On the Foundation of the Tibetan Studies Association（TSA）

　The aim of the Tibetan Studies Association (TSA) (International Academic Association) is to contribute to the understanding of human being through the study of Tibetan culture and through international exchange.
　The Tibetan Studies Association has two functions; it is an association for regional studies and also an association for studies of human being in general, that is, anthropology in a broad sense. In terms of regional studies, cultural regions are the subject of the study, including Ladakh, Kashimir in the West, Central Tibet, Eastern Tibet and Tibetans in Exile. There are regionality and commonality found in Tibetan cultures, despite sufficient and in-depth studies and informations have not been accumulated yet.
　Tibetan culture is a dynamic way of life, in terms of characteristics that are common to a certain group but recognized as different from those of other groups, such as language, livelihoods, social customs and norms, art, festivals, medicine, worldview and religion, character and spirituality, which are closely connected with ecology, society, history, inter-ethnic relationships, modernization, and the mind.
　The history and prehistory stretch back to the time men advanced on to the Tibetan plateau where the people managed nomadic herding, agriculture and trading economy to establish the Tibetan Empire. Tibetan people practice Tibetan Buddhism which originated from Buddha Shakyamuni in Magadha in the 5th century B.C., spread throughout India, then to Central Asia, Tibet, China and Japan. During the course of its expansion, schools of the religion developed by incorporating, coexisting with and integrating local deities, thus allowing the concept to coexist with other deities. Tibetan culture is a whole body of such cultures which have changed, descended, and developed up to today.
　Study of Tibetan culture is also study of human being in a broad sense. Tibetan ecology, society, and religion, and study of the interrelationships of these aspects, should lead to an understanding of the theory and of the entire human being, when they are compared with those of other cultures from a global perspective. This is because we will be able to find out where to place Tibetan cultur among all human cultures, and at the same time, to find an answer to the question, “What is human being?” and “How should human being live?”
（established 2011.12.13）

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