Paper short abstract:

The role of vernacular religion is embedded in its relationship with mainstream religion/culture, and in its performance in everyday life. Vernacular religion is also re-contextualized when people gradually accept the doctrines of a religion which differs from it and to which they try to immerge it.

Paper long abstract:

Performance of Tibetan Epic Gesar features a pervasive system of practices involving the production and dissemination of belief systems. These homologous practices include improvisational verbal art, ritual dance based on sutras, dramas and daily worshiping within the family or region unit. They also reflect the relationship between Buddhism and vernacular religions related to mountain deities.

This paper concentrates on the role of storytelling in different Tibetan religions, and the varieties of speech in the narrative of Epic Gesar. It argues that the ambiguity of locating King Gesar into different religions can be observed in the daily narratives of Kham and Amdo Tibetans. In Kham Tibet - a half-farming, half-pastoral area - the official propaganda on orthodox live performances (storytelling in its literal meaning, in classical Tibetan) and exemplary ritual dances in Buddhist temples of Epic Gesar had in one way marginalized the vernacular religious beliefs in King Gesar as a mountain deity, and in the other provided a novel perspective of immerging vernacular beliefs into Buddhist religion. In Amdo Tibet, a purely pastoral area, the tradition of improvisational epic singing is well preserved, which is crucial in reflecting the belief of mountain deities; as a parallel, King Gesar as a mountain deity is worshiped in regional temples and family shrines. These daily practices are kept in distance from Buddhist rituals and sites, in searching for real efficacy of vernacular religion which benefits everyday life other than the search of mental fulfillment in Buddhist beliefs.