This bilingual edition of the poems of Amdo Gedun Chopel (1903-1951),1 In the Forest of Faded Wisdom, is a welcome addition to the ever-growing corpus of writings by and on the most outstanding, controversial figure of 20th century Tibet.

Prof . Lope z’s pre vious study and translation of Gedun Chopel’s commentary on Nagarjuna, The Madman’s Middle Way (MMW), 2006, is the first analysis in English of the Amdo scholar’s notorious philosophical commentary, The Middle Way. An Ornament on the Thought of Nagarjuna (dBu ma Klu grub dgongs rgyan). In that book, Lopez gives an overview of the life of Gedun Chopel, followed by a literal translation of this brilliant philosophical treatise – the most controversial piece of writing to emerge from modern Tibet, and a superbly written text.

In the Forest of Faded Wisdom (FFW) is quite a different kettle of fish. This too is a pioneering work. Lopez has put before us a selection of previously untranslated ‘poems’, many of which contain difficult classical and vernacular references. The introduction provides a biographical context to some of the texts, as well as a short literary analysis of classical Tibetan ‘poetry’. The selection is presented in a convenient bilingual form for students of Tibetan language and literature, and since Gedun Chopel has the reputation of being the finest poet of 20th century Tibet, this in itself is a major initiative.