Six Dharmas of Naropa
Six Dharmas of Naropa
Main page
2046547

Six Dharmas of Naropa

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Six Dharmas of Naropa

The Six Dharmas of Nāropa (Wylie: na ro'i chos drug, Skt. ṣaḍdharma, "Naro's six doctrines" or "six teachings") are a set of advanced Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices compiled by the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa (1016–1100 CE) and passed on to the Tibetan translator-yogi Marpa Lotsawa (c. 1012).

Another name for the six Dharmas is "the oral instruction transmission for achieving liberation in the bardo," or "the Bardo Trang-dol system". Bardo here, refers to the three bardos of waking, sleep and dying. They are also referred to as "the path of means" (thabs lam) in Kagyu literature. They are also sometimes called the Six Yogas of Nāropa (though not in the traditional literature which never uses the term ṣaḍaṅga-yoga or sbyor-drug).

The six dharmas are a collection of tantric Buddhist completion stage practices drawn from the Buddhist tantras. They are intended to lead to Buddhahood in an accelerated manner. They traditionally require tantric initiation and personal instruction through working with a tantric guru as well as various preliminary practices. The six dharmas work with the subtle body, particularly through the generation of inner heat (tummo) energy.

The six dharmas are a main practice of the Kagyu school (and was originally unique to that school) and key Kagyu figures such as Milarepa, Gampopa, Phagmo Drugpa and Jigten Sumgon taught and practiced these dharmas. They are also taught in Gelug, where they were introduced by Je Tsongkhapa, who received the lineage through his Kagyu teachers.

The teachings of Tilopa (988–1069 CE) are the earliest known work on the six dharmas. He received these from various teachers. According to Glenn Mullin, Tilopa's lineage teachers were the mahasiddhas Nagarjuna (not to be confused with the Madhyamaka philosopher), Lawapa, Luipada, Shavari, and Krishnacharya. Furthermore, the sources for this compilation of tantric practices were said to be the Guhyasamaja Tantra, the Hevajra Tantra and the Chaturpitha Tantra.

Nāropa learned the six dharmas from Tilopa. Nāropa's student Marpa taught the Tibetan Milarepa, renowned for his yogic skills. Milarepa in turn taught Gampopa, who wrote various meditation manuals (khrid chos or khrid yig) on the six dharmas, which are collected in the Dakpö Kambum (The Manifold Sayings of Dakpo) in a section titled "Meditation manuals on the six dharmas of Naropa" (na ro 'i chos drug gi khrid yig). From Gampopa these teachings were passed on to the various Kagyu sub-schools and lineages where they remain a central practice.

Numerous commentaries have been composed on these practices, including Shamar Chokyi Wangchuk's, the Quintessence of Nectar. They are also described in Dakpo Tashi Namgyal's Light Rays from the Jewel of the Excellent Teaching and in Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, (book eight, part three). Today, the six dharmas are one of the main tantric practices of the Kagyu school, and are practiced in three-year retreats by monastic and non-monastic yogis.

Through the efforts of Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), Naropa's Six Dharmas also became important in the Gelug tradition. Tsongkhapa wrote a commentary on them called A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro's Six Dharmas. This commentary became the standard reference work on these practices in the Gelug tradition. Other figures who wrote on the six dharmas include Gyalwa Wensapa, the First Panchen Lama and Lama Jey Sherab Gyatso.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.