Shangpa Kagyu

The Shangpa Kagyu lineage was founded by the eleventh-century Tibetan scholar Khyungpo Nenjor.[3] Seeking to increase his understanding of the teachings he received in Tibet, he traveled to India, where he met the female mystic yogini, Niguma.[4] (Vajradhara Niguma is the full Tibetan name of the Indian yogini Vimalashri.[5] He received many teachings from her; in particular, the teachings of a special tradition of Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Niguma, which are similar but not identical to the Six Dharmas of Naropa.

Khyungpo Nenjor was a Tibetan yogi and Bonpo and Niguma's most famous disciple. He was the only one to whom she imparted her most secret teachings.[6] He also met and studied with the dakini Sukhasiddhi,[7] another female mystic and student of the mahasiddha Virūpa, as well as Vajrāsana, Maitripada, Rāhula, and others.

Thang Tong Gyalpo [8] was another famous yogi instructed by Niguma in a vision. He started his own religious tradition (Wylie: thang lugs ) within the Shangpa Kagyu lineage.

On his return to Tibet, Khyungpo Neljor established a monastery at Shang in Tsang. This was his main seat, and he became known as the Lama of Shang. Although he was reputed to have founded hundreds of monasteries and had thousands of students, he passed the teachings of Niguma to only one of his students, Mochok Rinchen Tsondru. The Shangpa lineage is often referred to as the "secret lineage" because Niguma instructed Khyungpo Neljor to transmit the teachings to only one student for the first seven generations beginning with Vajradhara and Niguma.

From Mochok Rinchen Tsondru, the lineage was passed to Kyergang Chokyi Senge, Nyenton Rigung Chokyi Sherab, and Songjay Tenpa Tsondru Senge. These first seven teachings are known as the Seven Great Jewels of the Shangpa tradition. Songjay Tenpa was the first teacher who gave these instructions to more than one of his disciples, and from this point on, several different lines of transmission developed. The intention for keeping the lineage secret in this fashion was to protect it from becoming an established monastic tradition. As one of the more esoteric traditions, it was meant to be practiced rather than codified.

Although the Shangpa teachings were highly regarded and were assimilated by many schools, the tradition itself ceased to exist as an independent school with the dissolution of the Jonangpas in the 17th century. However, its teachings were still practiced and transmitted. In the 19th century Jamgon Kongtrul gathered together the surviving transmissions and ensured their continued survival by including them in his Treasury of Key Instructions.

The lineage transmission has also been incorporated into the Sakya school and other Kagyu schools. Je Tsongkhapa, who founded the Gelug school, was also versed in the doctrine of the Shangpa Kagyu.

There are many unique teachings in the Shangpa tradition, but the most important are "The Five Golden Teachings", also called the Five Golden Doctrines of the Shangpas (Wylie: shangs pa gser chos lnga ), a group of teachings envisioned as forming a tree,.[10][11]

1. The innermost teachings are the "Six Yogas of Niguma" or more properly called "Six Dharmas of Niguma" (Wylie: ni gu'i chos drug which are very similar to the Six Yogas of Naropa practiced by the Dagpo schools. The Six Dharmas of Niguma include the teachings on heat, illusory-body, the dream state, sheer clarity, transference, and bardo (the intermediary state between death and birth)
2. The next tier includes "The Locket Tradition of Mahamudra" which combines the mahamudra teachings of Niguma, Maitripa, and Sukhasiddhi.
3. The teachings on the three methods of carrying one's understanding from meditation into daily activities.
4. The practice of development and completion with the white and red dakinis.
5. The teaching of the deathless nature of mind and body.

• Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche
• Shangpa-Kagyü Resource Center

• Sarah Harding Niguma, Lady of Illusion (Tsadra Foundation). Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications (2012). ISBN 978-1559393614
• Jamgon Kongtrul Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verses of the Shangpa Masters. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications (2004). ISBN 1-55939-204-5
• Kapstein, Matthew “The Shangs-pa bKa'-brgyud: an unknown school of Tibetan Buddhism” in M. Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi (eds.), Studies in Honor of Hugh Richardson Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1980, pp. 138–44.
• Kapstein, Matthew “The Illusion of Spiritual Progress”, in Robert Buswell, ed., Paths to Liberation, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992. pp. 193–224
• Riggs, Nicole (2000) Like An Illusion: Lives of the Shangpa Kagyu Masters Dharma Cloud Press, Oregon. ISBN 0-9705639-0-6.
• 2nd Dalai Lama. Tantric Yogas of Sister Niguma, Snow Lion Publications, 1st ed. U. edition (May 1985), ISBN 0-937938-28-9 (10), ISBN 978-0-937938-28-7 (13)

• The Palden Shangpa Kagyu Website - Dedicated to the Shangpa Kagyu lineage.
• Samdrub Darjay Choling Monastery - Home monastery in Sonada, India
• Kagyu Dzamling Kunchab, New York, NY, USA - Founded by Kyabje Dorje Chang Kalu Rinpoche, his Eastern Seat in the USA
• Chinese article
• Karmaling - a French center that follows the Shangpa Kagyu lineage
• Shangpa (Kagyud)@khandro.net
• Shangpa Kagyu