The Karmapas — Scholastic Buddhism Meets Tibetan Social Institutions

Nalandabodhi Seattle is pleased to offer a new series of four classes on the history of the Karmapas. “Karmapa” means “the one who performs the activity of a Buddha.” Beginning in the year 1110, seventeen persons were born in succession in Tibet, each of whom earned the title “Karmapa.”

During the times of the Sixth Karmapa (1416-53) through Tenth Karmapa (1604-74), the Karma Kagyu (the lineage led by the Karmapas, also called the Karma Kamtsang) flourished in Tibet. Under the guidance of the Karmapas, the Kamtsang developed its own specific teaching systems. Similarly, the other great Tibetan lineages flourished and fashioned their own distinctive approaches to the teachings.

To begin to understand this historical time, this series will look at the Buddhist teachings inherited from India and how the Karmapas fashioned them into the Karma Kagyu’s distinctive system of Buddhist view and meditation. Rather than solely focus on individual Karmapas, we will look at the continuities in the teachings between Karmapas and with the Buddhist traditions of India.

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