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CHAPTER 3

The Spokes of the Wheel: The Four Tibetan Sects

The notion that the whole universe until the totality of its phenomena forms one single whole in which even the smallest element has an effect upon the largest, because secret threads connect the smallest item until the eternal ground of the world, this is the proper foundation of all tantric philosophy.

—Walt Anderson

Indian Buddhism was eclectic when it was brought to Tibet. Students learned traditions from both Hinayana and Mahayana. They used all resources available, including sutras and tantras drawn from many different Indian Buddhist sects. As Tibetans integrated these learnings into their culture, they formed their own schools with a uniquely Tibetan flavor. Four major traditions arose in Tibet to guide people in Tibetan Buddhist practice: Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelukpa.

NYINGMA SCHOOL

Nyingma was the first school and is often referred to as the Old School to set it apart from the other three, which are considered New Schools, based in newer Tibetan translations and interpretations. The founder of Nyingma was Padmasambhava, the first Buddhist to influence Tibet. He not only showed Tibetans how to practice Buddhism, but he also introduced tantric practices, which were his specialty.

Nyingma has nine sets of teachings, organized and guided by the practice of certain tantras: three common, three outer, and three inner. These teachings guide and help transform the conduct, beliefs, thoughts, and feelings of practitioners into higher consciousness. The first six tantras are similar to the other sects. The first three are HearerVehicle, Solitary RealizerVehicle, and Bodhisattva Vehicle. The three associated with outer tantras are action tantra, performance tantra, and yoga tantra. The three inner tantras are called Mahayoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga and help people realize the true nature of mind, cutting through appearances to reality. Sudden insight leads to enlightenment. The goal becomes the path, and the path is not reliant on images or visualizations.

Nyingmas clear their minds and focus attention on the present moment of experience without conceptualizing what the object of experiencing is. Distorted, inaccurate perceptions of phenomena transform to accurate perceptions of reality’s true nature, a union of luminosity and emptiness free from opposition and polarities without distinctions that could confuse or deceive. Nyingma teaching is designed to lead to the actualization of this awareness in everyday life.

Deity Yoga is an important part of the Nyingma school. Through Deity Yoga, practitioners can identify with and incorporate the best qualities of their guru and the many great Buddhas throughout time. The deities of this school are Samantabhadra, the primordial Buddha, and Vajradhara, the emanation of Samantabhadra.

SECRET DOCTRINES: TERMA

Nyingma utilizes terma, documents, artifacts, and images that had been hidden by their original teacher, Padmasambhava. The terma fill out and develop further the concepts and practices of Nyingma.

The terma were supposed to be found and revealed at appropriate times by disciples called tertons, gifted bodhisattvas who are believed to be emanations of Padmasambhava himself. Dakinis, female wisdom beings, help guide the tertons in finding these important writings and objects. Once the terma is discovered, the tertons transmit the teachings. According to tradition, terma were hidden throughout Tibet, with spells on them to prevent their being uncovered prematurely. Terma are continually being found and released by tertons, who, using secret keys to uncover and decode them, rediscover and reinterpret the doctrine in ways appropriate to the time and place. In this way, the Nyingma teachings continue to evolve and adapt so they can guide humanity regardless of present or future conditions and circumstances. Terma will be discovered and disseminated when they are needed.

SAKYA SCHOOL

Sakya descended from the Khon lineage, a people who claimed to be derived from celestial beings. The Khon were followers of the Indian yogin Virupa, who taught Drogmi Shakya Yeshe (992—1074). Drogmi Shakya Yeshe journeyed from Tibet to India to study and brought back to Tibet teachings from Virupa on the Kalachakra, the Path and Fruit, as well as the doctrines of other Indian masters. There is only one authoritative text for this sect, Virupa’s Vajra Verses. Most of the teachings were passed along orally, as secret traditions transmitted directly from teacher to student.

Khon Koncheck Gyelpo, one of Virupa’s disciples, built a monastery and called it Sakya, which translates as the Gray Earth, the color of the ground in Tsang Province of Central Tibet on which this monastery was built. Gyelpo took this as an auspicious sign, based on a well-known vision of Atisa, who envisioned gray earth with two black wild yaks grazing near it. The Sakya sect took its name from this monastery, and the Sakya family continued this lineage.

The Sakya sect had a tradition of rule in Tibet before the Dalai Lamas. The Sakya leader Gurga Gyeltsen Bel Sangpo (1182—1251) had a great reputation for wisdom and was invited by Goden Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, to Mongolia to give lectures on Buddhist teachings. In 1253, after Sangpo died, Kublai Khan invited Sangpo’s nephew, Drogen Chogyal Phagpa, to his court. Phagpa developed a script to write Mongolian, which led Kublai Khan to honor him. Kublai Khan declared Buddhism the state religion of Mongolia, and gave Phagpa the spiritual and secular rule of Tibet’s three provinces. The Sakya clan retained this position for the next one hundred years.

The Sakya’s central teaching is called Lamdrey (pronounced Lam - bras), which translates to mean “The Path and Its Fruit.” This doctrine is a synthesis of the paths and fruits of both the inner and outer teachings. Path and Fruit teachings direct the student to embrace existence in everyday reality, samsara, as inseparable from nirvana. Path and Fruit doctrine teaches that when Mind is obscured, it forms samsara; when clear, it shows nirvana.

Mind is a union of luminosity and emptiness. Since Mind is not located in any place, when looked for it cannot be found—not in your body, nor outside it, and not in the brain. Yet when you seek it, there is no place the Mind is not found. Thus Mind is not anywhere in particular. This is known as nonabiding, one of the characteristics of Mind. The Mind cannot be known by what it is, but it can be known by what it is not. The essence transcends any attempt to categorize it and allows you to see through it. Thus the characteristic of luminosity can be applied to the Mind. This unity of luminosity and emptiness is a fundamental construct in Sakya doctrine.

Sakya training leads to three levels of degree, similar to graduate school in theology. First comes scholarly study for the first degree, followed by tantric work for advanced degrees.

KAGYU SCHOOL

The Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism includes both meditation and philosophical training. Kagyu practitioners extend and develop the mind and visionary capacities.

This sect emphasizes the passing along of insight, from teacher to student, called Gum Yoga. The gum is the source of guidance, values, and instruction, giving very deep wisdom to the student. Guru Yoga requires a strong identification with the teacher as spiritual master. This permits the teacher to transmit teachings directly from his mind to the student’s mind. Thus, there is exacting concern by Kagyu practitioners for the direct line of transmission of teachings.

The name Kagyu means “teaching lineage.” Marpa Choyi Lodae (1012—1099) and Khyungpo Nyaljor (978—1079) were the founders. Marpa was a translator who traveled three times to India and four times to Nepal for teachings. He studied with 108 spiritual masters and adepts, most notably Naropa.

The lineage began in India with Tilopa (988-1069), who received his teachings from the Indian master Vajradhara. Tilopa passed his teachings to Naropa, who underwent trials and tribulations for twelve years under Tilopa’s guidance. Naropa’s enlightenment taught him to develop clear, open self-awareness, like the clear skies. Naropa taught Marpa the six doctrines of tantric yoga that he had learned from Tilopa. These doctrines were yogas of the transference of consciousness, illusory body, dream state, clear light, inner heat, and bardo. Naropa also taught Marpa the Kalachakra tantra, which involves the construction of an elaborate mandala, symbolizing the world of phenomena and enlightenment. The mandala is a diagram that encodes most of the fundamental insights of Tibetan Buddhism.

Milarepa (1040-1123), Marpa’s student, became one of the greatest Tibetan Buddhists teachers. As a young man, Milarepa was disinherited from his family fortune and studied black magic to get revenge. After following this course for a time, he realized he had done great wrong and sought Tantric Buddhism to help him escape the negative consequences of his bad karma. Milarepa learned the six yogas from a female partner of Marpa. He combined the teachings he learned from Marpa with Mahamudra Yoga, the yoga of the Great Symbol. Milarepa became famous throughout Tibet as a culture hero, reputedly possessing great yogic powers. He wrote poetic songs about his insights.

The mountains are a joyous place full of flowers.

Monkeys play in the forest trees.

Songbirds sing and insects swarm.

A rainbow shines both day and night.

Summer and winter bring soothing rain.

Spring and autumn bring shifting fog.

Solitary in simple clothes, I am happy here

because I see the Clear Light

and contemplate the emptiness.

I am delighted by appearances

because my body is free from bad actions.

A strong mind wanders contentedly

and is naturally cheerful.

(Milarepa in Freke 1998, 74)

Milarepa’s student Gampopa (1079—1153) had disciples who evolved new lines of their own, but all are quite similar in basic doctrines. Gampopa synthesized Mahamudra, Naropa’s six yogas, and the stages of the path from the Kadampa order. Many subsects formed from his disciples and their disciples, resulting in many subtle variations in Kagyu, but all remained based on Mahamudra teaching applied to the practice of the six yogas of Naropa.

The core of Kagyu is Mahamudra Yoga, a meditative discipline that puts into practice Yogacara and Madhyamika philosophies. Since all is Mind and Mind is empty, all possible content is empty of absolute meaning and reality. Many varieties of practice can lead to enlightenment, and so the experience of dreaming, of body warmth, even of death itself are all opportunities to actualize enlightenment as a lived and experienced awareness. This is how tantric yoga can lead to enlightenment here and now, in this body and life. The Kagyu use their carefully trained awareness to transform this body into Buddha. Buddhahood then becomes a means of helping others.

GELUKPA SCHOOL

The Gelukpa tradition, founded by Tsong Kha Pa (1357—1419), is an eclectic school based on the Kadampa tradition of Atisa. All the earlier traditions were integrated together to utilize the best from each. Modern Kagyu doctrine is an important part of the Gelukpa eclecticism, which has included the Mahamudra and the six yogas of Naropa as systems of training, along with the Kalachakra. Gelukpas integrate the use of the intellect along with meditation and philosophy.

Tsong Kha Pa received lay ordination at the age of three and got novice vows at seven! He studied many traditions, including medicine, from more than a hundred teachers all over Tibet and India. Eventually, he taught thousands of pupils. He also wrote widely and collected eighteen volumes of writings on all aspects of Buddhist teaching. His successors headed monasteries that subsequently became teaching institutions, combining scholarship with spiritual training.

The Dalai Lama tradition arose within the Gelukpa sect when the third in the lineage, Sonam Gyatso was given the name by the Mongol Khan (see Chapter 2). Each Dalai Lama is considered an incarnation of the patron saint of Tibetan Buddhism, Avalokitesvara. They are found as a young child, based on signs and intuitions. Over time, the Dalai Lamas became the political head of state as well as religious ruler.

The student goes through fifteen to twenty years of study to achieve three possible levels of accomplishment. Debate on sutra and tantra are part of the curriculum. A graduate has the equivalent of a Ph.D. in Buddhist philosophy and is called a Geshey. The geshey may graduate and continue to study, teach, or retire into meditative seclusion. India’s branch of Tibet’s government in exile has four Gelukpa monasteries and a tantric college to maintain their scholarly, honorable tradition.

Gelukpas believe that everyone is born with a little enlightenment, possessing intuitive wisdom from childhood. From this small beginning people can develop and learn, and become fully enlightened. The First Dalai Lama advised: “Practice without bias toward the objects; Embrace everything and cherish all from the heart.” (Druppa 1993, 158)

Walter Evans-Wentz gazes out from the vista of his Sacred Mountain Cuchama in San Diego County, California. Courtesy of D. G. Wills Books, La Jolla, California.