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The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk

Online ISBN:
9780520928244
Print ISBN:
9780520232594
Publisher:
University of California Press
Book

The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk

Georges B.J. Dreyfus
Georges B.J. Dreyfus
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Published online:
24 May 2012
Published in print:
28 January 2003
Online ISBN:
9780520928244
Print ISBN:
9780520232594
Publisher:
University of California Press

Abstract

This book is a unique insider's account of day-to-day life inside a Tibetan monastery, which reveals to Western audiences the fascinating details of monastic education. The author of this book, who is the first Westerner to complete the famous Ge-luk curriculum and achieve the distinguished title of geshe, weaves together eloquent and moving autobiographical reflections with an historical overview of Tibetan Buddhism and insights into its teachings. The first part of the book looks at the context of Buddhism, monasticism, and the teaching and discipline of becoming a monk in Tibet. The second part looks at Tibetan scholastic practices including literacy and memorization, the general structure of the Tibetan curriculum, two curricular models, scholasticism and orality, myth and reality, commentary and meditation, the supplement (hermeneutical or deconstructive), debate as practice, debate in the curriculum and the question: Is debate a mode of inquiry? Part three reflects on the rationality and spirit cult and on the limits of the inquiry. The book concludes with a look at past and future uncertainties.

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