Donald S. Lopez Jr. is Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan. Thupten Jinpa is Adjunct Professor of Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy in the School of Religious Studies at McGill University.
The Jesuit missionary Ippolito Desideri’s engagement with Tibetan
Buddhism in his Tibetan writings combine a profound understanding
of its philosophy and theology with a closely-argued, penetrating
critique of some of its tenets, particularly rebirth and emptiness.
This critique is articulated in the two treatises most ably and
lucidly translated here by Donald Lopez and Thupten Jinpa, and
their excellent introduction and notes provide the intellectual and
historical context needed to fully appreciate Desideri’s arguments.
Dispelling the Darkness is an important contribution to our
understanding of the ongoing encounter between Tibetan Buddhism and
Christianity.
*Michael Sweet, author of Mission to Tibet*
Dispelling the Darkness brilliantly makes available the remarkable
Ippolito Desideri, the Jesuit missionary and scholar who in a few
short years achieved great erudition in Tibetan language and
culture and wrote several of the first treatises, in Italian and
Tibetan, about the country, its society and religions. His Essence
of the Christian Religion and Inquiry concerning the Doctrines of
Previous Lives and Emptiness at long last receive due attention
here, by expert translations from the original Tibetan and by
masterful contextual essays putting Desideri’s work in the context
of Tibetan and European, Buddhist and Christian beliefs and
practices. Donald Lopez and Thupten Jinpa are to be congratulated
for enhancing our knowledge of Desideri in such meticulous and
insightful detail, thus shedding clear light on a remarkable moment
in the encounter of Europe and Asia and the great drama of the
Jesuits in Asia.
*Francis X. Clooney, Harvard University*
We, and all who are interested in the Jesuits, the history of
missions, Buddhism, Tibet, and the art of translation, are indebted
to the authors of this sumptuous volume for translating the texts
(selections from the monumental Inquiry and the whole of the more
manageable Essence) into flowing English, and providing
introductions both to the tragic story of Desideri and to his
writings.
*Church Times*
In the winter of 1727, Jesuit missionary Ippolito Desideri returned
to Rome from a three-year stay in Tibet, carrying with him two
unusual treatises written in classical Tibetan: a critique of
Buddhist doctrine, composed in the high philosophical discourse of
Tibetan Buddhist scholasticism, and a Roman Catholic catechism.
Remarkably, both had been written by Desideri himself: an
outstanding scholarly accomplishment and landmark in the study of
Buddhist-Christian relations. Dispelling the Darkness is the first
scholarly English translation/study of these works. Lopez and
Jinpa, two of the most respected Buddhist studies scholars in North
America, introduce each translated text (or textual excerpt) with
general historical and philosophical context, followed by detailed
commentary on Desideri’s use of Tibetan literary genres and
conventions. The translations are pristine (Jinpa has been the
Dalai Lama’s principal translator since 1985) and the introductory
materials erudite yet lively.
*Choice*
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