, each nation thought their way of life was superior. Why not "enlighten" the conquered?

    Has the notion changed? Well, now, the "enlightened" nations only enforce their political and monitary system on conquered people while leaving the language and dress alone most of the time. The first thing we do as Americans is set up a democratic system of elections, which is absolutely useless without the protections of a strong constitution and legal system in a tribal society where it means whomever controls the counting or has the biggest tribe wins everything. But we just love those pictures of tribesmen grinning and holding up their purple thumbs as they vote.

  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited March 2012
    Conquering China wasn't all that difficult, back in the day. The Manchus did it twice (first as the "Jurchens", or "Jin" Dynasty), so did the Mongols. And let's not forget the Huns, whose periodic attacks inspired the Chinese to build the Great Wall.

    "...leaving language and dress alone"? Assimilation through the relatively peaceful means of aggressive marketing of films, television programming, toys, household products, fashion and music have accomplished far more in turning the world into bland copies of Hollywood than any war possibly could. Small wonder that a resistance to that has formed in some parts of the world.
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