The figure of Tilopa is familiar in Tibetan Buddhism. What is less popular is that his words and teachings before reaching the Tibetan plateau were uttered in India and had to pass through Nepal: a fact which would deserve more attention than before. This book is a sort of portrait of that Bengali siddha of the tenth century. In the first chapter a geographical and historical background is painted: a landscape of waters kings polities and cities based on epigraphically numismatic and archaeological material on written travelogues of Chinese Arab and Italian travelers; on Tibetan accounts and compilations. In the second chapter the relevant Indo-Tibetan hagiographic sources are described discussed and outlined in the context of their tradition. With a view to characterising   such a tradition and its Tibetan sprouts mostly among the Kagya lineages the following main entries are introduced: Tantric Buddhism Yoginitantras Cakrasamvara Manobhanga Citavisrama Uddiyana dakini siddha guru and smasana. In the third chapter an attempt is made at a biographical pictur. In the third chapter an attempt is made at a biographical picture of Tilopa assessing the who the when and the where. In the last chapter a preliminary description is given onthe bibliographic details and context of the Indic and the Tibetan sources which have transmitted Tilopa s word.

Author:-

Fabrizio Torricelli after some journey across the Indian Himalayan region Nepal and Tibet has spent several study stays the LTWA. Author of articles and books on Indian and Tibetan Buddhism his research is mainly focused on the Indo-Tibetan texts providing documentary evidence of the philosophical thought and the ascetic techniques is use amongst the Buddhist siddhas in the centuries spanning from the first to the second millennium.

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9387023516
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9387023512