Yangönpa Gyaltsen Pal

Yangönpa Gyaltsen Pal

ཡང་དགོན་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་དཔལ

1213 - 1258

Yanggonpa Gyeltsen Pel is perhaps best known for his writings on retreat practice, Mahāmudrā exegesis, and commentary on the subtle body. He spent most of his life in Gungtang, and received teachings from Kodrakpa, Gotsangpa, Sakya Paṇḍita, and Chennga Drakpa Jungne, among other masters. Although primarily remembered as a Drukpa Kagyu master, his writings had wide influence on numerous Tibetan religious traditions.
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Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt महामुद्रा  Tib ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།  

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Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib ས་སྐྱ་  

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Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་  

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