The State Oracle of Tibet, Spirit Possession, and Shamanism

Abstract

This paper is based upon five years of ethnographic research among the Tibetan exile community in Dharamsala, India, and extensive interviews with the medium of the State Oracle of Tibet and other spirit mediums. It investigates the nature of the oracular phenomenon and its place in the Tibetan Buddhist cosmology as well as the socio-political role of the Tibetan State Oracle, or Nechung. The topics explored include spirit possession, shamanism, and spirit mediums. The central theoretical question addressed is whether or not magico-religious practitioners such as the medium of Nec- hung and other Tibetan spirit mediums can legitimately be categorized as shamans.

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