19 Facts About Nyingma

Nyingma is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Nyingma tradition is seen having been founded at Samye, the first monastery in Tibet.

Nyingma teachings include a distinctive classification of Buddhist vehicles to liberation, called the nine vehicles.

Nyingma school has an important tradition of discovering and revealing "hidden treasure texts" called Termas, which allows the treasure discoverers or tertons to reveal new timely scriptures.

Nyingma school recognizes Samantabhadra, the "primordial buddha" as an embodiment of the Dharmakaya, the "truth body" of all buddhas.

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The Nyingma school sees the Dharmakaya as inseparable from both the Sambhogakaya and the Nirmanakaya.

Nyingma origins are traced to Garab Dorje and to Yeshe Tsogyal.

Nyingma sees Vajradhara and other buddhas as teachers of their many doctrines.

Nyingma is mainly known for his systematized integration and exposition of the major textual cycles such as the Menngagde in his various writings, which by his time had become central texts in the Nyingma tradition.

Later seminal figure in the development of the Nyingma system was Jigme Lingpa "the greatest treasure finder of the eighteenth century", whose Longchen Nyingthig is a systematization of the path which is one of the most widely used Nyingma Dzogchen teachings today.

Mipham composed authoritative works on both the Sutra and Vajrayana teachings as understood in the Nyingma tradition, writing extensively on Dzogchen and Madhyamaka.

Nyingma focused on the study of these texts as a way to avoid sectarian disputes by appealing to classic Indian material.

Nyingma school has a Kama or oral lineage and a Terma lineage.

In contrast to the other three main Tibetan schools, the Nyingma tradition has never been the dominant political power in Tibet.

Nyingma tradition is therefore decentralized and often individual monastery administration decisions are made by the community of the lamas together with senior sangha members.

Contemporary Nyingma lineages include ethnic Tibetan and other Himalayan teachers as well as Western lamas, and their students.

Some largest international Nyingma organizations are Namkhai Norbu's Dzogchen community and Sogyal Rinpoche's Rigpa organization.

Westerners who teach in the Nyingma tradition include Lama Surya Das, Keith Dowman and B Alan Wallace.

Nyingma monasteries have been rebuilt in Nepal and throughout India, while the Tibetan diaspora has spread Nyingma Vajrayana masters to the west and in Europe and the Americas.