The woodblock printing tradition of Tibet

Tsangnyön Heruka. [The Life of Milarepa and The Collections of Songs of Milarepa].

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The two works by the 15th century madman-sage of Tibet, both books famous for their role in the early tradition of woodblock printing in Tibetan literature. The Life and Songs of Milarepa were written by Tsangnyön Heruka (1452-1507 CE) in the late 15th century; their popularity as woodblock-printed books led to a blooming of printing culture in Tibet, with further copies printed as far afield as Beijing by the late 19th and early 20th century.

Heruka (not to be confused with the like-named god from whom the author took his name) was a nyönpa, a wandering religious ascetic and eccentric. The subject of his writing was another famous Tibetan religious figure: Milarepa (1028/40-1111/23 CE), whose biography, teachings, and songs Heruka wished to preserve and promote. Heruka's Life and Songs of Milarepa are one of the primary historical and spiritual sources for knowledge of Milarepa, and describe how Milarepa was a murderer as a young man, before turning to Buddhism. He is one of Tibet's most famous yogis and Buddhist poets, and a major figure of the Kagyu school, to which Heruka also belonged.

Four similar xylographic copies are held at the U.S. Library of Congress and University of Wisconsin, but each of these only include the Life of Milarepa and no further texts, making this much longer work of particular interest.