When al-Salit bin-Abdullah al-Hanafi arrived in Tibet, there were already two religious traditions sponsored by the imperial court, so-called “Bon” and Buddhism. The former was the native faith of Tibet, while the latter had been introduced by Tibet’s first emperor,...

The astro sciences of calendar-making, astronomy, astrology, and mathematics touch many aspects of Tibetan life. These sciences play a significant role in the Tibetan medical tradition.

A Tibetan-Mongolian horoscope reveals possible courses one’s life can take due to karma and thus indicates that no course is inevitable. Everything that happens arises dependently on innumerable causes and circumstances and what one does contributes to the course of one’s life.

The Bon system of astrology was amalgamated with the Chinese astro materials that first came to Tibet in the mid-7th century. In the 11th century, with the introduction of the “Kalachakra Tantra” from India, its astro traditions were added as well to make the unique blend of...

The Dzungar Mongols, from whom the Kalmyks broke away when they migrated to the Volga at the beginning of the seven­teenth century, originally had seven stone monasteries in East Turkistan. Three were in the north near the Russian border, with one at Hoboksar 和布克塞尔 and two to...

The Kokonor Mongols (Tib. sTod-sog) are the descen­dents of the Khoshut (Qoshot) Western Mongols, origi­nally from East Turkestan, who defeated the Tsang forces of Central Tibet in the sev­en­teenth century and gave temporal rule over Tibet to the Fifth Dalai Lama. ...

The Monguors 蒙古尔 or Tu people 土族 (known as Hor pa in Tibetan) are located in what is now the Tuzu Autonomo­us District 土族自治县 of Qinghai 青海, north of Xining 西宁, between Xi­ning and the Nanshan 南山 Moun­tains. Their main city is Huzhu 互助. The Monguors, who are also known as the...

A Brief History of the Kalmyk Mongols in Xinjiang The­re are approximately 140,000 Kal­myk Mongols in Xinjiang 新疆, or East Turkistan, about the same number as in Kalmykia, Rus­sia. 5,000 of them live in Ürümqi 乌鲁木齐, the capital. Often referred to as the East Turkistan Oirats,...

Introduction There are between 20,000 to 40,000 Yellow Yugurs (Yugu Zu 裕固族), a Turkic people residing in Gansu 甘肃, China. The Yellow Yugurs are related to the Uighurs of East Turkistan (Xinjiang 新疆), but they still follow Tibetan Buddhism, unlike the Uighurs, who converted...

Introduction A large number of Han Chinese of all ages in China are interested in Buddhism, but as in Tibet, the main problem is the lack of teachers. Many young people are receiving m­onastic ordination, but their quality is low. The majority of college-educated youth...