Vajrayana · 1016–1100
Naropa
Kagyu · the six yogas · The Six Yogas of Naropa
A brilliant scholar who left his chair for the squalid trials of a living teacher. The source of the tummo practice.
The essence of the teaching: The highest reality and the very nature of mind are mahamudra, beyond concepts and duality: mind is at once empty and luminous.
Transmission
Naropa was the head of a great university, a master of all the texts. But a dakini showed him: he knew the words, not the meaning. He left his fame behind and went to seek the teacher Tilopa, who put him through twelve cruel trials – beating him, humiliating him, driving him to the edge. And so the scholar's pride was broken, until nothing was left but pure recognition. From this transmission the six yogas were born: tummo – the inner fire, the yoga of dreams, the yoga of clear light. Mind, he said, is empty and luminous at once – and this nature is not built by practice; it only unveils itself when the pride of knowledge falls away.
The full transmission — for members of the School. Here is its essence and its taste.
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Vajrayana
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