Kagyu Sect – Shangpa Kagyu

Kagyu Sect founded in the 11 century by Marpa and Milarepa who always wearing white robes, and that's why we called Kagyu Sect White Sect. It is the third largest school of Tibetan Buddhism, which stresses the study of Tantra that needs to be imparted by oral teaching.

There are many branches of Kagyu Sect which respectively are Shangpa Kagyu, Dagpo Kagyu, Phagdru Kagyu, Karma Kagyu, Drigung Kargyu and Karma Kagyu and so on.

Shangpa Kagyu - Origin

Shangpa Kagyu was founded by a wise Buddhist who learned the teaching of Bon and then traveled to Nepal with gold to learn Sanskrit and Tantra, at last to India for further study. After that, he began to come and go between India and Tibet Region.

When he finally back to Tibet, he built one hundred and eight Monasteries in Namling country. It attracted many believers to impart the teachings. Because the name of the place was called Shangdi, the generations began to call the Sect as Shangpa Kagyu.

Shangpa Kagyu - Seven Treasures

There are seven main generations of the Shangpa Kagyu lineage remained by one-to-one transmission, which are called "Seven Treasures" of Shangpa Kagyu.

Shangpa Kargu - Ja School and Sam School

After that, the teachings of Shangpa Kagya have been recorded as a book by disciples dividing into two schools, Ja school and San School. The teachings of San school have been transmitted in Shannan Prefecture, Tsang and Kham region. Tsongkhapa who was the founder of Gelug Sect has learned the teachings of Shangpa Gagyu.

In a word, Shangpa Gagyu was developed in Tsang of Tibet Region with lots of disciples, while it has been eclipsed since the15 century. The teachings of Shangpa Gagyu have been succeeded by other Sects.