Mar pa chos kyi blo gros

From Buddha-Nature


མར་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་
Marpa Chökyi Lodrö(1012 - 1097) 
The Treasury of LivesRinchen Terdzö ChenmoDamngak Rinpoché DzöBuddhist Digital Resource Center

A renowned Tibetan translator and lay Buddhist master who played an important role in the later transmission (phyi dar) of Buddhism from India to Tibet. He is regarded as the Tibetan founder of the Bka’ brgyud sect of Tibetan Buddhism, which traces its lineage to India and the mahāsiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa. In his traditional biographies, Mar pa is generally regarded as a reincarnation of the Indian mahāsiddha Dombī Heruka. Mar pa was born to wealthy landowners in the southern Tibetan region of Lho brag and quickly proved to be a gifted child. As an adult, Mar pa was characterized as having a volatile temper, although ultimately compassionate. His parents sent their son to study Sanskrit and Indian vernacular languages with the translator ’Brog mi Shākya ye shes in western Tibet. Because resources for studying Buddhism in Tibet were limited as the so-called dark period between the earlier dissemination (snga dar) and later dissemination (phyi dar) came to an end, Mar pa decided to make the harrowing journey to India to seek instruction from Buddhist masters. He would make three journeys there over the course of his life. He first spent three years in Nepal, acclimating to the new environment and continuing his study of local languages. There he met two Nepalese teachers, Chitherpa and Paiṇḍapa, who offered many religious instructions but also encouraged Mar pa to seek out the master who would become his chief guru, the great siddha Nāropa. (Source: "Mar pa Chos kyi blo gros." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 533. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Library Items

Text
Tilopa: Ājñāsaṃyakpramāṇanāmaḍākinyupadeśa
The text, Instructions of Ḍākiṇīs entitled Validity of the True Word (བཀའ་ཡང་དག་པའི་ཚད་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་མན་ངག) is one of the primary sources for Mahāmudrā meditation and six yogas of Naropas passed down through the Kagyu tradition. In this text, one finds the six dharmas of Tilopa (ཏི་ལི་ཆོས་དྲུག་) which are fundamental techniques for meditation to cultivate single-pointed concentration and non-conceptuality, and account of the six yogas of Naropa in some detail. The text is said to be teachings received by Tilopa from Vajradhara and then passed down through Naropa and Marpa who translated it into Tibetan.
Text
Nāropa: Dṛṣṭisaṃkṣipta
A brief song on the view of Mahāmudrā attributed to the famed Indian master Nāropa.

On the topic of this person

Video
Casey Kemp at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Casey Kemp presents an overview and analysis of Jigten Gonpo’s explanation of luminosity as outlined in his text 'Od gsal rnam lnga gcig tu bsre ba'i man ngag, a pith instruction on merging (bsre ba).
Kemp, Casey. "The Luminous Basis for Buddhahood: ’Jig rten mgon po’s Pith Instructions for Merging the Nature of Mind with the Dharmakāya." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 41:36. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7VQkhK1CE0.
Video
Casey Kemp: Buddha-Nature as a Path of Means: The Influence of Buddha-Nature Theory on Eleventh-Century Tibetan Tantric Instructions
Kemp, Casey. "Buddha-Nature as a Path of Means: The Influence of Buddha-Nature Theory on Eleventh-Century Tibetan Tantric Instructions." Old Topic, New Insights: Buddha-Nature at the Crossroads between Doctrine and Practice. The 16th IATS Conference, Prague, July 3–9, 2022. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department. Video, 18:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr8U2HiLpEE.
Kemp, Casey. "Buddha-Nature as a Path of Means: The Influence of Buddha-Nature Theory on Eleventh-Century Tibetan Tantric Instructions." Old Topic, New Insights: Buddha-Nature at the Crossroads between Doctrine and Practice. The 16th IATS Conference, Prague, July 3–9, 2022. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department. Video, 18:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr8U2HiLpEE.
Video
Karl Brunnhölzl: On the Supposed Commentary on the Uttaratantra by Marpa Chökyi Lodrö
Brunnhölzl, Karl. "On the Supposed Commentary on the Uttaratantra by Marpa Chökyi Lodrö. Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, February 26, 2022. Video, 4:39. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLNp5ErprLc.
Brunnhölzl, Karl. "On the Supposed Commentary on the Uttaratantra by Marpa Chökyi Lodrö. Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, February 26, 2022. Video, 4:39. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLNp5ErprLc.
Book
Mind Seeing Mind
Roger Jackson's Mind Seeing Mind is the first attempt to provide both a scholarly study of the history, texts, and doctrines of Geluk mahāmudrā and translations of some of its seminal texts. It begins with a survey of the Indian sources of the teaching and goes on the discuss the place of mahāmudrā in non-Geluk Tibetan Buddhist schools, especially the Kagyü. The book then turns to a detailed survey of the history and major textual sources of Geluk mahāmudrā, from Tsongkhapa, through the First Panchen, down to the present. The final section of the study addresses critical questions, including the relation between Geluk and Kagyü mahāmudrā, the ways Gelukpa authors have interpreted the mahāsiddha Saraha, and the broader religious-studies implications raised by Tibetan debates about mahāmudrā. The translation portion of Mind Seeing Mind includes eleven texts on mahāmudrā history, ritual, and practice. Foremost among these is the First Panchen Lama's autocommentary on his root verses of Geluk Mahāmudrā, the foundation of the tradition. Also included is his ritual masterpiece Offering to the Guru, which is a staple of Geluk practice, and a selection of his songs of spiritual experience. Mind Seeing Mind adds considerably to our understanding of Geluk spirituality and shows how mahāmudrā came to be woven throughout the fabric of the tradition. (Source: Wisdom Publications)
Jackson, Roger R. Mind Seeing Mind: Mahāmudrā and the Geluk Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2019.
Interview
What Is My Mind without Me? Buddha-Nature in the Karma Kagyu School by Karl Brunnhölzl
Brunnhölzl, Karl. "What Is My Mind without Me? Buddha-Nature in the Karma Kagyu School." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, February 26, 2022. Video, 1:16:52. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh--a5jxNq4.
Brunnhölzl, Karl. "What Is My Mind without Me? Buddha-Nature in the Karma Kagyu School." Conversations on Buddha-Nature with Lopen Dr. Karma Phuntsho. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department, February 26, 2022. Video, 1:16:52. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh--a5jxNq4.

Other names

  • མར་པ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • mar pa lo tsA ba · other names (Wylie)

Affiliations & relations

  • Kagyu · religious affiliation
  • Nāropa · teacher
  • Maitrīpa · teacher
  • mi la ras pa · student
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