Kama

Minling Terchen Gyurme Dorje brought together the Rong and Kham lineages of Kama

The Nyingma Kama (Wyl. rnying ma bka' ma), the Oral Transmission Lineage of the Nyingma, together with the Terma lineage, are the two modes of transmission of the Sutrayana and Vajrayana teachings of the Nyingma School.

Sogyal Rinpoche writes:

"The Kama, or canonical teachings, have been transmitted in an unbroken lineage from the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra down to the present day. Earlier on they were maintained in Tibet by Padmasambhava’s disciples Nyak Jñanakumara and Nupchen Sangyé Yeshé, and later (from the eleventh century onwards) by the masters of the Zur family. There developed two Kama lineages in Tibet, the Rong lineage of Central Tibet and the Kham lineage of Eastern Tibet, which were brought together by Terdak Lingpa (1646–1714) in the late seventeenth century. The Kama teachings collected by Terdak Lingpa and his brother Lochen Dharmashri (1654–1717/8) were later expanded in the monasteries of Dzogchen and Palyul, and finally published in forty volumes by Kyabjé Dudjom Rinpoche."

Further Reading

• Nyoshul Khenpo, A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage (Junction City: Padma Publications, 2005), 'Kama, the Historical Transmissions: The Categories of Mind and Expanse', pages 49-55.
• Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism (Boston: Wisdom, revised edition 2002), 'Part Five: The Distant Lineage of Transmitted Precepts', pages 599-739.
• Tulku Thondup, Hidden Teachings of Tibet (Boston: Wisdom, reprint edition 1997), 'Appendix 4: Categories of Texts in the Collection of Canonical Literature'.

Internal Links

• Three lineages of transmission