- Gampopa
Gampopa (bo|t=སྒམ་པོ་པ|w=sgam po pa|) (1079-1153) "the man from Gampo" — who was equally well known in Tibet as Sonam Rinchen (bo|t=བསོད་ནམས་རིན་ཆེན|w=bsod nams rin chen|), Dagpo Lhaje (bo|t=དྭགས་པོ་ལྷ་རྗེ|w=dwags po lha rje|) ("the Physician from Dagpo"), Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche ("Incomparible Precious One from Dagpo"), and Da'od Zhonnu (bo|t=ཟླ་འོད་ཞུན་ནུ|w=zla 'od gzhon nu|), (the Tibetan for Candraprabhakumara) [ Sgam-po-pa and Guenther, Herbert V. (trans). "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation" p. ix (Preface). Shambhala Publications (2001) ISBN 1570626146] [ [http://www.tbrc.org/kb/tbrc-detail.xq?RID=P1844 TBRC RID P1844] ] — established the
Kagyu school , one of the four major schools ofTibetan Buddhism today, as an institution.hort Biography
Gampopa, a physician from
Dagpo region inKham , was the foremost student of theTibetan Buddhist teacherMilarepa . Gampopa was renowned for the clarity of his perception and his knowledge of bothKadampa and, later,Mahamudra methods.Gampopa's position in the transmission lineage of the
esoteric Mahamudra teaching is as follows:
#Tilopa (988-1069), theIndia nyogi who experienced the original transmission of theMahamudra
#Naropa (1016-1100), who perfected the methods of accelerated enlightenment, described in hissix yogas of Naropa .
#Marpa (1012-1097), the first Tibetan in the lineage, who translated theVajrayana andMahamudra texts intoOld Tibetan
#Milarepa (1052-1135), poet and master who overcame Marpa's reluctance to teach but nonetheless attained enlightenment in a single lifetime
# Gampopa, Milarepa's most important student, who integratedAtisha 'sKadampa teaching and Tilopa'sMahamudra teaching to establish theKagyu schoolThis lineage sequence, taken together, is called the "Five Founding Masters" by the Kagyu followers.
Prior to studying under Milarepa, Gampopa had studied the kadampa traditions, which is a gradual path based on the
lamrim teachings. He searched for, and eventually met Milarepa, and attained realization of ultimate reality under his guidance.Gampopa wrote "
The Jewel Ornament of Liberation " and founded theDagpo Kagyud school in 1125. It was the integrative teaching of Gampopa which unifiedKadampa andMahamudra teachings into the distinctive Kagyu approach.Gampopa also established various monastic institutions, taught extensively, and attracted many students. Four of his disciples founded the four "major" Kagyu schools:
*Barom Kagyu founded byBarompa Darma Wangchug
*Phagdru Kagyu founded byPhagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo
*Karma Kagyu , also known as the Kamtsang Kagyu School, founded byDüsum Khyenpa the 1stKarmapa
*Tsalpa Kagyu founded byZhang Yudragpa Tsondru Drag The succession of Gampopa's own monastery passed to his nephew Dagpo Gomtsul Tsultim Nyingpo (dwags sgom tshul khrims snying po)
See also
Notes
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