garrett@reed.UUCP (Edward Garrett) (03/19/90)
Last May I received a grant from Columbia College in NYC to do a video-taped documentary on the practice of Tibetan Buddhist philosophical debate by nuns (and monks, too, most probably) in India and Nepal. I still haven't really formalized my plans for this project yet because I've been waitng for visa approval from the Indian goverment to study at an as yet unspecified univerity in north India under a Fulbright grant, which I also received last May. My grant proposals for the above mentioned two are frighteningly ambitious given my status as a recent BA recipient, but we have to start somewhere, right? My call here is for any advice, contacts, warnings, interest, sources, etc concerning this Tibetan debate project. I plan of course to visit the school of logic in Dharamsala; I believe that at Keydong Choling Nunnery outside of Kathmandu nuns are being taught philosophy and the practice of debate as well. Do you know of any other nunneries/monasteries which have debate classes for nuns as well as monks? Also, I'm interested in sources on the history of the practice of philosophical debate in India, and the history of institutions like Nalanda. I'd be grateful for any comments or questions - Frances Garrett