Masters of Enchantment: The Lives and Legends of the Mahasiddhas

by Abhayadatta, Keith Dowman (Translator), Robert Beer (Illustrator)

Here presented for the first time in a beautifully illustrated format are the stories and practices of the great Siddhas -the magicians and saints who founded the lineages of the Tantric tradition. Extraordinary men and women who attained enlightenment and magical powers by disregarding convention and penetrating the core of life, the Mahasiddhas show us a way through human pain and suffering into a spontaneous and free state of oneness with the divine.

The 32 full-color paintings in this book are the work of Robert Beer, whose own remarkable story is also told here. During the late 1960s and early 70s, he underwent a severe psychological trauma resulting in a five-year-long psychosis. It was only through complete absorption in the study of Tibetan thangka painting in India and Nepal -with Khamtrul Rinpoche, the greatest living thangka painter of his time, and with Jampa-la, the state painter of Tibet- that Beer was healed and brought out of his ordeal. His striking Western adaptation of this ancient religious art form is classical in many of its elements, but entirely visionary in expression. Its exceptional quality allows a direct experience of the power and vitality of the Masters of Enchantment.

Genres: Buddhism, Spirituality, Religion, Biography, India, Hinduism, Philosophy

205 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1120

About the author

Abhayadattaśrī was an early 12th-century Buddhist monk who authored the Caturaśītisiddhapravṛtti recounting the legenday lives of the 84 Mahasiddhas—spiritual adventurers who attained enlightenment and magical powers by disregarding convention—of which the Sanskrit original is now lost, the text surviving only through the Tibetan Grub thob brgyad bcu rtsa bzhi'i lo rgyus (གྲུབ་ཐོབ་བརྒྱད་ཅུ་རྩ་བཞིའི་ལོ་རྒྱུས།) preserved within the Tengyur collection.

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My exposure to the lives of and miracles performed by the Mahasiddhas had taken place through the painfully literal translation of the text undertaken by Alaka Chattopadhyay চুরাশি সিদ্ধর কাহিনী. I had found that text to be very drab and irritating, unlike the great narratives found in Tales from the Kathasaritsagara or Panchatantra 51 short stories with Moral. Frankly speaking, I couldn't understand the reasons behind scholars going ga-ga over the work.
Fortunately enough, I came across this particular edition in Ladakh Book Shop at Leh. The fluid translations, accompanied by sublime illustrations, helped me in understanding the simple and lyrical nature of the tales. These were stories to be recounted with songs and dance, often performed by the Siddhas themselves or their disciples, to spread the message. Trying to go through them with a mind attuned to present day moralities and expectations was bound to be futile.
The book contains the adventures of fifty four Siddhas, against the total count of eighty-four. But in all these stories we find Buddha's teachings triumphing over traditional barriers. Almost every Siddha came from low-caste. Brahminical definitions of sin and duties are transcended. Best of all, the way the stories respect Mahadev and yet consider him as slightly inferior to Buddhist deities, prsesent a fascinating study of the mind of those millenia-old narrators.
I must express profound respect towards the quality of translation that has 'elevated' me to this level of uderstanding! Perhaps that's how the people used to feel when they got their lessons from the Siddhas.
The quality of production is beautiful, goes without saying.
Overall, if you can get hold of this book overcoming its steep price, I believe, you are in for a treat.
Highly recommended.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A picture book for Tantric/Vajrayana Buddhism. The mahasiddhas are 84 enlightened beings. Not all 84 are in this book, which is a bit upsetting. I think my favorite is Mekopa, or the Wild-Eyed Guru, because like him, I tend to wander around aimlessly looking at the ground. I also like Kambala, the Yogin of the Black Blanket, mostly because I think it’s funny that his black blanket is eaten by a gang of witches, and one piece is burned in a fire.

I feel like a lot of the symbolism goes over my head; why the number 12/84/5 so damn often? Also, the language used is all the same so the stories start blending together. It’d be interesting to make a timeline, though, because a lot of the mahasiddhas have teachers in common, or go on to teach their own disciples.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I admit that Keith Dowman's introduction to the smaller version of this book was a bit of a turn off, He is a dedicated translator.

The Images by Robert Beer are absolutely stunning. I find his use of color to be otherworldly, perhaps because he is indeed colorblind.

The various stories depict great masters of eclectic descent, temperament and pathology. Most stories are 2-3 pages long and demonstrate the uniqueness that is the path to one's true nature. Though the various stumbling blocks may appear distinct between each character- who I like to imagine we real people despite their mythologization- but the connecting thread is the same: the deep seated feeling of separation.

A worth while read for any practitioner looking for inspiration.

[Bob Woodley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this because Justin von Bujdoss thinks Buddhism in the west might be driven new Mahasiddhas that could appear. And I never really knew what a Mahasiddha was.

So this has 54 of them, in an encyclopedic fashion. A few pages for each master. These are basically old fantastical myths that have been handed down for centuries. There are a lot of siddhis and magic but the text does not really contain teachings that are insightful for our times. The stories all kind of seem the same after a while and blend together though a few stand out.

This is good to have on the bookshelf. The illustrations are beautiful.

[Ellen Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The editor did a good job with this, it's just that teaching stories are really not my thing, though they are big in some spiritual traditions. what I really liked was the art.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Buddha’s Lions is a collection of tales about the lives Indian wonder workers or siddhas. The Caturasiti-siddha-pravrtti was originally written Sanskrit in the late eleventh or early twelfth century by Abhayadatta. It was translated into Tibetan and then in 1970’s into English by James B. Robinson. A facsimile of the Tibetan text is included at the end of Robinson’s translation. Normally, I really enjoy hagiographies, but I just couldn’t seem to get into these stories. I think part of the problem was that so many of the characters were unlikable. They weren’t particularly kind or well meaning. They had come to recognize that suffering was an inherent part of life and, as is the case for most of us, didn’t like it, but they didn’t really do anything about it other than complain. In many cases, they literally sat around waiting for someone to ask them if they wanted help, to which, a number of them answered “Yes, but only if I don’t have to give such and such a thing up.” I found myself more and more interested in the teachers, who were often left unnamed, that initiated the soon-to-be siddhas into practices that allowed them to attain worldly power and spiritual understanding. Why did they do it? Out of a sense of compassion? If so shouldn’t the book be about them? To be fair, the siddhas all engaged in years of practice after meeting their teachers and worked for the well-being of countless others before leaving this world. This is what we are told in the last sentence of each and every story. For a reader like me, without much background knowledge, these wrap up sentences were not enough for me to find most of the wonder workers engaging individuals.

[Eugene Pustoshkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Книга «Буддийские мастера-маги» (М.: Ориенталия, 2019) буддолога Кита Даумана и иллюстратора Роберта Бира содержит в себе жизнеописания 54 знаменитых индийских махасиддхов традиции махамудра (всего махасиддхов, по преданию, было 84). Книга содержит прекрасную вступительную статью Кита Даумана, однако не хватает его комментариев к каждой из сказок.

У Даумана есть другая, более объёмная книга «Masters of Mahamudra», в неё включены жизнеописания всех 84 махасиддхов — с комментариями по смыслу каждой истории и практикам, задействуемым каждым персонажем. Надеюсь, когда-нибудь она будет переведена на русский язык, ибо без этих важных внутренних комментариев данные сказки практически бессмысленны.

К сожалению, когда заказывал книгу в «Озоне» в январе 2022, она пришла в варианте не с цветными, а с чёрно-белыми иллюстрациями, о чём не было предупреждения при покупке. Вначале думал, что таково официальное русское издание — только с чёрно-белыми иллюстрациями, однако увидел фотографии экземпляров книги, где есть и цветные иллюстрации. В общем, книгу лучше покупать в книжном магазине, где её можно подержать в руках и полистать, или же заказывать у букиниста, попросив перед этим прислать фотографию разворота цветной иллюстрации.

[Kitap Yakıcı · Rating 3 out of 5]

The text presents a translation of traditional accounts of the lives of the 84 mahasiddhas, Indian spiritual masters of the first millennium CE whose "spiritual accomplishments" (siddhis) transcended Hindu-Buddhist sectarianism. There are themes (e.g., an incident that provokes the siddha-to-be to follow the path to spiritual transformation, the length of time of practice, etc.) that pervade the stories, and the translator has helpfully included a table of these themes at the end of the book, allowing the reader easily to gain an overview. This doesn't make the most exciting reading, but then again, it was never meant to be exciting reading. Instead, these stories present eighty four models for spiritual transformation whose protagonists cut across all grains, including rich and poor, noble and outcast, and provide insight into the matrix of early Hindu and Buddhist tantra.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of short biographies of the famous 84 Indian Mahasiddhas from the Mahayana/Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. Their tales show that Buddha Dharma is for everyone regardless of their caste or occupation or wealth. I was more interested in the specific instructions a wandering yogin/guru gave to the aspirant in each tale. These were catered to their personality or their situation.
I found this book to be inspiring, unlike some reviewers. Like any Vajrayana text, I believe these hagiographic tales have hidden teachings in them, which ordinary Buddhists like me do not yet comprehend fully.

[Prem Avatara · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than reading, we are making new stories of them!

Welcome anytime in Koh Phangan, Thailand, as any other heavenly lands called to manifest true welness by inner healing and bright spiritual resurrection too.

Hug of Bright Lights!

Prem

https://www.facebook.com/PremKarkiAva...

[Yc Liao · Rating 3 out of 5]

所有有情眾生，只要有心皆有可能成佛。
從裡面大師們的背景故事，可知許多都是在婆羅門教興盛時的印度發生的，佛教基本思想，一切眾生皆平等的概念或許在當時代，對於因為婆羅門世代種姓分級制度而受到壓抑的人們有許多幫助，大師們的身份從王公貴族到做各種工作的人都有，只要努力學習，便可增智慧，得道領悟。
一開始知道這本書是因為讀了Robert Beer的書,發現他為這本書製作了插圖，升起了閱讀的想法，而Mr. Beer 在多年學習藏傳唐卡繪畫的技巧與各種規範之下，自己創作出大師們的圖，看出符合藏傳的物件，卻同時有個人的創意在其中，是研究思考以唐卡為基礎，藝術創作的良好參考書籍。

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations alongside the pith lessons contained within the stories of the mahasiddhas.

[Jamyang Puntsog · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beautiful illustration is already reason to open this book.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliantly illustrated and written summary of the legendary Tantric adepts, the Mahasiddhas.