ABSTRACT
Cultural assumptions from Tibetan Buddhism are increasingly being communicated to people from other cultures. Where the previous chapters examined the continuity of relationship between the posthumous lama and his or her followers in contexts more specific to a Tibetanized culture, this chapter will consider the ways in which this continuity is played out in a cross-cultural arena. It asks the question, how are Tibetan beliefs in varying levels of embodiment expressed through the social practices of non-Tibetans? Up until this point, this book has argued that relations between Buddhist practitioners and posterior forms of deceased lamas involve an extension of embodied intersubjectivity, in the sense that the bodily existence of others is assumed to be manifold, not confined to a particular body or place nor limited to a particular moment in time. These assumptions of intersubjectivity are imperative to a lama's biographical process. We have explored how ideologies and praxis regarding relics, reincarnation, ritual and hagiography can foster intimate relations between lamas and their followers over vast differences in space and time. Now we will turn to the extension of this biographical process across cultures. Exploring the concept of trikaya (Skt.) 1 as a dynamic system of interrelating bodies, I examine how a proliferation of physical and disembodied margins can transgress divisions, stripping them of their spatial and temporal particularities.
