Tibetan Magic: Past and Present

This book focuses on the theme of magic in Tibetan contexts, encompassing both premodern and modern text-cultures as well as contemporary practices.

Combining the theoretical approaches of anthropology, ethnography, religious and textual studies, the volume aims to shed light on experiences, practices, and practitioners that have been frequently marginalized by the normative mainstream monastic Buddhist traditions and Western Buddhist scholarship, which focuses primarily on meditation and philosophy.

The volume addresses the topic of Tibetan magic from a variety of perspectives such as phenomenology, sociology, comparative religion and ritual studies. A special focus will be paid to the intersection between magic/folk practices and Tantra, a complex, socio-religious phenomenon associated not only with the religious and political elites who sponsored it, but also with 'marginal' ethnic groups and social milieus, as well as with lay communities at large, who resorted to ritual agents to fulfil their worldly needs. Overall, the book offers a new understanding of the identity and role of magical specialists in both historical and contemporary contexts.