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Karma Kagyu () is the largest transmission lineage within the Kagyu school, which in turn is one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu is the Karmapa.
The Karma Kagyu are sometimes called the Black Hat in reference to the Black Crown worn by the Karmapa.
Origins
The Karma Kagyu was founded by the first Karmapa, Je Dusum Khyenpa. It is headed by the Gyalwa Karmapa, a reincarnate lama. Followers believe that the Karmapa's appearance was predicted by the Buddha in the Samadhiraja Sutra (lit: Discourse on the King of Meditative Concentration).
Teachings
The central teaching of the Karma Kagyu is the doctrine of Mahamudra also known as the "Great Seal". This doctrine focuses on four principal stages of meditative practice (the Four Yogas of Mahamudra), namely:
- The development of single-pointedness of mind,
- The transcendence of all conceptual elaboration,
- The cultivation of the perspective that all phenomena are of a "single taste",
- The fruition of the path, which is beyond any contrived acts of meditation.
Lamas
Among the notable lamas of the Karma Kagyu are the Karmapa, the Shamarpa, the Tai Situpa, Jamgön Kongtrül, Nenang Pawo Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche.
See also
"Karma Kagyu"