Jigten Sumgön felt that there was no contradiction between a yogi’s practice and Vinaya ordination, and he actually combined both in his vision of the Kusāli-Yogi-Monk. The basis for this ‘lifestyle’ can be found in the teachings of Milarepa, Gampopa, Phagmodrupa, and Jigten Sumgon. The Kusāli-Yogi-Monk ideal is summarized in the Single Intention (6.13), which says: “That mahāmudrā and disciplined conduct (śīla) are one is an unsurpassed special teaching of Jigten Sumgön.”

In my lecture at the IABS in Leipzig, I talked about the way the Kusāli-Yogis differentiated themselves from the learned paṇḍitas, how they ‘cut off the root from within,’ and how the Kusāli-Yogi-Monk is a culmination of Jigten Sumgön’s Mahāmudrā and Vinaya teachings:

Thanks to Stepan for the video!