Ceci n’est pas une Thangka: Attending to the Unexpected in Tibetan Religious Contexts

This roundtable invites scholars to examine Tibetan religious phenomena whose actual lives diverge from their ostensible purposes. It takes its start from Magritte’s famous provocation, “Ceci n’est pas un pipe” which pushes the viewer to distinguish between the appearance of an object (in Magritte’s case, a picture of a tobacco pipe) and the actual object. Our intention is to move beyond taking Tibetan and Himalayan objects, practices, and ideas at face value, remaining attentive to the unexpected, and finding meaning in the hidden or unforeseen. Together we aim to cultivate sharper attention to the actuality of objects rather than taking them for granted based on mere appearance or assumed function.