In commemoration of the 1001st anniversary of the birth of Marpa Lotsawa, the great forefather of the Kagyu teachings in Tibet, Kyabgön Phakchok Rinpoche has made this clay coin, mixed with sacred earth from Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Tibet; as well as blessings and other sacred relics.
Marpa Chökyi Lodro, better known as Marpa the Translator, was the principle disciple of Naropa, who himself wasa disciple of Tilopa and one of the eighty-four mahasiddhas. After journeying to India in order to find and translate some of the great Indian Buddhist treatesies, Marpa eventually reached the great center of Buddhist learning, Nālānda. From Nālānda, Marpa traveled to the forest retreat of Pullahari, where he met Nāropa and received a series of tantric initiations and instructions. These primarily consisted of the mother and father classes of Highest Yoga Tantra, with the Hevajra and Guhyasamāja Tantras foremost among them. These teachings were passed down through Milarepa, and eventually down through the lineage of the Black Hat Lamas, the Karmapas.
