Buddha's Lions: The Lives of the Eight-Four Siddhas

Abhayadatta's accounts of the eighty-four siddhas, translated by James Robinson, was published to promote understanding of the great siddhas of the Mantrayana and inspire readers with the knowledge that even mundane experience can be used as skillful means to liberation. Their stories exemplify essential aspects of the Vajrayana path: complete reliance on a teacher and willingness to follow the teacher's guidance. Line drawings of each of the eighty-four siddhas are included with accounts of their life-changing meeting with a guru, their means of practice, and the realization they attained. Buddha's Lions also contains the complete Tibetan text, notes on the iconography of the siddhas, and charts linking siddhas, their teachers, and the practices through which they became enlightened. These life stories of eighty-four Tantric masters who achieved the highest results of the Vajrayana have inspired generations of practitioners. By relying on a qualified teacher, devoted men and women of different backgrounds: cobblers, princes, blacksmiths, and wood-gatherers, were able to take everyday experience as the path and reach enlightenment in a single lifetime. Filled with subtle, concise teachings expressed in the poetic songs of realization of the siddhas. Excellent introduction to the Vajrayana and a good resource for the study of Tibetan. Tibetan text, iconographical notes, with 84 detailed line drawings.