Category Biography

A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person’s life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person’s experience of these life events.

Categories included in Biography

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Spreading the sunlight of the teachings of the two knowledges, Lord Chökyi Jungne, I supplicate you.

The lineage & incarnations of Kenting Tai Situpa

Sep

2022

Biography, Rinpoche, Vajrayāna

The lineage of the Kenting Tai situpas can be traced to one of the main disciples of the Goutama Buddha, the Bodhisattva Maitreya. Since that time there have been a successive chain of incarnations, whose achievements are recorded in Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan annals, a direct lineage that continues to the present day. Origin of the Kenting Tai situpa lineage There are twelve incarnations crowned as Kenting Tai Situ till now. Furthermore, according to some historical records and .

Dudul Dorje (1733–1797) was the thirteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.

Karmapa – Tibet’s first consciously incarnating lama

Sep

2022

Biography, Rinpoche, Vajrayāna

The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyu, itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Karmapa was Tibet's first consciously incarnating lama. The historical seat of the Karmapas is Tsurphu Monastery in the Tolung valley of Tibet. The Karmapa's principal seat in exile is the Dharma Chakra Centre at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India. His regional monastic seats are Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in New York and Dhagpo Kagyu .

Nyingma Tree Lineage Thangka with Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal in center

Termas & Tertöns – Padmasambhava & Yeshe Tsogyal’s succession

Sep

2022

Biography, Rinpoche, Vajrayāna

Tertön is a term within Tibetan Buddhism meaning a person who is a discoverer of ancient hidden texts or terma. Origin of the Tertöns Many tertöns are considered to be incarnations of the twenty five main disciples of Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), who foresaw a dark time in Tibet. Padmasambhava and his consort Yeshe Tsogyal hid teachings to be found in the future to benefit beings. According to generally accepted history, the rediscovering of terma began with the first .

Pema Lingpa's Visionary Journey to the Copper-Colored Mountain

The Tulku system & the preservation of Dharma lineages

Aug

2022

Biography, Rinpoche, Vajrayāna

A tulku is a reincarnate custodian of a specific lineage of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism who is given empowerments and trained from a young age by students of his or her predecessor. Historically, the tulku system of preserving Dharma lineages operated in Tibet with the first being the Karmapas. After the first Karmapa died in 1193, a lama had recurrent visions of a particular child as his rebirth. This child (born ca. 1205) was recognized as .

Dalai Lamas – Ecumenical figure of the Geluk tradition

Aug

2022

Biography, Vajrayāna

Dalai Lama is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives as a refugee in India. The Dalai Lama is also considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations .

The sculpture depicts a scene where three soothsayers are interpreting to King Suddhodana the dream of Queen Maya.

The family of Gautama Buddha – Lineage of dreams & legends

Aug

2022

Biography, Dharma

The Buddha was born into a noble family in Lumbini in 563 BCE as per historical events and 624 BCE according to Buddhist tradition. He was called Siddhartha Gautama in his childhood. His father was king Śuddhodana, leader of the Shakya clan in what was the growing state of Kosala, and his mother was queen Maya. According to Buddhist legends, the baby exhibited the marks of a great man. A prophecy indicated that, if the .

Painted by Kalsang Damchoe and The Kalsang Tibetan Traditional Art of Thangka Painting studio.

Tibetan Buddhist nuns – The Buddha’s most resilient disciples

Aug

2022

Biography, Monks, Vajrayāna

Buddhist convents also called Gompas have historically been well established in Tibet, certainly from the twelfth century and with traditions reaching back as far as the eighth century. Traditional education in the nunneries included reading, writing, and lessons in ancient scriptures and prayers taught by the senior nuns or lamas from monasteries. Traditional activities for the nuns included performance of rituals requested by the lay community and crafts such as embroidery and sewing. Administrative .

Thangka depicting the Refuge Tree of the Karma Kagyu Lineage by Sherab Palden Beru, c. 1972

Drikung Kagyu lamas – From the founding of the Monastery to the present day

Aug

2022

Biography, Rinpoche, Vajrayāna

The Drikungpa, or more formally the Drikung Kyabgön, is the head of the Drikung Kagyu, a sub-school of the Kagyu itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Like all other Kagyu lineages, origins of Drikung Kagyu can be traced back to the Great Indian Master Tilopa who passed on his teachings to Mahasiddha Naropa who lived around 10th and 11th century. The founder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage was Jigten Sumgön (1143-1217) .

Ayurvedacharyas – The bridge between physical & mental wellness

Aug

2022

Biography, Healing

Ayurvedacharyas are practitioners of Ayurveda, a system of traditional medicine native to the Indian subcontinent and practiced in other parts of the world as a form of alternative medicine. Ayurvedacharyas regard physical existence, mental existence, and personality as their own unique units, with each element being able to influence the others. This is a holistic approach used during diagnosis and therapy, and is a fundamental aspect of Ayurveda. Another part of Ayurvedic treatment says that there are .

A Thai Dhamma wheel at Wat Phothivihan, Tumpat, Kelantan

Theravada spiritual teachers & Buddhist modernism

Jul

2022

Biography, Theravāda

Theravāda is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Theravāda Buddhists came into direct contact with western ideologies, religions and modern science. The various responses to this encounter have been called "Buddhist modernism". After independence, Myanmar held the Sixth Buddhist council (Vesak 1954 to Vesak 1956) to create a new redaction of the Pāli Canon. The Vipassana movement continued to grow after independence, becoming an international .