Editing Mahamudra (section)

===Kagyu tradition===
[[File:Gampopa portrait.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Gampopa]] (1079–1153), Kagyu founder]]

[[Gampopa]] Sönam Rinchen (1079-1153), a Kadam monk who was a student of the lay tantric yogi Milarepa, is a key figure in the Kagyu tradition. He is responsible for much of the development of Kagyu monastic institutions and for recording the teachings of the lineage in writing.{{sfnp|Duff|2008|pp=v-vii}} He synthesized the Mahayana Kadam teachings with the tantric teachings he received from Milarepa and developed a unique system of mahāmudrā which he often taught without tantric [[Empowerment (Vajrayana)|empowerment]], relying instead on [[Guru Yoga|guru yoga]].{{sfnp|Kragh|2015|pp=163-164}}

Mahāmudrā is defined by [[Gampopa]] as "the realization of the natural state as awareness-emptiness, absolutely clear and transparent, without root". Gampopa also states that mahāmudrā is "the [[Prajnaparamita|paramita of wisdom]], beyond thought and expression."{{sfnp|Stenzel|2014}} Gampopa taught mahāmudrā in a five part system to his disciples, one of his most well known disciples, [[Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo|Phagmo Drupa]] (1110-1170) became a very successful teacher who continued to teach this five part system and eight "junior" kagyu lineages are traced to him.{{sfnp|Duff|2008|pp=v-vii}} This "Five-Part Mahāmudrā" system became one of the main ways that Mahāmudrā was transmitted in Kagyu lineages after Gampopa.{{sfnp|Duff|2008|pp=v-vii}}

The tradition which follows Gampopa is called [[Dagpo Kagyu|Dakpo Kagyu]]. A key Mahāmudrā author of this tradition is [[Dagpo Tashi Namgyal|Dakpo Tashi Namgyal]], well known for his ''Mahāmudrā: The Moonlight.'' [[Karma Kagyu]] [[Karmapa]]s like the ninth Karmapa [[Wangchuk Dorje, 9th Karmapa Lama|Wangchuk Dorje]] also composed important Mahāmudrā texts. A development of these later mahāmudrā writers is the integration of the common Mahayana teachings on [[samatha]] and [[Vipaśyanā|vipasyana]] as preliminaries to the practice of mahāmudrā.{{sfnp|Kragh|2015|p=165}}

====Three types of teaching====
The Kagyu lineage divides the mahāmudrā teachings into three types, "sutra mahāmudrā," "tantra mahāmudrā," and "essence mahāmudrā," in a formulation that appears to originate with [[Jamgon Kongtrul]].{{sfnp|Mathes|2003|p=201}} Sutra mahāmudrā, as the name suggests, draws its philosophical view and meditation techniques from the sutrayana tradition. Tantric mahāmudrā employs such [[tantra techniques (Vajrayana)|tantric techniques]] as [[tummo]], [[dream yoga]], and [[ösel (yoga)|ösel]], three of the [[Six Yogas of Naropa]]. Essence mahāmudrā is based on the direct instruction of a qualified lama, known as [[pointing-out instruction]].

====As a path beyond sutra and tantra====
Kagyu lineage figures such as Gampopa presented a form of mahāmudrā that was said to transcend the vehicles of sutrayana and vajrayana. According to Karl Brunnholzl, Gampopa saw Mahāmudrā as a third path that was neither sutra nor tantra which he called "the path of prajña" and "the path of suchness," and which "relies on blessing and is for those who are intelligent and of sharp faculties."{{sfnp|Brunnholzl|2015|pp=192-193}} Brunnholzl adds that for Gampopa, the mahāmudrā path of "taking direct perceptions as the path" relies on introduction by a genuine guru to the luminous dharmakaya and thus:

<blockquote>Through having been taught an unmistaken instruction of definitive meaning like that, one then takes native mind as the path, without separating the triad of view, conduct, and meditation in terms of this connate mind about which one has gained certainty within oneself.{{sfnp|Brunnholzl|2015|pp=192-193}}</blockquote>

Gampopa also stated that mahāmudrā was "the highest path that actually transcends both sutra and tantra." Brunnholzl further states that "In practice, most of Gampopa's preserved teachings consist primarily of sutra-based instructions and then conclude with Mahāmudrā, either not teaching the path of mantra at all or mentioning it only in passing."{{sfnp|Brunnholzl|2015|pp=192-193}}

The Kagyu tradition bases their mahāmudrā teachings on the works of Indian mahasiddhas like Saraha and Maitripa. According to Klaus-Dieter Mathes,

{{blockquote| Later Bka´ brgyud pas defended their not specifically Tantric or sūtra mahāmudrā tradition by adducing Indian sources such as the Tattvadaśakaṭīkā or the Tattvāvatāra. These belong to a genre of literature which the Seventh Karmapa Chos grags rgya mtsho (1454–1506) called "Indian mahāmudrā-Works" (phyag chen rgya gzhung).{{sfnp|Mathes|2008}} }}

Mathes investigated the practice described in these mahāmudrā works and found that it is not necessarily Tantric. In Saraha's dohās, it is simply the realization of Mind's co-emergent nature with the help of a genuine guru. [[Maitripada|Maitrīpa]] (ca. 1007–1085) uses the term Mahāmudrā for precisely such an approach, thus employing an originally Tantric term for something that is not a specifically Tantric practice. It is thus legitimate for later Kagyupas to speak of Saraha's mahāmudrā tradition as being originally independent of the Sūtras and the Tantras. For Maitrīpa, the direct realization of emptiness (or the co-emergent) is the bridging link between the Sūtras and the Tantras, and it is thanks to this bridge that mahāmudrā can be linked to the Sūtras and the Tantras. In the Sūtras it takes the form of the practice of non-abiding and becoming mentally disengaged, while in the Tantras it occupies a special position among the four mudrās.{{sfnp|Mathes|2008}}

The Kagyu teachings of mahāmudrā became a point of controversy. The possibility of sudden liberating realization and the practice of mahāmudrā without the need for [[Empowerment (Vajrayana)|tantric initiation]] was seen as contrary to the teachings of the Buddhist tantras and as being just a form of Chinese [[Zen|Chan (Zen)]] by certain critics.{{sfnp|Namgyal|Lhalungpa|2006|p=104}} However, Dakpo Tashi Namgyal explicitly reaffirms that a tantric empowerment is not, in and of itself, a requirement for the path of liberation. He writes, "(Gampopa) did not make the esoteric empowerment a prerequisite for receiving the Mahāmudrā teachings. He spoke about the method of directly guiding the disciple toward the intrinsic reality of the mind [...] if one follows venerable Gampopa’s system in elucidating Mahāmudrā alone, it is not necessary [...]" In addition, he notes certain "[...] followers of this meditative order (who later) adapted Mahāmudrā to the practice of esoteric tantra", which typically relies on empowerments.{{sfnp|Namgyal|Lhalungpa|2006|pp=123–124}}

==== Kagyu lineages ====
[[Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama]] identified a number of mahāmudrā lineages, according to their main practices for achieving mahāmudrā. In his teachings on the First Panchen Lama's root text and auto-commentary the [[14th Dalai Lama]] delineated the Kagyu practice lineages as follows:{{sfnp|Dalai Lama|Berzin|1997|pp=262–271}}

* The [[Karma Kagyu]] "Simultaneously Arising as Merged" tradition - This is the tradition introduced by [[Gampopa]] with a main practice of the [[Six Yogas of Naropa]].
* The [[Shangpa Kagyu]] "Amulet Box" tradition - This tradition came from [[Khyungpo Naljor]] and its main practice is the Six yogas of [[Niguma]].
* The [[Drikung Kagyu]] "Possessing Five" tradition - [[Jigten Sumgön|Jigten Gonpo]] founded the school and mahāmudrā lineage whose main practice is known as the '''fivefold mahāmudrā''' consisting of [[Three Jewels and Three Roots|refuge]] and [[bodhicitta]], [[deity yoga]], [[guru yoga]], [[Six Dharmas of Naropa|mahamudra meditation]], and [[dedication of merit]].
* The [[Drukpa Kagyu|Drukpa lineage]] "Six Spheres of Equal Taste" tradition - [[Tsangpa Gyare]] founded this tradition which encompasses a range of practices, including the [[Six Yogas of Naropa]].
* The [[Dagpo Kagyu]] "Four Syllables" tradition - This is the tradition that derives from [[Maitripada|Maitripa]]. The four syllables are ''a-ma-na-si'' which make up the Sanskrit word meaning 'not to take to mind' and passed through the [[Dagpo Kagyu]] branches, i.e. any that descend from the teachings of [[Tilopa]] rather than those of [[Niguma]], which in practice means all but the [[Shangpa Kagyu]].