The Madman Heruka from Tsang 1452-1507, was an author and a master of the Kagyu school of Tantrik Buddhism. Born in Tsang Tibet, he is best known as a biographer and compiler of the Life of Milarepa and The Collections of Songs of Milarepa. Tsangnyön Heruka was a Nyönpa "religious madman". He was ordained as a monk as a child, but at the age of 21 he renounced his vows and trained under various tantrik yogis from different schools. After Heruka left the monastery, he became a wandering yogi for the rest of his life, never staying in one place permanently. He was known to keep his hair long, carry a khatvanga and drink from a kapala (skull bowl). When local villagers saw his body covered in human ashes and blood with his hair adorned by human fingers and toes, they gave him the name 'Nyönpa' (madman). He later used the name Trantung Gyelpo "King of the Blood-drinkers" which he received from the deity Hevajra in a vision, "blood drinker" being the Tibetan name for the deity Heruka. These eccentric ways were influenced by an Indian sect of yogis called Kapalikas "skull-bearers", who practiced austerities as well as dressing in loincloths and human ashes and carrying symbols of the dakinis such as bone ornaments and skulls. Many monks questioned his behavior and way of dress but Tsangnyön Heruka Trantung Gyelpo was known to strongly defend his unconventional practice through rigorous argument and accurate quotations from scriptures. One day He appeared on a market place naked with brown sugar in one hand and feces in the other eating from both. Another day he was seen eating the brains of someone who had died of smallpox. It's said from this time on he was completely free from all misunderstandings and the dualities of samsara and nirvana became one and the same to him.