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<p>This dissertation ethnographically examines the lives of Tibetan Buddhist nuns
in Yachen, a mega-sized Tibetan Buddhist encampment in eastern Tibet that emerged
in the 1980s and is now a leading center of Tibetan Buddhist revivalism in post-Mao
China. Over 10,000 nuns make up the vast majority of the permanent residents in this
community (approximately 2,000 monks live there as well), but few scholarly discussions
have taken place regarding the lives and practices of the nuns in Yachen or in Tibetan
Buddhist revivals in China in general. This dissertation, therefore, calls attention
first to the lack of proper research on these nuns by providing ethnographic accounts
of their everyday lives in “China’s Tibet.” By placing the nuns and their lives at
the center of discussion, I was able to realize the significance of examining the
material, sensory, and mobile events and occasions through which alternative political
logics and possibilities appear in the practice of Buddhism and in Sino-Tibetan politics.
This alternative politics—which I call the politics of tranquility—presents itself
through the mobilities and material engagements of the nuns in Yachen, and offers
a stark contrast to the existing dichotomous understanding of Sino-Tibet relationships.
Therefore, second, I argue that mobilities, as well as material and sensory engagements,
are essential to the practice of Buddhism and the lives of the nuns in Yachen, without
whom the current Buddhist revivalism, in Yachen at least, would not be possible. </p><p> Following
my Introduction (Chapter 1), I begin my chapters by presenting the distinctive mobilities
of the nuns. Most of the nuns whom I have known in Yachen are escapees, running away
from their homes to become nuns in this remote region; their mobilities, against all
odds—both physical and social—are what initially make Yachen possible (Chapter 2).
Upon arrival, in the face of the harsh spatial regulations imposed by the Chinese
state, they engage in building residential huts for themselves; these building activities
are primarily responsible for Yachen’s accelerated expansion and thus for its potential
political tension (Chapter 3). In Chapters 2 and 3, I also argue that the nuns’ mobilities
and building practices, which have rarely been taken seriously within the Buddhist
revival in China, in fact constitute the fundamental process of making Yachen, i.e.,
of making the sacred. In addition, by living with the nuns, I was able to observe
their intimacies and secrets through the lens of their transgression and confession.
I consider the act of transgression as one of the most political ways to give an account
of the self as Buddhist practitioner, as nun, and as woman (Chapter 4). I argue that
the nuns actively, provocatively, and riskily (re)shape Yachen’s norms and morality
through their acts of transgression and confession. Finally, by drawing on food consumption
and eating habits among the nuns in Yachen, I tackle the highly intertwined issues
of ethnicity, money, religion, and ethics in Buddhist revivalism as well as in Sino-Tibetan
relations (Chapter 5).</p>
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