This talk will begin with an introduction to the Grub pa sde bdun that touches upon their importance to Indic Buddhist traditions, their transmission to Tibet in the mid-eleventh century, and the role that they played in the Karma Kagyü’s formulation of a practical canon of Indian Mahāmudrā Works (phyag chen rgya gzhung) at the turn of the sixteenth century. The presentation will then focus on the preservation of a hagiographic tradition among the Drikung Kagyü identifying the Grub pa sde bdun as a textual record for the transmission of the Oḍiyāna Mahāmudrā lineage. It will conclude with a discussion of how this history of the formulation and transmission of the Grub pa sde bdun invites a shift in our own approach as scholars toward understanding Buddhist textual traditions as active participants in the creation and continuation of Buddhist communities and institutions.
About the Speaker
Adam Krug (PhD UC Santa Barbara 2018) is an Associate Translator with 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. He is the author of The Seven Siddhi Texts (Grub pa sde bdun): Mahāmudrā Instructions from the Oḍiyāna Mahāsiddhas (Wisdom, 2025), a study and annotated translation of an early practical canon of seven works composed by seven Indian mahāsiddhas that is recognized in Tibet as the seminal corpus of Indian Mahāmudrā Works (phyag chen rgya gzhung). Adam has published a number of scholarly articles and has produced numerous translations through his work with 84000 spanning the textual genres of sūtra, dhāraṇī, kriyātantra, yogatantra, and yoginītantra. His current work for 84000 is focused on the “Perfection of Wisdom” and “Mantra” sections of The Supreme Primordial Tantra (Dpal mchog dang po; Śrīparamādya). He is also currently preparing for publication a study in two parts on the Indian yogin Buddhagupta’s transmission of two Tārāyoginītantras to the Tibetan scholar Tāranātha.
