the throne. The scandal highlighted the significant power
and influence that the Nara Buddhist establishment had
gained, and the court, for many reasons including its
concern about Buddhist interference, decided to move
the capital out of Nara. The new permanent capital was
located in Heian-kyo(now known as Kyoto), and while
Nara continued to be an important site for Buddhist
learning and practice, new forms of Buddhism, namely
Tendai (Chinese, TIANTAI SCHOOL) and Shingon, arose
in the succeeding Heian period (794–1185).
See also:Japan; Japanese Royal Family and Buddhism;
Nationalism and Buddhism; Shingon Buddhism, Japan
Bibliography
de Bary, William Theodore; Keene, Donald; Tanabe, George;
and Varley, Paul. Sources of Japanese Tradition,2nd edition,
Vol. 1. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.
Kitagawa, Joseph M. Religion in Japanese History.New York:
Columbia University Press, 1966.
GEORGEJ. TANABE, JR.NAROPA
Naropa (1016–1100) was an Indian tantric adept and
scholar who is counted among the eighty-four MA-
HASIDDHAS, or great adepts. He is widely revered in Ti-
bet for his tantric instructions. According to one of his
traditional biographies, Naropa was born to royal par-
ents in a brahman family of Bengal. At the age of eleven
he traveled to Kashmir in northwest India and after a
brief period of Buddhist study, he was forced to marry
at the age of seventeen. The marriage lasted only eight
years, after which the couple divorced by mutual con-
sent; Naropa’s former wife (or sister according to some
sources) has been identified as Niguma, who became
an influential tantric teacher in her own right. Naropa
received monastic ordination and in 1049 entered the
Buddhist university of Nalanda, in present-day Bihar.
He excelled as a scholar and subsequently served a term
as abbot and senior instructor at Nalanda, where he
was given the name Abhayakrti.
In 1057, however, he reached a turning point in his
career. One day, in the midst of his philosophical stud-
ies, he was surprised by a vision of an old, haggard
woman—in reality a DAKINIgoddess. She challenged
the level of his spiritual insight and, through her
provocative intervention, the prodigious scholar real-
ized that although he understood the literal words of
his religious texts, he did not yet fathom their under-
lying meaning. The woman compelled Naropa to aban-
don his post at the university and seek his destined
spiritual master, the great tantric adept Tilopa
(988–1069), a figure about whom scant historical in-
formation exists. During his extended search across
northern India, Naropa repeatedly encountered Tilopa
in various guises, although he was unable to recognize
the guru in his true form. Finally, as Naropa was dri-
ven to the brink of despair and even suicide, Tilopa re-
vealed himself and accepted the seeker as a worthy
disciple.In the ensuing years, Tilopa famously subjected
Naropa to a series of twelve greater and twelve lesser
trials, inflicting upon him the most terrible forms of
abuse and physical punishment. Naropa persevered,
however, eventually coming to understand these or-
deals as a means for purifying his past negative actions.
Among the seminal instructions Tilopa taught were the
Four Transmissions (bka’ babs bzhi). Although the list
varies according to different sources, the four are of-
ten enumerated as the transmissions of illusory body
(sgyu lus), dreams (mi lam), radiant light (’od gsal), and
inner heat (gtum mo). Naropa later codified these in-
structions and transmitted them to his own principal
disciples, including the Tibetan translator MAR PA
(MARPA; 1002/1012–1097), who then carried them to
Tibet. This system, known in Tibetan as the Six Doc-
trines (or Yogas) of Naropa (Naro chos drug), was pro-
mulgated by numerous Buddhist sects, but became
especially associated with the BKA’ BRGYUD(KAGYU).
The Bka’ brgyud sect subsequently came to view Naropa
as an important founder of their lineage. Several works
of spiritual songs and tantric commentarial literature
attributed to Naropa are preserved in the Tibetan Bud-
dhist canon.See also:TibetBibliography
Guenther, Herbert V. The Life and Teaching of Naropa.Boston
and London: Shambhala, 1986.
Mullin, Glen H. Tsongkhapa’s Six Yogas of Naropa.Ithaca, NY:
Snow Lion, 1996.
Mullin, Glen H. Readings on the Six Yogas of Naropa.Ithaca,
NY: Snow Lion, 1997.ANDREWQUINTMANNAROPA