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The 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje, the current head of the Karma Kagyü lineage was born in Kham (Eastern Tibet) on Mai 6th, 1983. Even as a child, he said that he was the Karmapa and in 1994 was formally recognized by H.E. Shamar Rinpoche as the legitimate reincarnation of the Karmapa according to the 900-year-old tradition of the Karma Kagyü transmission lineage.
The 14th Künzig Shamar Rinpoche (also called Shamarpa) is the second highest lineage holder of the Karma Kagyü lineage after the Karmapa. Shamar Rinpoche was born in 1952 in Derge in Eastern Tibet. At the age of four he was recognised as the incarnation of the 13th Shamarpa by H.H. the 16th Karmapa (1924-81).
Khenpo Choedrak Tenphel Rinpoche began his Buddhist studies at the age of ten under the guidance of H.H. the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India. He received novice vows at the age of sixteen and full monastic ordination at twenty-six. Also, at the age of twenty-six, Khenpo Choedrag Rinpoche, after completing 12 years of training in Buddhist philosophy, epistemology, linguistics and dialectics, received the title of Junior Khenpo from the 16th Karmapa, and at the age of thirty-one the title of Main Khenpo of the Karma Kagyu Lineage. In the following years, Khenpo Rinpoche continued to study and practice the Buddhist texts, received empowerments of various lineages and practiced meditation. Among his teachers are the 16th Karmapa, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Pawo Rinpoche, and Kalu Rinpoche. Until the age of forty-two Khenpo Rinpoche directed the Nalanda Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in Rumtek. In those days, his students graduated as "Khenpos" for the first time and the Karmapa Charitable Trust awarded him the title of "Khenchen". Since the early 1990s Khenpo Rinpoche headed the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in New Delhi for 14 years, where he also came into contact with Western practitioners on a broader basis. He travelled extensively to teach at Buddhist centers in Europe, the USA, and South East Asia. Khenpo Choedrag Rinpoche is one of the teachers of the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa. His teaching activities in Europe emphasize central works of Buddhist philosophy (the Middle Way, the Theory of Cognition [epistemology], and Buddha nature). Thus, since the 1990s in Vienna and since 1992 at the three-week summer course in Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, practitioners could rely on the vastness of his knowledge as well as on the reliability and accuracy of his explanations. He currently lives in Vienna. |