Jacques Bacot

Jacques Bacot (1877 - 1965) was an explorer and pioneering French Tibetologist. He travelled extensively in India, western China, and the Tibetan border regions. He worked at the École pratique des hautes études. Bacot was the first western scholar to study the Tibetan grammatical tradition, and along with F. W. Thomas (1867-1956) belonged to the first generation of scholars to study the Old Tibetan Dunhuang manuscripts. Bacot made frequent use of Tibetan informants. He acquired aid from Gendün Chöphel in studying Dunhuang manuscripts.

Biography

The Tibetological career of Jacques Bacot began from a round the world trip which he made in 1904 and from an expedition to Tibet in 1906, part of the Tonkin, in the course of which he followed a pilgramage route which must have put him in intimate contact with the religious life of Tibet. After his return to France in 1908, he devouted himself to the study of Tibetan with Sylvain Lévi.

Jacques Bacot explored various Asian Countries :
* The valley of Chang Jiang (Yangzi Jiang ou "fleuve Bleu") (1907) ;
* The north of Indochina (1909-1910) ;
* The Himalayas (1913-1914 and 1930-1931)and travelled extensively in India, in the east of China, and the border regions of Tibet.

Jacques Bacot was named director of studies (directeur d'études) of Tibetan at l'École pratique des hautes études in 1936. He became a member of l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1947, and entered the "Société asiatique" in 1908. He became president after the death of Paul Pelliot, in 1945, and remained so until 1954.

The paintings and bronzes which he acquired in his various expedictions are now held at the Musée Guimetin Paris, which he donated to in 1912. His library and papers were also donated to the Musée Guimet after his death.

Works

*1913 "Les Mo-so. Ethnographie des Mo-so, leurs religions, leur langue et leur écriture." Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1913.
*1925 "Le poète tibétain Milarépa, ses crimes, ses épreuves, son Nirvāna." (Classiques de l’Orient 11 ) Paris: Éditions Bossard.
*1928 "Une grammaire tibétaine du tibétain classique. Les ślokas grammaticaux de Thonmi Sambhoṭa, avec leurs commentaires." (Annales du Musée Guimet. Bibliothèque d’études 37) Paris: P. Geuthner.
*1946. "Grammaire du tibétain littéraire." Paris: Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient.
*1947 "Le Bouddha." (Mythes et religions 20 ) Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
*1948 "Grammaire du tibétain littéraire. Index morphologique." Paris: Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient.
*1956 “Reconnaissance en haute Asie septentrionale par cinq envoyés ouigours au VIIIe siècle.” "Journal Asiatique" 2 :137-153.