Eight Practice Lineages aka the Eight Great Chariots of the Practice Lineage (Wyl. sgrub brgyud shing rta chen mo brgyad) — the eight principal traditions which 'transported' the Buddhist teachings from India to Tibet. They are:
-
Kadam—the divine teachings of the Old and New Kadam traditions, founded by the incomparable and glorious Lord Jowo
Atisha and further developed through the magnificent efforts of
Lobsang Drakpa, who was
Manjushri in person.
Lamdré/
Sakya—the essential instructions of the 'Path with its Result' (Tib.
Lamdré), the heart-essence of the
mahasiddha Virupa, which came down to the glorious Sakyapa founders and their heirs, and were then passed on by the various lineages including those of
Sakya,
Ngor and
Tsar (Wyl.
sa ngor tsar gsum).
-
-
Kalachakra/'
Six Branch Practice of Vajrayoga' (Tib.
Jordruk; Wyl.
sbyor drug)—the 'Six-Branched Application', which emphasizes the Vajra Yoga of the
perfection stage of the splendid
Kalachakra, and which came to Tibet from the noble Dharma-kings of India and others such as Kalapada in early, intermediate and later phases, and developed into seventeen traditions, which were then brought together and passed on by the renunciate
Tukjé Tsöndru and others.
Shyijé and
Chö—the noble teachings of the 'Pacifying of Suffering' Tradition coming from
Padampa Sangyé together with the profound teachings on the objects of severance, or Chö, which were passed on by
Machik Lapdrön and others.
-
Note: the Jonang and Gelug schools are not part of this list because they formed within Tibet.
History
Further Reading
In Tibetan
In English
Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé, The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of Meditation in Vajrayana, Snow Lion, 2007
Matthew Kapstein, 'gDams-ngag: Tibetan Technologies of the Self' in Cabezón and Jackson, ed., Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, Snow Lion, 1996
Ngawang Zangpo, Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual, Snow Lion, 1994
Ringu Tulku,
The Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgön Kongtrul the Great, Shambhala Publications, 2006
Schools and Lineages
Enumerations
08-Eight