Tradition

Nyingma

Overview

Nyingma (Tibetan: རྙིང་མ་, Wylie: rnying ma, Lhasa dialect: [ɲ̟iŋ˥˥.ma˥˥], lit. 'old school'), also referred to as Ngagyur (Tibetan: སྔ་འགྱུར་རྙིང་མ།, Wylie: snga 'gyur rnying ma, Lhasa dialect: [ŋa˥˥.ʈ͡ʂuɹ], lit. 'order of the ancient translations'), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by Padmasambhava as the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Pali and Sanskrit into Tibetan occurred in the eighth century. The establishment of Tibetan Buddhism and the Nyingma tradition is collectively ascribed to Khenpo Shantarakshita, Guru Padmasambhava, and King Trisong Detsen, known as Khen Lop Chos Sum (The Three: Khenpo, Lopon, Chosgyal).

The Nyingma tradition traces its Dzogchen lineage from the first Buddha Samantabhadra to

Garab Dorje, and its other lineages from Indian mahasiddhas such as Sri Singha and Jnanasutra. Yeshe Tsogyal recorded the teachings. Other great masters from the founding period include Vimalamitra, Vairotsana, and Buddhaguhya. The Nyingma tradition was physically founded at Samye, the first monastery in Tibet. Nyingma teachings are also known for having been passed down through networks of lay practitioners, and of Ngakmapas (Skt. mantrī).

While the Nyingma tradition contains most of the major elements of Tibetan Buddhism, it also has some unique features and teachings. The Nyingma teachings include a distinctive classification of the Buddhist Yanas, or vehicles to liberation, called the Nine Yanas. The Nyingma teachings on the Great Perfection or Dzogchen is considered the highest of all Buddhist teachings. As such, the Nyingmas consider the Dzogchen teachings to be the most direct and profound path to Buddhahood. The main Dzogchen sources like the Seventeen tantras are seen as communicating a path that goes beyond the methods of Highest Yoga Tantra, which are seen as supreme in other schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Nyingma school also has an important tradition of discovering and revealing "hidden treasure texts" called Termas, which allows the treasure discoverers or tertöns to reveal teachings according to conditions. Many Nyingma lineages are based on particular termas. For example, Mindrolling Monastery focuses on the revelations of Nyangrel Nyima Özer, while Dorje Drak is based on the Northern Treasures of Rigdzin Gödem.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.

Seven or eight li to the west of the city there is what is called the King's new monastery, the building of which took eighty years, and extended over three reigns. It may be two hundred and fifty cubits in height, rich in elegant carving and inlaid work, covered above with gold and silver, and finished throughout with a combination of all the precious substances. Behind the tope there has been built a Hall of…
Confucius, Chinese literature
States what Nyingma is.
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
The objects are regarded as possessing magical powers and as having been bequeathed by the original ancestors, thus representing a legacy of the magical Alcheringa age. It is particularly stones and pieces of wood that are held to be the abode of these totemic spirits and that are represented by legend as having at one time been entrusted to the custody of the forefathers. These ideas abound particularly in northern…
Wilhelm Max Wundt, Elements of Folk Psychology Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of Mankind
States what Nyingma is.
Read the chapter · Open in the reader
Another passage in the same place has this sense, “He whom ye look at and do not see, is named I; thou hearkenest to him and hearest him not, and he is called Hi; thou seekest for him with thy hand and touchest him not, and his name is Weï. Thou meetest him and seest not his head; thou goest behind him and seest not his back.” These contradictory expressions are called the “chain of reason.” One naturally thinks in…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
States what Nyingma is.
Read the chapter · Open in the reader

Nyingma

Overview

Possible passages

Philosophers who discussed Nyingma

Related ideas

Place in the tradition