This is the "secret biography" of one of Tibet's foremost saints, the Buddha Drukpa Kunley. Appearing in the spiritual lineage established by Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, and Milarepa, Drukpa Kunley was recognized as an incarnation of the great Mahasiddha, Saraha. He is greatly loved by the people of Tibet as a "Crazy Wise" teacher and enlightened Master whose outrageous behavior and ribald humor were intended to awaken common people and yogis alike from the sleep of religious dogmatism and egoic self-possession. This book is a compilation of anecdotes and songs passed on to this day in the taverns and temples of Tibet and Bhutan. THE DIVINE MADMAN is the first biography to appear in the West of a Crazy Adept "at work". In contrast to other more ascetical teachers of the East who teach negation of the body and its desires, Drukpa Kunley used desire, emotion, and sexuality to arouse disillusionment, insight, and delight in all he encountered. With consummate skill he followed the path of Tantra, or the realization of Bliss in the union of opposites, employing sexuality to quicken the awakening of his consorts. As an unparalleled chronicle of Enlightened action, THE DIVINE MADMAN is the most potent introduction to the high teaching of Tantrism to date.
The Divine Madman, Keith Dowman, Pilgrims Publishing, Paperback, 160pp, $12.95
Keith Dowman, who has translated the Tibetan text into fluent English, has spent fourteen years in northern India and the Himalayas, engaged in meditation and study of the Tibetan tradition. His published translations include Calm and Clear, The Legend of the Great Stupa, and The Loom of Light. Lee Baarslag, who has provided illustrations full of authentic detail, lives and paints in Nepal.
Editor's Introduction: Drukpa Kunley and the Tradition of Crazy Wisdom List of Illustrations Foreword by Choegyal Gyamtso Tulku Translator's Introduction Prologue 1 How Drukpa Kunley became an Ascetic Wanderer and how he delivered the Lady Sumchokma from the Ocean of Suffering 2 How Drukpa Kunley visited Samye and Lhasa for the Sake of All Beings 3 How Drukpa Kunley visited Taklung, Yalpachen and Sakya to give Meaning to the Lives of the People 4 How Drukpa Kunley travelled through East Tsang for the Sake of All Beings 5 How Drukpa Kunley, the Master of Truth, went to Dakpo and Tsari and arrived in Bhutan 6 How Drukpa Kunley bound the Demond of Bhutan and directed the Aged of that land to the Path of Liberation 7 How Drukpa Kunley Instructed his Consorts in the Southern Valleys 8 How Drukpa Kunley returned from Bhutan to Tibet and the Events which attended his Nirvana Benedictory Prayers Appendices
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