The Research of Tradition and Modernity: From Gesar to Gendun Choepbel

摘要

Gesar was more an incarnation of the national spirit than a legend of Tibetans, or a real king, who had united the separated Tibetan areas by force and was piously worshiped by even contemporary Tibetans. Whereas, Gendun Choepbel was a real controversial lama with abundant knowledge of Buddhism, who had attempted to make some renovations to the old political order and Buddhism practice, for which he was sent into prison for three years. Gesar is a symbol of Tibetan traditional culture, who nurtures Tibetans from his time till present, while Gendun Choepbel represented a modern ideological trend toward humanism. His fate was a reflection of the modern intellectuals' fates at the first half of the twentieth century. Comparing their similarities and differences could help manifest the inevitable social development laws in both material and spiritual worlds with time elapsing.