Karma Kagyu practice on the Six Yogas of Naropa. At the Anuttarayoga Tantra level of practice, the principal iṣṭadevatās of the lineage are Dorje Pakmo, Hevajra and Cakrasaṃvara. While one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Karma Kagyu is its emphasis on meditative practice, all forms and levels of Buddhist history and philosophy are also taught, most notably the shentong branch of Madhyamaka philosophy. The supreme lama of the Karma Kagyu is the Karmapa, who always presides as lineage holder once he has reached his majority and received all the necessary training and dharma transmissions. From the death of one Karmapa until
Types of Karma (Jainism) sensations (vedanīya). In other therms these non-harming karmas are: "nāma" (body determining karma), "āyu" (life span determining karma), "gotra" (status determining karma) and "vedanīya" (feeling producing karma) respectively. Different types of karmas thus affect the soul in different ways as per their nature. Each of these types has various sub-types. "Tattvārthasūtra" generally speaks of 148 sub-types of karmas in all. These are: 5 of "jñānavaraṇa", 9 of "darśanavaraṇa", 2 of "vedanīya", 28 of "mohanīya" 4 of "āyuṣka", 93 of "nāma", 2 of "gotra", and 5 of "antarāya". "Ghātiyā karmas" (harming karmas) directly affect the attributes of the soul. These are: