Marlene Erschbamer

Mountains are highly sensitive to climate change. Their elevated areas provide essential ecosystem services both for the surrounding mountainous regions and particularly for adjacent lowlands. Impacts of a warmer climate affect these services and have negative consequences on the supply of water, on biodiversity and on protection from natural hazar...

Water influences every single aspect of life: it is the root of all life and therefore a significant resource. From a cultural point of view, water has always played a remarkable role and has found its way into daily life in a variety of ways, including rituals, legends, and narratives. Water is a vital resource and a rich element that symbolises a...

Himalayan peoples bathe in hot springs for medical and spiritual therapy. Included in local myths, hot springs are natural features that form a part of cultural memory and are social, cultural, religious, and medical venues. They also represent the tension between economic growth and environmental protection and, consequently, the competition betwe...

The focus of the present study lies on Tibetan masters who travelled to North Sikkim and highly criticised practices such as animal sacrifice. Thus the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between Tibetan masters and local Sikkimese communities through examples of encounters that took place in Northern Sikkim during the 17th, 18th a...

The student-teacher relationship is important in Buddhism, main teachers being called spiritual teacher or spiritual father. Such a spiritual father serves as a good example for one’s own spiritual path, passes on teachings, and provides the student with further guidance, explanations, and helpful advices. Zurpukpa Rinchen Pelzang (Zur phug pa Rin...

In Tibetan Buddhism still little is known about the lives and impacts of women, even though they surely influenced Tibetan society. This paper intends to provide some preliminary remarks on the historical role played by two sisters of the ruler Pho lha nas Bsod nams stobs rgyal (1689–1747), namely Padma chos ’dzin and Padma chos ’dzoms (d .1748), w...

This paper focuses on how the invasions of the Gorkhas (18th century), and particularly their violent aspects, were viewed by two Barawa masters who lived close to the borders of Nepal, Tibet and Sikkim. Since their monasteries, family homes and very lives were affected by the events of those years, they included some of their observations in their...

During the 14th century, a new subbranch of the ‘Brug-pa appeared: the ‘Ba‘-ra-ba bKa‘- brgyud-pa. Several texts belonging to this tradition, such as collected writings (bka‘ ‘bum), hagiographies (rnam thar), and spiritual songs (mgur), are preserved but these texts did not gain a lot of attention so far. The aim of this book is to shed further lig...

The aim of this study is to show the significance of the monastery bKa' brgyud dgon gsar as a meeting and resting place for masters of the 'Ba' ra ba tradition on their way from Tibet to Bhutan and Sikkim. Additionally, I will give some accounts of western explorers, mountaineers, and seekers, who visited this monastery in the course of their journ...

This paper focuses on monastic structures in the Lachen valley situated in Northern Sikkim (India). The inhabitants of this valley had close ties with Tibet in religious, political, and economic aspects. By looking closer to the heterogeneity in perceptions of the same area, various aspects are examined that give a more complete picture of the Lach...

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the connection of the 'Ba' ra ba bKa' brgyud pa school with Sikkim. Up to now, the 'Ba' ra ba bKa' brgyud pa has not received a lot of attention although their teachings and traditions have been upheld since the fourteenth century. First, a short introduction to this school will be given. Second, it will be sh...