Gendün Chöphel

Gendun Choephel (* 1903 in zho ' ong dpyi grong tsho ( Rebgong ), † 1951) was a Tibetan artist, scholar, historian and author.

Life

Youth and Education

Gendun Choephel was recognized at a young age as a tulku, a known Nyingma lamas, but not enthroned. At the age of fourteen he was accepted as a novice in Drisha Gelug monastery in his home in Rebgong Valley of Amdo ( Qinghai ). His studies led him in 1920 in the Gelug monastic university of Labrang, where he started as a brilliant debater, to turn against power structures in the clergy. During his stay in Labrang he also learned the American missionary Marion Griebenow know who lived in the area 1921-1949. He aroused his interest in the world outside Tibet.

1927 Gendun Choephel was after four months of travel in the capital, Lhasa student of Geshe Sherab Gyatsho (ca. 1884-1968 ) in the famous Drepung Monastery. Although he was not considered a particularly keen student, he was respected by the monks because of its exceptional debating. After 1934 Rahul Sankrityayan ( 1893-1963 ) met, he was, however, his studies just before the Geshe exam and sought together with him in the monastery libraries for rare Sanskrit manuscripts.

India

In November of the same year Gendun Choephel left his home and traveled with Rahul Sankrityayan to India. Apart from an expedition to the Tibetan region Tsang (1938 ), he did not return for twelve years back to Tibet. The Winter 1934/35 he spent in Patna.

Between the years 1935 and 1939 Gendun Choephel traveled extensively as a pilgrim in the style of a yogi the Tantric tradition through the Indian subcontinent and came with support from the Maha Bodhi Society to Ceylon, where he could teach about the philosophy and lifestyle of the local Theravada monks. As a result of his travels, on which he also tried to identify the 24 Tantric places that are listed in the " Samvaratantra ", the "leader by India " ( Tib. rgya see even gnas yig bsdus pa) was created, which, in several versions was printed 1937-1950.

Gendun Choephel learned English, Sanskrit and Pali, dealt with Western philosophies and models of society and made contacts with intellectuals and artists, and appeared as a layman in the "world of meaning " one. If he did not beg he stayed with painting over water, also he kept finding people who supported him. The offer Rabindranath Tagore to take over at his university professor of Tibetology, Gendun Choephel resolutely rejected because he " do no good life, but do everything for Tibet " is wanted.

Based on the Kama Sutra Gendun Choephel wrote during his time in India, " The Tibetan Art of Love " ( Tib: 'dod pa'i bstan bcos ). Hopkins called him because of this book as the first Tibetan feminists, because it encourages the appreciation and absolute equality of women in the book. He also produced the first translation of the Dhammapada from the Pali into Tibetan, and has worked together with George Roerich in a translation of the "Blue Annals " ( Tib: deb ther sngon po) of Gö Lotsawa Shönnu Pel into English and wrote a controversial study to Madhyamaka philosophy, entitled " the jewelry of Nagarjuna's intention " (Tibetan: klu sgrub dgongs rgyan ).

Tibet

From 1941 Gendun Choephel had in Darjeeling and Kalimpong contacts with radical Tibetan exiles from the vicinity of the "Tibet Improvement Party" (Tib. ནུབ་བོད་ལེགས་བཅོས་སྐྱིད་སྡུག་ ), 1939 or later Pomdatsang Rabga ( SPOM mda ' was founded in 1902-1972); tshang rab dga '. Compared with the Tibetan government in Lhasa, he was referred by British diplomats as " communist". In 1945 he was invited by Trijang Rinpoche and the Kashag to return to Tibet. Between 1946 and 1947, Gendun Choephel wrote under the title "White annals " in a work of history to the Tibetan monarchy, in which he also auswertete manuscripts from the Dunhuang finds of Aurel Stein and Paul Pelliot. In 1947 he was indicted for alleged counterfeiting and was imprisoned until 1949 in the prison of the Potala Palace. The real reason for his arrest was suspected that he had connection with the exiled communist Tibetans. 1951 died Gendun Choephel to the consequences of his alcohol abuse.

Works

• The White Annals. Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamsala 1978.
• The Tibetan Art of Love. Eros, ecstasy and spiritual healing. From the American Richard Reschika, with an introduction by Jeffrey Hopkins, with the participation of Dorje Yudon Yuthok, with a preface by Andreas Gruschke. Hans- Nietsch -Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 2006, ISBN 3-934647-97-9.