Dge ’dun Chos ’phel was one of the most influential Tibetans of the twentieth century. He was born in Amdo in 1903. During his monastic training in the Dge lugs academy, first at Bla brang and then at ’Bras spung, he distinguished himself as a debater, while supporting himself as a painter. He left the monastery in 1934 to accompany the Indian scholar Rahul Sankrityayan, who had come to Tibet in search of Sanskrit manuscripts. Dge ’dun Chos ’phel returned with him to India, where he spent the next twelve years. During this time, he traveled extensively, translated Sanskrit classics into Tibetan, assisted European scholars in their studies, wrote a history of early Tibet, and composed a famous treatise on erotics. In 1945 he helped found the Tibetan Progressive Party, which sought to liberate Tibet from its current government so that it might become a democratic republic within China. Upon his return to Lhasa in 1946, he was arrested on the fabricated charge of counterfeiting currency and was imprisoned until 1949. He died in 1951. Despite describing himself as a beggar, and traveling alone for much of his life, Dge ’dun Chos ’phel was a well-known figure among the Lhasa literati (both monastic and aristocratic). His fame (and infamy) grew with the publication shortly after his death of the Klu sgrub dgongs rgyan, which criticized many of the philosophical traditions of the Dge lugs sect. In the decades since his death, Dge ’dun Chos ’phel’s legacy has grown, both in Tibet and in the West. This essay will trace the trajectory of his influence, from the time of his travels in India up to the present day, and will seek to identify the various roles Dge ’dun Chos ’phel plays in modern imagination.
