Tibetology
Tibetology is a scientific discipline that deals with the study of languages and the spiritual and material culture of Tibet.
History
As the founder of Tibetology applies the Hungarian orientalist Alexander Csoma de Kőrös. The first academic teacher of Tibetan in the Western world was the Frenchman Philippe Édouard Foucaux (1811-1894), who on January 31, 1842 tibetologische his inaugural lecture at the École Spéciale des Langues Orientales in Paris held.
The outstanding centers of European Tibetology were in the 20th century Rome ( Giuseppe Tucci, Luciano Petech ), Vienna (Ernst Steinkellner ), Paris ( Rolf Alfred Stein) and England ( David Snellgrove, Hugh Edward Richardson ). Equally important for the research on Tibet were also contributions from Tibetologists from Denmark, Norway, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia and Japan in particular. In China, a tibetologische research has developed in the late 20th century.
For a few decades, the international Tibetology has gained great momentum, which is particularly evident in the interdisciplinary, held every three years meetings of the International Association of Tibetan Studies ( IATS ). Also since 2007 takes place at regular intervals junior Conference International Seminar of Young Tibetologists ( ISYT ) testifies to the increasing interest in the Tibetological research. Newer research areas arise from the interest in ethnology and archeology in exploring Tibet.
Study
The study of Tibetology can Philology, Literature and Languages History, Philosophy and religious history, history, history of science and art history, include the Tibetan society and Buddhist Studies.
For historical reasons, the Tibetology in Germany was often associated with the Indian and so long time on the aspect of the development of Tibetan texts that have been translated from the Sanskrit, concentrated. The first chairs of Tibetology were set up in Germany in the 1980s. Tibetologische departments in Germany, there are, for example, at the Asia -Africa Institute, University of Hamburg, Leipzig University, the University of Munich, the University of Marburg and the University of Bonn. In addition, there are in the German-speaking regions, the Institute for South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna.
Research Topics
Research focus of the Tibetological research and teaching institutions is often the Tibetan Buddhism and the study associated with the learning of classical Tibetan and Tibetan vernacular.