Kama

The Nyingma Kama (wyl. rnying ma bka' ma), the Oral Transmission Lineage of the Nyingma, is together with the terma the two modes of transmission of the 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 Nubchen 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."