Buddho-paganism

This chapter further challenges the reduction of religion in culturally Tibetan villages to a confrontation between opposed ideologies: Buddhism on the one hand and the cult of autochthonous gods on the other. The fallacy of this simple dialectic is illustrated by an examination of a number of local documents and anecdotes. Whereas the most obvious interpretation of these reinforces the idea of an ideological clash between Buddhist tenets and “pagan” practice, closer analysis demonstrates that this attractive scenario is an irrelevance. Apparent inconsistencies in the examples are reconciled when they are examined not in terms of the conventional understanding of religion but rather from the point of view of the community.
-- The Navel of the Demoness: Tibetan Buddhism and Civil Religion in Highland Nepal | Charles Ramble | Published: January 2008
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* Jesus the mage
* Christo-paganism
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