Synopses & Reviews
In 1941, philosopher and poet Gendun Chopel (1903andndash;51) sent a large manuscript by ship, train, and yak across mountains and deserts to his homeland in the northeastern corner of Tibet. He would follow it five years later, returning to his native land after twelve years in India and Sri Lanka. But he did not receive the welcome he imagined: he was arrested by the government of the regent of the young Dalai Lama on trumped-up charges of treason. He emerged from prison three years later a broken man and died soon after.and#160;Gendun Chopel was a prolific writer during his short life. Yet he considered that manuscript, which he titled Grains of Gold, to be his lifeandrsquo;s work, one to delight his compatriots with tales of an ancient Indian and Tibetan past, while alerting them to the wonders and dangers of the strikingly modern land abutting Tibetandrsquo;s southern border, the British colony of India. Now available for the first time in English, Grains of Gold is a unique compendium of South Asian and Tibetan culture that combines travelogue, drawings, history, and ethnography. Gendun Chopel describes the world he discovered in South Asia, from the ruins of the sacred sites of Buddhism to the Sanskrit classics he learned to read in the original. He is also sharply, often humorously critical of the Tibetan love of the fantastic, bursting one myth after another and finding fault with the accounts of earlier Tibetan pilgrims. Exploring a wide range of cultures and religions central to the history of the region, Gendun Chopel is eager to describe all the new knowledge he gathered in his travels to his Buddhist audience in Tibet.and#160;At once the account of the experiences of a tragic figure in Tibetan history and the work of an extraordinary scholar, Grains of Gold is an accessible, compelling work animated by a sense of discovery of both a distant past and a strange present.
Review
and#160;andldquo;Gendun Chopelandrsquo;s Grains of Gold is the magnum opus of arguably the single most brilliant Tibetan scholar of the twentieth century, and the team of Donald S. Lopez Jr. and renowned translator Thupten Jinpa is the ideal combination of talents to expertly render it into faithful but accessible English. This excellent translation will be enthusiastically (and gratefully) welcomed by both scholars and general readers.andrdquo;
Review
and#8220;It is a delight to welcome the English translation of Grains of Gold: Tales of a Cosmopolitan Traveler, by Tibetand#8217;s towering intellectual figure of the twentieth century, Gendun Chopel.and#160;He considered this among his best works, and it will remain a part of his rich contribution to the cultural and literary heritage of Tibet.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;An extraordinary travel journal / historical essay by Tibetand#8217;s outstanding intellectual and artist of the twentiethand#160;century. Translated with grace and precision, Grains of Gold gives us a rare glimpse of how Asian religion and life appeared from the perspective of the Tibetan plateau.and#160;We hear in this work a brilliant and entirely original voice, meditating on tradition and modernity and all that they mean on the eve of the end of the world as he knew it.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Gendun Chopel, scholar, monk and traveler, was one of the greatest Tibetan intellectual figures of the twentieth century.and#160;Grains of Gold is one of his finest literary works dealing with his travels in India, a country central to the Tibetan Buddhist world.and#160;Thupten Jinpa and Donald S. Lopez Jr. have provided the first translation of his magnum opus, one that beautifully retains and invokes Gedun Chopeland#8217;s sense of amusement and critical engagement with his surroundings.and#160;It serves as an indispensable source for students, scholars, and general readers of Tibetan literary history.and#8221;
Review
andldquo;This fascinating publication sheds light on some of the innermost thoughts of artist, writer and scholar Gendanduuml;n Chandouml;phel, one of Tibetand#39;s most exceptional intellectuals of the 20th Century. . . . The reader gains an invaluable insight into the perspective of a Tibetan beyond the borders of the Land of Snows; one that is simultaneously critical, humorous, and unique, and ranges from the history of India to observations of Tibetan habits and customs.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Presents in lucid detail the sixty-four arts of love divided into eight varieties of sexual play—embracing, kissing, pinching and scratching, biting, moving to and fro and pressing, erotic noises, role reversal, and positions of love-making. It is a translation of the Treatise on Passion by Gedun Chöpel, the highly contoversial former monk. He gives titillating advice to shun inhibitions and explains how to increase female sexual pleasure. An over-arching focus is sexual ecstasy as a door to spiritual experience—the sky experience of the mind of clear light pervades the scintillating descriptions of erotic acts.
About the Author
Gendun Chopel (1903-51) was born in northeast Tibet as British troops were preparing to invade his homeland. Identified at any early age as the incarnation of a famous lama, he became a Buddhist monk, excelling in the debating courtyards of the great monasteries of Tibet. At the age of thirty-one, he gave up his monkand#8217;s vows and set off for India, where he would wander, often alone and impoverished, for over a decade. Returning to Tibet, he was arrested by the government of the young Dalai Lama on trumped-up charges of treason, emerging from prison three years later a broken man. He died in 1951 as troops of the Peopleand#8217;s Liberation Army marched into Lhasa.Donald S. Lopez Jr. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan.
Table of Contents
Introduction
By Thupten Jinpa and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
1and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; First, How I Set Out from Lhasa
2and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; General Formation of the Land of India and How It Acquired Its Name
3and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; How the Lands Were Given Their Names
4and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Snow Mountains of the North and Analysis of Related Issues
5and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; What the Famous Places of the Past Are Like
6and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; On Men, Women, Food, Drink, and Various Apparel
7and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Identification of Various Species of Flowers and Trees and How to Recognize Them
8and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Writing Systems of Various Regions of Past and Present
9and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; On the Linguistic Rules of the Tibetan Language
10and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Inscriptions of the Dharma King Aand#347;oka Carved on the Rock Face of Mount Girnar
11and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Gupta Dynasty
12and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Pand#257;la Dynasty
13 and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; From 1,600 Years after the Passing of the Buddha to the Present
14 and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; On the History of Siand#7749;ghala
15and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; On the Conditions and the Customs of the Tibetan People in Ancient Times
16and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Religion of the Tand#299;rthikas
17and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Conclusion
Appendix A: Tibetan Transliteration
Appendix B: Glossary of Terms
Acknowledgments
NotesIndex