18 Facts About Niguma

Niguma is considered one of the most important and influential yoginis and Vajrayana teachers of the 10th or 11th century in India.

Niguma was a dakini, and one of the two female founders of the Shangpa Kagyu school of Vajrayana Buddhism, along with dakini Sukhasiddhi.

Niguma was called Yogini Vimalashri, or Vajradhara Niguma, or Jnana Dakini Adorned with Bone, or The Sister referring to her purported relationship to the great Buddhist teacher and adept Naropa.

One scholar who has done extensive research presents and discusses the available evidence and concludes that Niguma was indeed Naropa's older sister, not his wife or consort.

Niguma was considered an emanation of the great dakini Mandarava, Guru Rinpoche's foremost Indian disciple.

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Niguma joyfully gave him the full abhiseka and oral instructions on Catuhpitha.

Niguma found the dakini Niguma in the Sosa charnal ground of eastern India.

Niguma had been traveling with great amounts of gold in order to make offerings to any teacher he met.

When he offered the gold to Niguma, she threw it up into the air and it scattered throughout the forest.

Niguma then transported him to a golden mountain summit where she bestowed the complete Six Yogas, the Dorje Tsikang and the Gyuma Lamrim.

The Shangpa lineage is often referred to as the "secret lineage" because Niguma instructed Khyungpo Naljor to transmit the teachings to only one student for the first seven generations beginning with Vajradhara and Niguma.

Niguma then passed the lineage to Khyungpo Naljor who passed it to Mokchokpa Rinchen Tsondru.

Niguma was instructed by Niguma in a vision two to three centuries after she lived.

Niguma is well known for being a great Buddhist adept, a yogi, physician, blacksmith, architect, and a pioneering civil engineer.

Niguma is considered a reincarnation of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and founded the Iron Chain lineage of the Shangpa Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism which was founded by Niguma.

Niguma brought forth a tantric sadhana cycle, a cohesive set of spiritual practices, referred to properly as the Vajra Lines of the Six Dharmas, sometimes referred to as the Six Yogas of Niguma.

Six Dharmas of Niguma are classified as completion stage practices focusing on controlling and refining the channels, winds, and energies of the subtle body.

Details of the sadhana cycle brought forth by Niguma can be found in Selected Works of the Dalai Lama: The Tantric Yogas of Sister Niguma compiled, edited, and translated by Glenn H Mullin, 1985, Snow Lion Publications.