Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary

An investigation into what is known in Tibet as "secret autobiography", a literary genre that presents a personal exploration of intimate religious experiences. The text focuses on the secret autobiographies by the Tibetan Buddhist visionary, Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798), whose writings are as much the nature of his own identity, memory and the undecidabilities of autobiographical truth as they are narrations of the actual content of his own experiences. The book examines the questions of why Tibetan Buddhists produced so many autobiographies, and how autobigraphical self-assertion is possible even while Buddhists believe that the self is ultimately an illusion. Also explored are Jigme Lingpa's historical milieu, his revelatory visions of the ancient Tibetan dynasty, and his mediative practices of personal cultivation.

About the Author :
Janet Gyatso is Associate Professor of Religion at Amherst College. She is the editor of In the Mirror of Memory: Reflections on Mindfulness and Remembrance in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism.

Review :
"It is only one of the many virtues of Janet Gyatso's Apparitions of the Self that it gives us, at last, a full portrait of a Buddhist saint in all his self-admitted complexity and ambiguity.... Lucid and literate.... Significant points to ponder, and subtle arguments to which to respond." "Gyatso surveys this landscape from a host of perspectives, adding to her Buddhalogical expertise a sensitivity to literary theory and comparative studies. Her sharp intelligence and thorough consideration are evident on every page. This book will attract readers from as many disciplines as Gyatso herself so effectively musters." "This exceptional volume combines concise and felicitous translation with clear commentary and insightful analysis.... What lends considerable interest to this work is the comparison Gyatso ... makes between Tibetan literature and Western literary theory.... [Apparitions of the Self] serves as a model of innovative scholarship." "In this ambitious book, Janet Gyatso breaks new ground in the field of cross-cultural comparisons of autobiography. . . . Providing clear, poetic translations of very difficult material, Gyatso offers a glimpse into an unusual genre of autobiography. . . . [She] has accomplished a difficult task at rendering the translations of Jigme Lingpa into clear, readable, English poetry and prose and elucidating their meaning in Western theoretical terms. Her use of Western theories of autobiographical self-representation and dissimulation shed valuable light on a heretofore impenetrable subject of Tibetan literature. . . . This book provides an important contribution to Buddhist studies and to autobiographical studies."