The Treasury of Lives

The Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpai Dorje (karma pa 16 rang byung rig pa'i rdo rje) was born in 1924, the wood-rat year of the fifteenth sexegenary cycle. He was born in Denkhok, in Kham, to an aristocratic family in the service of the Derge court named Den Atub Tsang ('dan a thub tshang). His father was named Peljor Tsewang Norbu (dpal 'byor tshe dbang nor bu) and his mother was named Kelzang Choden (P1444 skal bzang chos ldan). His brother would be identified as the Sixth Dzogchen Ponlob, Jikdrel Tsewang Dorje (rdzogs chen dpon slob 06 'jigs bral tshe dbang rdo rje, 1925–1962). A two-volume biography of the Sixteenth Karmapa by Gerd Bausch, Radiant Compassion, which provides the main source for this essay, finely details his life and activities.

The Karmapa's parents were patrons of the Fifth Dzogchen Rinpoche, Tubten Chokyi Dorje (rdzogs chen rin po che 05 thub bstan chos kyi rdo rje, 1872–1935), who is said to have predicted that they would give birth to a great lama. Towards the end of her next pregnancy, with that prophecy in mind, Kelzang Dolma resided in a Padmasambhava cave known as Sengge Namdzong (seng ge gnam rdzong). According to legend, on the night before his birth the infant disappeared from his mother's womb and spent an entire day in the pure realms before returning.^[1]

The Karmapa line of incarnations maintains a custom by which each incarnation leaves a letter predicting his subsequent birth. These letters are often discovered in personal amulets or other gifts given by the Karmapa to a disciple. In this case, the Fifteenth Karmapa, Kakhyab Dorje's (karma pa 15 bka' khyab rdo rje, 1870–1922) attendant Lama Jampel Tsultrim (P1377 bla ma 'jam dpal tshul 'khrims), came forth with a letter he had discovered in an amulet the Karmapa had given him. In addition to the letter, the Eleventh Tai Situ, Pema Wangchuk Gyelpo (ta'i si tu 11 padma dbang phyug rgyal po, 1886–1952) is said to have experienced visions regarding the rebirth. Based on the contents of the letter the Situ sent out a search party and located the child.

Even as the Eleventh Situ and the administration of Tsurpu Monastery (mtshur phu dgon), the main seat of the Karmapa incarnations, were finalizing their search, the Tibetan government in Lhasa, which claimed authority to approve the selection of major incarnations, announced that the Sixteenth Karmapa had been recognized as the son of a cabinet minister named Lungshar Dorje Tsegyel (lung shar rdo rje tshe rgyal, 1881–1940), a man reputed to have desired control over regions of Tibet dominated by the Karma Kagyu. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso (ta la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876–1933) issued a statement affirming the recognition. The administration of Tsurpu appealed the government's declaration, but the government declined to retract it.

For close to a year the negotiations continued, until the Lungshar's son fell from a roof and died. The Tsurpu administration again submitted the name of the Tsurpu Labrang candidate, but because it was the only name then in contention, the government again refused to consider it, not wanting to allow Tsurpu to determine the identity. Beru Khyentse Karma Jamyang Khyentse Wozer (karma 'jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i 'od zer, 1896–1945), a reincarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse dbang po, 1820–1893) based at Pelpung Monastery (dpal spungs), circumvented the government's obstruction by submitting the same child twice: once as the son of his father, and again as the son of his mother. The government declared that the son of his mother was the correct candidate.^[2]

The child remained with his parents for his first few years in Denkhok. Around the year 1931, when he was seven years old, Situ and the Second Jamgon Kongtrul, Khyentse Wozer ('jam mgon kon sprul 01 mkhyen brtse 'od zer, 1904–1953), went to his parents' house and gave him lay and bodhisattva vows. Soon after Beru Khyentse visited the child, and presented him with the robes of the Fifteenth Karmapa and the famous black crown of the Karmapas, which had been sent from Tsurpu.^[3] The hat is believed to be a physical representation of an invisible hat, woven from the hair of the ḍākinīs that is always on the Karmapa's head.

The young Karmapa then made his way to Pelpung to be formally enthroned. On route he stopped in the Derge capital and was given a public reception by the king, Tsewang Dudul (tshe dbang bdud 'dul, 1915–1942).^[4] After crossing the pass from Peljor Gang (dpal 'byor dgon) he was met by a large procession from Pelpung, with hundreds of monks in full splendor. Four days after arriving he was enthroned at the monastery's massive main temple in a ceremony presided over by Situ and Kongtrul, who would also supervise his initial education. The Karmapa would consider the two lamas his root gurus.

Tsurpu

Not long after his enthronement at Pelpung the child traveled to Tsurpu Monastery in the company of Situ and a large contingent of monks and laypeople. They stopped over at Kagyu monasteries on the way, including Karma Gon (karma dgon) and Zurmang Dutsitil (zur mang bdud rtsi mthil). On route the Karmapa, still only a child, performed two central duties of his position. He identified a child of seven as the Eleventh Garwang Tulku (gar dbang sprul sku 11),^[5] and he performed the black hat ceremony for the first time, in a monastery named Gyina (gyi na).^[6] This is a ritual in which the Karmapa places the black hat on his head and recites the mantra of Avalokiteśvara, revealing himself—to those who can perceive him—as an emanation of the deity. The Sixteenth Karmapa would become known around the world for this elegant ceremony.

They arrived at Tsurpu via the route along Nyenchen Tanglha (gnyan chen thang lha), a major mountain to the north of Lhasa that was long considered a regional deity, and was welcomed in late summer by the dominant incarnations of the Karma Kagyu tradition, including Kongtrul, the Tenth Pawo, Tsuklak Mawai Wangchuk (dpa' bo 10 gtsug lag smra ba'i dbang phyug, 1912–1991), and the Eleventh Goshir Gyeltsab, Drakpa Gyatso (go shri rgyal tshab 11 grags pa rgya mtsho, 1894–1952).

The Karmapa received his novice tonsure—the hair-cutting ceremony given to children entering the religious life—in Lhasa from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. According to legend, when the Karmapa went before the Dalai Lama to have a lock of his hair cut, the Dalai Lama turned to his attendant and demanded to know why the child had not removed his black hat. The surprised lama, whose vision was not as pure as the Dalai Lama's, insisted that the boy was bare-headed.

Back at Tsurpu, the child was enthroned a second time in a ceremony presided over by Situ and the Tenth Drukchen, Mipam Chokyi Wangpo (mi 'pham chos kyi dbang po, 1884–1930), with Gyeltsab and the Tenth Pawo.^[7]

While at Tsurpu the young Karmapa was educated by the Ninth Gangkar Lama, Karma Shedrub Chokyi Sengge (gangs dkar bla ma 09 karma bshad sgrub chos kyi seng+ge, 1892-1957), who was considered one of the finest Karma Kagyu scholars of his generation.^[8] This lama was strict, and would attempt to gain his pupil's attention by locking the door to the classroom before prostrating, and pinching and striking him when he misbehaved. Relatives of the Karmapa decided the Gangkar Lama was not sufficiently deferential to the child and had him removed.^[9]

Return to Kham

In January, 1936, the twelfth month of the wood-pig year, at the age of fourteen, the Karmapa returned to Kham to train with his two main teachers, Situ and Kongtrul. Several miracles are said to have occurred on the journey. At a hot spring known as Tardzi Chutsen snakes came out the greet the Karmapa who, to the horror of his attendants went amid them and declared "I am the king of snakes!" They later passed a place called Tsokpur where they had to cross a frozen river. The Karmapa's footprints are said to have remained visible even after the ice thawed.^[10]

His first tutor having been dismissed, on his arrival at Dilyak Monastery in Nangchen, the leadership at Karma Gon, the original seat of the Karmapa incarnations, insisted on assigning a lama named Samten Gyatso (bsam gtan rgya mtsho), who had been a teacher to the Fifteenth Karmapa and was the uncle of Tulku Urgyen, Tsewang Chokdrub Pelbar (sprul sku o rgyan tshe dbang mchog grub dpal 'bar, 1919-1996). According to Tulku Urgyen, Samten Gyatso never beat the Karmapa; instead, when the teenage lama misbehaved, his tutor would strike his own attendant, a lama named Dudul (bdud 'dul), which would quickly convince the compassionate Karmapa to sit and focus on his studies.^[11]

The elderly Samten Gyatso remained his tutor only briefly. Upon reaching Pelpung he requested to be dismissed, citing his advanced age, and Situ assigned Beru Khyentse to the position. A fierce lama, he too was forced by the Karmpapa's family to step aside after beating the Karmapa repeatedly. The Tenth Zurmang Tentrul, Karma Lodro Gyatso Drayang (zur mang bstan sprul 10 karma blo gros rgya mtsho'i sgra dbyangs) assumed the responsibility for a time, during which he transmitted Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge (shes bya mdzod).^[12] Tentrul, together with Kongtrul, transmitted the New Treasures of Chokgyur Lingpa (mchog gling gter gsar).^[13]

While the Karmapa was at Pelpung in 1938, Situ transmitted the remainder of the major Kagyu scriptures, including Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasury of Instructions (gdams ngag mdzod) and Treasury of Kagyu Tantra (bka' brgyud sngags mdzod).^[14] The Karmapa also crossed the pass over to Dzongsar Monastery (rdzong sar) to meet Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (mkhyen brtse chos kyi blo gro, 1893-1959), for whom he performed the black hat ceremony. Chokyi Lodro reported seeing the mystical hat hovering above the Karmapa's head.^[15]

Second Trip to Tsurpu and Travels in Bhutan, Nepal, and Sikkim.

In 1940 the Karmapa again returned to Tsurpu, stopping over at monasteries such as Benchen (ban chen) and Zurmang Namgyeltse (zur mang rnam rgyal rtse) on a journey of eleven months. At Zurmang we met with envoys who had come to Pelpung from Zurmang to petition the Karmapa to find the rebirth of the Tenth Trungpa, Karma Chokyi Nyinje (zur mang drung pa 10 karma chos kyi nyin byed, c. 1879-1938), and in response he provided them with various details of the reincarnation's family and location he had received in two visions, thus identifying the Eleventh Trungpa, Chokyi Gyatso (zur mang drung pa 11 chos kyi rgya mtsho, 1939-1987), better known in the West as Chogyam Trungpa.^[16]

While traveling through Nangchen the Karmapa's mother fell ill. Tulku Urgyen's father, a renowned healer, was called on to heal her at Dilyak Monastery, but he was unsuccessful and she passed away. She was cremated outside the monastery.^[17]

Having returned to his main seat, the Karmapa went into retreat for three years. On the conclusion of his retreat the Karmapa went on pilgrimage, visiting Samye (bsam yas), Marpa's house in Lhodrak, and Bhutan, on the invitation of the Third King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck ('jigs med rdo rje dbang phyug, 1928-1972).^[18] He arrived at the Kurje Lhakhang (sku rje lha khang) in April, 1944, and visited other royal monasteries as well, such as Tashi Choling (bkra shis chos gling) and Wangdu Choling (dbang 'dus chos gling), presiding over public audiences for thousands of devotees.^[19] He returned to Tsurpu in the summer of 1944, and received full ordination from Situ.^[20]

The Karmapa was known for his love of animals, particularly of birds, and wherever he lived he kept hundreds of them. In later life he kept an aviary with dozens of rare birds. When they were sick he would heal them, and when they were dying he would perform powa, the transference of consciousness to the pure realms. Tulku Urgyen, who spent many years with the Karmapa in the 1940s and 1950s, told of a particular bird that was particularly dear to the Karmapa, which had been given to him by Samten Gyatso's brother Tersey Tulku (gter sras sprul sku, d. 1956). The bird fell ill, and was brought to him when it was close to death so he could give it a blessing. The Karmapa placed the bird in Tulku Urgyen's hand, at which point it collapsed, dead, but it then quickly stood up again and remained standing for three hours. The Karmapa's attendants explained to Tulku Urgyen that birds that die in the Karmapa's presence routinely stand in samādhi after death.^[21]

From summer 1947 to the end of 1948 the Karmapa made a tour of Nepal, Sikkim, and India. He was welcomed in Nepal by King Tribhuwan Bir Bikram Shah (1906-1955), visiting Boudhanath, Swayambhunath and Pharping, the holy site on the edge of Kathmandu Valley where the Yanglesho Cave (yang le shod) is located. The king of Bhutan and the king of Sikkim, Tashi Namgyel (bkra shis rnam rgyal, 1893-1963) both sent guides, who accompanied his entourage. They first visited Lumbini before crossing into India and making their way to Bodh Gaya and other sites associated with the life of the Buddha. Traveling north, he stopped in Sikkim and gave transmissions to the king, and then on to Tso Pema (mtsho padma). From there they returned to Tibet, circumambulating Mount Kailash, three times before making their way back to Tsurpu.^[22]

In the summer of 1949 the Second Jamgon Kongtrul transmitted the Treasury of Revelations (rin chen gter mdzod) at Tsurpu, an event that took seven months to complete.^[23] As Tulku Urgyen relates in his memoirs, the Karmapa at this time requested a transmission of one of Chokgyur Lingpa's (mchog gyur gling pa, 1829–1870) treasures, the Three Sections of Dzogchen (rdzogs chen sde gsum). The Karmapa had already received the complete treasure revelations of Chokgyur Lingpa, but Tentrul and the Second Kongtrul, who had transmitted it to him, had themselves not received six volumes of the Three Sections of Dzogchen when they had received it from Samten Gyatso. The Karmapa therefore lacked the complete transmission and he thus insisted Tulku Urgyen, who was one of the few men alive who possessed the full transmission, give them to him when they met at Tsurpu.^[24] Tulku Urgyen was reticent, unwilling to place himself on a throne above the Karmapa as would have been necessary, but he ultimately relented. Having received the full transmission, in 1953 the Karmapa gave the New Treasures of Chokgyur Lingpa to Minling Chung Rinpoche, Ngawang Chodrak (smin gling gcung ngag dbang chos grags, 1908–1980), whom the Third Jamgon Kongtrul identifies as the head of Mindroling Monastery (smin grol gling) at the time.^[25]

The 1950s

Religious life continued in the Lhasa area largely unimpeded during the early years of the Chinese take-over of Tibet, albeit with considerable trepidation. In 1951 the Karmapa performed the black hat ceremony once again for the Dalai Lama, who reciprocated in 1952 with transmissions of various Kadam and Geluk teachings. During a second visit to Lhasa in early 1954 for a Kālacakra empowerment, he stayed at the home of Yum Rigden Ḍāki Dekyong (yum rig ldan DA ki bde skyong), the wife of the Fifteenth Karmapa and the mother of the Second Jamgon Kongtrul. According to tradition she was also the mother of the Eleventh Shamar (zhwa dmar 11, 1892–1947) who went unrecognized due to the Tibetan Government's ban on the incarnation following the treasonous activity of the Tenth Shamar, Chodrub Gyatso (zhwa dmar 10 chos grub rgya mtsho, 1741–1792). It was while there, in early 1954, that the Karmapa learned of the death of his teacher, the Second Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche.^[26] Tulku Urgyen relates how the Karmapa's attendants were initially too frightened to relay the terrible news, and only did so after Tulku Urgyen threatened them. On learning that his beloved teacher had passed away, the Karmapa wept openly, bemoaning, as Tulku Urgyen reported, that "beings of this time do not have the merit to keep such a great master" alive.^[27]

In 1954 the Karmapa accompanied the Fourteenth Dalai Lama to Beijing to meet with Mao Zedong (1893-1976). The Karmapa was one of several hundred other lamas in the entourage, invited to Beijing to represent Tibet at the inaugural National People's Conference, and to initiate the establishment of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It was during this visit, designed to convince the Dalai Lama to accept Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, that Mao infamously whispered into the Dalai Lama's ear, "Of course, religion is poison."^[28]

The Dalai Lama requested the Karmapa to stop over for some time in Kham to gather information on the situation there under Communist occupation. While in China the Karmapa had consulted with Bo Gangkar Rinpoche on the rebirth of the Situ, who had passed away in 1952, and determined the location of his rebirth, the Twelfth Situ, Pema Donyo Nyinje (si tu 12 pad+ma don yod nyin byed, b. 1954). During his visit in 1955 he supervised his enthronement at Pelpung.^[29] It was en route to Beijing that the Karmapa is said to have first decided that his nephew, Mipam Chokyi Lodro (mi 'pham chos kyi blo gros, 1952-2014), was the current incarnation of the Shamar line.^[30]

Back in Tibet, in late 1955 the Karmapa welcomed the Dalai Lama to Tsurpu for several weeks of festivals and exchanges of teachings, during which the Karmapa performed the black hat ceremony. According to disciples of the Fourteenth Shamar, during this time the Karmapa requested the Dalai Lama to lift the ban on the Shamar incarnations. Although the Dalai Lama gave his personal approval, the matter was not resolved for another decade, and only in 1964 did the Karmapa convince the Dalai Lama to allow him to enthrone him as the Fourteenth Shamar.^[31]

In Lhasa the Karmapa continued to serve the Dalai Lama in official capacities, acting as a liaison between the Tibetan Government and the Communist regime, attending meetings, on his behalf, of the Preparatory Committee for the Autonomous Region of Tibet in Lhasa, and visiting Chamdo in 1956 to mediate between Khampa liberation militias and the Chinese army.^[32]

In 1956 the Karmapa, alongside scores of other lamas, made his way to Bodh Gaya for the 2500th Buddha Jayanthi, celebrating the birth of the Buddha. The Karmapa travelled down to India via Druk Dechen Chokhor ('brug bde chen chos 'khor) and Nepal, and after touring the sacred Buddhist sites of India he returned to Tibet via Sikkim. On his way he laid over in Kalimpong where he met with the Bhutanese queen Ashi Kencho Choni Wangmo (b. 1909), most popularly known as Ashi Wangmo (a zhe dbang mo), who promised support in Bhutan were to go settle there. In Sikkim the king welcomed the Karmapa at a banquet at which he met the Sakya Trizin, Ngawang Kunga Tekchen Pelbar (ngag dbang kun dga' theg chen dpal 'bar, b. 1945). The Karmapa visited one of the three monasteries established there by the Twelfth Karmapa, Jangchub Dorje (karma pa 12 byang chub rdo rje, 1703–1732), named Potong, but declined an invitation to visit another, Rumtek (rum btegs). The Karmapa is said to have stated that he would visit when he needed to. Only a few years later he would make Rumtek his seat in exile.^[33]

By this point the Karmapa was beginning to prepare to leave Tibet. In 1956 or 1957 he sent Kalu Rinpoche (kar lu rin po che, 1905–1989) to Bhutan to begin laying the foundations for a possible residence there, and he sent precious items to India concealed in carpets.^[34] Kalu had arrived at Tsurpu in 1955, having fled the Communist forces in Kham like so many other lamas of the region.^[35]

The next few years were a time of increased confusion and movement in Tibet, as thousands of refugees from Kham began to pour into Lhasa. The cease-fire that the Karmapa had helped broker in 1956 collapsed in Chamdo, and fighting there was brutal. Shechen Kongtrul Pema Drime (zhe chen kong sprul pad+ma dri med, 1901–1960), the Twelfth Situ, Dilgo Khyentse (dil mgo mkhyen brtse, 1910–1991), Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, the Third Beru Khyentse (be rus mkhyen brtse 03, b, 1947), and the Ninth Sanggye Nyenpa, Gelek Drubpai Nyima (sangs rgyas mnyan pa 09 dge legs sgrub pa'i nyi ma, 1897–1962) all arrived at Tsurpu. They debated their next moves even as they assisted the Karmapa in construction projects, such as a line of eight new stūpa at Tsurpu and a renovation of Marpa's house in Lhodrak.^[36] The Karmapa received the transmission of Longchenpa's (klong chen pa dri med 'od zer, 1308-1364) Seven Treasuries from Zhechen Kongtrul, and he identified two new incarnations, the Third Jamgon Kongtrul, Lodro Chokyi Sengge ('jam mgon kong sprul 03 blo gros chos kyi seng+ge, 1954-1992), and the Twelfth Tsurpu Gyeltsab, Drakpa Tenpa Yarpel (mtshur phu rgyal tshab 12 grags pa bstan pa yar 'phel, b. 1954).^[37]

Having already sent the elderly Kalu Rinpoche to Bhutan, the Karmapa now sent several lamas to India: the Jamgon Kongtrul and the Ninth Sanggye Nyenpa (P) went to Kalimpong to live with relatives; the Situ had gone to Bhutan with Kalu Rinpoche.^[38]

Finally, on March 13, 1959, on the fourth day of the Tibetan earth-pig year, the Karmapa left Tsurpu for Bhutan, only a few days before the Dalai Lama himself left Lhasa, on March 17. The Karmapa sent a caravan of yak ahead of him carrying out as many religious relics and treasures from the monastery as he could. In the company were 160 people, among them his brother, the Dzogchen Ponlob; his nephew, the young Shamar; Gyeltsab; and the wife of the Fifteenth Karmapa.^[39] Three weeks after leaving Tsurpu they arrived in Lhodrak and the Karmapa performed a Milarepa empowerment at Sekhar Gutok (sras mkhar dgu thog), the tower that Milarepa (mi la ras pa 1040-1123) had built for Marpa (mar pa chos kyi blo gros,1012?-1097).^[40] They crossed into Bhutan via the Mon La Gar Chung pass, 19,855 feet, in advance of a massive snowfall that allowed them to escape a Chinese military expedition that had set out to follow them.^[41] Twenty-one days after leaving Tsurpu they arrived in Bumthang, Bhutan, where they were welcomed by Ashi Wangmo, Dilgo Khyentse, Kalu Rinpoche, and the young Situ.^[42]

The kings of Bhutan and Sikkim had both extended invitations to the Karmapa to reside in their countries, as did the Government of India, which welcomed the Dalai Lama and the exile government of Tibet. After conferring with a representative of the king of the still-independent Sikkim, the Karmapa decided to establish his seat in exile there, at Rumtek, twenty-miles outside of the capital, Gangtok.

Rumtek

Rumtek Monastery was first established in the late eighteenth century by the Twelfth Karmapa and the fourth king of Sikkim, Gyurme Namgyel (gyur med rnam rgyal, 1707-1733), who had traveled in Tibet and had met the Karmapa at Tsurpu.^[43] In 1959 it consisted of just a small central temple and a collection of wood-framed huts. For several years, as the community absorbed more and more refugees, the Karmapa supervised the rebuilding and expansion of the monastery, breaking ground in January 1963 for a new large temple and completing it in February 1966. The monastery, previously named Karma Tubten Chokhorling (karma thub bstan chos 'khor gling) was now given the name Shedrub Chokhorling (bshad sgrub chos 'khor gling). The religious treasures that the Karmapa had brought from Tsurpu were installed and reconsecrated and the ritual calendar from Tsurpu was inaugurated. Among the main tutors at the monastery were the Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Karma Lodro Ringluk Mawai Sengge (khra 'gu sprul sku 09 karma blo gros ring lugs smra ba'i seng+ge, b. 1933).

The Karmapa was a leader in establishing Tibetan communities in exile, not only by building monasteries and training young lamas to continue Tibetan religious traditions, but in gathering and distributing resources for the destitute Tibetans. He also repeatedly performed public rituals around which the exile community could coalesce. In 1961 he toured the Tibetan refugee camps in Nepal, India, and Bhutan and performed the black hat ceremony at Boudhanath Sūpa. During the trip he met with the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) in Delhi, and the Bhutanese royal family in Thimphu.

At Rumtek the Karmapa supervised the education of young Karma Kagyu tulkus, four of whom would later be tasked with searching for his reincarnation: the Third Jamgon Kongtrul, the Twelfth Situ, the Fourteenth Shamar, and the Twelfth Tsurpu Gyeltsab, all of whom were below the age of ten. During this period the Karmapa formally enthroned the young Situ and the Jamgon Kongtrul, and he formally recognized his nephew as the Fourteenth Shamar, finally ending the nearly-two-hundred-year ban on the incarnation line.

Over the course of the 1960s and 1970s the Karmapa transmitted to these and other young lamas the major scriptural collections of the Karma Kagyu tradition. He transmitted the Treasury of Kagyu Tantra, followed shortly after by the transmission of the Treasury of Instructions, Kongtrul's Collected Works, and classic Kagyu compositions on Mahāmudrā of the Seventh and Ninth Karmapas. In 1971 the Karmapa transmitted the Treasury of Knowledge and the Treasury of Kagyu Tantra a second time.^[44]

Further Travels in India, Nepal, and Bhutan

The Karmapa maintained an active schedule of travel across the Buddhist communities of the Himalayan region, enjoying the patronage of multiple royal families, and ministering to the religious and material needs of thousands of disciples. In 1967 he made a second regional tour, visiting Ladakh, performing the black hat ceremony in a field outside of Leh for a crowd of thousands, and blessing the site of the region's first Karma Kagyu monastery, Karma Drupgyud Choeling^[45] (karma grub brgyud chos gling), where construction began in 1975. He stopped over in Dharamsala to where the Dalai Lama gave him the transmission for Tsongkhapa's (P64 tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419) famous poem Three Principal Aspects of the Path (lam gyi gtso bo rnam gsum) and then in Tilokpur, reputed to be the practice site of Tilopa. Freda Bedi, an English disciple of the Karmapa who had by then ordained and was known as Sister Palmo, had established a convent there, which he blessed and named Karma Drubgyu Thargay Ling (karma grub brgyud dar rgyas gling).^[46] In 1972 Sister Palmo would travel to Taiwan to receive full bikṣuni ordination, which Tibetan Buddhist leadership, despite pressure from Tibetan and non-Tibetan activists, continues to deny women. In Tashi Jong he blessed the site of a new Khampagar Monastery (khams pa gar); the original Khampa Gar is a major Drukpa Kagyu monastery in Kham that was founded by the Fourth Khamtrul Rinpoche, Tenzin Chokyi Nyima (khams sprul rin po che 03 bstan 'dzin chos kyi nyi ma, b. 1730). He gave vows to two young tulkus and thirty other young men, and returned to Rumtek via Darjeeling, where he visited with Chadrel Rinpoche Sanggye Dorje (bya bral sangs rgyas rdo rje, 1913-2015).^[47]

The Karmapa made two trips to Bhutan between 1967 and 1969. He first visited Taktsang (stag tshang) in Paro and blessed a new statue of Padmasambhava there. During this visit King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk (P, 1929-1972) gave the Karmapa his summer palace in Bumthang, Tashi Choling (bkra shis chos gling) to convert into a monastery and monastic college. The royal family made other gifts as well, including three other temples, a fleet of trucks and jeeps, and several commercial properties in Thimphu to help support the Karmapa's activities. The Karmapa returned to Bhutan in 1969 to consecrate the ground of new buildings at Tashi Choling. Over the course of three months there he gave the transmission of Jamgon Kongtrul's Collected Works; Knowing One Thing Which Liberates All (gcig shes kun grol)—a collection of empowerments into the main Tantric deities compiled by the Ninth Karmapa; the Six Dharmas of Nāropa; and teachings on Mahāmudrā.^[48] According to Bausch, the Karmapa fell seriously ill during the ceremony but refused to leave for treatment, evidence of his dedication to his disciples.^[49]

Over the winter of 1969-1970 the Karmapa spent several months in Nepal, celebrating the Tibetan New Year at Swayambhu, where he initiated the renovation of Shri Karma Raja Mahavihara,^[50] a monastery that had been established by the Fourth Shamar.^[51] (The monastery was completely destroyed in the 2015 earthquake and is being rebuilt.)

Two years later the Karmapa was back in Bhutan for the funeral of the Bhutanese king Jigme Dorje Wangchug, who had died while traveling in Kenya. Following the cremation the Karmapa went on pilgrimage in India and, in 1972, met with the Indian yoga master Swami Muktananda (1908-1982). Freda Bedi and her friend Didi Contractor, who was a disciple of Mktananda, arranged the visit.^[52] The Fourteenth Shamar and the Dzogchen Ponlob accompanied him. He returned to Bhutan in June, 1974, for the coronation of the fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchug ('jigs med seng ge dbang phyug, b. 1955).

Engaging with the West: First Tour, 1974-1975.

Sister Palmo was the first of many Western disciples of the Karmapa. In 1967 he had ordained Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (b. 1943), a young British woman who was a student of Khamtrul Rinpoche and who would later receive full bikṣuni vows in Taiwan and go on to become a renowned practitioner. The Karmapa predicted that many Western women and men would follow her in taking robes, and told her that to pave the way she must never disrobe.^[53] His trip to Nepal in the winter of 1969-1970 introduced him to several people who would become significant teachers in the Karma Kagyu tradition in the West. They included Tsültrim Allione (b. 1947) who had earlier studied with Trungpa Rinpoche and who took ordination vows with the Karmapa in 1970 in Bodh Gaya, and Ole (b. 1941) and Hannah Nydahl (1946-2007), a married couple from Denmark. The Karmapa took to Ole Nydahl so warmly that he once jumped on Nydahl's back to be carried while they were walking down the long, steep steps to the Swayambhunath Stūpa.^[54]

In 1968 Chogyam Trungpa had visited Rumtek while on a trip to Bhutan and described his impressions of England. Few Tibetan lamas had made the journey to the West by this point, and the Karmapa depended on Trungpa for information. In 1971 the Fourth Karma Thinley Rinpoche (karma 'phrin las 04, b. 1931) moved to Ontario, Canada, to minister to a group of Tibetans settling there, and in 1973 the Karmapa sent Kalu Rinpoche on a tour of America and Europe. These three lamas' activities laid the groundwork for the Karmapa's first tour of Europe and North America, from September 1974 to February 1975.

The tour was chiefly organized and sponsored by Chogyam Trungpa, whose unorthodox teaching methods apparently caused the Karmapa some concern. The Karmapa had first sent Freda Bedi to investigate Trungpa's activity; until she reported back he could not be pursuaded to go. The Canadian leg was organized and sponsored by Namgyal Rinpoche of Toronto, a Canadian man who was born Leslie George Dawson (1931-2003). This was the man who, as a Theravadin monk named Ananda Bodhi, had established the Johnstone House Contemplative Community in Scotland which Trungpa and Akong Tulku (a dkon sprul sku, 1940-2013) had taken over and renamed Samye Ling. The Karmapa traveled on a Bhutanese diplomatic passport, with American diplomatic credentials.

The tour began in London. The Karmapa was accompanied by over twenty people, including Sister Palmo and the Third Bardor Tulku ('bar rdo sprul sku 03, 1949–2021). They were welcomed by Akong Tulku and Tulku Chime  (sprul sku 'chi med, b. 1941), and also Ole and Hannah Nydahl. The following day the Karmapa flew to New York. Chogyam Trungpa and his community arranged the welcome and the various legs of the journey through America, meticulously planning each detail so as to serve the Karmapa in high style. Kalu Rinpoche was also in New York as part of the welcome.

He first stayed at the Long Island house of Dr C. T. Shen (1913-2007), an active sponsor of Buddhist activity in the United States and Taiwan. Dr. Shen donated a piece of land in Carmel, NY, and would later support the purchase of land in Woodstock and the construction of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, which serves as the Karmapa's seat in North America. In New York City the Karmapa toured the United Nations, went to the observation deck in the Empire State Building, and spent a long morning at the Bronx Zoo. On September 21, 1974, he performed the black hat ceremony in the Hammerstein Ballroom on 34th Street, followed by an empowerment for Trungpa's students at their center in the City. 

Knowing of the Karmapa's love of birds, students would give them to him, and from the very beginning he gathered a considerable aerie along his way. The cages would travel in the airplanes and occasionally had to be snuck across international borders.

From New York the Karmapa went north to Vermont, to Trungpa's center in Barnett. The Karmapa changed its name from Tail of the Tiger to Karmé Chöling. He then flew to Ann Arbor, Michigan to meet with Swami Muktananda, who was there establishing an ashram, and perform the black hat ceremony. In Boulder he publicly affirmed Trungpa's place in the Karma Kagyu lineage, an act that strengthened Trungpa's ties to the tradition and dispelled concerns about his unorthodox methods of teaching and behavior. The Karmapa performed the black hat ceremony and he gave a Mahākāla initiation to some of Trungpa's senior students, some of the earliest tantric empowerments the community received. He again performed the black hat ceremony in Denver, and visited Trungpa's Rocky Mountain Dharma Center, now known as the Shambhala Mountain Center where he blessed the site of the future Dharmakāya Stūpa.^[55]

The Karmapa next made a visit to the Hopi Nation, where he had sent Sister Palmo in February, 1974, to prepare for his arrival.^[56] The Karmapa's interest in the Native American people had been sparked years earlier, and in fact, according to his driver during this first American visit, his main goal of the North American journey was to encounter the Hopi people in Arizona, whom he considered to be models of peaceful living.^[57] The Karmapa arrived a day early, but was nevertheless warmly welcomed by the elderly chief, Ned Nayatewa and his wife Nerne. While they gave Karmapa a tour of their village, and compared customs and beliefs, the chief explained that they were experiencing a serious drought. The Karmapa is said to have replied "don't worry, I'll take care of it," and to have performed rainmaking rituals in his jeep as they drove away. By the time they reached their motel, dark clouds had filled the sky and a drenching rain was falling. That night he attended a large banquet for Navajo and Hopi tribal elders, at which he gave an Avalokiteśvara empowerment.^[58]

The following day they visited a Hopi medicine woman and the famous Hopi cultural activist White Bear (1905-1996), and then boarded a plane to California. Bausch describes how, in the Phoenix airport the Karmapa released the birds people had given him for them to stretch their wings. When boarding was announced he clapped his hands and they all returned to their cages.^[59]

The Karmapa remained in San Francisco for five days, performing the black hat ceremony for thousands at Fort Mason, the culmination of a ten-day festival that had been organized by Trungpa's Dharmadhatu center. Among the celebrities there were Allen Ginsburg—who had first met the Karmapa in Rumtek in 1962—poet Anne Waldman, and Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead. According to Bausch, in both 1962 and again in San Francisco in 1974 Allen Ginsberg asked the Karmapa whether psychedelic drugs could be part of "a valid spiritual path," and both times the Karmapa answered in the negative, stating that drugs create an artificial sense of higher consciousness that is only achieved in earnest through meditation practice.^[60] While in San Francisco the Karmapa toured the zoo and gave a teaching on freedom at Tarthang Tulku's center.

From San Francisco the Karmapa flew to Canada, to minister to the Tibetan refugee communities in Vancouver and Toronto. He was met first in Vancouver by Kalu Rinpoche, who had opened a center there in 1972, Kagyu Kunchab Choling. This was Kalu Rinpoche's first center in the West and served as his seat in North America. During the five-day visit Kalu Rinpoche and the Karmapa flew in a small Cessna, with Kalu Rinpoche's disciple, translator, and biographer Ken McLeod (b. 1948). They flew circles around Salt Spring Island, where Kalu Rinpoche would later establish a retreat center, Kunzang Dechen Osel Ling. Dezhung Rinpoche (P7679sde gzhung rin po che, 1906-1987), who had settled in Seattle years before, stayed at Kalu Rinpoche's center while the Karmapa was present.

The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, Walter Stuart Owen (1904–1981) brought the Karmapa to a whale show at which he was delighted to be thoroughly soaked. He performed the black hat ceremony on October 23 in downtown Vancouver. The final leg of the North American tour was Toronto, where he was hosted by Karma Thinley Rinpoche and Namgyal Rinpoche.

From Toronto the Karmapa flew to Glasgow to begin, on November 12, 1974, a three-month tour of Europe. He performed the black hat ceremony in each city he visited. He spent close to a month in the United Kingdom. He first visited Glasgow, and the nearby Samye Ling, and then Edinburgh, where the famous diplomat and Tibet scholar Hugh Richardson (1905-2000) attended the black hat ceremony; Richardson, while stationed in Lhasa, had visited the Karmapa multiple times at Tsurpu. To smaller groups of practitioners he gave select tantric empowerments, such as Hevajra and Tārā at Samye Ling, and Vajrayogīnī at Chime Rinpoche's center in Essex. On November 29, in Essex, he ordained the American teacher Pema Chödrön (b. 1936), possibly the first time Tibetan ordination ceremony had been held in Britain;^[61] Pema Chödrön received full ordination in Hong Kong in 1981.

On December 10 the Karmapa arrived in Oslo, welcomed by Ole and Hanna Nydahl, who drove him around the Norwegian and Swedish countryside in their Volkswagen van, and then south to Denmark, Germany, Holland, and Belgium, where, since there were as yet few Buddhists, he performed the black hat ceremony to small crowds. In Copenhagen he visited the Nydahls' center, then known as Karma Drub Djy Ling or Karma Kadjy Skolen, and which in the two years of its existence had already been visited by both the Dalai Lama and Kalu Rinpoche. The Karmapa inspired the community to move out of its small basement and, in 1975, purchase two grand buildings nearby, now named Buddhistik Center København.

On January 8, 1974, the Karmapa arrived in Paris for the grandest event of the European tour—the black hat ceremony in a ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel, which was attended by several thousand people and was opened by the famous film director Arnaud Desjardins, who had frequently visited the Karmapa at Rumtek in the 1960s. Some five hundred people requested refuge. While in Paris the Karmapa resided at Kalu Rinpoche's center, Kagyu Dzong. It was at this time that he encountered one of his major patrons in France, Jean-Louis Massoubre (1938-2016), a French politician and philosopher whose youngest son, Ananda (b. 1975), he later recognized as an incarnation of Karma Ngawang Trinle Khakyab (karma ngag dbang 'phrin las mkha' khyab). 

In Paris two supporters pledged land; Bernhard Benson gave property in the Dordogne region, and Erwan Temple donated property in the Pyrenees. These would later be the sites of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling and Karma Gon (which was later abandoned). The Karmapa installed his nephew Jigme Rinpoche ('jigs med rin po che, b. 1949), the brother of the Fourteenth Shamar, as the head of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, and in 1975 sent Gendun Rinpoche (dge 'dun rin po che, 1918-1997) to France to teach at the centers and lead the three-year retreats there. From Paris the Karmapa traveled southeast to Kalu Rinpoche's center in Burgundy, Kagyu Ling, established the year before, which he now consecrated. On his return to France a disciple of Kalu Rinpoche, Jean-Pierre Schnetzler offered him a third property, which became the site of a center called Karma Migyur Ling.

On January 17, 1975 the Karmapa met with Pope Paul VI (1897-1978), a visit organized by Namkhai Norbu (nam mkha'i nor bu, 1938-2018) with assistence of students of Akong Rinpoche, following a similar meeting between the Pope and Kalu Rinpoche four years earlier. The Pope, known for his ecumenical attitude embodied in the Second Vatican Council of 1965, welcomed the Karmapa with a speech that expressed admiration for Buddhism and hoped for further interfaith meetings. As in other cities, the Karmapa found his way to a pet shop to gather more birds.^[62] After another tour of France the Karmapa visited the sizable Tibetan community in Rikon, Switzerland, and then, on February 9, 1975 returned to India.

Second Tour: 1977-1978

Less than two years after his first journey to the West the Karmapa returned to North America and Europe. Much of his itinerary was organized by the students of Kalu Rinpoche and Trungpa Rinpoche, who by then had established centers across North America. He spent two weeks in Hawai'i, at Karma Rimay O Sal Ling, Kalu Rinpoche's center in Maui. While there he was diagnosed with severe diabetes, which he told the doctor he was controlling through his yogic practices.^[63] He continued to San Francisco where he was met with great pomp by Trungpa Rinpoche. He then went to New York, Boston, and up to Karmé Chöling in Vermont, Trungpa Rinpoche's first center, and then on to Boulder. Although the Karmapa expressed some reservations with the highly controlled environment of Trungpa's organization, he praised their preparations and was impressed with their meditation progress, agreeing to transmit the Vajrayogīnī to those who had finished the preliminary practices. In each city where the Vajradhatu center hosted him, they rented extravagant spaces and rooms, a choice that did not escape criticism of some who were offended by the amount of money spent.^[64]

The Karmapa visited a dozen separate centers in Canada, beginning in March, 1978. Bausch describes how many of the visits included meetings with members of the First Nations, including at Kalu Rinpoche's new retreat center on Salt Spring Island near Vancouver, an area which the Karmapa declared was under the protection of a local fire god.^[65]  The Karmapa also encountered Greenpeace activist Bob Hunter, and blessed his plans to hire a ship to stop Japanese whale hunters. 

Before leaving North America the Karmapa again visited the site in Carmel, NY, which Dr. Shen had donated during his first tour. Although the Karmapa had blessed the site, he was not convinced that it was the right place to build a large monastery and North American seat. By chance Kongtrul Rinpoche came across the Mead Mountain House, an old hotel outside of Woodstock, NY, which was for sale. The American Buddhist Surya Das later facilitated the purchase in 1978, funded by Mr. Shen, after the Karmapa had returned to Rumtek. This would become the site of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, or KTD.^[66]

On June 10, 1977, the Karmapa arrived in Paris, where he stayed for a week at Kalu Rinpoche's center, Kagyu Dzong before moving on to Dhagpo Kagyü Ling in Dordogne. The site was yet to be developed, although Lama Gendun and Jigme Rinpoche had repaired the run-down farmhouse in preparation for the visit. He gave a black hat ceremony there, and then continued to centers in Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain, and Greece, all in the course of six months. He returned to Dordogne at the end of October for three weeks, during which time the donation of the land was finalized.^[67]

Wherever the Karmapa went in Europe he connected with the people and places in remarkable ways, inspiring individuals who had no previous contact with Buddhism and invigorating nascent centers to flourish. He also continued to accumulate birds—Bausch reports that by the end of his fifteen-month tour of North America and Europe he had eighteen cages with 270 birds.^[68] Ken Holmes, who drove the Karmapa in Paris, tells of an afternoon bird shopping. The Karmapa was not interested in the shops Holmes brought him to, and, back in the car, he gave Holmes a series of directions into unknown neighborhoods that had Holmes thinking the Karmapa was playing a practical joke on him. Finally, at the entrance to a cul-de-sac, the Karmapa exited the car and walked into a small pet shop to purchase several birds.^[69]

Monasteries and Centers in India and Nepal, 1976-1980

Even as the Karmapa was active in spreading the Karma Kagyu in the West, he was also building new monasteries and schools in India. He also was active in printing Buddhist scripture. In the last five years of his life the Karmapa published the Derge Kangyur and Tengyur. Between 1976 and 1979 he printed five hundred copies of the Kangyur, in 103 volumes. These were from the earliest printing of the 1733 Derge blocks, and therefore of considerable scholarly as well as religious value. These projects were done with the sponsorship of Dr. C. T. Shen and the assistance of E. Gene Smith.^[70]

In 1976 Tulku Urgyen completed a monastery in Boudhanath, Nepal, which he named Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling. He invited the Karmapa to dedicate the buildings, and to give the transmission of the Treasury of Kagyu Tantra to scores of young lamas, including the Third Kongtrul, the Gyeltsab, Shamar, and Situ incarnations. The king of Nepal, Birendra Shri Pancha Bir Bikrim Shah attended the consecration. While in Nepal the Karmapa also visited the monastery at Swayambhunath, Karma Raja Mahavihara Monastery which served as his seat in that country, and which the Tenth Shamar would manage beginning in 1979, and he went to Lumbini to bless the Eighteenth Chogye Trichen, Tubten Lekshe Gyatso's (bco brgyad khri chen 18 thub bstan legs bshad rgya mtsho, 1920-2007) new monastery there.^[71]

The Karmapa initiated the construction of several educational institutions, including the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (KIBI) in Delhi, on land donated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1976. The Karmapa laid the first foundation stone on June 8, 1979. Shamar Rinpoche inaugurated the completed building in 1990. In 1978 he erected a building for a monastic college, Karmai Jamyang Khang Institute, and the following year he initiated the first three-year retreat at the new Samten Ling Retreat Center above Rumtek.^[72] He also initiated the construction of a nunnery above Rumtek, named Karmé Chökhor Dechen Ling, a project for which he had requested Grace McLeod to take charge.^[73] The buildings were completed in 1985.

Failing Health and The Third World Tour, 1980

In the early morning of the ceremony to lay the first stone at KIBI, the Karmapa was with Shamar in a hotel room when he suddenly began vomiting blood. He insisted on proceeding with the event, but he collapsed that evening and was taken to a hospital in Delhi. There he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and sections of his stomach were removed.

Despite his tenuous health, less than a year later, in May 1980, the Karmapa once again flew to North America. He would not have the physical strength to return to Europe, save for a brief stopover in London where he gave the black crown ceremony for patrons and Kagyu lamas. He was welcomed in New York by Trungpa Rinpoche in his typical grand style; Bausch describes how the Karmapa ignored the reception and managed to get lost in the airport. He spent two weeks in New York undergoing medical tests, and then went to the site of what would become KTD to perform a black hat ceremony under a large tent by the old hotel.^[74]

From New York the Karmapa flew to Colorado. In Boulder he blessed the new site of Trungpa's Naropa Institute. In June, while in Boulder, the Karmapa had a dream in which he saw a flag, in yellow and blue sides swirling into each other. This has become an emblem of the Karma Kagyu tradition, known as the "Dream Banner," or Namkhyen Gyaldar (nam mkhyen rgyal dar), the "Victorious Flag of the Buddha's Wisdom." The Karmapa announced that "Wherever this banner is flown, the dharma will flourish."^[75]

Despite his ill health, and the occasional appearance of Bell's Palsy—a condition that causes temporary stiffening or drooping of the muscles of the face—his schedule was full. After a visit to California, the Karmapa again returned to Woodstock to consecrate the land for the construction of a monastery. He was visited there by Dezhung Rinpoche and Dudjom Rinpoche, and he was able to visit his old friend Swami Muktananda at his center in South Fallsburg, NY. He visited New York City, Washington D.C., and the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts. In Burlington, Vermont he gave the black hat ceremony in the University of Vermont's Ira Allen Chapel and stayed again at Trungpa's center, Karmé Chöling. In Toronto he met with the Dalai Lama, who was himself on his first North American tour. After stops in Chicago and Hawai'i, having visited seventy-four dharma centers, he departed for East Asia.^[76]  He visited Kagyu centers in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Burma before returning to India.

The Karmapa's health continued to deteriorate. Bausch documents the wildly varied examination results the Karmapa had received over the final few years of his life, during which doctors were confused to find the Karmapa at ease in the midst of what they considered severe ailments, only to have all signs of the diseases gone several days later. The Karmapa maintained that as long as his work was not done he would remain in his body, but ultimately, perhaps because he had successfully laid down a strong foundation for the global spread of the Karma Kagyu tradition, his illness consumed his body.

In August, 1981, his doctor urged a return to the hospital, and after vomiting blood again the following month, the Karmapa agreed to fly to Hong Kong for treatment. With the intervention of the Buddhist community, the Karmapa was given the rooms reserved for the British governor of the territory. Kalu Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, Kongtrul, Shamar, and other lamas provided constant attendance.^[77]

A surgery revealed that the Karmapa's cancer had spread throughout his body, and that intervention was no longer warranted. He also developed pneumonia. The Karmapa's cook at Rumtek, the Danish nun Ani Ea came to Hong Kong, and she suggested contacting Dwight McKee, an American doctor known for his cancer treatment. Dr. McKee agreed to treat the Karmapa in the United States. The Karmapa flew to Chicago via Japan and Seattle, and on October 19, 1981 he was admitted to the American International Hospital in Zion, Illinois, now known as the Cancer Treatment Center of America. Kongtrul, Shamar, Situ, and other lamas accompanied him and took rooms near the hospital with the help of the local Kagyu center.^[78] Dr. Mitchell Levy, the personal physician to Trungpa Rinpoche, flew to Chicago to consult.

Because of insufficient attention to the Karmapa's diabetes during the trip, his kidneys were failing, and he underwent dialysis. This resulted in a bacterial infection that led to sepsis and the need for a blood plasma exchange, a procedure only recently developed. Despite these crises, all reports state that the Karmapa remained alert and good natured, laughing at setbacks and expressing concern for the hospital staff. He alternated between being on the verge of death and enjoying stable conditions during which he sat up and conversed with the staff and his entourage.^[79]

On November 3 the Karmapa's pneumonia reached a point that his lungs began to fail, and on November 5 he suffered a heart attack around nine in the evening. His heart and breathing stopped and restarted several times, before finally ceasing at 11:30 in the evening.^[80]

The Karmapa's body remained in the hospital for three days, reportedly exhibiting signs of tukdam (thugs dam), the Tibetan after-death meditation in which the body remains warm while the consciousness slowly exits. On November 8 permission was given to repatriate the Karmapa's remains to India. Stopovers were arranged in New York and London, where Shamar joined the entourage, and then a two-day layover in Delhi at the Sikkim House. His body was then flown to the Bagdoga airport in West Bengal, to Gangtok via helicopter, and to Rumtek via truck.^[81]

Following the traditional forty-nine day bardo rites, the Karmapa was cremated on December 20, 1981, at the center of a ceremonial pyre shaped like a maṇḍala. The Karmapa's four young disciples, Kongtrul, Situ, Shamar, and Gyeltsab each presided over a direction, as did Bokar Rinpoche and Kalu Rinpoche. At one point a relic emerged which Kalu Rinpoche identified as the Karmapa's heart. He instructed that it be placed into a silver bowl. Multiple other miracles were reported by participants and observers.^[82]

In 2016 the Sixteenth Karmapa's collected writings were published in three volumes in Dharamsala.

The Seventeenth Karmapa

The Sixteenth Karmapa's legacy has been broad and lasting, with thriving institutions that he sponsored or blessed, and disciples who are carrying on the tradition across Asia, the Americas, and Europe. That legacy is continued, and is contested, by two men who both claim the title of the Seventeenth Karmapa: Orgyen Trinley Dorje (o rgyan 'phrin las rdo rje, b. 1985) and Thaye Dorje (mtha' yas rdo rje, b.1983). The narratives of their identification are starkly in conflict.^[83] They begin as early as the Sixteenth Karmapa's deathbed, over the cause of Shamar Rinpoche's absence from the hospital and whether the Karmapa was able to speak and therefore leave a testament regarding his rebirth. As Bausch skillfully notes, there are also multiple accounts of the relic that emerged from the Sixteenth Karmapa's cremation, whether it was solely the heart or also included the eyes and tongue, who was near to the relic when it appeared, and who picked it up.^[84] In May 1992 Situ announced that he was in possession of a letter predicting the location of the Karmapa's rebirth. This led to the enthronement at Tsurpu in October, 1992 of Orgyen Trinley Dorje as the Seventeenth Karmapa. The Shamar disputed the selection, and in March, 1994, presented Thaye Dorje at KIBI as the Seventeenth Karmapa. The two sides accused the other of deception, violent clashes have followed, and Karma Kagyu communities around the world have been forced to choose between the two. In recent years the two men have made efforts to overcome the divide, issuing a joint statement on October 11, 2018 announcing that they had discussed ways to "heal the divisions" and asking their followers to join them in "restoring harmony" to the Karma Kagyu tradition.^[85]

 

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