There are currently two, separately enthroned 17th Gyalwang Karmapas: Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje. The Karmapa is the spiritual leader of the nine-hundred-year-old Karma Kagyu lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan...
The Karmapa Tulku lineage of the Gyalwa Karmapa is the oldest among the major incarnating lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, established in 1110 CE by the 1st Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa. Karmapa means "the one who carries out buddha-activity", or "the...
Rumtek Monastery (Tibetan: རུམ་ཐེག་དགོན་པ་, Wylie: rum theg dgon pa), also called the Dharma Chakra Centre, is a gompa located in the Indian state of Sikkim near the capital Gangtok. It is the seat in exile of the Gyalwang Karmapa, inaugurated in...
Mipham Chokyi Lodro (27 October 1952 – 11 June 2014), also known as Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche, was the fourteenth Shamarpa of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Shamarpa is the second-most important teacher of the Karma Kagyu school, after...
The 12th Tai Situ, Pema Dönyö Nyinje (Tibetan: པདྨ་དོན་ཡོད་ཉིན་བྱེད, Wylie: pad+ma don yod nyin byed) (born 1954) is the 12th Tai Situ, a tulku in Tibetan Buddhism, and one of the highest masters of the Karma Kagyu school. He is the head of Palpung...
Ole Nydahl (19 March 1941 – 18 May 2026), also known as Lama Ole, was a lama providing Mahamudra teachings in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. From the early 1970s, Nydahl toured the world giving lectures and meditation courses. With his...
Trinley Thaye Dorje (Tibetan: ཕྲིན་ལས་མཐའ་ཡས་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wylie: Phrin-las Mtha'-yas Rdo-rje) (born 6 May 1983 in Lhasa) is a claimant to the title of 17th Karmapa. The Karmapa is head of the Karma Kagyu school, one of the four main schools of Tibetan...
The Dance of 17 Lives is a 2004 book by UK journalist and author Mick Brown. It is the story of an exiled Tibetan teenager, the Karmapa, who has been hailed as one of the greatest spiritual leaders of modern times.
Ogyen Trinley Dorje (Tibetan: ཨོ་རྒྱན་འཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ་རྗེ།, Wylie: O-rgyan 'Phrin-las Rdo-rje, Chinese: 鄔金欽列多傑; born 26 June 1985), also written as Urgyen Trinley Dorje (Wylie: U-rgyan 'Phrin-las Rdo-rje) is a claimant to the title of 17th Karmapa. The...
Diamond Way Buddhism (Diamond Way Buddhism – Karma Kagyu Lineage) is a lay organization within the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The first Diamond Way Buddhist center was founded in 1972 by Hannah Nydahl and Ole Nydahl in Copenhagen under...