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The Divine Madman - The Sublime Life and Songs of Drukpa Kunley

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I read this book via a borrowed first edition, in one mesmerized sitting. 2nd ed. should be same. Now I must own it as soon as re-published! A fabulous story of the Buddhist monk whose left-hand path will scandalize some and delight others. I visited Drukpa Kunley's monastery in Bhutan and received the resident head monk's blessing with both the wooden phallus and the ivory one. Kunley created Bhutan's national animal, the Takin, and spread both his generous organ's output and the Dharma over the Himalaya. Worshiped by all women he met, he conquered Bon magicians and otherwise gave Buddhism a full-bodied life. Must reading for all adults. Now, I want to make a film about his life...join me? k4vud@hotmail.com

Though Drukpa is a beloved saint of many Himalayans, this is certainly not the first book to read if you're interested in Tibetan Buddhism or culture. In fact, without a grasp of Tantric principles and the way skillful means can be used in a way seen as legitimate by this tradition, many of the events in this book would be received as downright distastful and suspect. I had run across references to him in a number of other works over the years, and am frankly glad I waited until this later point in my understanding of Buddhism before reading this work. Otherwise, I doubt I could have seen through a lot of the cultural chaff, which many would find offensive, to the core insights that the text is trying to promote. Read it sometime, but don't rush to it before you're ready.

The Divine Madman: The Sublime Life and Songs of Drukpa Kunley
Translated by Keith Dowman

Like most saints, Drukpa Kunley heals the sick, comforts the aged, casts out demons, directs the confused, and chastises the wrongheaded. Unlike most saints, Drukpa Kunley does all of these things with his penis, his Thunderbolt with a capital `T'.

The book is a collection of anecdotes divided into eight chapters and was originally written in the Sixties by a Bhutanese monk named Geshe Chaphu. (Oddly, the author information is buried on page 31 with no indication that this was the author's wish.)

Although I am generally an avid devourer of supplemental information, the introduction by Keith Dowman is the most peculiarly condescending that I have ever read. He is convinced that the reader, far less spiritual than himself, could never possibly understand the book. Because the book talks about "the lama's thick penis" we are sure to read it as if it were Penthouse Letters.
Since life is short and uncertain, go ahead and skip all the introductory material. At least save it for last.

Drukpa Kunley was a 15th and 16th century exemplar of "crazy wisdom" - the use of outrageous behavior to awaken people to spiritual truth. In the mid-Nineties, when I was a student at America's only Buddhist college, the phrase "crazy wisdom" was used a lot - generally, it seemed to me, to excuse the addicted and abusive behavior of authority figures.

As well as being great fun, this biography is invaluable for the view it gives of a true crazy wisdom figure. Perhaps it will even help people to discern if their current guru is really a great master or just a garden-variety jerk with a spiritual set of excuses.

The Tibetans have a far, far, more earthy understanding of religion than we in the west will ever develop.
This book, for example, has to do with the spiritual and sexual adventures of a strange Tibetan saint who even the Tibetans approach carefully.
Not for those who think that spiritual affairs and sex cannot be combined yet the book is a great classic even if the cultural context is untranslatable.