Tsang Nyon Heruka & Mahasiddha Confusions
Tsang Nyon Heruka (1452-1507) was a Tibetan teacher who took the Tantric literature quite literally and behaved and dressed as a Tantric deity wearing bone ornaments, cemetery ashes, and long unshorn hair. This type of radical behaviour is described as an advanced form of practice in the Hevajra and Chakrasamvara Tantras. It is rare for Tibetan teachers to appear in this way which has given rise to the constant mis-identification of Tsang Nyon Heruka as an Indian mahasiddha rather than as a Tibetan teacher. The unique visual characteristics of Tsang Nyon are [1] the vajra scepter held in the right hand, often upraised, with a [2] skullcup or long-life vase cradled in the left hand. These are unique attributes and not shared with any of the well known mahasiddhas, or siddhas within the systems of Eighty-four Mahasiddhas.