Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T03:20:29.074Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preserving Intangible Aspects of Cultural Materials: Bonpo Ritual Crafts of Amdo, Eastern Tibet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Chandra L. Reedy
Chandra L. Reedy*
Affiliation:
clreedy@udel.edu, University of Delaware, Center for Historic Architecture and Design, 307 Alison Hall, Newark, DE, 19716, United States
Get access

Abstract

Ancient and historic products of past technologies exist in the form of material culture and archaeological finds, available for materials analysis. Technical studies and analytical work, coupled with the study of historical texts and archival documents, can help in reconstructing past technologies. But the act of making an object is, by its very nature, also an intangible part of human heritage. Production of material culture may be accompanied by specific rituals, social behaviors and relationships, music, knowledge gained from oral histories, meanings, intents, beliefs, and reasoning processes. For ancient objects, gaining access to these intangible aspects of cultural heritage may be extremely difficult, if not impossible. However, there are many societies where traditional crafts are produced within a context where the intangible aspects can still be recorded. Yet, these opportunities are disappearing at an alarming rate as development and globalization rapidly overtake more and more traditional communities. Documenting intangible data about craft processes can promote fuller understanding of the objects themselves, and aid long-term preservation of both the objects and the processes used to make them. Examples here are drawn from fieldwork conducted in 2007 at a Bonpo monastery (Serling) and nearby villages in the Amdo region of the eastern Tibetan culture area (in Sichuan Province, China). Bonpo practices, which pre-date the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet, incorporate a variety of ritual crafts that are strongly rooted in a complex web of intangible relationships, behaviors, meanings, purposes, and beliefs. This paper focuses on votive clay objects (tsha-tshas) and barley-dough offering sculptures (tormas). Processes encompassing intangible aspects that are explored include the decision to make an object, when to make it and in what form, selection of raw materials, methods for processing the raw materials, fabrication procedures, selection of who will be involved in fabrication steps, where to place the finished object, and whether it will be preserved for the long term or considered to be only a temporary object. Results are placed in the context of larger theoretical issues regarding documentation and preservation of intangible elements of cultural heritage as part of a study of materials and technological processes.

Keywords

artarchaeologyceramic
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1047: Symposium Y – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology VIII , 2007 , 1047-Y02-03
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.UNESCO, Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2003, http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=00006 [accessed Nov. 16, 2007].Google Scholar
2.UNESCO, “What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?,” 2007, http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=00002 [accessed Nov. 16, 2007].Google Scholar
3. Karmay, S. G and Nagano, Y. (editors), A Survey of Bonpo Monasteries and Temples in Tibet and the Himalaya (National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, 2003), pp. 622–624.Google Scholar
4. Baumer, C., Tibetan's Ancient Religion: Bön (Weatherhill, 2002).Google Scholar
5. Bentor, Y., in Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 5th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Narita 1989, edited by Shōren, I. and Zuihō, Y.. (Naritasan Shinshoji, Narita, 1992): Vol. 1, pp. 1–12.Google Scholar
6. Tucci, G., Indo-Tibetica, Vol. 1: Stupa, Art, Archtectonics, and Symbolism (Mchod-rten and Tsha-tsha in India and Western Tibet), English version of 1938 Italian edition (New Delhi, 1988).Google Scholar
7. Huber, T., in Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 5th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, Narita 1989, edited by Shōren, I. and Zuihō, Y.. (Naritasan Shinshoji, Narita, 1992): Vol. 1, pp. 493–496.Google Scholar
8. Liu, D., Ca Ca: Zang chuan fo jiao mo zhi ni fo Xiang (Tsha Tsah: Tibetan Clay Molded Buddhist Images) (Tianjin Shi, 2000).Google Scholar
9. Li, J., Asian Arts (1995) http://www.asianart.com/li/tsatsa.html [accessed Nov. 16, 2007].Google Scholar
10.Lama Zopa, Rinpoche, Commentary on Tsa Tsa Practice (n.d.) http://www.lamayeshe.com/lamazopa/tsa-tsa.shtml [accessed Nov. 16, 2007].Google Scholar
11. Reedy, C. L, in The Object in Context: Crossing Conservation Boundaries, edited by Saunders, D., Townsend, J. H, and Woodcock, S. (International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 2006), pp. 144–150.Google Scholar
12. Bütler, C., Chö-yang 7, 38–52 (1996).Google Scholar
13. Beer, R., The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs (Shambala, 2003), pp. 320–325.Google Scholar
14.Tormas, http://www.khandro.net/ritual_tormas.htm [accessed Nov. 16, 2007].Google Scholar
15. Bellezza, J. V, Spirit-mediums, Sacred Mountains, and Related Bon Textual Traditions in Upper Tibet (Brill, 2005).Google Scholar
16. Karmay, S. G, The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Tibet (Mandala Book Point, 1998), pp. 380–412.Google Scholar
17. Reedy, C. L, in Sino-Tibetan Art Studies, edited by Luo, W. (Third International Conference on Tibetan Archaeology and Arts, Beijing, in press).Google Scholar