The poet with the crimson cassock

Gyatse Phurjun Rinpoche takes part in sutra debatings at the Ba Monastery in Qinghai province.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"How would you understand beloved young girl here?" Gyatse Phurjun Rinpoche asks.

"Tsangyang Gyatso once said of himself, while living in the Potala Palace, 'I am the king of the Snow Land; Wandering in the streets of Lhasa, I am the most beautiful lover in the world'."

"Like Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) who often traveled through the country disguised as a commoner, Tsangyang Gyatso visited women in Lhasa, because he wanted to better understand the layman's life and find ways to offer salvation to everyday people."

As the most revered Living Buddha, who was on the golden throne in the Potala Palace, Tsangyang Gyatso brought to Lhasa the most enchanting lyrics of all times. His songs were famous in every corner of the city then and are still popular.

By comparison, Gyatse Phurjun Rinpoche regards himself as an unknown Living Buddha on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, who dearly loves writing.

"Writing has taught me to pay close attention to both the internal and external worlds. And writing my thoughts and observations reflecting this world full of uncertainties and anxieties," he says.

One of his readers says Gyatse Phurjun Rinpoche's voice "has hypnotic power, and can make you almost feel drunk".

Like the poem, Return to Silence, which goes like this:

The snow is like a dancer, falling gently on the earth,

It melts into the soil after the turbulence.

I'm like a snowflake, drifting quietly on this mortal world.

I return to silence, after having seen all the bustling of the world,

In the season I never expect I meet my bosom friends.

In the reincarnation I never cling to anything,

I seek a thorough understanding of human life.

Gyatse Phurjun Rinpoche's home is the 740-year-old Ba Monastery, which is also home to 160 monks.

His motivation for publishing the book is to help renovate Ba Monastery, and ensure the running of a welfare house and a nursing home in his hometown.