Description: Based on the author's thesis (doctoral--Harvard University, 2012) under title: Delivering the Lotus-Born: historiography in the Tibetan Renaissance.
Review Quotes: "Nyangrel Nyima Öser (1124-92) is one of the more perplexing figures in Tibet's cultural history. His importance for being the first to introduce Padmasambhava as the Tibetan culture hero cannot be overestimated, as are the revelatory texts and perhaps also the history of Buddhism in India and Tibet with which he is credited. Yet not much is known about his intellectual and spiritual development. In his splendid study, Hirshberg sums up his importance in the following words: 'Nyangrel was both the architect of his enlightened identity and the product of his time. He was at once an excavator of Tibet's past and the author of its future.' Hirshberg's meticulous analyses go a long way in leading us to understand the text-historical issues that beset his hagiography of Padmasambhava and his chronicle of Buddhism. No one engaged in the serious study of Tibetan culture can ignore this masterful work that is destined to change minds."--Leonard van der Kuijp, Harvard University