The Eight Schools of Tibetan Buddhism by Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa
Buddhism flourished in Tibet and many schools for the lineages have developed. It is like a trunk of a tree that has grown into many branches. There are eight major branches in Tibetan Buddhism. Everybody likes to say there are four schools in Tibetan Buddhism—Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelugpa—but that is a very simplistic and lazy description. There are not four but eight schools, eight major lineages: Nyingma, Kadampa, Sakya, Marpa, Shangpa, Zhijed, Jordrug, and Dorje Nyendrub.
Nyingma Lineage
The first one is known as Nyingma. Until Atisha Dipamkara, who was from Bangladesh, until he came, all of Tibetan Buddhism is Nyingma, Nyingma means ‘old’. For example, an old bag can be called nyingpa, So Nyingma is the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism, starting from Guru Rinpoche. Before Guru Rinpoche there were many generations, there was dharma, but from when Guru Rinpoche came to Tibet until Atisha Dipamkara came to Tibet, it is known as Nyingma.
During the time of Guru Rinpoche it was known as Nyingma Kama, Kama means command, so Guru Rinpoche’s teaching is known as Nyingma Kama. But after Guru Rinpoche left Tibet, all the teachings that derived after that are known as Nyingma Terma, so Kama and Terma.
Guru Rinpoche and his disciples put certain texts into hiding for later rediscovery, and they prophesized who was going to find what and when. According to those prophecies the texts were found and the lineage of transmission was received from Guru Rinpoche by those people. Guru Rinpoche is immortal, so you can receive transmission from him today, if you are prophesized and an enlightened person. So these people received direct transmissions from Guru Rinpoche and discovered hidden treasures, Termas. So Nyingma Terma means this, it means treasure.
Then the dharma is: dharmakaya is Kuntu Zangpoe and sambhogakaya is Vajrasattva. From these two Guru Rinpoche received transmissions. From Guru Rinpoche to all his disciples, such as Garab Dorje and others (there are twenty-five enlightened masters), all these are the Nyingma lineage. There are many things, but if you really look into it, it is summarised into two things. First is Dzogchen, which is the final and most profound teaching of Nyingma. It is about the nature of mind and the methods to realize the nature of mind. Dzogchen has many levels of practice. The second thing is, there are eight aspects of deity practice: body, speech, mind, knowledge, activity, wrathful, offering, and peaceful. The body is Manjushri-oriented, speech is lotus-oriented, mind is Yandak-oriented, knowledge is amrita-oriented, and activity is Vajrakilaya-oriented etc. These are eight aspects of the deity of the Nyingma lineage. Dzogchen and that somehow cover most of the Nyingma practice. But of course each of them have so many elaborated sub-practices.
Then there are six main seats for the Nyingmapas. In upper Tibet there are the two monasteries of Dorje Drak and Mindroling. In middle Tibet there are the two main monasteries of Shechen and Dzogchen. Then in lower Tibet the two main monasteries are Katok and Palyul. The head of Dorje Drak is Dor Drak Rinchen Chenpo, the head of Mindroling is Mindroling Trichen Rinpoche, the head of Shechen is Shechen Rabjam, the head of Dzogchen is Dzogchen Pema Rinchen, the head of Katok is Katok Shejong, and the head of Palyul is Palyul Urgyen. So these are the six main masters of the Nyingma lineage. But out of all of them, the supreme head of all of the Nyingma is His Holiness Minling Trichen Rinpoche (1931-2008), the hereditary successor of Minling Terchen, and head of Mindroling monastery. This post as hereditary is from father to son, he must marry and he must have a son and that son becomes the head of the Nyingma lineage. So, that is the Nyingmapa, one of the oldest lineages.
Kadampa Lineage
The second of the eight lineages is the Kadampa. Ka is command, dam means instruction. All the commands of the Buddha are instructions for the liberation of sentient beings. That is what Kadam means.
During the time of Muné Tsenpo, a son of Trisong Detsen, the Tibetan king who invited Guru Rinpoche to Tibet, he made a very special policy for Tibet; that there were to be no rich and no poor people, everybody was equal. That was his mission; he did not want any rich or poor people, everybody was to be equal. After Muné Tsenpo the throne was later passed to his brother Sadnaleg. He had a problem with his neck so he had a nick name, Jingön, ‘crooked neck’. His other name was Tsite Chenpo. When he became king, during his time, he built a very important temple called Kajung Gyalte. His son was Je Ralpacan (806- 841 A.D), who was a very devout king. When he invited monks to his palace he used to undo his hair and put it on the ground and make all the monks walk on his hair; he respected ordained sangha that much. He was also supposed to be an emanation of Vajrapani and prophesized in the White Lotus Sutra.
During that time five Indian abbots, Acharya Jinamitra, Surandrabodhi, Shri Dalandhabodhi, Danashila and Bodhimitra, and the Tibetan abbots Rinchen Sungwa and Chösum Tsultrim (Skt. Dharmashila), along with four Tibetan translators, Janasingha, Jnanarangshita, Manjushriwarma and Ratnashila, these main people under the patronage of king Ralpacan, who made his hair as a doormat for sangha to walk on, they translated most of the texts from Sanskrit into Tibetan. The old translations, which were not very clear, they retranslated and made them clearer. And the translations which were word for word translations and not clear, they made meaning translations of them. For example, in English when you say “how are you,” that doesn’t make any sense in Tibetan. It has to be translated into the Tibetan equivalent of ‘how are you’ rather than translating it exactly as ‘how - are - you’. In previous translations many texts were left as word for word translations. So when they were changed into meaning translations, what it meant in Sanskrit, the same meaning, was conveyed into the Tibetan language. Also at that time many of the texts that were very difficult to understand were made understandable.
At this time there were many problems between the neighbouring countries, there were fights and disputes, but they were settled and many treaties were written. Many of the treaties were written on stone pillars. The original greater Tibetan border is actually carved everywhere on stone. Orders were carved on stone, but I’m sure if the modern governments find them they will remove them, it’s very easy! From north to south all the Tibetan borders were marked with stone carvings, stone pillars and disputes were settled. Also many religious places were established. Unfortunately one of the ministers killed king Ralpacan, then his son, the crown prince, was expelled to the Tsang area. From the main capital to Tsang it is not very far, but they expelled him to there.
At that time there was a very important minister called Palgyi Yönten. He slandered about the queen and lamas being involved, so the lamas were killed and the queen killed herself. These things happened when king Ralpacan was very young, actually when his minister killed him he was only thrity-five years old. Actually they held him and twisted his head, it is said that his face was twisted backwards, they killed him that way.
Because the crown prince was expelled then the king’s older brother, known as Lang Darma (who was supposed to have had a horn growing on his head), became the king. Lang Darma was very bad and a total non-believer, he destroyed most of the monasteries and made monks and nuns disrobe. Quite a few very important masters escaped to Eastern Tibet, to Kham, and the king lost that part of Tibet. They resisted against him, they did not want to destroy the temples and go against the dharma. In central Tibet, Lang Darma, as the king, wanted to destroy everything. East Tibet was fighting with Central Tibet and these masters escaped to East Tibet with lots of dharma texts.
King Lang Darma threw the Buddha statue into a cellar and also dumped many of the Buddhist texts there. Nobody was allowed to read the texts and he also burned many of them. At that time there was a great master who was born in Lhalung, his name was Lhalung Palgyi Dorje. The king was reading stone carvings on a pillar in Lhasa; he had made some alteration and was reading it. Lhalung Palgyi Dorje wanted to kill him, because otherwise he would go on destroying everything. So Lhalung Palgyi Dorje—as he was prophesized and told from higher sources—created a big hat, which is called a black hat nowadays in lama-dances. Also he made a garment with very long sleeves, because one sleeve was to hide an arrow and the other sleeve to hide a bow. So a bow and arrow were hidden in the sleeves and he painted his horse totally black, and then he was dancing. The king was enjoying his dance while he was reading the stone carving in the pillar and then, in the middle of all of that, he shot the king in the head and killed him. Lhalung Palgyi Dorje then jumped on his horse and rode through the river Tsangpo, which washed all the black colour from his horse, so his horse became white. So he managed to escape on a white horse because everyone was looking for a guy on a black horse. Lhalung Palgyi Dorje was a great hero, even though he had to kill a person.
Lang Darma had a son called Ösung, ‘Protected by Light’. Because his father was so paranoid he wanted to protect his son twenty-four hours a day. So the whole night he wanted light to be in the room of his son with armed guards to protect him in the light.
Buddhism was revived again in the 10th century under king Khorre of Ngari. He developed an interest to re-establish the dharma in Tibet. He sent quite a few people to India to invite enlightened masters, but they didn’t really manage to find any. Many of the people he sent died, and those that came back came back empty handed. Finally one person, Döndrup Senge, met with Atisha Dipamkara.
After so many problems trying to find the right guru, finally one of the people he sent managed to find Atisha Dipamkara. But Atisha Dipamkara did not accept the invitation to come to Tibet. Then Lama Yeshe Ö, who had given the throne to his younger brother and became a monk, went to different parts of Tibet to find gold and take this gold to India to invite great masters, such as Atisha Dipamkara. He went to the Tibetan borders and on one of the borders, which was known as Kharlok, somewhere on the south-western side of Tibet, one of the tribes there captured him. They found out he was a Tibetan prince who had come to collect gold in order to go to India to invite great masters. When they found that out, they did not kill him but wrapped him in cloth and kept him like money. Then his brother’s son, Jangchub Ö, found out about this and returned with one hundred horsemen to save him. The Kharloks’ king told them to give the weight of the person in gold in exchange. They gave all the gold they had, but the weight of the head was lacking. Therefore they did not let him go and killed him. So Lama Yeshe Ö died searching for the dharma. But before that he told his cousin, who was sent for him, “Don’t do anything for me, there is nothing to do for me, take all this gold and invite Atisha Dipamkara to Tibet. You don’t have to save me. Take this gold and invite Atisha Dipamkara and let them kill me, it’s okay.” Then the Kharloks killed him. He died by being thrown into a pit filled with insects. The Kharloks threw him there and the insects ate him alive, which was their way of killing people. Before this happened he sent a message to Atisha Dipamkara, he said, “In my future life may I become your disciple. I died for it.”
When the Tibetans went to see Atisha Dipamkara with the gold, they told him the whole story. “For inviting you our prince went to search for gold and then these things happened and he died for it. Now please come to Tibet.” Then Atisha Dipamkara accepted and came to Tibet. He taught the view according to Madhyamaka, the action according to Vinaya, and the instructions according to the Bodhisattvas’ way. These teachings are known as Kadampa. Atisha had three main disciples: Khu, Ngog, and Drom. Khu was the incarnation of Manjushri, Ngog the incarnation of Vajrapani, and Drom the incarnation of Avalokiteshvara. Drom had three main disciples: Putowa Rinchen Sal, Chengawa Tsultrim Bar and Phuchungwa Shyönnu Gyaltsen. These six great masters were responsible for continuing the Kadam lineage, which was transmitted to Tibet by Atisha Dipamkara as the result of all this: the prince who gave up his life, the one who went to save him but did not manage to come back, and the king who then sent other messengers to bring Atisha to Tibet.
After these great masters, then Tsongkhapa, an incarnation of Manjushri, was born. When he was fifty-three years old he built Geden (Ganden) monastery, the main seat of the Gelugpa. Gelugpa by definition is the tradition of Geden. Ge means Geden monastery, luk means tradition, lineage. So the lineage of Geden monastery built by Tsongkhapa: Tsongkhapa, Dharma Rinchen, and Geleg Pelsang. In Gelugpa monasteries three masters sit there: the middle one is Tsongkhapa, the right one is Dharma Rinchen and the left one is Geleg Pelsang.
There is also Manjushri Zangpa Seven Lineage: Gyaltsab Je, Khedrub Je, Shalu Khepa Gyaltsen, Lodro Gyaltsen, Shogyi Gyaltsen, Shanpa Loden, Nyendrub Manang Pal. These are known as great lineage holders of the Gelugpa lineage, known as Manjushri Zangpa seven masters.
One of the direct disciples of Tsongkhapa, Jamyang Tashi Pelden, built Drepung monastery eight years after the construction of Ganden monastery. Then another disciple and great master, Jamchen Chöje Shakya Yeshe, built Sera monastery eleven years after the building of the previous monastery. Then the incarnation of Dromtönpa Gyalwe Jungne, one of the six mentioned earlier and born before Tsongkhapa, so Gendun Trup, built Tashi Lhunpo twenty-nine years after the construction of Ganden monastery. All the Dalai Lamas are incarnations of Gendun Trup.
Gendun Geleg Pelsang’s incarnation Sönam Tobje Langpo, his incarnations are known as the Panchen Lamas. They head the Tashi Lhunpo monastery. Then there are three other very great masters known as three incarnate masters of the Gelug lineage. So from there up until now it continued and spread to many places.
The original birthplace of Tsongkhapa was in Amdo. There they built Phumpo monastery, a very special monastery. When a baby is born, there is the placenta, which attaches the baby to the mother. When Tsongkhapa was born and this was cut and thrown away, where it was thrown a tree grew. This tree is there in Amdo, Phumpo monastery, and each one of the leaves of that tree has a Sanskrit or Tibetan character: OM, AH, HUNG etc. The tree is still there and the characters are naturally visible to anyone.
That is roughly about the Gelugpa lineage. Up until Tsongkhapa we call it Kadampa and after Tsongkhapa built Ganden monastery at the age of fifty-three then the Gelugpa started. But before that it was Kadampa and until that Tsongkhapa was a follower of Kadampa.
