The Kagyu lineage emerges from a living stream of transmission that begins with the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa and Naropa and flows into Tibet through Marpa the Translator. Tilopa received profound tantric instructions from various sources and passed them to Naropa, who distilled them into a coherent yogic system. This Indian phase already centered on Mahamudra, the direct recognition of mind’s empty and luminous nature, and on subtle-body practices that later came to be known collectively as the Six Yogas of Naropa. When Marpa undertook arduous journeys to India, he received these transmissions from Naropa and other masters, including Mahamudra instructions from Maitripa, and then rendered them into Tibetan. Thus, the Kagyu identity crystallized around an oral, experiential lineage that prized direct realization over elaborate scholasticism, while still preserving a clear doctrinal and practical framework.

In Tibet, this stream of practice took on a distinctive character through the figures of Marpa, Milarepa, and Gampopa. Marpa, a lay yogi and translator, transmitted not only Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Naropa but also major tantric cycles such as Hevajra and Chakrasamvara, shaping a path that relied heavily on the guru–disciple relationship and intensive practice. Milarepa, his foremost disciple, embodied the ideal of radical renunciation and solitary retreat, using these teachings to transform a life marked by grave misdeeds into one of full awakening. His example fixed in the Kagyu imagination a model of meditation grounded in simplicity, perseverance, and direct experience, rather than institutional prestige. Gampopa, originally trained in the Kadam monastic and Lamrim tradition, then wove these yogic and Mahamudra instructions into a structured path that included ethical discipline, foundational practices, and a clear progression of meditation.

From this synthesis arose a characteristic Kagyu curriculum in which meditation unfolds in stages yet always points back to the same realization. Foundational practices such as refuge, bodhicitta, and preliminary exercises prepare the mind, while deity yoga and the Six Yogas of Naropa work with subtle energies through methods like inner heat, illusory body, dream yoga, clear light, bardo practice, and consciousness transference. Within this framework, Mahamudra stands as the heart of the lineage: a contemplative approach that moves from stabilizing attention to penetrating insight into the nature of mind itself. Over time, Kagyu masters articulated this in various formulations, such as the four yogas of Mahamudra, and distinguished approaches based on sutra and tantra, yet the emphasis remained on experiential recognition rather than conceptual elaboration.

As the lineage spread, it differentiated into several sub-schools—such as Karma Kagyu, Drikung Kagyu, and Drukpa Kagyu—each preserving the same core transmissions while developing its own institutional forms. Across these branches, a shared ethos persists: meditation is not an abstract discipline but a transformative encounter with awareness as empty, luminous, and unobstructed. Retreat culture, often in intensive formats, became a natural extension of this ethos, providing the conditions to integrate foundational practices, deity yoga, the Six Yogas, and Mahamudra into a single, continuous path. In this way, the historical evolution of Kagyu can be seen as a gradual refinement of methods in service of an unchanging aim—the direct realization of the nature of mind.