PANEL 18 – OATHS, VOWS AND PROMISES: WORDS AND DEEDS THAT BIND

WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE (Auditorium E)

Conveners: Berthe Jansen and Charles Ramble

 13.30-13.45: Opening of panel

.13.45-14.14: Jim Rheingans: What is a vow? Doctrinal and cultural concepts of sdom pa and dam bca’.

14.15-14.45: Berthe Jansen: dKon mchog gsum! The place of oath-taking, vow-keeping, and promise-breaking in Tibetan secular and religious literature.

14.45-15.15: Peter Schwieger: mna’ kha ’dra la kha’i shwa bas khyer or “How to Do Things with Words”.

15.15-15.45: Tea and coffee break.

15.45-16.15: Kalsang Norbu Gurung: Violation of dam tshig and its consequences in the Bonpo monastic community.

16.15-16.45: Charles Ramble: Gan rgya or gan rkyal? Legal and mechanical understandings of the binding power of oaths.