Contents: Editors preface. I. Bhutan: Introduction. 1. Bhutan studies: aspects of history and culture/John Ardussi. 2. Observations on the political organisation of western Bhutan in the 14the century as revealed in records of the ba' ra ba sect/John Ardussi. 3. Literary contributions by Bhutanese scholars to Buddhism and Tibetan studies/Mynak Tulku Rinpoche. 4. Computerised cataloguing of Choekey books and documents: a field study/Gregor Verhufen. 5. Sculpture in Bhutan: the Tshogs zhing in the Paro museum/Gabrielle Yablonsky.  II. Tibetan Art: 6. The myth of the cosmic turtle according to the late astrological tradition/Bela Kelenyi. 7. Indo-Tibetan schools of art and acrhitecture in the Western Himalaya: the instance of Ribba in Kinnaur/Marialaura Di Mattia. 8. Tantric Buddhism and aesthetics: art and morality/Isabelle Onians. 9. The development of the Prabhamandala in  early Tibetan art/Sjoerd De Vries. 10. Some inconsistencies of colour composition techniques Tibet/Shunzo Onoda. 11. Bod kyi kha dog gi bra ba skor gleng ba: rig pra phrul gyi me long/Dkon Mchog Bstan Dzin.

The proceedings of the seminars of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) have developed into the most representative world-wide cross-section of Tibetan Studies. They are an indispensable reference-work for anyone interested in Tibet and capture the cutting edge of Tibet-related research.

This volume is the last of three volumes of general proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the IATS. It is a richly illustrated book, containing a careful selection of scholarly and academic articles that open surprising perspectives on Bhutan and discuss Tibetan artwork.