Gampopa Sonam Rinchen, also known as Dakpo Lhaje, is credited with founding the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Trained first as a medical doctor and then ordained as a Kadam monk, Gampopa met Milarepa when he was thirty years old, and spent much of the next decades in meditation retreat. Never renouncing his monastic vows, he combined the Indian Mahāsiddha practices brought back to Tibet by Marpa and others with the monastic order of his Kadampa teachers. He also united the Kadam teachings of Lamrim with the Mahāmudrā teachings he received from Milarepa. He founded Daklha Gampo in 1121 and trained many of the greatest Kagyu masters of all time, including the First Karmapa and Pakmodrupa. ... read more at
