Karma Lingpa

Karma Lingpa (1326–1386) was the tertön (revealer) of the Bardo Thodol, the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead.[1] Tradition holds that he was a reincarnation of Chokro Lü Gyeltsen,[note 1][2] a disciple of Padmasambhava.

Karma Lingpa
Tibetan: ཀརྨ་གླིང་པ་, Wylie: kar ma gling pa
Personal
Born1326
Died1386
ReligionTibetan Buddhism
ProfessionTertön, revealer of the Bardo Thodol.
OrderNyingma
Senior posting
ReincarnationChokro Lü Gyeltsen
ProfessionTertön, revealer of the Bardo Thodol.
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Tibetan Buddhism

History

Karma Lingpa was born in southeast Tibet as the eldest son of Nyida Sanggyé,[note 2] a great Vajrayana practitioner. At an early age, Karma Lingpa engaged in esoteric practices and achieved many siddhi.

When he was fifteen years old,[3] he discovered several terma texts on top of Mount Gampodar, including a collection of teachings entitled "Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones"[4] (zab-chos zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol, also known as kar-gling zhi-khro[3]), which includes the two texts of bar-do thos-grol, the so-called "Tibetan Book of the Dead".[1]

According to Chogyam Trungpa, Karma Lingpa was a Nyingma teacher, but all of his students belonged to the Kagyu school. His teachings were transmitted in the Surmang monasteries of the Trungpa-lineage, and from there also spread to the Nyingma school.[5]

The bar-do thos-grol was translated into English by Kazi Dawa Samdup (1868-1922), and edited and published by W.Y. Evans-Wenz. This translation became widely known and popular as "the Tibetan Book of the Dead", but contains many mistakes in translation and interpretation.[1][6]

Another text from the "Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation" is "Self-Liberation through seeing with naked awareness" (rigpa ngo-sprod[note 3]), which gives an introduction, or pointing-out instruction (ngo-spro), into rigpa, the state of presence and awareness.[8]

Notes
  1. Wylie: cog ro klu'i rgyal mtshan
  2. Wylie: nyi zla sangs rgyas
  3. Full: rigpa ngo-sprod gcer-mthong rang-grol[7]
gollark: It's managed manually, you have to send them to me and I can add them.
gollark: Oh, Github, not Discord.
gollark: Wait, "followed"?
gollark: It's my visualizer thing, it's pinned in <#471334670483849216>.
gollark: I use Linux on all my stuff. It's very convenient except when it's not.

References
  1. Norbu 1989, p. xii.
  2. "Chokro Lui Gyaltsen". Rangjung Yeshe Wiki - Dharma Dictionary. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  3. Norbu 1989, p. ix.
  4. Fremantle 2001, p. 20.
  5. Chogyam Trungpa (2010), The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume Six: Glimpses of Space; Orderly Chaos; Secret Beyond Thought; The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Commentary; Transcending Madness; Selected Writings, p.269
  6. Reynolds 1989, p. 71-115.
  7. norbu 1989, p. x.
  8. Norbu 1989, p. x.

Sources
  • Fremantle, Francesca (2001), Luminous Emptiness: understanding the Tibetan Book of the dead, Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, ISBN 1-57062-450-X
  • Norbu, Namkhai (1989), "Foreword", in Reynolds, John Myrdin (ed.), Self-liberation through seeing with naked awareness, Station Hill Press, Inc.
  • Reynolds, John Myrdin (1989), "Appendix I: The views on Dzogchen of W.Y. Evans-Wentz and C.G. Jung", in Reynolds, John Myrdin (ed.), Self-liberation through seeing with naked awareness, Station Hill Press, Inc.

Further reading
  • Reynolds, John Myrdin (1989), Self-Liberation through seeing with naked awareness, Station Hill Press, Inc.



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