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Mahāmudrā
Mahāmudrā (Sanskrit: महामुद्रा, , contraction of ) literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of Prajnaparamita, wisdom and Śūnyatā, emptiness inseparable". Mahāmudrā is a multivalent term of great importance in later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism which "also occurs occasionally in Hinduism, Hindu and Tangmi, East Asian Buddhist esotericism." The name also refers to a body of teachings representing the culmination of all the practices of the Sarma (Tibetan Buddhism), New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism, who believe it to be the quintessential message of all of their sacred texts. The practice of Mahāmudrā is also known as the teaching called "Sahajayoga" or "Co-emergence Yoga". In Tibetan Buddhism, particularly the Kagyu school, Sahaja Mahāmudrā is sometimes seen as a different Buddhist vehicle (Yana (Buddhism), yana), the "Sahajayana" (Tibetan: ''lhen c ...
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Kagyu
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 Buddhism, 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 (Tibetan Buddhism), 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 Kag ...
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Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as in Nepal. Smaller groups of practitioners can be found in Central Asia, some regions of China such as Northeast China, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and some regions of Russia, such as Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which included many Vajrayana, Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist Tantra, tantric practices of the Gupta Empire, post-Gupta Medieval India, early medieval period (500–1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Emp ...
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Rimé Movement
The Rimé movement (Tibetan Wylie: ''ris med''; approximate pronunciation "reemay") also written in some English sources as Rime, Ri-me, Rimay) is a movement or tendency in Tibetan Buddhism which promotes non-sectarianism and universalism.Sam van Schaik (2011). ''Tibet: A History'', pp. 161–162. Yale University Press. Teachers from all branches of Tibetan Buddhism – Sakya, Kagyu, Nyingma, Jonang, Gelug – and from Bon have been involved in the promoting of Rimé ideals.Lopez, Donald S. (1998). ''Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 190 According to Sam van Schaik, eclectic and non-sectarian tendencies existed in Tibetan Buddhism before the 19th century, and figures like Tsongkhapa, Longchenpa and Shabkar are widely known to have studied with teachers from different traditions. However, political divisions and religious sectarianism increased during a period of warfare in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen ...
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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 an Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha and poet. 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 associated with the mind teachings of Tibet. Saraha was originally known as Rāhula or Rāhulabhadra 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 ...
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Mahasiddhas
Mahasiddha (Sanskrit: ''mahāsiddha'' "great adept; ) is a term for someone who embodies and cultivates the "siddhi of perfection". A siddha is an individual who, through the practice of sādhanā, attains the realization of siddhis, psychic and spiritual abilities and powers. Mahasiddhas were practitioners of yoga and tantra, or ''tantrika''s. Their historical influence throughout the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayas was vast and they reached mythic proportions as codified in their songs of realization and hagiographies, or namtars, many of which have been preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. The Mahasiddhas are identified as founders of Vajrayana traditions and lineages such as Dzogchen and Mahamudra, as well as among Bön, Nāth, and Tamil siddhars, with the same Mahasiddha sometimes serving simultaneously as a founding figure for different traditions. Robert Thurman explains the symbiotic relationship between Tantric Buddhist communities and the Buddhist un ...
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Pala Dynasty
The Pāla Empire was the empire ruled by the Pala dynasty, ("protector" in Sanskrit) a medieval Indian dynasty which ruled the kingdom of Gauda. The empire was founded with the election of Gopāla by the chiefs of Gauda in late eighth century CE. The Pala stronghold was located in Bengal and eastern Bihar, which included the major cities of Gauḍa, Vikramapura, Pāṭaliputra, Monghyr, Somapura, Ramavati ( Varendra), Tāmralipta and Jagaddala. The Pālas were astute diplomats and military conquerors. Their army was noted for its vast war elephant corps. Their navy performed both mercantile and defensive roles in the Bay of Bengal. At its zenith under emperors Dharmapala and Devapala in the early ninth century, the Pala empire was the dominant power in the northern Indian subcontinent, with its territory stretching across the Gangetic plain to include some parts northeastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Dharmapala also exerted a strong cultural influence through Budd ...
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Samdhinirmocana Sutra
The ''Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra'' (Sanskrit) or ''Noble Sūtra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets'' is a Mahāyāna Buddhist text and the most important sutra of the Yogācāra school. It contains explanations of key Yogācāra concepts such as the basal-consciousness (''ālayavijñāna''), the doctrine of appearance-only (''vijñaptimātra'') and the "three own natures" (''trisvabhāva''). Étienne Lamotte considered this sutra "the link between the ''Prajñāpāramitā'' literature and the Yogācāra Vijñānavāda school". This sūtra was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese four times, the most complete and reliable of which is typically considered to be that of Xuanzang. It also was translated into Tibetan. The original Sanskrit text has not survived to the present day. Nomenclature and etymology The ''Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra'' (; ''Gongpa Ngédrel'') is variously romanized as ''Sandhinirmocana Sutra'' and ''Samdhinirmocana Sutra''. The full Sanskri ...
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Tathagatagarbha
In Buddhist philosophy and soteriology, Buddha-nature ( Chinese: , Japanese: , , Sanskrit: ) is the innate potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all sentient beings already have a pure Buddha-essence within themselves.Heng-Ching ShihThe Significance Of 'Tathagatagarbha' – A Positive Expression Of 'Sunyata'/ref> "Buddha-nature" is the common English translation for several related Mahāyāna Buddhist terms, most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu'', but also ''sugatagarbha,'' and ''buddhagarbha''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' can mean "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone one" ('' tathāgata''), and can also mean "containing a ''tathāgata''"''. Buddhadhātu'' can mean "buddha-element", "buddha-realm", or "buddha-substrate". Buddha-nature has a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) meanings in Indian Buddhism and later in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist literature. Broadly speaking, it refers to the belief that the lumi ...
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