Kagyü

The "Kagyü" (bka' brgyud) – literally "precept transmission" - came to signify a sectarian tradition focusing on the lineage of Gampopa as traced back through the figures of Milarepa (mi la ras pa, 1040-1123), Marpa (mar pa, 1012-96), and the Indian Masters Nāropa and Tilopa. Gampopa's own disciples, however, were the first to build new institutions leading to distinct religious orders. The Kagyü are the most internally divided of the major Tibetan sects, and the loose nature of their association is indicated by the diversity of schemes used for organizing the branches of the sect.