The Siddha as a Cultural Category FOFFREY SAMUEL For the Tibetans, siddhas are above all heroic figures of the Buddhist path to Enlightenment. Many of the spiritual li cages of Tibetan tantric (Vajraydna) practice trace their siddhas. The Tibetans bor- rowed the concepts of siddha and mahasiddha from the origins to named Indian mah: Vajra na Buddhism of North India, and translated the teriis into Tibetan. Within a couple of centuries, Tibetans were describing some of their own tantric practitioners as siddhas (Tib. drubtop) and mahasiddhas (ib. drupchen). The image of the siddha doubtless has for Tibetans a somewhat rougher edge than that of the disciplined medi- ‘tating monk. Like the Sanskrit, the Tibetan term for siddha implies achievement or attainment (ngodrup = siddhi). For the Tibetans, this has meant the attainment both of this- worldly magical power (in other words, siddhas were ‘expected to be able to carry out effective magical ritual) land of some degree of genuine spiritual re ation. Thus 'siddhas were defined by their accomplishment, not by their ‘observance of monastic discipline. In Tibetan societies, thesida ideal lent authority to forms of ante practice other than the ‘monastic, While monks could be regarded as sddhas (and might even dress pas sidahas, complete with fae sddha hairdos, in tantric ite ual contexts), elastic Tibetan sddhas, such asthe great nineteenth- century lama Sakya Sri (1853-1919), were more typically noncelibate lay practitioners, Monk or lay, the Tibetan sdaha was an explicitly Buddhist figure, and his (only very rarely her) ultimate motivation was the compassion: ate force of bodhicte, the altruistic deste for the achievement of Enlightenment in order to liberate others from suffering. The cultva ion of badhiita, forthe Tibetan, was a key part ofthe process by which siddhas and others achieved Enlightenment, at it had been for their teachers in India’ Here badicita had the double meaning ofthe altru- istic motivation leading to Buddhahood and the internal psycho-physi- ‘al substance (corresponding tothe male and female sexwal ids) that formed the working material for “internal” tantric practices. ‘There is no Feal dovbt that Tibetans were continuing a geauine aspect of late Indian Buddhiem. Many ofthe mahssiddhas nanied ia Tibetan lineages, such as Naropa, Viropa, and Maitripa, were real historical figures: These men were tegarded ia their owa time by at least some of the Indian contemporaries as authentic Bygdhist teachers, although the incursion of Islamic regimes from the West and of Theravada-style Buddhism from Southeast Asia was to pote » radical challenge to their legitimacy by the late twelfth and early thicteenth cea .? Earlier mahasiddhas are more figures of myth and legend. Some Western scholars have tied hard to reconcile the multiple Tibetan accounts of teacher-discple inks among the sid- ‘has into an orderly historical narrative, but the only plausible con- ‘clusion is that the aceounts are inconsistent and many ofthese narra: tives apoctyphal, What has been written about Saiva siddhas is also relevant for their Buddhist counterparts: “The self-proclaimed Siddhas of later history invented their past as a means of justifying ‘heir own lives, works, and institutions: the ‘charismatic’ superheroes of the past —fast on their way to becoming ‘divinised’ through an 38 3omat ren 1 ces Sam By at amare eo Sone Noles Regn 19.3 Cane et (ses, 17-210 2 One mone Tomas Bon, Se Caran coy ene 1 Cues: A ote Booiogaey, Emon Aye a Ca Uae. 4 {oy 202, we sel sere Tne ston of mee Bot et Seen ees ein St etn “ees Sa The Manor et re of anh” ex Wt Yraon 356 identification of chem with the Siddhas and Vidyddheras of earl cults —were also becoming “institutionalised” into the sectai founders the " paver bid been By the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the siddha movement India thus had Buddhist and Saiva (and also Vaisnava and Jaina) m bers. While individual siddha practitioners at this time would ‘been affiiaed to one or another ofthese major religious movement they clearly had a great deal in common with eachother, and perh als with th practitioners, who were aleeady becoming a signi ‘cant presence on the Indian ascetic scene by the end of this period. ‘The connection between Buddhist siddhas and the Saiva tradi ‘of Nath sddhas, which has continued in India until modern time scems to have been particularly close. We can get a sense of how suc an overlap between spiritual traditions worked from modeen prac tioners such asthe so-called “Bauls" of Benga a group whose prac tices go back to thesia lineages and who seem able to witch atively easily today Between “Hinds” and *Muslim” sel presenta tions Sis Jacl it seems likely that the distinctions between Saiva of ‘antrcs integrated extensive sections from Saiva teats texts and practice, while the elt ofthe ferceSuvite patron dey Bhairavaor Masta was common to both? “These sida or sddhatype practitioner all had in common that they saw or presented themacleer as ascetic seekers after ni al and even transgressive of | popular morality (and it shard to be soe ow fr this wa realy the cave for thesia wth whom the Tibetans studied), thes lives were 1 Enlightenment or aa equivalent goal within the Brahmans tion, IF their behavior ormatvely centered on the altruistic search for liberation ‘Yet this siddha complex of the eleventh and twelfth centuries was |) ‘4 complex and unstable mutual accommodation between a variety of spiritual and cultura clement, It made sense in relation to its spe- By 5 ce pout Sean Pat Patel vince Be Domamce the ci) Sopa on in Stara ee Be tur toate Var ded 11 Sede atence Paced Gann sd La 2 bet Grn Wt. De Adel ee $e TaanWdal Cod ‘Choe Span ee ee egies ‘Surat sews’ bogs 2,4 1997 7.30 temo Seg ff Bvd ‘inne in 208 Cres See ena, ‘Semen Crue habe ‘aia ise Woe Sao coer for we oy es: A a dean “sine Toots, a6 et Tote Wee” AO fen te) tenn et Whe 76 Ii Prades een :fc historical and social content, and it would fall victim tothe col lapse and transformation of that context. Before the eleventh and twelfth centuries the predecessors ofthis siddha complex were found ina variety of elements from distinct backgrounds, both Buddhist and ‘non-Buddhist. From the thirteenth century onward, the siddha cam- plex was no longer viable in the form that the Tibetans knew it. The sophis ted urban miliew that gave it birth was struggling to accom- smodate a new generation of Islamic eulers in South Asia and to come to terms with the puritanical demands of new Therivida Buddhist regimes in Southeast Asia. The siddhas' spiritual descendants dver- sified and could be found in later centuries in a variety of garb, from respectable royal emple-priests to itinerant minstrels and religious mendicants. The siddha thus evolved as a culfural category, taking shape and making sense within particular socal context, ‘TANTRA’ AND THE SIDDHA COMPLEX ‘The siddhas are plex term, used both his wctitioners of *tantra," but tantra itself fsa com- ically and in modern times to refer to die parate practices. For the sake of tonvenlenee, sme ofthe principal elements which have been een as “tantric” can be enumerated +The performance of ritual to deities (physically represented or visualized), with the use of mantra (tual formulae held to con- tain the sence and invoke the presence of a deity), mudra (a language of physical gestures related to that of Indian dance), and mandala-ype structures (inthe sense of visualized, geomet- cally structured arrays of deities) + Selt-identification of the practitioner with the deity as part of ritual steuctuce ofthe kind just described. + The importance of in tion, involving an intimate personal telationship with the tantric teaches, or gur®, and generally associated in Vajrayana Buddhism with and his or her mandala, roduction tothe deity ‘+ Magical rituals centered around fierce deities (male and “tec lates rte ation age Te Content Gees of {Ge Sera, ge female), generally involving the ue of polluting substances asso- ciated with death or sex, and (in reality or imagination) taking cremation grounds at night. The male deities are generally iden- tified as fierce forms of Siva (Bhairava or Mahakala), the female spirits as yogis (akin, and soon). + Ast of practi (ouch as coating the body with ashes, or cary. {ng and eating from a huran-sall bowl) linked tothe role ofthe ‘Kapalika or “skull-man," an important category of Indian spit tual practitioner attested from the fifth century but pethaps with earlier roots! + Ritual gatherings (epucalre) atthe faite prjhar — cule and pi srimage centers associated with the worship of various Tndian odesses, all sen as aspect of Siva's consort Uma or Parvati and other powerful and numinous locations + The spirituaized interpretation ofthese fierce-deity rituals and Kapaa practices asthe overcoming of abstacles on the path to Enlightenment or the confrontation with ult ate reality? Thi seems to be a gradual development in the literary tradition among both Saivas and Buddhists from the seventh and eighth ‘centuries onwatds, although it may represent the self-onder- standing of Kapalika and similar practitioners "The “internal” yogic processes alluded to exe internal subtle anatomy of naft (channels) and calra’(whecls) ‘through which flow currents of pase (breath, but also a paycho- Physical substance associated with consciousness). These processes are associated with more “external” and physical yogic Practice, intended to strengthen the body and promote long life. They are also often linked to sexual practices, physical or ion of bodhicitta a8 Special kind of pana linked to male and female sexual Muids. visualized, as with the Buddhist identifi + A tendency to favor modes of thinking in which male and femal are seen as complementary aspects of reality, and the union of ‘male and female deities represents a key stage inthe overcoming sms catuatcaasn 39