Gendun Chopel (1903–1951)

Buddhist master, scholar and artist Gedun Chopel, from the 1st half of the 20th century, was raised in a traditional Tibetan monastic setting, but left to wander alone in parts of Asia, where he studied, witnessed, learned, and wrote, eventually returning to Tibet to face harsh imprisonment on false charges, and an early death.

Like its author, this book of poems, In the Forest of Faded Wisdom, wandered too, arriving here at Saraha Nyingma Buddhist Institute in Eugene, Oregon this week after having been "discarded" in red ink by its previous owner, the library of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the other side of the continent, and then redeemed in status to "used, very good" by its reseller, somewhere else. Someone here commented that the cover image of Gedun Chopel looked "ghostly." Somehow that fits too.

Today we hereby declare this wandering book a very beautiful and welcome addition to the library here at Saraha. H. E. Gyepa Rinpoche, who is visiting the Institute this week, recounted that HH Dudjom Rinpoche sought out and met with Gedun Chopel in Lhasa in the last years before he died. HH Dudjom Rinpoche is also recorded as having been instrumental in the posthumous publication of Gedun Chopel's famous philosophical treatise, "The Ornament of Nagarjuna's Intent."

The poems themselves are concise, poignant, elegant, sometimes wrenchingly sad and lonely, sometimes brilliant, sometimes explicitly self-pitying, sometimes fearless and grand, mostly very human, honest and true. They are presented en face with Tibetan language on one side and the English translation on the other, for those who would like to learn Tibetan, or English, from the poems, or those who would like to check the translations by Donald Lopez, which seem excellent.

Here are some quotes chosen almost randomly from the book:

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The naked truth, terrifying to behold,
Is not to be covered by the robes of self deception.
This is the first vow of the scholar.
Please keep it though it costs you your life.

----

As they draw near to the nature of things
The words of the learned become mute.
All phenomena, subtle by their very nature,
Are said to be beyond expression in words or thoughts.

The mind is placed in the nature of the emptiness of all things
In this samsara, thick with the mirages of appearance
That even the Thatagata's hand cannot stop,
Who can let go of belief in existence and nonexistence?

----

When they see you in happiness, they bow down before you.
When they see you in sadness, they turn away and hide.
This nature of all ordinary beings
I have known from long ago.

When they see you prospering, they gather before you.
When they see you in decline, they turn away and hide.
This nature of all ordinary beings
I have known from long ago...

.....

In my youth, I did not take a delightful bride;
In my old age, I did not amass the needed wealth.
That the life of this beggar ends with this pen,
This is what makes me feel so sad.… (altro)