course and Saraha’s immunity to the heat of molten
metal. According to tradition, however, such powers
are mere by-products of tantric meditation, not the
goal itself. Siddhas or mahasiddhasqualified by the sec-
ond type of accomplishment therefore stand as the
VAJRAYANAenlightened ideal—a model for swiftly
attaining realization and ultimate enlightenment
through the practice of meditation and yoga.
While many siddhas were probably historical fig-
ures, records of their lives and teachings vary in depth
and detail. The majority of these accounts are known
from the rich corpus of biographical literature pre-
served in Tibetan, often based on oral and literary tra-
ditions from India. Prominent among them is the
twelfth-century author Abhayadatta’s Caturas ́ltisid-
dhapravrtti(Lives of the Eighty-Four Siddhas)—extant
in Tibetan translation—which presents brief vitae for
numerous important masters (Robinson, 1979). The
Bka’ babs bdun ldan(Seven Instruction Lineages), writ-
ten by the Tibetan historian Taranatha (1575–1634),
records elements of siddhas’ lives as they pertain to
the promulgation of important tantric lineages (Tem-
pleman). Several widely revered siddhas, such as the
Bengali master NAROPA(1016–1100), have been the
subject of comprehensive biographies (Guenther).
Accounts of the mahasiddhas generally portray
individuated personalities while following tropes
common to much of Buddhist sacred BIOGRAPHY—
discontent and renunciation, practice of austerities, the
overcoming of difficulties, and eventual realization.
Siddhas were both male and female and represented
all strata of Indian society: Some were born into royal
families, others to uneducated laborers. Many began
their lives as monks or scholars in one of the great In-
dian Buddhist universities. Most were compelled at a
certain point to abandon their ordinary life, the
monastery, or the throne, in favor of mountain soli-
tude and a life of meditation and yogic practice. Some
studied under a living master (occasionally another
siddha), others received teachings through direct vi-
sions of the Buddha. After attaining siddhi, they often
led the life of a wandering ascetic, or appeared in the
guise of a yogin-madman, intentionally transgressing
the normal parameters of religious practice. Siddhas
often instructed their disciples through songs of real-
ization (doha), but hundreds of works—including
tantric commentaries, liturgies, and meditation
manuals—attributed to Indian adepts are also pre-
served in the Tibetan canon. As objects of medita-
tion, devotional prayer, and religious art, the figures
of the siddhas themselves form an important locus of
religious practice throughout the Himalayan Bud-
dhist world.
Well-known individuals among the traditional
reckonings of eighty-four mahasiddhasinclude Saraha
and Maitrpa, responsible for the spread of MAHAMU-
DRA(great seal) instructions; Tilopa and Naropa, ear-
liest founders of the Tibetan BKA’ BRGYUD(KAGYU)
sect; and Virupa, source for the Tibetan doctrine of
path and fruition (lam ’bras) of the SA SKYA(SAKYA)
sect.See also:TantraBibliography
Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social His-
tory of the Tantric Movement.New York: Columbia Univer-
sity Press, 2002.
Guenther, Herbert V. The Life and Teaching of Naropa.Boston
and London: Shambhala, 1986.
Robinson, James B. Buddha’s Lions: Lives of the 84 Siddhas.
Berkeley, CA: Dharma Publications, 1979.
Robinson, James B. “The Lives of Indian Buddhist Saints: Bi-
ography, Hagiography and Myth.” In Tibetan Literature:
Studies in Genre,ed. José Ignacio Cabezón and Roger R. Jack-
son. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1996.
Templeman, David, trans. The Seven Instruction Lineages.
Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives,
1983.ANDREWQUINTMANMAHAVASTUThe Mahavastu(Great Story) recounts in both verse
and prose the life of the Buddha from the perspective
of the Lokottaravadins, a subgroup of the MAHASAM-
GHIKA SCHOOL. Written between the second century
B.C.E. and the fourth century C.E. in Buddhist Hybrid
Sanskrit, it embellishes many episodes of S ́akyamuni’s
biography with jatakas, avadanas,and other legends,
presenting him as a basically supernatural figure.See also:Avadana; Buddha, Life of the; JatakaBibliography
Jones, J. J., trans. The Mahavastu,3 vols. London: Luzac,
1949–1956.JOHNS. STRONGMAHAVASTU