Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgements -- List of Figures and Tables -- Introduction: Interdisciplinary Perspectives -- 1 The Study of Tibetan Divination -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Study of Tibetan Divination in the West -- 3 Divination in European and American Scholarship -- 4 Divination Eliminates Anxiety and Facilitates Decision Making -- 5 Divination, Dialogue, and Rationality -- 2 Tibetan Divination and the Bon Tradition -- 1 A Brief Introduction to Tibetan Divination -- 2 Remarks on Tibetan Buddhist Historiography and the Origins of Divination -- 3 General Remarks on the Bon Religion -- 4 Bonpos in the Contemporary Diaspora Community -- 5 Two Classifications of Bon Religious Teachings: the sGo bzhi mdzod lnga and Theg pa rim pa dgu -- 6 The Classification of Divination and Its Origins in the Bon Tradition: Excerpts from the gZi brjid -- 7 Divination Manuscripts in the Bon Canon -- 3 lDe'u 'phrul Divination -- 1 Introduction -- 2 lDe'u 'phrul Divination -- 3 lDe'u 'phrul Origin Narratives -- 4 Location -- 5 Outline of the lde'u 'phrul Rite -- 6 lDe'u 'phrul Prognostics: Major and Minor Results -- 7 The Interpretation of Prognostics -- 4 The Divination of sMra ba'i seng ge -- 1 Introduction to the sMra seng rdel mo gsal ba'i me long -- 2 Transliteration Guidelines -- 3 Translation of MS -- Conclusion: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Tibetan Divination? -- Appendix 1: The Divination Gods: Excerpts from the MSAP -- Appendix 2: Facsimiles of sMra sing rdel mo gsal ba'i me long bzhugs so -- Bibliography -- Index.

In Divination in Exile , Alexander K. Smith offers the first comprehensive scholarly introduction to the performance of divination in Tibetan speaking communities, both past and present. While Smith surveys a variety of ritual practices, the volume focuses on divination and its associated rites in the contemporary Tibetan Bon tradition. Drawing from multi-site ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Himachal Pradesh and the translation of previously unpublished Tibetan language materials, Divination in Exile offers a valuable, social scientific contribution to our understanding of the perception and usage of ritual manuscripts in contemporary Tibetan cultural milieus.

Description based on print version record.