LAMAS, SHAMANS AND ANCESTORS: VILLAGE RELIGION IN SIKKIM . By Anna Balikci . Brill's Tibetan Studies Library, 17 . Leiden and Boston : Brill , 2008 . Pp. xxi + 403 . Cloth, $148.00 .
摘要
This book's main argument is that village Buddhist lamas and bönpo shamanic practitioners coexist without hostility, in large part because both share a “shamanic worldview.” In contrast to some studies of Himalayan syncretism, which have emphasized the opposition between Buddhist and non‐Buddhist practices, Balikci argues that both lamas and shamans possess effective powers for dealing with a broad array of problems that are seen as originating in the displeasure of a large pantheon of spirit entities (ancestors, place deities, etc.). Indeed, when it comes to diagnosing and resolving pragmatic, this‐worldly concerns, such as illness, the shamans are often regarded as more effective than the Buddhist lamas. Balikci also argues that the main area of religious contestation is actually within Buddhism, between village lamas and a representative of “conventional” Buddhism. In one example, she shows how villagers struggle with the orthodox Buddhist prohibition on animal sacrifice, in a context where harm‐causing spirits sometimes demand to be fed. Besides a wealth of material related to Himalayan village ritual practices, the book also contains extensive detail regarding the history of Sikkim, its economic and political transformations (especially with regard to the rise of cardamom cultivation, the influx of Nepali immigrants, and the end of the monarchy), and the social and cultural landscape of a Lhopo village. This book will be of great value not only for those interested in Himalayan syncretism, bön, or shamanism in general, but also for anyone with an interest in Sikkim or a detailed ethnographic account of Himalayan village life.
