The Divine Madman: The Sublime Life and Songs of Drukpa Kunley - Paperback

by Keith Dowman (Author)

The Divine Madman is the secret biography of one of Tibet's best-loved saints, the buddha Drukpa Kunley. Drukpa Kunley was a "nyomba", a crazy yogi who taught through outrageous behavior and ribald humor, through symbolic action, songs and poetry. Using people's emotion, neuroses and sexuality, as a tantric yogi through skillfull means and crazy wisdom he awakened their buddha-nature. He belonged to the lineage of Tilo, Naro, Marpa and Milarepa and taught the same profound Mahamudra yoga, but his most secret teaching was radical Dzogchen, Tibet's existential yoga. He wandered as a tantric beggar through Central and Southern Tibet in the 15th century and is still well-known there as the hero of anti-establishment and anti-monastic tales and the author of bawdy songs. But in Bhutan he became more than an icon, he still is the patron saint of a country where the phallus is revered as a religious icon. This book is a collection of anecdotes and songs compiled by a Bhutanese scholar, Geshe Chaphu, made last century, which became a best seller in the Himalayas. It has been translated by Keith Dowman into easily accessible prose and poetry. Lee Baarslag has illustrated the work with her fine line-drawings.

Front Jacket

This is the "secret biography" of one of Tibet's foremost saints, the Buddha Drukpa Kunley (1455-1570). Appearing in the spiritual lineage established by Tilopa, is an incarnation of the great Mahasiddha, Saraha.

Author Biography

Keith Dowman, who has translated this text into English and has spent his life in the Himalayas, is an initiate into the lineage of Drukpa Kunley and now travels around the world teaching Dzogchen, the principal yoga of the divine madman. His other translations from Tibetan include Sky Dancer, Old Man Basking in the Sun and Natural Perfection.