Nyingma

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions 1997, originally published by Oxford University Press 1997.

Nyingma (rnying.ma, ‘ancient’). One of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, so-called because its adherents trace their tradition to the first diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet, and particularly to the figure of Padmasambhava, whom they consider their founder.

The Nyingma are noted for their separate canon, consisting of terma literature and the Compendium of Old Tantras (rnying.maʾi.rgyud.ʾ-bum). While the Tibetan Book of the Dead is the best known, the most important Nyingma text is the Heart-Drop (snying.thig); a terma text discovered in the 12th cent. by Zhangtön and commentated upon by Longchenpa, it contains teachings on Dzogchen (rdzogs.chen; ‘Great Perfection’), the primary Nyingma system of meditation.

The Nyingma has produced several great scholars, such as Longchenpa (1308–63) and Mipham (d. 1912), who was influential in the 19th-cent. Rimé movement. A recent supreme head of the order, Dujom Rinpoche (1904–87) was considered an incarnation of Dujom Lingpa.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"Nyingma." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. . Encyclopedia.com. 22 Feb. 2019 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Nyingma." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. . Encyclopedia.com. (February 22, 2019). https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/nyingma

"Nyingma." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. . Retrieved February 22, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/nyingma

Learn more about citation styles

Citation styles

Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).

Within the “Cite this article” tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list.

Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Therefore, it’s best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publication’s requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites:

Notes:

Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates.
In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list.