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by Ngakma Mé-Tsal (Author)
The Mahasiddhas were the charismatic eccentric heroes and heroines of Vajrayana. They abandoned the tight puritanical constraints of the Brahmanically dominated Buddhist institutions and thus became the primogenitors of the Himalayan Vajrayana Buddhist Lineages. The 21 life-stories in each volume of this epic, represent a substantial literary compendium of the astounding lives of the 84 Mahasiddhas. These hagiographies differ from the commonly known versions, in their being recounted in creative contemporary linguistics, by the English Lama, Ngak'chang Rinpoche. He is the lineal heir of Khyungchen Aro Lingma - who received these visionary accounts from her mother, the 19" century gTértön, Jomo Pema 'ö-Zér. Ngakma Mé-tsal asked Ngak'chang Rinpoche to present these narratives in the contemporary style he employed on the advice of Kyabyé Künzang Dorje Rinpoche - so these stories are vivid and dramatic. They contain humour and rich detail of Ancient India. Each Mahasiddha has a distinct personality and a strong individual voice. Each account contains an implicit Dzogchen Men-ngag dé instruction - and is accompanied by an iconographic drawing by Khandro Déchen, the Sangyum of Ngak'chang Rinpoche - who contributes her responses to the skilful questions of Ngakma Mé-tsal, an Aro gTér Lama specialising in the study of the lives and practices of the Mahasiddhas.
