Ngakma

Ngakma (Tib. sNgags ma; also sNgags mo — ngakmo) is the female form of ngakpa: an ordained non-celibate, non-monastic Tantric practitioner in the Nyingma tradition.

Key Points

• Definition. Ch.2 footnote: “sNgags pa (male) and sNgags ma or sNgags mo (female) are ordained members of the noncelibate, nonmonastic Tantric community called the gö-kar-chang-lo’i dé (gos dKar lCang lo’i sDe), ‘white skirt long hair series’ or ngak’phang (sNgags ‘phang), mantra-wielding sangha.” Ch.13 Glossary confirms: “A practitioner of Vajrayana who has taken Tantric vows.”
• Ordained. Ngakmas are ordained — this is not lay practice in the casual sense. The ordination is distinct from the monastic (gelongma) ordination, not inferior or preparatory to it.
• Non-celibate, non-monastic. Householder and yogic life are both within the ngak’phang structure; marriage, children, and cave retreat are all compatible with the vocation.
• Visible marks. White skirt; long hair (not tonsured). The gö-kar-chang-lo’i dé name is precisely these two markers. The Ch.2 gomchenma wears “an undyed homespun ngakma’s skirt and a sheepskin waistcoat” with “long, loose-hanging hair.”
• Ubiquitous historically. “These men and women were the ngakpas and ngakmas who existed within every stratum of Tibetan society. They lived in dratsangs (colleges) and small rural communities. They lived in nomadic encampments called gars, but many were wanderers.”

Ngakma in the Ch.2 Vignette

The gomchenma the disciple finally meets is a ngakma — “She wears an undyed homespun ngakma’s skirt and a sheepskin waistcoat.” She has a son, who sits on a tiger skin playing with colored pebbles. This is not incidental: the vignette’s choice of a non-celibate female ngak’phang practitioner as the vehicle of the teaching is consistent with the Aro gTér lineage’s structural featuring of female realized teachers — including the lineage’s tsawa’i Lama, Aro Lingma (Jétsunma Khandro Yeshé Réma, a réma — cotton-clad yogic recluse).

Contrast With Monastic Women

Ch.2 lists monastic and non-monastic Tibetan spiritual traditions as parallel rather than hierarchical: “There were the monks and nuns who lived mainly in their respective gompas. … but it is not the only one. There was another major spiritual tradition that was available to both men and women — the noncelibate sangha of Vajrayana.” Women had full access to either vocation.

The Broader Ngak’phang Ecology

Ngakmas sit alongside other ngak’phang types described in Ch.2:

• togdens — matted-hair yogic practitioners, cave or nomadic
• gCodmas — wandering practitioners of gCod
• rémas — white-cotton-clad yogic recluses, practitioners of tu-mo (Aro Lingma was a réma)
• gomchenmas — great master meditators (realization category; can overlap with any of the above)

Related

• Ngak’phang — the ordination-frame this page is a female-form specialization of
• Ngakpa Chögyam — a ngakpa, co-author of the book
• Khandro Déchen — a ngakma, co-author
• Aro Lingma — the gTértön of the Aro gTér; a réma (ngak’phang yogini)
• Gomchen — a realization category that ngakmas can occupy (as in Ch.2’s Khandro Rinpoche)
• Togden — the matted-hair yogic type
• gCod — a ngak’phang method
• Aro gTér — lineage featuring female realized teachers
• Nyingma — the school carrying ngak’phang ordination
• Vajrayana — the vehicle
• Roaring Silence - 02 Thoughts and Clouds — footnote source
• Roaring Silence - 13 Glossary — source: canonical ngakpa/ngakma entry