Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama

Düsum Khyenpa (Tibetan: དུས་གསུམ་མཁྱེན་པ་, Wylie: dus gsum mkhyen pa, 1110–1193) was the 1st Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Düsum Khyenpa means "knower of the three times" (past, present and future). It was given to him to refer to knowledge of the three forms of time he gained at enlightenment including the "timeless time" of enlightened awareness.

Düsum Khyenpa was born to a devout family of Buddhist practitioners in Teshö in Kham and was called Gephel as a child. He first studied with his father and then continued training with other Buddhist teachers in the region.

Gephel was a gifted child who studied and practiced Buddhism intently from an early age. Already quite learned by the age of twenty, he became a monk and studied the sutras and tantras intensively for another ten years. At thirty, he went to Daklha Gampo, the monastery of Gampopa, to receive teachings from him. He trained formally in the foundation practices of the Kadam tradition and, following that, in the general philosophy of the sutras during his time there.

Gephel received empowerments and instruction in the Hevajra tantra and spent four years in strict retreat, training in śamatha and vipaśyanā. He then received the full transmission of the inner instructions of the Kagyu tradition. In nine days he absorbed what Naropa had received over 12 years from Tilopa. Rechungpa, the "moon-like" disciple of Milarepa, also instructed him, principally in the Six Yogas of Naropa. His attainment in one of these -- tummo —was particularly boosted by his own natural compassion and produced rapid results. Following his teacher's instruction he then went away to meditate.

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