The Drikung Kagyu Celebrating 800 Years
Lord Jigten Sumgon/Jigten Gonpo ( ‘bri-gung-pa-‘jig-rten -gsum-gon/‘bri-gung-pa-‘jig-rten-mgon-po ); founder of the Drikung/Drigung Lineage As many (most? All?) of you know, I don’t “play favorites”, I don’t root for teams, when it comes to religious traditions that I’m affiliated with. Across the Buddhist spectrum, this is many more times the case, but it doesn’t prevent me from my enthusiasms. For many years, I’ve been and continue my affiliation with the Drikung Kagyu because, well, so many friends have been or are still monks in the lineage and because it really is the embodiment of a Tibetan practice lineage. Sure, I have my reservations about Buddhism in general and Tibetan Buddhism in particular; these have been articulated elsewhere. However, there’s much to commend the Drikung lineage in terms of application. I seem to recall Lama Sonam many years ago was asked about what texts students at the center (now in Arlington, Massachusetts) would be studying and h...