J F Marc Des JardinsJ. F. Marc des Jardins is Associate Professor of East Asian Religions in the Department of Religions and Cultures at Concordia University in Montreal. He teaches the social and cultural history of Chinese and Tibetan religions. His research focuses o the cultural interactions and religions along the former Sino-Tibetan frontiers, where Tibetan and Chinese cultures mixed and nourished each other. Since 1991 he has researched Tibetan indigenous ritual practices and the Bön religion of Tibet. He has published a monograph (Le sutra de la Mahamayuri: Rituel et politique dans la Chine des Tang) on the importance of esoteric Buddhism during the Tang dynasty as well as articles on Tibetan indigenous magic, tantric ritual practices, the ritual of exorcism, and others. He is the chief editor of The Journal of the International Association for Bön Research. Read More Read Less