Narrative: Tibet

It has been evident for many years that no authoritative, reliable, and up-to-date reference work on Buddhism yet exists in any language. Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism aims to fill that gap. This volume surveys Buddhist literatures, both scriptural and nonscriptural, and offers discussions of the languages of Buddhist traditions and the physical bases (manuscripts and epigraphy, etc.) available for the study of such literature. Tibetan Buddhist narratives comprise indigenous Tibetan themes and stories as well as stories and legends received from the surrounding Buddhist countries, most notably India, but also Central Asia and China. No clear-cut distinction between Buddhist and non-Buddhist narrative is possible, however, since Buddhist legends and narrative cycles have often incorporated elements from Tibetan folk stories, and Tibetan tales have become Buddhicized by adding Indic features and a religious moral. A survey of Tibetan Buddhist narrative therefore perforce takes account of a number of different strands, such as foreign and indigenous stories and motifs and secular and religious themes