This paper examines the cultural and religious significance of the King Gesar narratives.It argues that Gesar folklore,on an empirical level,is a cultural identity marker of Tibetans which has both historical and mythical contents.It also argues that in the religious and psychological sense,the character of King Gesar is an archetype,as understood from the perspective of Jungian psychology,whose function is not limited to the conventional framework of the national hero marking in Tibetan cultural identity but,most critically,pertains to the dissemination of the teachings of prominent historical Buddhist figure in Tibetan Buddhist history and the Mahayana Buddhist idea of bodhisattvahood.Although King Gesar is a Tibet-specific folk character,he nevertheless bears archetypal qualities that are trans-personal and trans-cultural.
