Lucidity in the Dark: Poems, Songs and Narratives in/of Tibetan Carceral Worlds

What kinds of realization and accomplishments are possible in settings of extreme confinement? Throughout Tibetan Buddhist history, practitioners have purposely submitted themselves to periods of isolation, in which they are confined to small spaces, engage in sensory deprivation and undergo severe austerities. Many Tibetan religious figures have also undergone periods of political persecution that resulted in arrest, imprisonment, exile, etc. It is this relationship between voluntary confinement, carceral detainment and creative religious output that is the topic of this panel. This panel examines a number of figures throughout Tibetan history, from the first Tibetan monks to Mingyur Peldron in the 18th century to political prisoners, lamas and artists in contemporary Tibet. We will explore the kinds of ideas, realizations, accomplishments and affective modes that emerge in periods of detainment and political persecution. This panel includes five panelists and a presider, two of whom are former political prisoners from Tibet.