Details Books Concering The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel

Original Title: The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel (Buddhism and Modernity Series)
ISBN: 0226493172 (ISBN13: 9780226493176)
Edition Language: English
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The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel Paperback | Pages: 264 pages
Rating: 4.42 | 45 Users | 7 Reviews

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Gendun Chopel is considered the most important Tibetan intellectual of the twentieth century. His life spanned the two defining moments in modern Tibetan history: the entry into Lhasa by British troops in 1904 and by Chinese troops in 1951. Recognized as an incarnate lama while he was a child, Gendun Chopel excelled in the traditional monastic curriculum and went on to become expert in fields as diverse as philosophy, history, linguistics, geography, and tantric Buddhism. Near the end of his life, before he was persecuted and imprisoned by the government of the young Dalai Lama, he would dictate the Adornment for Nagarjuna’s Thought, a work on Madhyamaka, or “Middle Way,” philosophy.  It sparked controversy immediately upon its publication and continues to do so today.

The Madman’s Middle Way presents the first English translation of this major Tibetan Buddhist work, accompanied by an essay on Gendun Chopel’s life liberally interspersed with passages from his writings. Donald S. Lopez Jr. also provides a commentary that sheds light on the doctrinal context of the Adornment and summarizes its key arguments. Ultimately, Lopez examines the long-standing debate over whether Gendun Chopel in fact is the author of the Adornment; the heated critical response to the work by Tibetan monks of the Dalai Lama’s sect; and what the Adornment tells us about Tibetan Buddhism’s encounter with modernity. The result is an insightful glimpse into a provocative and enigmatic workthatwill be intrigue anyone seriously interested in Buddhism or Asian religions.

Declare Based On Books The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel

Title:The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel
Author:Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Book Format:Paperback
Book Edition:First Edition
Pages:Pages: 264 pages
Published:May 15th 2007 by University of Chicago Press (first published December 15th 2005)
Categories:Religion. Buddhism. Spirituality. Philosophy. Biography. Nonfiction

Rating Based On Books The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel
Ratings: 4.42 From 45 Users | 7 Reviews

Discuss Based On Books The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel
One of the most difficult books I've ever read ... Delves deep into the esoteric mysteries of Tibetan Buddhism. A profound text for meditation, at times incomprehensible, at times ironic and many times insightful. One to think about and remember.Best enjoyed alongside the doco 'crazy monk' which also goes into his life.

I've been fascinated by Gendun Chopel ever since I read an article Lopez wrote about him in Tricycle magazine around 2001 or so. Lopez described a brilliant, iconoclastic monk training in a traditional Gelukpa monastic university in the early twentieth century - one who regularly argued against some of the most treasured articles of faith within the tradition. In one debate, he argued for the impossibility of Buddhahood with such intellectual power that he left the courtyard in stunned silence,

This book is written for a very small audience -- those who are familiar with the arguments of Prasangika-Madhyamaka as espoused by the Gelukpa, yet who also decry the formulaic orthodoxy the Gelukpa had become by the early twentieth century. For we few, we happy few, this book is a one-of-a-kind delight, which sees the greatness of Tsong Khapa's penetrating analysis without buying into the rigid and doctrinaire language of the Tibetan church. Gendun Chophel was a great and courageous thinker on

He's definitely not your standard Tibetan madhyamika. Not a beginner's guide by any means, but if you've read Nagarjuna, Shantideva, Aryadeva, Candrakirti, Tsongkhapa, Gorampa and Mipham, you will find Choephel's take on things very interesting. Like all works on the subject, you have to think for yourself, and see if you can use what he's offering.

Donald Sewell Lopez, Jr. (born 1952) is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan, in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures.Son of the deputy director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Donald S. Lopez.

A profound examination of the nature by which we try to determine what is the ultimate truth. A text to contemplate, again and again.

Wow, fascinating and very thought provoking...full of so much to follow up on on so many levels.