Kagyu

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Kagyu
Tibetan name
Tibetan: བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་
Wylie transliteration: bka’ brgyud
pronunciation in IPA: [kacy]
official transcription (PRC): Gagyü
THDL: Kagyü
other transcriptions: Kagyu, Kargyu, Kargyü
Chinese name
traditional: 白教、噶舉派
simplified: 白教、噶举派
Pinyin: báijiào, Gájǔpài

The Kagyu school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" and "the Spotless Practice Lineage" school, is one of five schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the other four being Nyingma (Rnying-ma), Sakya (Sa-skya), Gelug (Dge-lugs) and Bön.

Contents

[edit] Origins

Almost the entirety of the Kagyu school traces its origins to the teachings of the Indian mystics Tilopa (988-1089) and Naropa (1016-1100), whose lineage was transmitted in Tibet by the great translator Marpa (1012-1097). He took over the mahamudra ("great seal") transmission lineage from Naropa. Moreover Marpa studied with the Indian Masters Maitripa and Kukuripa. According to some accounts, on his third journey to India he met Atiśa (982-1054) and studied the teachings of the Kadampa masters[2] (both Kagyu and Gelug schools trace their roots to the earlier Kadampa school, although generally this is traced back to Gampopa). Marpa spent 17 years in India and is known as one of the great translators of the second translation period. Marpa's principal disciple was Milarepa (Mi-la-ras-pa) (1052-1135), widely considered one of Tibet's great religious poets and meditators. Among Milarepa's many students were Dagpo Lharje Gampopa (Sgam-po-pa) (1079-1153), a great scholar, and the great yogi Rechung Dorje Drakpa, also known as Rechungpa.

Following Gampopa's teachings, there evolved the so-called "Four Major and Eight Minor" lineages of the Dagpo (sometimes rendered "Tagpo" or "Dakpo") Kagyu School. This organization is descriptive of the generation in which the schools were founded, not of their realization or prominence. The Rechung Kagyu school that descended from Rechungpa has always been far smaller and more obscure.

The Shangpa Kagyu, which was relatively obscure until the last hundred years, traces its lineage to Naropa's sister Niguma, and is sometimes not considered a "Kagyu" school at all.

[edit] Four major schools of the Dagpo Kagyu

  • Karma Kagyu, also known as Kamtsang Kagyu, founded by Düsum Khyenpa (Dus-gsum Mkhyen-pa), later designated the first Karmapa. The Karma Kagyu itself has three subschools in addition to the main branch:[1]
  • Surmang Kagyu, founded by Trungmase, a student of Deshin Shekpa, the 5th Gyalwa Karmapa
  • Nendo Kagyu, founded by Karma Chagme (kar ma chags med) (1613-1678), a disciple of the 6th Shamarpa (zhwa dmar chos kyi dbang phyug) (1584-1630)
  • Gyaltön Kagyu
  • Barom Kagyu, founded by Barompa Darma Wangchug
  • Tsalpa Kagyu, founded by Zangyu Dragpa Darma Drag (Zhang Rinpoche)
  • Pagdru Kagyu, founded by Pagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo, splintered into eight subschools as follows:

[edit] Eight Pagdru Kagyu sub-schools

The only Kagyu schools that continue to exist independently are the Karma, Drukpa, Drikung, and Taklung.

[edit] Teachings

The central teaching of Kagyu is the doctrine of Mahamudra, "the Great Seal", as elucidated by Gampopa in his various works. This doctrine focuses on four principal stages of meditative practice (the Four Yogas of Mahamudra), namely:

  1. The development of single-pointedness of mind,
  2. The transcendence of all conceptual elaboration,
  3. The cultivation of the perspective that all phenomena are of a "single taste",
  4. The fruition of the path, which is beyond any contrived acts of meditation.

It is through these four stages of development that the practitioner is said to attain the perfect realization of Mahamudra.

Important practices in all Kagyu schools are the tantric practices of Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini, and particularly the Six Yogas of Naropa.

In terms of view, the Kagyu (particularly the Karma Kagyu) emphasize the Hevajra tantra with commentaries by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye and Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, the Uttaratantra with commentaries by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye and another by Gölo Shönu Pal as a basis for studying buddha nature, and the the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje's Profound Inner Reality (Tib. Zabmo Nangdon) with commentaries by Rangjung Dorje and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye as a basis for tantra.

[edit] References

  1. ^ " Transcriptions of teachings given by His Eminence the 12th Kenting Tai Situpa (2005)," [1]

[edit] External links

[edit] Sites associated with Trinlay Thaye Dorje

[edit] Sites associated with Urgyen Trinley Dorje

[edit] Drikung Kagyu sites

[edit] Unaffiliated sites


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Tibetan Buddhism
Traditions: Vajrayana  • Bön  • Nyingma  • Kagyu  • Gelug  • Sakya  • Jonang  • Kadampa  • Rimé
Key Concepts: Dzogchen  • Mahamudra  • Yogacara  • Stupa  • Kulayarāja Tantra • Lama • Tulku  • Terton  • Rinpoche  • Lhasa  • Thangka  • Shambhala