[Buddha-l] 84 Mahasiddhas

[bclough]

Folks, there are not one but two excellent translations of the lives of the 84 mahasiddhas still easily available:

1) Dowman, Keith. Masters of Mahamudra: Songs and Histories of Eighty-Four Buddhist Siddhas (Albany: SUNY Press, 1984).

2) Robinson, James B. Buddha's Lions: Abhayadatta's Lives of the Eighty-Four Siddhas (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1997).

Brad Clough


> Blumenthal, James schreef:
> 
> > I don't have the bibliographic info handy, but there was a book 
> > published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives that was a 
> > translation of the short biographies of the 84 mahasiddhis. That 
> > might an interesting place to start. If memory serves me, I think it 
> > is simply called, "The Eighty-Four Mahasiddhis". 
> > Jim Blumenthal
> >
> >
> Well, James if you find anything, please let us know. I just searched 
> the database and I only found the lifestory of Tilopa. I know the 
> original book you mention, it has been translated into Hindi and it has 
> been around for many years combined with the Tibetan text. There is a 
> translation of the songs of the mahaasiddhas by Per Kvearne called 'An 
> anthology of Buddhist Tantric Songs'.
> What still puzzles me is the relation between the tantras as ritual 
> systems with strong brahmanic influences and the mahaasiddhas, which 
> were mainly errant yogis who were not so much into rituals and mainly 
> practised asanas and breathing techniques. Some of them didn't even care 
> whether they were to be called hindu or buddhist. The Tibetans merged 
> all the different tantras into a more or less unified ritual system. The 
> songs of the mahaasiddhas and those of their present successors, the 
> Bauls, show a strong indifference to rituals and theory. Rituals and 
> formal initiations are more a hobby of monks. But somehow the Tibetan 
> tradition has developed the ideal of combining the career of a monk and 
> a mahaasiddha.
> 
> Erik
> 
> 
> www.xs4all.nl/~jehms
> weblog http://www.volkskrantblog.nl/pub/blogs/blog.php?uid=2950
> 
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Bradley Clough (bclough at aucegypt.edu)/202-797-6122
Abdulhadi H. Taher Professor of Comparative Religion
History Department (Postal Code #221)
The American University in Cairo
113 Kasr El Aini Street, P.O. Box 2511 
Cairo 11511 Egypt
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