The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2260 page)

 
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(Skt.; Tib.,
grub.thob
, ‘person of achievement’). A tradition in Indian Tantric Buddhism which had great influence on the development of Buddhism in Tibet. While
siddha
generally signifies a
yogin
(Hindu or Buddhist) who has achieved psychic powers (siddhi/
iddhi
), Tibetan Buddhism recognizes a canon of eighty-four principal siddhas whose achievement is enlightenment itself: their magical powers are a display of the achievement. Eminent in the tradition are Vir
pa, who prevented the sun from moving for two days and a night in order to continue drinking wine, and who originated the
Sakya
Lam Dré
system of relating
s
tras
and
tantras
;
Padmasambhava
, who as Sakara ended a twelve-year famine by causing rains of food, water, and jewels, and who founded the
Nyingma
school; Bhusuku, the N
land
monk who levitated, cured blindness, and as
ntideva wrote the
Bodhicary
vat
ra
(Entering the Path of Enlightenment), a seminal
Geluk
text; and
N
ropa
, whose Six Doctrines (
N
ro Chos Drug
) embody the very nature of siddhahood and still delineate the training of a
Kagyü
lama
.

 
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