[Buddha-l] New book & film on genius monk Gendun Choephel

[jkirk]

Buddha-L denizens might want to read about this ahead-of-his-time character 
from early in the last century in Donald S. Lopez Jr. The Madman's Middle 
Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel (Buddhism and 
Modernity Series) (Paperback).University Of Chicago Press; New Ed edition. 
(May 1, 2007).

A new film by the Swiss filmmaker Luc Schaedler, _Angry Monk_, that covers 
this monk's life and work, has recently surfaced and is worth seeing, if you 
can get your departments to purchase it, from First Run/Icarus Films. 
However, they have only the NTSC version that doesn't have bonus features on 
the DVD that are found on the PAL version. Many university AV departments 
have machinery that runs PAL videos and DVDs, and also many computers can 
run a PAL DVD, but not all. For more info contact the filmmaker, 
lucschaedler at angrymonk.ch .   There are French, English, German, and Tibetan 
versions of this film. 97 min. + 60 min. of additional features on the PAL 
version. I've seen the film and found it provocatively interesting, 
especially as it includes interviews with folks in Chopel's home village, 
lots of old B&W footage, and more. I plan on getting Lopez's book. Lots of 
reading ahead.

Here's the blurb on Lopez's book from Amazon:
Book Description

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 work that will be intrigue anyone seriously 
interested in Buddhism or Asian religions.

Joanna