Kagyu: Encyclopedia - Kagyu

Kagyu

The Kagyu (Wylie transliteration: Bka'-brgyud) school (known as the "Oral Lineage" and "the Spotless Practice Lineage" school) is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the other three being Nyingma (Rnying-ma), Sakya (Sa-skya), and Gelug (Dge-lugs).

Kagyu - Origins

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. On his third journey to India he met Atiśa (982-1054) and studied the teachings of the Kadampa masters (both Kagyu and Gelug schools trace their roots to the earlier Kadampa school). 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), arguably one of Tibet's great religious poets and meditators. Among Milarepa's many students were Gampopa (Sgam-po-pa) (1079-1153) - a great scholar who can be recognized as the real founder of Kagyu as a distinct school of Tibetan Buddhism - and Rechungpa (Ras-chung-pa). Following Gampopa's teachings, there evolved the so-called "Four Major" schools, and from Gampopa's disciple Phagmogrupa the "Eight Minor" lineages of the Kagyu School.

Kagyu - Four Major Schools

• Barom Kagyu, founded by Barompa Darma Wangchug
• Pagdru Kagyu, founded by Pagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo
• Karma Kagyu (Kamtsang-Kagyu), founded by the first Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa (Dus-gsum Mkhyen-pa)
• Tsalpa Kagyu, founded by Zangyu Dragpa Darma Drag (Zhang Rinpoche) (1121-1193)

Kagyu - Eight Sub-Schools

• Drikung Kagyu
• Drukpa ('Brug-pa)Kagyu, prominent in Bhutan which is known as 'Druk Yul', Ladakh, Zanskar, Lahoul, Kinnaur, Spiti, and many parts of the Himalayan kingdom
• Shugseb Kagyu
• Trophu Kagyu
• Taklung Kagyu
• Mar Kagyu
• Yamzang Kagyu
• Yelpa Kagyu

Some of these "sub-schools" are not wide spread today.

Another Kagyu-Lineage is the lineage called

• Shangpa Kagyu which traces its origins back to Niguma, a relative of Naropa.

Kagyu - Teachings

The central teaching of Kagyu is the doctrine of Mahamudra, or "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:

• The development of single-pointedness of mind,
• The transcendence of all conceptual elaboration,
• The cultivation of the perspective that all phenomena are of a "single taste",
• 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 vajravarahi.

See also

• Milarepa

Category: Schools of Tibetan Buddhism

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Kagyu", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki