Buddhism
has its roots. The historical Buddha gave a great variety of teachings in order
to accommodate the different capacities of beings. Although he taught only
orally, his early disciples recorded his instructions in writing and passed
them on in their original form. Later on, Buddhist masters wrote many treatises
that explain the Buddha’s teachings. The emphasis was on the authentic and
accurate transmission of the teachings. Throughout the centuries, as disciples
became teachers, different lines of transmission came about, each with their
own characteristics.
Approximately
one and a half millennia after the passing away of Buddha Shakyamuni, Northern
India was home to a number of great Buddhist masters, holders of many Buddhist
transmissions and key instructions to accomplish meditation. Among them was the
master Tilopa (988-1069), who held four special esoteric Buddhist lineages. In
Tibet these were later referred to as the lineage of the four transmissions”
Tilopa gave
his special transmissions to his disciple Naropa (1016-1100). Other prominent
Indian figures for the teachings transmitted in the Kagyu School were the
masters Saraha and Maitripa. They were famous for their special instructions of
Mahamudra and mental non-engagement, teachings which Tibetan masters later on
skillfully continued to transmit until the present day.
Buddhism comes to Tibet:
A complete transmission of these
teachings came to Tibet starting in the 8th century. The Tibetan king Trisong
Detsen invited two Indian Buddhist masters to Tibet – Guru Rinpoche
(Padmasambhava) and Shantarakshita – and authorized the translation of the
teachings from Indian to Tibetan. This was the start of the Nyingma or “Old” tradition.
During the 11th century there was
a second period of translation which involved the revision of earlier
terminology as well as new translations. The traditions that base their
transmission mainly on that period are referred to as the Sarma traditions, the
“New traditions”. Of these, the Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug is the best known.
The Karma Kagyu tradition is a sub
school within the Kagyu tradition. Like all Tibetan Buddhist schools, it traces
itself back to Indian Buddhist masters who were active at the time when
Buddhism found its way to Tibet.
The Tibetan translator Marpa (1012-1097) learned in India from both Naropa and Maitripa and brought all these transmissions back to Tibet, mastered them and transmitted them to, among others, his disciple Milarepa (1052-1135). With the latter’s student Gampopa (1079-1153), the Kagyu school branched off into a number of sub schools, a major one being the Karma Kagyu lineage, which was named after its founder, the first Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa (1110-1193).
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