On January 29, 2023, former students and colleagues of the late professor and historian Elliot Sperling (1951–2017) gathered for a memorial organized by the Indiana University Tibetan Studies Program to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the passing of their beloved teacher and friend. The event started off with an introduction to translator Sumpa Phuntsok’s new book of Tibetan translations of selected articles by Professor Sperling.

The publication, released by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA), Dharamsala, in April of 2022, is entitled བོད་རྒྱའི་སྲིད་དོན་ལོ་རྒྱུས་ཀྱི་དཀའ་གནད་བཀྲོལ་བའི་ཞིབ་འཇུག་དཔྱད་རྩོམ་དགུ།, and features nine of Sperling’s foremost research articles on Sino-Tibetan politics and history, including the following:

  1. “China and Tibet: The Interpretation of History Since 1950.” China Perspectives, 2009, no. 3: pp. 25-37; [in the French edition:] “Le Tibet et la Chine : l’interprétation de l’histoire depuis 1950.” Perspectives chinoises, 2009, no. 3: pp. 27-40. 
  2. “The 1913 Tibeto-Mongol Treaty: Its International Reception and Circulation.” Lungta, vol. 17, 2013: pp. 7-14. 
  3. “The 1413 Ming Embassy to Tsong-kha-pa and the Arrival of Byams-chen chos-rje Shakya ye-shes at the Ming Court.” The Journal of the Tibet Society, vol. 2, 1982 (published in translation as A. Sibailin, “1413 nian Mingchao paiyuan canjian Zongkaba ji Jiangqin qujie Shijia yixi jinjing chaojin.” Guowai Zangxue dongtai, no. 3, 1988: pp. 105-108).
  4. “Reincarnation and the Golden Urn in the 19th Century: The Recognition of the 8th Panchen Lama.” In Roberto Vitali, ed., Studies on the History and Literature of Tibet and the Himalaya, Kathmandu, 2012: pp. 97-107. 
  5. “Tibet’s Foreign Relations During the Epoch of the Fifth Dalai Lama.” in Françoise Pommaret, ed., Lhasa in the Seventeenth Century, Leiden, 2002: pp. 119-132. 
  6. “Si tu paṇ chen Chos kyi ’byung gnas in History: A Brief Note.” Journal of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, no. 7, 2013: pp. 1-16. 
  7. “‘Lama to the King of Hsia.’” The Journal of the Tibet Society, vol. 7, 1987: pp. 31-50. 
  8. “Si-tu Chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan and the Ming Court.” Lungta vol. 13, 2000 (published in 2002): pp. 23-27. 
  9. “Pho-lha-nas, Khang-chen-nas, and the Last Era of Mongol Domination in Tibet.” Rocznik Orientalistyczny, vol. 65, no. 1, 2012, pp. 195-211. 

Sumpa Phuntsok was born in Kham Naksho, Tibet, and pursued his education both in India and in Tibet. He graduated from Norbulingka Institute in 2018. He shared a short video for the memorial gathering on the making of the book, and we are pleased to share it here to showcase and celebrate the work of translators, and as a tribute to Elliot Sperling.

Contact LTWA to purchase a print copy of this book.
Ebook version is available here.

Special thanks to Sumpa Phuntsok and the Tibetan Studies Program at IU for preparing and sharing the video.

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