Today Tibetan studies covers a wider range of issues and disciplines than ever before and this volume is representative of the work being undertaken. Volumes on specific themes will continue and the need for specialized monographs remains strong. A collection of papers such as this is relatively new in Tibetan studies and is to be welcomes. It represents the dialogue going on today among a diverse selection of scholars who have much to offer one another as we;; as experts om tjeor respective areas/ This dialogue is reflected by the editorial cooperation between philosopher and an anthropologist. Originally the 32 papers and two abstracts were presented at the international seminar in 1982 at Columbia Univ. in New York City.

Soundings of Tibetan Civilization, Barbara Aziz and Matthew Kapstein, Vajra Publications, Paperback, 397 pp, $25.00

Barbara Nimri Aziz, a social anthropologist, took her PH.D. at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is the author of Tibetan Frontier Families (1978) and with 'Khrul-zig Rinpoche, is responsible for the publication of The Traditions of Pha Dam-pa Sans-rgyas (Thimphu, 1979), 5 vols. Matthew Kapstein is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Philosophy, Brown University. In collaboration with Gyurme Dorje, he has recently completed the authorized translation of H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche's History of the Nyingma Tradition and has assisted in editing the companion Fundamentals of the Nyingma Tradition.

	Contents: Soundings in TIBETAN Civilization
	Preface by E. Gene Smith	ix
	Editor's Introduction	xv
	Contributors	xxiii
	Part One: The Tibetan Language
	Roland Bielmeier
	A Survey of the Development of Western and Southwestern Tibetan Dialects	3
	Zhang Liansheng
	The Phonetic Structure of ABCB Type Words in Modern Lhasa Tibetan	20
	Part Two: Fine Arts, Literature, and Oral Traditions
	Mireille Helffer
	A Typology of the Tibetan Bell	37
	Ricardo O. Canzio
	Aspects of Ceremonial Behavior in Bon-po Monastic Life	42
	Marceline de Montmollin
	The Bhutanese Collection in Neuchatel	54
	Anne Chayet
	The Jehol Temples and their Tibetan Models	65
	Braham Norwick
	The First Tsha-tsha Published in Europe	73
	Wang Yao
	Tibetan Operatic Themes	86
	Nawang Tsering Shakspo
	Ladakhi Folk Songs	97
	Chime Wongmo
	Rituals of Bhutanese House Construction	107
	Barbara Nimri Aziz
	On Translating Oral Traditions: Ceremonial Wedding Poetry from Dingri	115
	Part Three: Historical Studies
	Tsuguhito Takeuchi
	A Passage from the Shih Chi in the Old Tibetan Chronicle	135
	Helga Uebach
	An 8th Century List of Thousand-Districts in Ne'u Pandita's History	147
	Lozang Jamspal
	The Three Provinces of Mna'-ris: Traditional Accounts of Ancient Western Tibet	152
	Nawang Tsering
	A Survey of the Spread of Buddhadharma in Ladakh	157
	Janos Szerb
	Glosses on the Oeuvre of Bla-ma 'Phags-pa: III. The "Patron-Patronized" Relationship	165
	Turrell V. Wylie
	Biographical Notes on Phyag-na rdo-rje (1239-1267) (abstract)	174
	Dawa Norbu
	An Analysis of Sino-Tibetan Relationships, 1245-1911: Imperial Power, Non-coercive Regime and Military Dependency	176
	Tashi Tsering
	Nag-ron mgon-po rnam-rgyal: A 19th Century Warrior	196
	Michael C. van Walt
	Whose Game? Records of the India Office Concerning Events Leading up to the Simla Conference	215
	Part Four: Religious Life and Thought
	Ugen Gombo
	Belief in Karma and its Social Ramifications in Samsara	233
	Martin Brauen-Dolma
	Millenarianism in Tibetan Religion	245
	Amy Heller
	An Early Tibetan Ritual: Rkyal 'bud	257
	Jampa L. Panglung
	On the Origin of the Tsha-gsur Ceremony	268
	Samten G. Karmay
	The Rdzogs-chen in its Earliest Text: A Manuscript from Tun-huang	272
	Eva K. Dargyay
	A Rnin-ma Text: the Kun byed rgyal po'i mdo	283
	Alex Wayman
	The Tibetan Translation of the Manjusri-nama-samgiti (abstract)	294
	Judith Hanson and Mervin V. Hanson
	The Meditating Buddha	296
	Janice D. Willis
	On the Nature of Rnam-thar: Early Dge-lugs-pa Siddha Biographies	304
	Janet Gyatso
	The Development of the Good Tradition	320
	David Ross Komito
	Insight and Liberation in Nagarjuna's Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness	342
	Matthew Kapstein
	Religious Syncretism in 13th century Tibet: The Limitless Ocean Cycle	358
	Robert A.F. Thurman
	Tson-kha-pa's Integration of Sutra and Tantra	372
	Geoffrey Samuel
	Early Buddhism in Tibet: Some Anthropological Perspectives	383