Editing Karmapa

{{Short description|Tulku lineage of the Tibetan Buddhist Karma Kagyu}}
{{Tibetan-Chinese-box
| image = Karmapa16 3 gross.jpg
| caption = The 16th Karmapa, [[Rangjung Rigpe Dorje]] 
(1924 – 1981)
| t=རྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་
| w=rgyal ba karma pa
| ipa={{IPA|bo|kaːmapa|}}
| z=Garmaba
| to=Karmapa
| e=—
| tc=噶瑪巴
| s=噶玛巴
| p=gámǎbā
}}
{{Tibetan Buddhism}}
[[Image:Flagkarmapa.svg|right|thumb|Karmapa's flag]]

The '''Karmapa [[Tulku]] lineage''' of the Gyalwa Karmapa is the oldest among the major incarnating lineages of Tibetan Buddhism,<ref name=Kagyu>The Karmapa, "The Karmapas Lineage", Kagyu Office</ref> established in 1110 CE by the [[1st Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa]].
Karmapa means “the one who carries out buddha-activity”, or “the embodiment of all the activities of the buddhas.”<ref name=Kagyu/> A total of 17 Karmapa manifestations have incarnated after their predecessors predict their own rebirths in detailed letters.<ref name= Kagyu/>

Their honorific titles include '''''His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa''''' ({{langx|bo|རྒྱལ་བ་|lit=Victorious One|label=none}}, and more formally as '''''Gyalwang''''' ({{langx|bo|རྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་|lit=King of Victorious Ones|label=none}}) The Karmapa is the head of the [[Karma Kagyu]], the largest sub-school of the [[Kagyu]] school ({{bo|t=བཀའ་བརྒྱུད|w=bka' brgyud}}), itself one of the four major schools of [[Tibetan Buddhism]]. 

The main seat of the four Tibetan seats of the Karmapas is the [[Tsurphu Monastery]] in [[U-Tsang]], along the Tolung valley of central [[Tibet]]. The Karmapa's seat built during the [[Tibetan diaspora]] is the Dharma Chakra Centre at [[Rumtek Monastery]] in [[Sikkim]], [[India]]. The international monastic seats are [[Karma Triyana Dharmachakra]] in [[New York (state)|New York]] and Dhagpo Kagyu Ling in Dordogne, [[France]], and in [[Dominica]].

Born in 1985, it was a few years after the [[Orgyen Trinley Dorje|17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje]] was located and then recognized in 1992 by the Dalai Lama, and by the Chinese Central Government, that another Karmapa was recognized by Shamar Rinpoche, [[Trinley Thaye Dorje]]. The identity of the current 17th Karmapa was resolved by the Karmapas themselves, [[Orgyen Trinley Dorje]] and [[Trinley Thaye Dorje]], both of whom issued a joint statement on 04 December 2023.<ref>Orgyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje. 4 December 2023, "A joint statement regarding the reincarnation of Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche". ''Karmapa.org''. Retrieved 14 December 2023</ref>

==Origin of the lineage==
[[Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama]] ({{bo|w=Dus gsum Mkhyen pa}}, 1110–1193), was a disciple of the Tibetan master [[Gampopa]]. A talented child who studied Buddhism with his father from an early age and who sought out great teachers in his twenties and thirties, he is said to have attained [[bodhi|enlightenment]] at the age of fifty while practicing [[dream yoga]]. He was henceforth regarded by the contemporary highly respected masters Shakya Śri and Lama Shang as the Karmapa, a manifestation of [[Avalokiteśvara]], whose coming was predicted in the ''[[Samadhiraja Sutra]]''<ref>{{cite web |author=Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche |url=http://www.rinpoche.com/samadisutra.html |title=King of Samadhi Sutra: Oral commentaries given in Rinpoche's monastery in Boudhanath, Nepal |date=January 1993 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010617183445/http://rinpoche.com/samadisutra.html |archive-date=2001-06-17}}</ref> and the ''[[Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra]]''.<ref>[http://www.buddhistinformation.com/lankavatara_sutra.htm The Lankavatara Sutra] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060113184106/http://www.buddhistinformation.com/lankavatara_sutra.htm |date=2006-01-13 }}</ref>

The source of the oral lineage, traditionally traced back to the Buddha [[Vajradhara]], was transmitted to the Indian master of [[mahamudra]] and [[tantra]] called [[Tilopa]] (989–1069), through [[Naropa]] (1016–1100) to [[Marpa Lotsawa]] and [[Milarepa]]. These forefathers of the Kagyu (Bka' brGyud) lineage are collectively called the "Golden Rosary".

==Recognition of the Karmapa==

The Karmapa is a long line of consciously reborn lamas, and the second Karmapa, [[Karma Pakshi, 2nd Karmapa Lama|Karma Pakshi]] (1204–1283), is the first recognized [[tulku]] ({{bo|w=sprul sku}}) in [[Tibetan Buddhism]] who predicted the circumstances of his rebirth.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/wiki/renaissanceold/Karmapa.html |title=Karmapa Concept Encyclopedia Analysis |publisher=Collab.itc.virginia.edu |access-date=20 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title="The Karmapa Prophecies"|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|first=Sylvia|last=Wong|year=2010|page=2|isbn=978-81-208-3480-4 |quote=The first master to reincarnate continuously, life after life, while keeping the same identity, was the 1st Karmpa Dusum Khyenpa (1110-1193). Before he died, the 1st Karmapa left brief oral instructions with three separate disciples concerning his next reincarnation. After his death, this first ever tulku declared himself to be the reincarnation of Dusum Khyenpa. The circumstances of his arrival corresponded to the oral instructions previously given. In addition, the 1st Karmapa's teacher Pomdrakpa saw him in a vision, and subsequently confirmed that Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa had indeed returned as Karma Pakshi, the 2nd Karmapa (1204-1283).}}</ref>

A Karmapa's identity is confirmed through a combination realized [[lama|lineage teachers]] supernatural insight, prediction letters left by the previous Karmapa, and the young child's own self-proclamation and ability to identify objects and people known to its previous incarnation.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of the Sixteen Karmapas of Tibet |first=Karma |last=Thinley |publisher=Prajna Press |author-link=Karma Thinley Rinpoche |year=1980 |isbn=1-57062-644-8 |pages=44,81,89,95,109,110,113,115,119,121,125,129}}</ref><ref>{{cite letter |first=Shamar|last=Rinpoche|recipient=Robert Thurman|subject=Karmapa Controversy|language=en|date=6 June 2006|url=http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Letter_to_Robert_A._F._Thurman_by_Shamar_Rinpoche|access-date=29 July 2020|author-link=Mipham Chokyi Lodro|quote=Because when you recognize the reincarnation of a Lama, the past Lama's spirit had to come from Nirvana or the Bardo to a new human form. At that point, the appropriate spiritual teachers recognize it. And when one is such a spiritual leader, that Lama is recognized either by seeing it directly from one's supernatural mind, or via the prediction of one's personal yidams (white or green Tara, for example, or Dharma protectors). 
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Miraculous 16th Karmapa: Incredible Encounters with the Black Crown Buddha|first=Norma|last=Levin|year=2013|publisher=Shang Shung Publications|page=XX|quote=His great bequest to spiritual history was his ability to recognize his own future reincarnation, thus establishing for the first time an infallible, continuous reincarnation lineage in which he could draw upon his clairvoyance to guide beings in the present. Since then the Karmapa was frequently called upon to identify other reincarnate Lamas. To foretell his own reincarnation he would write a prediction letter before passing away and give it secretly to a trusted disciple to be opened at the right time. This letter would tell the time and place of his birth and the names of his parents, as well as the special natural signs that would occur. The letter is infallible proof that it is the spiritual lineage that reincarnates and not a dynastic blood line.}}</ref>

===Conflicts in recognitions===

The 8th, 10th, and 12th incarnations, as well as the [[Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa#Controversy and Recognition as Karmapa|widely renowned 16th Karmapa]], each faced conflicts during their recognition,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rinpoche.com/controversy.htm|title=THE KARMAPA CONTROVERSY|first=Thrangu|last=Rinpoche|access-date=29 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200906095656/http://rinpoche.com/controversy.htm|archive-date=2020-09-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite letter |first=Shamar|last=Rinpoche|recipient=Robert Thurman|subject=Karmapa Controversy|language=en|date=6 June 2006|url=http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Letter_to_Robert_A._F._Thurman_by_Shamar_Rinpoche|access-date=29 July 2020|author-link=Mipham Chokyi Lodro|quote=Once instance where the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetan government did try to interfere in the process of recognizing the Karmapas was during the time of the recognition of the 16th Karmapa. At that time there was a boy, the son of the finance Minister Lungshawa, whom the 13th Dalai Lama recognized as the 16th Karmapa. Karma Kagyu lamas, on the other hand, recognized a boy from the Athubtsang family of Derge. They rejected the 13th Dalai Lama's candidate, and the 13th Dalai Lama accepted that rejection and acknowledged the Kagyu chosen candidate. That candidate grew up to be H. H. Rangjung Rigpe Dorje.}}</ref> which were ultimately resolved. There is currently a [[Karmapa Controversy|controversy]] over the enthronement of two 17th Karmapas.

==Black Crown==
The Karmapas are the holders of the [[Black Crown]] ({{bo|w=Zhwa-nag}}) and are thus sometimes known as "the Black Hat Lamas". This crown ({{bo|w=rang 'byung cod pan}} "self-arisen crown"), is traditionally said to have been woven by the [[dakini (Buddhism)|dakinis]] from their hair and given to the Karmapa in recognition of his spiritual realization. The physical crown displayed by the Karmapas was offered to [[Deshin Shekpa, 5th Karmapa Lama]] by the [[Yongle Emperor]] of China as a material representation of the spiritual one.

The crown was last known to be located at [[Rumtek Monastery]] in [[Sikkim]], the last home of the [[16th Karmapa]], although that location has been subject to some upheaval since 1993 causing some to worry as to whether or not it is still there. An inventory of items remaining at Rumtek is purported to be something the Indian government is going to undertake in the near future.

==List of previous Karmapas==
# [[Düsum Khyenpa]] ({{bo-textonly|དུས་གསུམ་མཁྱེན་པ་}}) (1110–1193)
# [[Karma Pakshi]] ({{bo-textonly|ཀརྨ་པཀྵི་}}) (1204–1283)
# [[Rangjung Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|རང་འབྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1284–1339)
# [[Rolpe Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|རོལ་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1340–1383)
# [[Deshin Shekpa]] ({{bo-textonly|དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་}})(1384–1415)
# [[Thongwa Dönden]] ({{bo-textonly|མཐོང་བ་དོན་ལྡན་}}) (1416–1453)
# [[Chödrak Gyatso]] ({{bo-textonly|ཆོས་གྲགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}) (1454–1506)
# [[Mikyö Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1507–1554)
# [[Wangchuk Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|དབང་ཕྱུག་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1556–1603)
# [[Chöying Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|ཆོས་དབྱིངས་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1604–1674)
# [[Yeshe Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1676–1702)
# [[Changchub Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|བྱང་ཆུབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1703–1732)
# [[Dudul Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|བདུད་འདུལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1733–1797)
# [[Thekchok Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|ཐེག་མཆོག་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1798–1868)
# [[Khakyab Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|མཁའ་ཁྱབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1871–1922)
# [[Rangjung Rigpe Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|རང་འབྱུང་རིག་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་}}) (1924–1981)
# [[Ogyen Trinley Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|ཨོ་རྒྱན་འཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ་རྗེ།}}) (b. 1985) or [[Thaye Dorje|Trinley Thaye Dorje]] ({{bo-textonly|ཕྲིན་ལས་མཐའ་ཡས་རྡོ་རྗེ།}}) (b. 1983)

==See also==
*[[Dorje Pakmo]]
*[[Drikungpa]]
*[[Shamarpa]]
*[[Thrangu Rinpoche]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Official websites of His Holiness Karmapa [http://www.karmapa.org www.karmapa.org] or [http://www.kagyuoffice.org www.kagyuoffice.org] 
* [[Karma Thinley Rinpoche|Thinley, Karma]]: ''The History of the Sixteen Karmapas of Tibet'', Boulder, Prajna Press 1980.
* Douglas, Nick; White, Meryl: ''Karmapa, the Black Hat Lama of Tibet'', Milano 1975.
* Ken Holmes, ''Karmapa'', Altea Publishing 1995, {{ISBN|0-9524555-4-4}}. [https://web.archive.org/web/20041205072856/http://www.personal.u-net.com/~samye/karmapa.htm Author's website] (While the book and web site favours one candidate for the 17th the information on 1st-16th is useful and was the original source for this article)

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Karmapa}}
The history of the Karmapa lineage, including biographical details of the historical Karmapas, can be found at the following web sites. Notice that the websites are written to those loyal to one or other of the rival 17th Karmapas, and their accounts of previous incarnations may not be written from a neutral point of view.
* [http://kagyuoffice.org/kagyu-lineage/ Karmapa lineage history] on [http://www.kagyuoffice.org kagyuoffice.org], the website of [[Ogyen Trinley Dorje]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120618221954/http://karmapa.org/history/the_karmapas/index_karmapa.htm Karmapa lineage history] on [http://www.karmapa.org karmapa.org], the website of [[Thaye Dorje]]
* [http://16th-karmapas-life.weebly.com The Life of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa]
* [http://www.khandro.net/Karmapas.htm Information on past and present Karmapas] from [http://www.khandro.net khandro.net], a website supporting Ogyen Trinley Dorje

{{-}}
{{Karmapas}}
{{Buddhism topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Karmapas| ]]
[[Category:Avalokiteśvara]]
[[Category:Bodhisattvas]]
[[Category:Karma Kagyu lamas]]
[[Category:Karma Kagyu tulkus]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhist titles]]
[[Category:Tulkus]]