Papers by daniel berounsky
Exploring Himalayan Cultural and Textual Heritage: The Legacy and Impact of René Nebesky-Wojkowitz, 2026
This chapter is part of a monograph dedicated to René Nebesky(-Wojkowitz), a native of Czechoslov... more This chapter is part of a monograph dedicated to René Nebesky(-Wojkowitz), a native of Czechoslovakia who later became an Austrian citizen, whose work continues to resonate in Tibetan studies to this day. It focuses on the still enigmatic Tibetan "war deities" (dgra lha/bla), whose cult remains alive throughout Tibet to this day. René Nebesky devoted a chapter to them in his still widely cited book "Oracles and Demons of Tibet". However, in that work he drew upon numerous Tibetan manuscripts from Buddhist sects. Given that the cult of the 'war deities' conflicts with the central tenets of Buddhism, this chapter examines textual traditions that lie either outside the direct influence of Buddhism or on its periphery. It begins with isolated references found in the divination texts from Dunhuang, where their name is consistently written as 'dgra bla'. Given the high status of beings whose names include the syllable 'bla' in ancient Tibet, it is likely that they were regarded, alongside the 'sku bla' beings, as highly significant entities generally associated with enmity and war, hence the working translation 'supreme enmity'. In the second part, the chapter focuses on manuals of rope divination (juthig), in which they are again consistently written as 'dgra bla', but a number of other beings of a similar nature suddenly appear, called werma, shugön, and cangseng. Their central role in divination is reflected today in the classifications of divination methods within the Bön tradition, which in some references considers them the principal deities of divination. In its final section, the chapter focuses on a number of texts from the lay ritual tradition of northeastern Tibet known as "le'u." The cult of "war deities" is abundantly represented therein. However, it has already been shown in the texts of rope divination that these gradually merge with the cult of other, "fierce spirits" known as gnyan. In the leu tradition, a ritual called "bya rdang" (bird perches), dedicated to war deities, was often performed. In this particular locality, however, birds are the primary representatives of the gnyan spirits. A ritual text dedicated to "artemisia birds," which were individual offerings to the gnyan spirits, reveals this merging quite clearly. Other beings called shugön are domestic animals sacrificed to the gnyan spirits, which then serve as intermediaries between them and humans (bshug ma).
Recent Research on Tibet: A Festschrift for Guntram Hazod on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday, Per K. Sørensen and Christian Jahoda (eds), Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2026, pp. 581-607., 2026
An article from a book dedicated to Guntram Hazod (https://austriaca.at/5067-1), edited by Christ... more An article from a book dedicated to Guntram Hazod (https://austriaca.at/5067-1), edited by Christian Jahoda and Per Sørensen describes the discovery of an ancient Tibetan text at the Twin Stupas in Gansu Province, which today lies far from areas with a Tibetan population. It is the oldest version of a text known from the Bönpo Kangyur as the Nyen Collection (Gnyan 'bum). Although the vast majority of the locations mentioned in the manuscript relate to the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, it also includes myths set in Central Tibet. One of them concerns the separation of the dead and the living during a funeral ceremony. This is translated and commented on in the article. Does this manuscript bear witness to the merging of still distinctly different local ritual traditions into a single universal Tibetan tradition?
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Papers by daniel berounsky