Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Personal

Vocation

Claimant to the title of 17th Gyalwang Karmapa. The Karmapa is head of the Karma Kagyu school, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Thaye Dorje are the persisting claimants to that office and title. Born in Lhatok Township, Qamdo County, Tibet Autonomous Region, to primarily nomadic parents, Ogyen Trinley Dorje is said to have identified himself to family members as the Karmapa early in childhood. (The identification of the 17th Karmapa is disputed. See Karmapa controversy, in Wikipedia.) Known as Apo Gaga, he was seven years old before he was recognized by a search party headed by the Tai Situpa, following instructions left by the previous Karmapa in a prophetic letter and hidden in a locket entrusted to Tai Situpa. Ogyen Trinley Dorje was installed at Tsurphu Monastery, the traditional seat of the Karmapa in Tibet, with the official sanction of the Central People's Government who declared him to be a "living Buddha", the first time a communist Chinese government has recognised a tulku. Link to Wikipedia biography