Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room: Kagyu Tradition Installation

The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room is reopening and featuring a different Buddhist tradition: Kagyu, or Precept Transmissions, which grew from lineages of transmitted teachings brought to Tibet from India beginning in the 10th century. Legendary origin stories of this tradition trace back to mahasiddhas or tantric masters who instructed their Indian and Tibetan disciples in esoteric practices that were faithfully passed down from teacher to student. Naropa, who studied with the great Indian master Tilopa, was the teacher of Marpa, a famous Tibetan translator who in turn taught Milarepa, the beloved Tibetan yogi and poet. This painting of Naropa shows him as a tantric practitioner, with long hair, meditation belt, and a folded scholar’s hat perched on his head. He is remembered as a jewel in the greater Golden Garland of masters in the Kagyu tradition.