Legends of the Mahasiddhas: Lives of the Tantric Masters

A richly illustrated collection of stories about the mahasiddhas, spiritual adventurers who attained enlightenment and magical powers by disregarding convention

- A modern translation of ancient legends that reveals the human qualities of the rebellious saints known as siddhas and the vital elements of their philosophy

- Recounts stories of enlightened masters from all walks of life, including a washerman, a thief, a conman, a gambler, and a whore, and the magical and "crazy" deeds of each, such as walking through walls, flying, talking with birds, and turning people to stone

- Richly illustrated with paintings of the tantric saints by artist Robert Beer

Offering a modern translation of "The Legends of the Eighty-four Mahasiddhas," a 12th-century Tibetan text, translator Keith Dowman shares stories of the spiritual adventurers, rebellious saints, and enlightened tantric masters of ancient India known as "siddhas." He shows how the mahasiddhas arose from the grassroots of society and represented an entire spectrum of human experience. Counted among the greatest of the siddhas are a washerman, a cowboy, a thief, a conman, a gambler, and a whore, all extraordinary men and women who attained the goal of their meditations, as well as enlightenment and magical powers, by disregarding convention and penetrating to the core of life.

Recounting the magical and "crazy" deeds of the mahasiddhas, such as walking through walls, flying, talking with birds, and turning people to stone, Dowman reveals the human qualities of the tantric masters and the vital elements of the siddhas' philosophy of nonduality and emptiness. Richly illustrated with paintings of the tantric saints by artist Robert Beer, these stories of the mahasiddhas show us a way through human suffering into a spontaneous and free state of oneness with the divine.

Author: Keith Dowman
Publisher: Inner Traditions International
Published: 09/06/2014
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 9.90h x 6.90w x 0.40d
ISBN13: 9781620553657
ISBN10: 1620553651
BISAC Categories:
- Religion | Buddhism | Sacred Writings
- Religion | Buddhism | Tibetan
- Body, Mind & Spirit | Mysticism

About the Author
Keith Dowman is a longtime initiate of Dzogchen and a teacher of radical Dzogchen around the world. He is the author of several Dzogchen translations, most recently Natural Perfection and Dzogchen. He lives in Kathmandu. Robert Beer began studying and practicing Tibetan thangka painting in 1970 while living in India and Nepal and still continues this research from his home in Oxford. He is the author and illustrator of The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs and The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols.