5 Facts you need to know about Tibet’s Maverick Scholar and Poet: Gendün Chöpel

1: He studied logic and epistemology (pramana), Prajñaparamita and Madhyamika, excelling in debate.

2: He accompanied Rahul Sankrityayan on a search for rare manuscripts in the monastic libraries of southern Tibet, including that of the great temple of Sakya

3: He travelled extensively throughout the Indian subcontinent, learned Sanskrit, Pali and English, and collaborated with George Roerich in his monumental translation of Gö Lotsawa’s Blue Annals.

4: He wrote many original works, including a guidebook to the major pilgrimage places of India, a treatise on eroticism, a history of Sri Lanka, works on the origin of Tibetan script, and an unfinished work on the early history of Tibet called the White Annals.

5: After returning to Tibet in 1946, he was arrested on counterfeiting changes, and sentenced to three years in prison and passed away in 1951.