Masters of Mahamudra: Songs and Histories of the Eighty-Four Buddhist Siddhas (Buddhist Studies (Dis))

It is a very well written book with great information about the eight four siddhas of mahamudra and their practices.

Inspiring stories.

Perhaps the most delightful and inspiring dharma book I have discovered, Masters of Mahamudra tells how eighty-four people from vastly different walks of life come to realize their Buddhahood--not by secluding themselves in monasteries, but through the deep practice of their daily lives and professions. Most of the stories demonstrate how even the bleakest circumstances--poverty, ostracism, depression, scandal--could serve as vehicles of awakening. Especially touching is the story of Nirgunapa, "The Enlightened Moron," who, though scarcely able to express himself in words, communicates the dharma by gazing into his students' eyes with such deep compassion that he and the students are moved to tears.

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.

uplifting,inspiring, poetic, opens up the intellect and intuition, would holistically hearted recommend my freinds.