Wings of the White Crane: Poems of Tshangs Dhyangs Rgya Mtsho (1683-1706)

Wings of the White Crane are unquestionably the most unusual and sensational of all the books by or about Tibetan Buddhists yet to appear in English. Westerners previously baffled by the strangely esoteric cast of the Tibetan mind will have no difficulty in finding sympathy with the Sixth Dalai Lama, a spiritual "pope" to the Tibetan Buddhists of his time, who poured out his very human heart into these simple, eloquent, often erotic songs of lovers lost and found, and of his inner conflicts as a monk. This book lets us peer into the heart of a sensitive and religious figure who struggled with the Spirit in a manner not unlike St. Francis of Assisi. Older Tibetans know all these fifty-three poems by memory since all humans everywhere know what the strife of love can bring. The translation by Dr. G.W. Houston is wonderfully clean and graceful, a clear channel that brings the reader into intimate contact with the 17th century Tibetan author. And, for the historically or esoterically inclined, Dr. Helmut Hoffman offers a fascinating introduction, explaining the sixth Dalai Lama’s secret, heretical involvement in Tantric sexual cults and the political circumstances surrounding his tragically early death. Wings of the White Crane thus promises to be the single best-selling original Tibetan text in modern times.