Preserving the Master’s Word: Rituals and Protective Accessories for Sacred Scriptures in the Himalayan Culture

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a new Special Issue entitled ‘Preserving the Master’s Word: Rituals and Protective Accessories for Sacred Scriptures in the Himalayan Culture’. This Special Issue aims to explore one of the receptacles of the Buddha, namely the Buddha’s word, represented by books.

Since the Buddha’s Parinirvāṇa, books have represented His Teachings; in these, the Truth is revealed to disciples and believers, and they are therefore considered to be sacred. The use of books for daily practice requires their prior consecration, which is performed in both Buddhist and Bon religious traditions. Such rituals also ensure the protection of scriptures, so that books can be preserved as long as possible. The various elements that constitute a manuscript or a xylograph, from punctuation marks to book covers, and from sacred syllables to illuminations, are specifically designed to safeguard scriptures as ‘protective accessories’. In addition to embellishing books, these elements preserve them physically, and through their sacred power (Bentor 1996: chapt. 1; Diemberger 2012; Diemberger, Elliot, Clemente 2014, pp. 8–9; Kim 2013, pp. 1–20; Martin 2018; Martin 2023).

The materials used to produce such scriptures are selected to enhance their value and prevent entomological damage (Boesi 2016; Wangchuk 2016; Helman-Ważny 2024, pp. 51–54). Special ingredients may sometimes be imported from sacred places to bless and empower books and mixed with relics such as the blood and ashes of leading religious figures, thus becoming enshrined in these scriptures (Diemberger, Elliot & Clemente 2014, pp. 48–49; Clemente 2024, p. 48). The techniques employed to manufacture manuscripts and xylographs aim, for example, to avoid the dispersal of leaves, reduce the effects of fire damage, and protect them from dust and humidity. Every element of these artefacts is believed to make the Master’s Word everlasting (Martin 2023).

Artists summoned to manufacture such scriptures also perform rituals before accomplishing their sacred task; these include visualization and identification with a specific deity, the purification of materials used to produce books, the worship of writing, drawing, and carving tools through mantra recitation (Schaeffer 2009).

We welcome the submission of papers that focus on the afore-mentioned rituals performed before or after the manufacture of books in the Himalayan context, the materials and techniques employed to protect scriptures, the relics used in inks and pigments, ornamental elements, illuminations and wooden covers.

We extend an invitation to scholars affiliated with universities or institutes, as well as independent researchers. We particularly encourage contributions from young scholars in the early stages of their careers. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics: Buddhist and Bon manuscripts and xylographs produced in the Tibetan, Indian, Nepalese and Bhutanese cultural sphere; philological, historical, religious and literary research on rituals associated with book and book production; art-history; codicology; materiality; paleography; and book conservation.

We kindly request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, Dr. Michela Clemente (michela.clemente1976@gmail.com), and CC the Assistant Editor, Margaret Liu (margaret.liu@mdpi.com) of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor in order to ensure that the manuscript is within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

A tentative timeline:

Deadline for abstract submission: 30/11/2025

Deadline for full manuscript submission: 31/05/2026

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Michela Clemente
Guest Editor

References:

(Bentor 1996) Bentor, Yael. 1996. Consecration of Images & Stūpas in Indo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Leiden: Brill.

(Boesi 2016) Boesi, Alessandro. 2016. Paper Plants in the Tibetan World: A Preliminary Study. In Tibetan Printing: Comparison, Continuities, and Change. Edited by Hildegard Diemberger, Franz-Karl Ehrhard and Peter Kornicki. Leiden-Boston: Brill, pp. 501–531 (open access: https://brill.com/display/title/24257?srsltid=AfmBOoqhFEYmqoVjAS6QP9_um24-qq2RrHyWNaJTIysLkENskE9y_SpL).

(Clemente 2024) Clemente, Michela. 2024. Immortality through Relics in Tibetan Hagiographies: The Case of lHa btsun Rin chen rnam rgyal (1473–1557)”. In Fate and Immortality in Asia: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Edited by Donatella Rossi. Rome: Scienze e Lettere-ISMEO, pp. 43–52.

(Diemberger 2012) Diemberger, Hildegard. 2012. Quand le livre devient relique. Les textes tibétains entre culture bouddhique et transformations technologiques. Terrain, revue d’ethnologie euro­peénne 59: 18–39.

(Diemberger, Elliot, Clemente 2014) Diemberger Diemberger, Hildegard, Mark Elliott, and Michela Clemente. 2014. Buddha’s Words. The Life of Books in Tibet and Beyond. Cambridge: Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge.

(Helman-Ważny 2024) Helman-Ważny, Agnieszka. 2024. The Material Basis. In Tibetan Manuscripts and Early Printed Books. Volume I. Elements. Edited by Matthew T. Kapstein. Ithaca-London: Cornell University Press, pp. 29–62.

(Kim 2013) Kim, Jinah. 2013. Receptacle of the Sacred: Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist Book Cult in South Asia. Berkeley: University of California Press.

(Martin 2023) Martin, Dan. 2023. Earth and Wind, Water and Fire: Book Binding and Preservation in pre-Mongol Bon Ritual Manuals for Consecrations. In Bon and Naxi Manuscripts. Edited by Agnieszka Helman-Ważny and Charles Ramble. Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 87–106.

(Martin 2018) Martin, Dan. 2018. Atiśa’s Ritual Methods for Making Buddhist Art Holy. In Atiśa Śrī Dīpaṅkara-jñāna and Cultural Renaissance: Proceedings of the International Conference, 16th-23rd January 2013. Edited by Shashibala. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, pp. 123–138.

(Schaeffer 2009) Schaeffer, Kurtis R. 2009. The Culture of the Book in Tibet. New York: Columbia University Press.

(Wangchuk 2016) Wangchuk, D. 2016. Sacred Words, Precious Materials: On Tibetan Deluxe Editions of Buddhist Scriptures and Treatises. In Tibetan Manuscript and Xylo­graph Traditions. The Written World and Its Media within the Tibetan Cultural Sphere. Edited by Orna Almogi. Hamburg: Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg, pp. 371–415.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• consecration rituals
• book rituals
• Himalayan book culture
• Buddhist studies
• bon studies
• materiality of the books
• codicology
• book conservation
• Himalayan art history