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(Encyclopedia)Tanggula Shan täng-lä, däng-lä [key], mountain range, southeast extension of the Karakorum range, in the central Tibetan plateau, on the Tibet-Qinghai border, W China; rises to about 20,000 ft (6,...

Aśoka

(Encyclopedia)Aśoka əshōˈkə, –sōˈk– [key] or Ashoka, d. c.232 b.c., Indian emperor (c.273–c.232 b.c.) of the Maurya dynasty; grandson of Chandragupta. One of the greatest rulers of ancient India, he br...

Dharamsala

(Encyclopedia)Dharamsala, town, Himachal Pradesh, N India. Located on the slopes of the Kangra valley at the edge of Dhauladhar range in the outer Himalayas. Dharamsa...

Qinghai Hu

(Encyclopedia)Qinghai Hu kōkō nōr [key], salt lake, c.1,625 sq mi (4,210 sq km), in the Tibetan highlands, NE Qinghai prov., China; one of the largest lakes in China. At an altitude of 10,515 ft (3,205 m), it is...

Kukai

(Encyclopedia)Kukai or Kobo-Daishi ko͞oˈkī, kōˈbō-dīˈshē [key], 774–835, Japanese priest, scholar, and artist, founder of the Shingon or “True Word” sect of Buddhism. Of aristocratic birth, he studie...

Tashi Lumpo

(Encyclopedia)Tashi Lumpo or Tashi Lhümpo täˈshē lo͝omˈpō [key] [Tibetan,=mount of blessing], lamasery, SE Tibet Autonomous Region, China, just outside Xigazê. Founded in the 15th cent., it is one of the be...

Madhyamika

(Encyclopedia)Madhyamika mädyŭˈmĭkə [key] [Skt.,=of the middle], philosophical school of Mahayana Buddhism, based on the teaching of “emptiness” (see sunyata) and named for its adherence to the “middle p...

Chinese

(Encyclopedia)Chinese, subfamily of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages (see Sino-Tibetan languages), which is also sometimes grouped with the Tai, or Thai, languages in a Sinitic subfamily of the Sino-Tibetan lan...

Darjeeling

(Encyclopedia)Darjeeling or Darjiling both: därjēlˈĭng [key], town, West Bengal state, NE India, ne...