The roots of the Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism lie in the Indian Mahāsiddha tradition.
Between the 8th and 13th century this tradition became established in Tibet and thereafter virtually died out in India.
The tibetan schools today primarily originate from five Indian traditions.
- The Nyingma tradition traces it's origin to the Indian Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) who introduced Buddhism to Tibet in the 8th century.
- The Sakya tradition traces it's origin to the Indian Mahāsiddha Virupa.
- The Kadam tradition traces it's origin to the Indian scholar monk Atiśa Dipamkara Śrijñana and his principle student Dromtönpa.
- The Marpa Kagyü tradition traces it's origin to the the tibetan translator Marpa who was a student of the Indian Mahāsiddha Nāropa.
- The Shangpa Kagyü tradition traces it's origin to Kyungpo Naljor whose most important teachers were the Indian yoginis Niguma and Sukhasiddhi who themselves were students of the Mahāsiddhas Nāropa and Virupa respectively.
- The Gelug tradition can be considered to be the sucessor of the Kadam tradition.
It's roots go back to Je Tsongkhapa, who received all of the major Kadam transmissions.
It also maintains, to some extent, the scholarly tradition of the great Indian Universities
- Nālandā, Vikramaśila, Somapuri, and Odantapurī.
The links below show various transmissions of these traditions from India to Tibet. Primarily three types of lineages
are shown in the tables referred to below.
The first type of lineage is generally referered to as "transmission lineage".
This is actually a confirmation of a certain state of awareness in the pupil by the teacher.
Because a teacher can recognize this in more than one pupil
these lines are shown as an often branched, staggered linear array.
Secondly, the "Reincarnation Lineages" are not branched and represent the reincarnation of the "same" buddhist adept over time.
Additionally a few charts indicate different persons who were closely associated with, or are heir to a certain Dharma School or Tradition.
Here the relationship among the persons listed is not always of the same nature, but they do have a significant Dharma connection with members of that school/lineage.
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