Sat, 02 Oct 2010
Kagyu Mongrels
I don't have much to say about the banning of Bardor Tulku, because it isn't my fight. But I want to talk about one of the arguments used to support the ban, that Bardor Tulku is teaching Barom Kagyu and thus should not teach at Kamtsang (Karma) Kagyu centers. A little history. The first Bardor Tulku was a devoted student of Chogyur Lingpa, the great treasure revealer of the 19th century and a treasure revealer in his own right. Both were members of the Barom Kagyu, a sub-school of the Kagyu. But Chogyur Lingpa's sadhanas are widely practiced in the Karma Kagyu. The Vajrakilaya practice I do is by Chogyur Liingpa and has an introductory prayer by the Fifteenth Karmapa. Though each subschool of the Kagyu likes to quote the teachers of its own lineage, they also quote and teach the texts of other Kagyu lineages. I have not seen a text of one Kagyu subschool crticize teachers in other subschools. The idea that there is a pure Karma Kagyu strain of practice and teaching is a silly fiction. It has no relation to actual history or practice.
