The Great Kagyu Masters

This text was compiled by Dorje Dze Öd, who was a follower of Kyobpa Jigten Sumgön, the founder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. It retells the lives of the great people who make up the Kagyu lineage, also known as the 'lineage of oral transmission'. The great masters of the Kagyu lineage such as Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Atisha, Gampopa and others lived in India and Tibet about a thousand years ago. The text consists of descriptions of their lives as well as their teachings of the enlightened view. It is therefore also of great benefit to modern practitioners of Buddhism. "The noble lineage has been compared to a golden mala, as each individual in the lineage is as precious and perfected as the finest gold. Each was a source of extraordinary insight, scholarship and realization, and each left us further profound teachings concerning the direct perception of the nature of mind (Mahamudra). Meeting these spiritual masters, even if only through the written word, is an event of such power that each person who makes this encounter will not be reborn in the lower realms of existence for many lifetimes. These life stories are therefore more than just history. They are an example that inspires to follow this path." Khenchen Könchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche