I mentioned in my last blog that I had added another biography to the curriculum at the Learning from Buddha College and Seminary. It is on Lady Niguma (10th to 11th centuries), a Tibetan Matriarch of the Shangpa Kagyu Sect and a mysterious eleventh-century Kashmiri woman. She became the source of a major Tibetan Buddhist practice lineage. There are thirteen works that have been attributed to Niguma in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. These collected works form the basis of an ancient Shangpa lineage held by the great mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo, H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, and others. CLICK for a very brief video of the current Kalu Rinpoche performing Niguma’s yoga practice.
Niguma, Lady of Illusion by Saha Harding will be the text for this course (B24). The text includes several short biographies of Niguma by the founder of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition Khyungpo Naljor, the great adept Thangtong Gyalpo (1361?-1485), and Mokchokpa Rinchen Tsondru (1110-1170). Since so little is known about this famous matriarch, she is introduced through her teachings. This text includes her Stages in the Path of Illusion including her commentary on that text; The Six Dharmas of Niguma; Mahamudra; The Three Integrations; Immortal and Infallible, and her personal instructions on the practice of two tantras (Chakrasamvara and Hevajra) and various yogic techniques. It also includes Niguma’s “Aspirational Prayer” a very brief discourse by Khyabje Kalu Rinpoche and the Tibetan text of her Stages in the Path of Illusion and the Commentary.
This interactive course is not available for those enrolled in the free membership program for auditing students. It is only part of the paid membership program. Click on the “Curriculum” tab to review this course.
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