Shangpa Kagyu

Samding Dorje Phagmo New branches: Tantric techniques: Fourfold division: Twofold division: Thought forms and visualisation: Yoga: The Shangpa Kagyu (Tibetan: ཤངས་པ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད, Wylie: shangs pa bka' brgyud, "Oral Tradition of the man from Shang") is known as the "secret lineage" of the Kagyu school of Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism and differs in origin from the better known Dagpo Kagyu schools.

Its founder was Khyungpo Naljor, the student of both women, whose monastery in the Shang Valley gave its name to the tradition.

The Shangpa Kagyu lineage was founded by the eleventh-century Tibetan scholar Khyungpo Naljor.

[3] Seeking to increase his understanding of the teachings he received in Tibet, he traveled to India, where he met the female mystic yogini, Niguma.

[6] He also met and studied with the dakini Sukhasiddhi,[7] another female mystic and student of the mahasiddha Virūpa, as well as Vajrāsana, Maitripada, Rāhula, and others.

He started his own religious tradition (Wylie: thang lugs) within the Shangpa Kagyu lineage.

Songjay Tenpa was the first teacher who gave these instructions to more than one of his disciples, and from this point on, several different lines of transmission developed.

Je Tsongkhapa, who founded the Gelug school, was also versed in the doctrine of the Shangpa Kagyu.