The Life of the Madman of Ü

A book cover.David M. DiValerio. Oxford University Press, 2016.

A follow-on to DiValario’s “The Holy Madmen of Tibet,” this biography is the first English translation of two disciples’ accounts of the life of Künga Zangpo, written in 1494 and 1537. Among the most famous of these remarkable “mad” ascetics, a teenage Zangpo renounced the world and committed himself to the life of a monk. The book offers a rich depiction of religious life in 15th- and 16th-century Tibet. An ample introduction and epilogue offer context for these remarkable accounts and the importance of Zangpo in Tibetan religious tradition.