Masters of Mahamudra: Songs and Histories of the Eighty-Four Buddhist Siddhas (Suny Series in Buddhist Studies) [Paperback]

Keith Dowman (Author), Abhayadatta (Author), Hugh Downs (Illustrator)

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Language Notes

Text: English (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 476 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (July 31, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887061605
• ISBN-13: 978-0887061608
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #924,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All the mahasiddhas in one volume!, August 17, 2000

By 

Anders Nygaard (Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Masters of Mahamudra: Songs and Histories of the Eighty-Four Buddhist Siddhas (Suny Series in Buddhist Studies) (Paperback)

Dowman's book is a translation, or, as Dowman himself calls it, adaption, of a Tibetan text "Legends of the Eighty-four mahasiddhas" and is as such central among the translations of Vajrayana Buddhist texts available in English. All the biographies are given here in one volume along with a good introduction to Buddhist tantra. Along with every biography is given a short verse from another Tibetan work; the verse describes in a condensed form the nature of the given siddha's realisation. Also, after the particular biography, Dowman describes the particular practice (sadhana) of each mahasiddha, and finally, in a historiography section at the end of each legend, discusses certain factors, particulars not given in the biographies themselves, as trying to locate in time and space where the stories take place. The commentaries are what really make the book worth reading, because the legends themselves are difficult to understand. Dowman shows that these old stories are not just fairy tales about magicians. They tell something significant about how to progress spiritually, sometimes from the unlikeliest of circumstances.