Legends of the Mahasiddhas: Lives of the Tantric Masters

(Paperback, 3rd Edition, New Edition of Buddhist Masters of Enchantment)

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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.

Reviews

Robert Beer is a master. His own story of being rescued by Tibetan art is almost as amazing as the stories of the Mahasiddhas. * Frank Olinsky, Tricycle Magazine *
A powerful enticement to Eastern thought. * Mensa Bulletin *
"These are extraordinary, riveting tales. . . a book of high merit and high adventure, a marvel of inspired creation. . . stories through whose cosmic transparency shines the illimitable Buddha-nature." * Small Press *

Author Bio

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.