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<p>This is the seventh issue of the <em>Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies</em>, edited by Karl Debreczeny and released in July, 2013. This issue focuses on the influential eighteenth-century Tibetan cultural figure Situ Penchen Chökyi Jungné (si tu paN chen chos kyi 'byung gnas, 1700-1774). (Steven Weinberger 2013-07-20)</p>
<p><strong>Creator's Description</strong>: The influence of the brilliant scholar and painter Si tu paṇ chen chos kyi 'byung gnas reached far beyond the kingdom of Sde dge (Dege, 德格), extending even into Yunnan Province of southwestern China, where Si tu traveled three times, over a thirty-year period from 1729 to 1759. Almost from the moment that Si tu established his seat – Dpal spungs Monastery – until his death, he became increasingly involved and invested in 'Jang sa tham (Lijiang, 麗江). I will use several Tibetan sources to reconstruct Si tu's engagement in 'Jang sa tham, foremost being Si tu paṇ chen's own diaries. These Tibetan accounts will be corroborated and fleshed out using local Chinese records, such as contemporary gazetteers, royal genealogies, and temple records. Within both Tibetan and Chinese sources, one sees Si tu engaged in asserting his authority over monasteries in northern Yunnan, through his participation in their founding, consecration, ordination of monks, assignment of liturgies, and recognition of local incarnate lamas. Si tu also arrived during a critical period of transition for the area: the kingdom of 'Jang sa tham had just been abolished and Si tu cultivated the new imperial authority in the region, the Qing-appointed magistrates, as new local patrons. Visual evidence from the eighteenth century also suggests that the formerly vibrant local painting workshops ceased to exist, and the monasteries looked to Dpal spungs Monastery, with its prominent artistic traditions, as their new center. Using visual evidence gathered in situ during fieldwork, I will demonstrate 'Jang sa tham's new incorporation into the Dpal spungs artistic orbit in surviving wall paintings, which I argue drew directly from Si tu commissions that art historians are only now able to reconstruct. (2013-07-01)</p>
<p><strong>Creator's Description</strong>: The sacred mountain Wutai shan, located in Shanxi Province, China, is believed to be the earthly abode of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Mañjuśrī. While Wutai shan was a sacred site to Chinese Buddhists as far back as the fifth century, from the seventh century on, it became an international pilgrimage center, attracting Buddhist pilgrims from as far away as India, Kashmir, Tibet, Japan, and Korea. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Wutai shan had become especially important to Tibetans, Mongols, and Manchus, when Tibetan Buddhism was at its apex there and the mountain was a confluence of Himalayan cultures. The exhibition "Wutaishan: Pilgrimage to Five-Peak Mountain" (2007) introduced the nature of this transnational pilgrimage site dedicated to the embodiment of wisdom, Mañjuśrī, and explored the rich interrelationships between faith, politics, ethnicity, and identity which make the site unique. The accompanying introductory essay explores the history of Tibetan involvement on the mountain. (2011-12-31)</p>