The Shangpa Kagyu (, "Oral Tradition of the man from Shang") is known as the "secret lineage" of the Kagyu school of Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism and differs in origin from the better known Dagpo Kagyu schools. The Dagpo Kagyu are the lineage of Tilopa through his student Naropa, often traced through Naropa's famous student Marpa Lotsawa and thus called "Marpa Kagyu", while the Shangpa lineage descends from Tilopa's student Niguma, who was Naropa's sister, as well as from the teachings of Sukhasiddhi. Its founder was Khyungpo Naljor, the student of both women, whose monastery in the Shang Valley gave its name to the tradition. The principal Shangpa dharmapala is the six-armed Mahākāla. The Shangpa tradition was revitalized in the 20th century by the first Kalu Rinpoche, who had many students both in Tibet and in the West. Origins The Shangpa Kagyu lineage was founded by the eleventh-century Tibetan scholar Khyungpo Naljor. Seeking to increase his understanding of the teachings he received in Tibet, he traveled to India, where he met the female mystic yogini, Niguma. (Vajradhara Niguma is the full Tibetan name of the Indian yogini Vimalashri. He received many teachings from her; in particular, the teachings of a special tradition of Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Niguma, which are similar but not identical to the Six Dharmas of Naropa. Khyungpo Naljor was a Tibetan yogi and Bonpo and Niguma's most famous disciple. He was the only one to whom she imparted her most secret teachings. He also met and studied with the dakini Sukhasiddhi, another female mystic and student of the mahasiddha Virūpa, as well as Vajrāsana, Maitripada, Rāhula, and others. Thang Tong Gyalpo was another famous yogi instructed by Niguma in a vision. He started his own religious tradition () within the Shangpa Kagyu lineage. On his return to Tibet, Khyungpo Naljor established a monastery at Shang in Tsang. This was his main seat, and he became known as the Lama of Shang. Although he was reputed to have founded hundreds of monasteries and had thousands of students, he passed the teachings of Niguma to only one of his students, Mochok Rinchen Tsondru. The Shangpa lineage is often referred to as the "secret lineage" because Niguma instructed Khyungpo Neljor to transmit the teachings to only one student for the first seven generations beginning with Vajradhara and Niguma. From Mochok Rinchen Tsondru, the lineage was passed to