The Shangpa Kagyu lineage is generally little known. It is often considered to be a secondary line of the Karma Kagyu lineage (the celebrated lineage of Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, and the Karmapas), but in fact these two lineages were born at about the same period in India, around the 10th century. The Karma Kagyu lineage begins with Tilopa and Naropa. The Shangpa Kagyu lineage begins with the latter’s sister, the dakini Niguma, and the dakini Sukhasiddhi. From that time onwards each of the two lineages had its own development, even if they remained close to each other within Tibetan history.

Throughout its history, the Shangpa lineage has never converted itself into an institution or school. It is above all a lineage of practice and has never been concerned with power or wealth. Most of its holders were great yogis living in hermitages all of whom had attained great spiritual enlightenment.
It had very few monasteries, was without hierarchy, and remained a “secret” lineage transmitted from master to disciple. In each generation, several branches appeared; some of them passed away, others endured. Moreover, it was often held by masters of other lineages and schools.

In the 19th century, when it was almost extinguished, the great masters Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo gathered together the transmissions of the different branches and gave renewed energy to the lineage.

In the 20th century, one of its principal holders, Vajradhara Kalu Rinpoche – considered to be an emanation of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye – permitted it to leave Tibet and spread widely throughout the world. In the nineteen seventies and eighties Kalu Rinpoche founded numerous Dharma teaching centres throughout the world and several retreat centres dedicated to Shangpa teachings. He entrusted their spiritual guidance to certain of his oldest disciples, of whom the principal was Bokar Rinpoche who passed away in 2004 and who was the head of the Mirik monastery, in West Bengal.

After Kalu Rinpoche passed away in 1989, his tulku (emanation), Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche – who came out of retreat in September 2008 – became the holder of the seat of the lineage (the monastery of Sonada in northern India). The other current holders of the Shangpa lineage are the lamas who have been entrusted by Vajradhara Kalu Rinpoche.

Even today, the lineage remains relatively unknown. Its teachings and practices are almost exclusively transmitted within the Shangpa three-year retreat centres. Nevertheless it remains very much alive and has not deteriorated.

The 8 lineages of practice

The Shangpa Kagyu lineage is one of the Tibetan tradition’s eight practicing lineages. The four great schools are generally well known: Nyingma, Gelug, Sakya and Kagyu. The nature of the eight practicing lineages is generally less well known. The latter are lineages of transmission of particular bodies of teachings and practices, transmitted from master to disciple since their origin. Historically, some of these lineages converted themselves into institutions and gave birth to the four great schools. Others, such as the Shangpa lineage, remained more diffuse but are nevertheless still completely alive today.

These eight lineages are : Nyingma, Kadampa (that became the geluk school), Lamdre (that became the Sakya school), Marpa Kagyu, Shangpa Kagyu, Chö (Padampa Sangye and Machik Lapdrön), Jordruk (Jonangpa Kalachakra), Dorje Sum (the Great Orgyenpa Rinchenpal)

The rimay movement

In the 19th century an extraordinary movement of spiritual renewal developed in Tibet: the rimay movement. The rimay movement was not a new school or a new lineage. Rimay is a Tibetan term meaning “without bias”, “non sectarian”. The Rimay outlook developed a vision of unity in diversity of the different schools and lineages: profound identity of the spiritual experience, within the diversity of expression and means leading to it, this diversity being considered a richness.

Among the principal architects of this renaissance were the Omniscient Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (dates [1820-1892]), the tertön Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa (dates [1829-1870]) and Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye (1813-1899), that the Tibetologist E. Gene Smith very appropriately called the “Tibetan Leonardo da Vinci”. These three masters’ activities were immense. Beyond any sectarianism, with complete devotion towards all of the Buddha’s teachings, they undertook the task of collecting all of the lineages’ teachings and transmissions, of putting those of them that had never been written down into writing and of transmitting them, in order to continue to maintain their living existence, this at a time when some of these lineages were about to disappear. Jamgön Kongtrul had the responsibility of compiling this immense wealth of knowledge into the five great anthologies known as the Five Great Treasuries. It can be stated, without any doubt, that not only Tibetan Buddhism, but Buddhism in general would not be what it is today without this masterpiece.

History

During the 10th and 11th centuries, at the peak of Buddhism in India, shortly before the muslim invasions and the hindu domination almost wiped it off, many great accomplished masters (the mahasiddhas) appeared such as Luipa, Tilopa, Naropa, Maitripa, Saraha. Among them, two extraordinary women got perfectly enlightened : Niguma and Sukkhasiddhi. It is even said that they received the teachings directly from the Buddha Vajradhra, the primordial buddha, the essence of all buddhas.

Contemporary of Marpa the translator, Khyungpo Naljor was probably born in 984 in Nyemo Ramang, West-Central Tibet. At his birth, the adept Amogha flew down from the sky to offer wondrous prophecies about the new born. Khyungpo Naljor took seven trips to India and Nepal in search of the authentic dharma; he studied and practiced under such adepts as Maitripa, Dorjedenpa, and Rahula. On his return to Tibet, he established a monastery at Shang-Shung in Central Tibet. This was his main seat, and he became known as the « Lama of Shang », which is how the lineage got its name Shangpa. Although he was reputed to have founded hundreds of monasteries and had thousands of students, he passed the teachings of Niguma to only one of his students, Mochok Rinchen Tsondru (Mochokpa). The Shangpa lineage is often referred to as the "secret lineage" because Niguma instructed Khyungpo Naljor to transmit the teachings to only one student for the first seven generations (beginning with the Buddha Vajradhara and Niguma).From Mochokpa, the lineage was passed to Kyergang Chokyi Senge (Kyergangpa), Nyentön Rigung Chökyi Sherab (Rigongpa), and Sangye Tönpa.

These first seven masters are known as the Seven Great Jewels of the Shangpa tradition. Sangye Tönpa was the first teacher who gave these instructions to more than one of his disciples, and from this point on, several different lines of transmission developed. The intention for keeping the lineage secret in this fashion was to protect it from becoming an established monastic tradition. As one of the more esoteric traditions, it was meant to be practiced rather than codified.

Among the holders of the lineage, we find very famous masters such as Thang tong Gyalpo, Kunga Drölchok, Jetsün Taranatha who had a great influence in Tibet history and who are known to have met directly with the dakini Niguma.

Although the Shangpa teachings were highly regarded and were assimilated by many schools, the tradition itself has never developed as an institution, owning big monasteries and using the system of "tulku". However, its teachings were still practiced and transmitted in small retreat centers all over the Himalayas. In the 19th century Jamgön Kongtrul gathered together the surviving transmissions and ensured their continued survival by including them in his Treasury of Sacred Instructions (dam ngak mdzöd).

The lineage transmission has also been incorporated into the Sakya school and other Kagyu schools. Tsongkhapa, who founded the Gelug school, was also versed in the doctrine of the Shangpa Kagyu.

In the 19th century, when it was almost extinguished, the great masters Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo gathered together the transmissions of the different branches and gave renewed energy to the lineage.

In the 20th century, one of its principal holders, Vajradhara Kalu Rinpoche – considered to be an emanation of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye – permitted it to leave Tibet and spread widely throughout the world. In the nineteen seventies and eighties Kalu Rinpoche founded numerous Dharma teaching centres throughout the world and several retreat centres dedicated to Shangpa teachings. He entrusted their spiritual guidance to certain of his oldest disciples, of whom the principal was Bokar Rinpoche who passed away in 2004 and who was the head of the Mirik monastery, in West Bengal.

After Kalu Rinpoche passed away in 1989, his tulku, Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche – who came out of retreat in September 2008 – became the holder of the seat of the lineage (the monastery of Sonada in Northern India). The other current holders of the Shangpa lineage are the lamas to whom Vajradhara Kalu Rinpoche entrusted this responsibility.

Unique qualities of the Shangpa lineage.

Apart from its never having been converted into an institution during its history and its having been held my masters from different lineages, the Shangpa lineage is also unique in that it originates with two extraordinarily enlightened women: Niguma and Sukhasiddhi. The accomplished scholar Khyungpo Naljor was also extraordinary, although much less famous than his contemporaries Naropa, Marpa and Milarepa. Khyungpo Naljor was considered by Jamgön Kongtrul to be one of the greatest yogis ever to have existed in Tibet. He wrote of him in the Impartial History of the Sources of the Teachings (the ris med chos ‘byung):

“His accomplishments are unequalled, except by the Indian masters Luhipa, Krishnacharya and Ghantapa. In Tibet, it appears that among the twenty-five disciples [of Guru Rinpoche] during the first wave [of dissemination of the Dharma] and among the masters of the second wave, nobody appeared who could rival his erudition, his spiritual realisation, his miraculous powers and his spiritual activity.”

The Shangpa lineage is considered exceptional for the profoundness of its teachings and for the spiritual attainment of its masters.
Jetsun Taranatha wrote in the 17th century:
“Although the Shangpa lineage has been disseminated within countless other lineages, thanks to the adamantine seal constituted by the word of the dakinis, there has never been any divergence between the words and their meaning. Unblemished by any impurity originating in the ordinary production of concepts, the Shangpa lineage is found at the summit of all of the lineages of practice.”

In the Encyclopaedia of Knowledge (shes bya kun khyab mdzod) Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye wrote:
“This lineage of instruction is endowed with three unique qualities which make it superior to any other:
 the holders of the lineage have always been exceptional persons. The succession of the masters of the lineage only includes bodhisattvas living their final life (before perfect Buddhaness). This lineage has never been interrupted by the presence of ordinary beings.
 the meditation instructions are themselves extraordinary. Their meaning is not deceptive and the words are free from all impurity. The vajra words of the verses sealed by the dakinis have never been changed by compositions or embellishments coming from the imagination of ordinary persons.
 its spiritual influence is particularly exceptional. Still today, in an era of degeneration, this influence is such that the fruit of accomplishment ripens in diligent individuals who (practice it) and keep their samayas.”

Because it thus retained a relatively intimate, if not “secret” status, the Shangpa lineage has been able to preserve, up until the present, all of its purity, power and spiritual influence.