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Kagyu Tradition
The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. The Kagyu lineages trace themselves back to the 11th century Indian Mahasiddhas Naropa, Maitripa and the yogini Niguma, via their student Marpa Lotsawa (1012–1097), who brought their teachings to Tibet. Marpa's student Milarepa was also an influential poet and teacher. The Tibetan Kagyu tradition gave rise to a large number of independent sub-schools and lineages. The principal Kagyu lineages existing today as independent schools are those which stem from Milarepa's disciple, Gampopa (1079–1153), a monk who merged the Kagyu lineage with the Kadam tradition. The Kagyu schools which survive as independent institutions are mainly the Karma Kagyu, Drikung Kagyu, Drukpa Lineage and the Taklung Kagyu. The Karma Kagyu school is the largest of the ...
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Naropa
Nāropā (Prakrit; sa, Nāropāda, Naḍapāda or Abhayakirti) or Abhayakirti was an Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha. He was the disciple of Tilopa and brother, or some sources say partner and pupil, of Niguma. As an Indian Mahasiddha, Naropa's instructions inform Vajrayana, particularly his six yogas of Naropa relevant to the completion stage of anuttarayogatantra. He was also one of the gatekeepers of Vikramashila monastery which is located in Bihar. Although some accounts relate that Naropa was the personal teacher of Marpa Lotsawa, other accounts suggest that Marpa held Naropa's lineage through intermediary disciples only. Names According to scholar John Newman, "the Tibetans give Nāro's name as ''Nā ro pa, Nā ro paṇ chen, Nā ro ta pa,'' and so forth. The manuscript of the ''Paramarthasaṃgraha'' preserves a Sanskrit form ''Naḍapāda'' (''Paramarthasaṃgraha'' 74). A Sanskrit manuscript edited by Tucci preserves an apparent Prakrit form ''Nāropā'', as well as a ...
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Six Dharmas Of Naropa
The Six Dharmas of Nāropa (, Skt. ''ṣaḍdharma'', "Naro's six doctrines" or "six teachings"), are a set of advanced Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices compiled by the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa (1016-1100 CE) and passed on to the Tibetan translator-yogi Marpa Lotsawa (c. 1012). Another name for the six Dharmas is "the oral instruction transmission for achieving liberation in the bardo," or "the ''Bardo Trang-dol'' system". Bardo here, refers to the three bardos of waking, sleep and dying. They are also referred to as "the path of means" (''thabs lam'') in Kagyu literature.Kragh (2015), p. 345. They are also sometimes called the ''Six Yogas of Nāropa'' (though not in the traditional literature which never uses the term ''ṣaḍaṅga-yoga'' or ''sbyor-drug''). The six dharmas are a collection of tantric Buddhist completion stage practices drawn from the Buddhist tantras. They are intended to lead to Buddhahood in an accelerated manner. They traditionally require ...
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Hevajra
Hevajra (Tibetan: kye'i rdo rje / kye rdo rje; Chinese: 喜金剛 Xǐ jīngāng / 呼金剛 Hū jīngāng;) is one of the main yidams (enlightened beings) in Tantric, or Vajrayana Buddhism. Hevajra's consort is Nairātmyā (Tibetan: bdag med ma). History India The Hevajra Tantra, a yoginītantra of the ''anuttarayogatantra'' class, is believed to have originated between the late 8th (Snellgrove), and the late 9th or early 10th centuries (Davidson), in Eastern India, possibly Kamarupa. Tāranātha lists Saroruha and Kampala (also known as "Lva-va-pā", "Kambhalī", and "Śrī-prabhada") as its "bringers": .. the foremost yogi Virupa meditated on the path of Yamāri and attained siddhi under the blessings of Vajravārāhi,...His disciple Dombi Heruka..understood the essence of the Hevajra Tantra, and composed many śāstras like the ''Nairātmā-devi-sādhana'' and the ''Sahaja-siddhi''. He also conferred abhiṣeka on his own disciples. After this, two ācāryas Lva-v ...
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Cakrasaṃvara Tantra
The ''Cakrasaṃvara Tantra'' (, ''khorlo demchok,'' The "Binding of the Wheels" Tantra) is an influential Buddhist Tantra. It is roughly dated to the late eight or early ninth century by David B. Gray (with a ''terminus ante quem'' in the late tenth century). The full title in the Sanskrit manuscript used by Gray's translation is: ''Great King of Yoginī Tantras called the Śrī Cakrasaṃvara'' (''Śrīcakrasaṃvara-nāma-mahayoginī-tantra-rāja''). The text is also called the ''Discourse of Śrī Heruka'' (''Śrīherukābhidhāna'') and the ''Samvara Light'' (''Laghusaṃvara''). "Cakrasaṃvara" may also refer to the main deity in this tantra as well as to a collection of texts or "cycle" associated with the root Cakrasaṃvara tantra. Tsunehiko Sugiki writes that this "Cakrasaṃvara cycle", "is one of the largest collections of Buddhist Yoginītantra literature from the early medieval South Asian world."Sugiki, Tsunehiko. Review of ''David B. Gray, The Cakrasamvara Tantra ...
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Kukkuripa
Early life Kukkuripa was a mahasiddha who lived in India. He became interested in tantric Buddhist practice, and chose the path of renunciation. During his travels, he found a starving dog in a bush. Moved by compassion, he fed the dog and took care of her. The two stayed together and eventually found a cave where Kukkuripa could meditate in peace. When he went out for food, the dog would stay and guard the cave. One day, after 12 years passed, the stories say that the gods of the Thirty-three sensual heavens took note of Kukkuripa's accomplishments, and invited him to their heavens. He accepted, and while there he was given many pleasureable things, such as great feasts. Every time he would think of his loyal dog, left behind at the cave, he would begin to think that he should return to her, but every time they would convince him to stay. Eventually, he looked down from the heavens and saw that his dog had become thin, sad, and hungry, and right there he decided that he would ...
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Saraha
Saraha, Sarahapa, Sarahapāda (or, in the Tibetan language མདའ་བསྣུན་, anün Wyl. mda' bsnun The Archer), (''circa'' 8th century CE) was known as the first sahajiya and one of the Mahasiddhas. The name ''Saraha'' means "the one who has shot the arrow.". According to one, scholar, "This is an explicit reference to an incident in many versions of his biography when he studied with a dakini disguised as a low-caste arrow smith. Metaphorically, it refers to one who has shot the arrow of non duality into the heart of duality." Saraha is considered to be one of the founders of Vajrayana Buddhism, particularly the Mahāmudrā tradition. Saraha was originally known as Rāhula or Rāhulbhadra and was born in Roli, a region of the city-state of Rajni in eastern India, into a Shakya family and studied at the Buddhist monastic university Nalanda. The Arrow Making Dakini Saraha is normally shown seated and holding an arrow (Skt. śaru). It is from a mature nameles ...
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Indrabhuti
Indrabhuti (alternatively King Ja) is a name attributed to a number of individuals that have become conflated in Vajrayana Buddhism. One Indrabhuti, considered a Mahasiddha, was a disciple of Lawapa. Identities of the king Samten Karmay attempted to identify the different personages known as Indrabhutai. Conflation of Indrabhuti related to conflation of Oddiyana The matter of the conflation of Indrabhuti and at least one evocation of the historicity of a particular personage by that name is intimately connected with the location of 'Oddiyana' (the locality denoted by the term 'Oddiyana' whether in each case cited is Swat Valley or Odisha or some other location is glossed with a suite of orthographic representations and near homophones which require further case-by-case examination and exploration), Odisha and the cult of Jaganath and a number of texts that inform the matter such as the '' Sādhanamālā'', '' Kālikā Purāṇa'', ''Caturāsiti-siddha-Pravṛtti'', '' Jñānasidd ...
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Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way'', Oxford: Oxford University Press. Jan Westerhoff considers him to be "one of the greatest thinkers in the history of Asian philosophy." Nāgārjuna is widely considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka (centrism, middle-way) school of Buddhist philosophy and a defender of the Mahāyāna movement. His ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' (Root Verses on Madhyamaka, or MMK) is the most important text on the madhyamaka philosophy of emptiness. The MMK inspired a large number of commentaries in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, Korean and Japanese and continues to be studied today. History Background India in the first and second centuries CE was politically divided into various states, including the Kushan Empire and the Satavaha ...
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Tilopa
Tilopa (Prakrit; Sanskrit: Talika or Tilopadā; 988–1069) was an Indian Buddhist monk in the tantric Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He lived along the Ganges River, with wild ladies as a tantric practitioner and mahasiddha. He practiced Anuttarayoga Tantra, a set of spiritual practices intended to accelerate the process of attaining Buddhahood. He became a holder of all the tantric lineages, possibly the only person in his day to do so. As well as the way of insight, and Mahamudra he learned and passed on the Way of Methods, today known as the 6 Yogas of Naropa, and guru yoga. Naropa is considered his main student. Life Tilopa was born into the priestly caste – according to some sources, a royal family – but he adopted the monastic life upon receiving orders from a dakini (female buddha whose activity is to inspire practitioners) who told him to adopt a mendicant and itinerant existence. From the beginning, she made it clear to Tilopa that his real parents were ...
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Guhyasamāja Tantra
The ''Guhyasamāja Tantra'' (Sanskrit: ''Guhyasamājatantra''; Tibetan: ''Gsang ’dus rtsa rgyud'', Toh 442; ''Tantra of the Secret Society or Community''), also known as the ''Tathāgataguhyaka (Secrets of the Tathagata),'' is one of the most important scriptures of Tantric Buddhism, written in Sanskrit. In its fullest form, it consists of seventeen chapters, though a separate "explanatory tantra" (''vyākhyātantra'') known as the ''Later Tantra'' (Sanskrit: Guhyasamāja Uttaratantra; Tibetan: Rgyud phyi ma. (Toh 443)) is sometimes considered to be its eighteenth chapter. Many scholars believe that the original core of the work consisted of the first twelve chapters, with chapters thirteen to seventeen being added later as explanatory material. The ''Guhyasamāja-tantra'' is not to be confused with the Mahayana sutra titled '' Tathāgataguhyaka Sūtra''. In India, it was classified as a Yoga or Mahāyoga Tantra. In Tibet it is considered an Unexcelled Yoga Tantra (''rnal ’ ...
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Dagpo Kagyu
Dagpo Kagyu encompasses the branches of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism that trace their lineage back through Gampopa (1079-1153), who was also known as Dagpo Lhaje () "the Physician from Dagpo" and Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche "Incomparable Precious One from Dagpo". All the institutional branches of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism surviving today, including the Drikung Kagyu, the Drukpa Lineage and the Karma Kagyu, are branches of the Dagpo Kagyu. Narrowly, the term Dagpo Kagyu is sometimes used to refer specifically to the lineage of Gampopa's own monastery of Dagla Gampo. This lineage passed from Gampopa to his own nephew Dagpo Gomtsul. Dagpo Tashi Namgyal (1511-1587) was an important lama in this lineage. Dagpo Kagyu Lineages Following Gampopa's teachings, there evolved the so-called "Four Primary and Eight Secondary" lineages of the Dagpo Kagyu School. The four primary sub-schools of the Dagpo Kagyu * Tshalpa Kagyu founded by Zhang Yudrakpa Tsöndru Drakpa * Kar ...
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