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Virupa (; Tib. bi ru pa or bir wa pa, ), also known as Virupaksa and Tutop Wangchuk, was an 8th–9th century Indian mahasiddha and yogi, and the source of important cycles of teachings in Vajrayana Buddhism.
Tibetan sources mention that Virupa was born in Tripura in east India and studied at the Somapura Mahavihara as a monk, practicing tantra, particularly the Cakrasamvara.Powers, John. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, Revised Edition (2007) Snow Lion Publications, p. 433. Alternatively, Indian sources such as the Navanathacaritramu claim that he was born in Maharashtra around the Konkan region to a pious Brahmin couple. The Tibetan historian Taranatha also says that Virupa lived in Maharashtra.
Tibetan sources further state that after years of tantric practice with no results, he gave tantra up, throwing his Japamala into a toilet. He then had a vision of the deity Nairatmya—who became his main deity—and subsequently received teachings and empowerments from her.Powers, John. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, Revised Edition (2007) Snow Lion Publications, p. 434. He eventually left the monastery and traveled throughout India teaching tantra, performing various Siddhi ( siddhis) as well as "converting non-Buddhists (tirthikas), destroying their images and stopping their sanguinary rituals."Davidson, Ronald M. Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture, Motilal Banarsidass, 2008, pp. 49, 53.
According to Indologist James Mallinson, a text called the Amṛtasiddhi, which is the earliest text known to teach Hatha yoga techniques, is attributed to Virupa.Mallinson, James. Kalavañcana in the Konkan: How a Vajrayana Hathayoga Tradition Cheated Buddhism’s Death in India. 2019 He also appears as a mahasiddha in various non-Buddhist texts, especially Nath works and Kashmir Shaivism Śaiva works like the Virūpākṣapañcāśikā.
There is one female wine-seller. She enters into two houses. She ferments wine with fine barks (of trees) (ll. 1–2, p. 35).
An English rendering of a larger relevant passage:
The Buddhist Tantrics who revealed the practices of Sahaja through the songs on various ragas, had several things in common: (a) they accepted the Sahajayana, a reformed form of ‘Mahayana, (b) they chose song as the form of conveying their doctrines, (c) they used the human body as the great metaphor of communion with desire and void, and (d) they used several, specific ragas. These alignments of poetic themes and structures shows that they had somehow close association with each other—historically, geographically, thematically, spiritually—as their way of bodhi marga(attaining knowledge) had to follow a flexible way of seeking the guru, ‘Siddhacharya’, or the guide to be followed by the disciples. Perhaps this approach enabled composers of songs to have a connection with generations of followings and leading.
Dr. Muhammad Sahidullah also reports that Virubapa had for some time visited Paharpur Mohavira and stayed there to preach the theory of ‘Sahajayana’ and Paharpur Mohavira had a reputation as the abode and teaching place for Buddhist monks at the time of the Pala dynasty. This monastery was situated in the northwestern region of Bangladesh that kept close contact with the Tibetan Buddhist monks. Virubapa had a disciple, Dombipa, who is also the writer of the fourteenth song and thus the Buddhist cult of Sahajayana community extends through guru–disciple co-relational practices.
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