Tradition and modernity in the transformation of Tibetan Buddhism

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Arts, Social Science, and Commerce, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

This thesis was a recipient of the Nancy Millis Award for theses of exceptional merit.

This thesis addresses aspects of the Western reception of Tibetan Buddhism, and some of the factors at play in modern re-interpretations of traditional Tibetan doctrines and practices. It takes account of recent scholarship and explores the model of “Buddhist modernism” proposed by David McMahan and others. This thesis sketches the religious matrix of pre-modern Tibet and the historical encounter between Tibet and the West before considering McMahan's thesis in some detail. Attention then turns to two Europeans who travelled extensively in Tibet before the Chinese invasion: Marco Pallis and Lama Anagarika Govinda, each of whom became committed Buddhist practitioners. Both had wide-ranging experience of pre-modern Tibet but came to strikingly different interpretations of Tibetan Buddhist doctrine and practice in the modern world. This thesis argues that while Govinda greatly contributed to the popularisation of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, Pallis’ comparatively neglected work is more valuable because it provides a necessary corrective to some of the more extreme manifestations of Buddhist modernism.