PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . 1

INTRODUCTION
1. Prologue . . 7
2. Hegemony and Patronage: Strategies of Survival and Expansion . . 10
3. The Gung thang dkar chag: Its Sources and the Structure of the Present Book . . 13
4. sKyid-shod - A Key District of Northern Central Tibet . . 17
5. Historical Background . . 26
6. Gung-thang Bla-ma Zhang: Yogi, Warlord and Monastic Founder . . 29
7. Dar-ma gzhon-nu: Pioneer of Tshal-pa . . 38
8. Tshal-pa Hegemony in the 13th and 14th Centuries . . 40
9. Times of Transition: Tshal Gung-thang during the 15th and 16th Centuries . . 46
10. Changing Fortunes: The History of Tshal Gung-thang in the Period of the IHa-sa Central Government . . 57

PART I
DETAILED OUTLINE AND TRANSLATION OF THE TIBETAN TEXT
CHAPTER I
[A Brief Introductory History of Buddhism in Tibet] . . 72
CHAPTER II
[II. 1] [Biography of the Tshal-pa Founder and his Disciples and the Split of the School
into Bar-Tshal and sTod-Tshal] . . 74
CHAPTER III
[Description of the Temple and Its Monastic Complex]  . . 220
CHAPTER IV
[The Sacred Objects of Veneration] . . 278
CHAPTER V
[The Virtuous Benefits (phan yon, anusamsa) Accruing from Visiting the Objects] . . 287
ILLUSTRATIONS (Maps and Photographs) . . 297

PART II - APPENDICES
Appendix I
  Icons of IHa-sa Rulers: Embodied Buddhas, Political Power and Ancestral Authority: The Bla-ma Zhang and the gNyos Patriarch thangka . . 353
Appendix II
  Control over the IHa-sa Mandala Zone: Geo-political Schemes, National Monuments, Flood Control Politics and Ideological Battlefield . . 401
Appendix III
  The Tshal-pa Myriarchy: Territory, Appanage Grants and Mongol Patronage . . 553
Appendix IV
  In the Garden of the White Mare - Encounters with History and Cult in Tshal Gung-thang . . 571
Appendix V: Tables . . 635
Appendix VI
  Gung thang dkar chag and sMon lam rdo rje rnam thar . . 779

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . 833
INDEX . . 917
Note on the Illustrations . . 1011