Khakhyap Dorje, the Fifteenth Karmapa (1871-1922), was born with the very auspicious circle of hair between the eyebrows (found on the young Sakyamuni and known as one of the 32 marks of an enlightened being). Khakyab Dorje spoke the mantra of Avalokiteshvara at his birth in the Tsang province in central Tibet and is the first in the line of Karmapas to get married; he had three sons.  His life was a brilliant example of the bodhisattva with an insatiable desire for learning in ...

The Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje (1556–1603) is best known as the author of Pointing Out the Dharmakaya and other texts on the practice of mahamudra. He also wrote several commentaries on philosophy that are noted for being clear and easy for new students, including this text as well as Feast for the Fortunate, a commentary on madhyamika philosophy. He spent most of his life traveling throughout Tibet in the Great Encampment, practicing meditation, teaching the Dharma, and helping sentient beings ...

Born to a family of devoted Buddhist practitioners in eastern Tibet, the boy who was to become known as the The First Gyalwang Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa, was called Gephel as a child. When he was thirty he received teachings from Gampopa, the heart son of the Milarepa, greatest yogi in Tibetan history.

His accomplishment in meditation and the practices transmitted to him by his teachers were greatly enhanced by his own natural compassion. His practice produced rapid results and great accomplishments. All ...

The Eighth Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje, was one of the most erudite and prolific scholars of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Mikyo Dorje was born in eastern Tibet, to a family of devoted yogins, the eighth Karmapa was said to have spoken the words “I am the Karmapa” at birth.

He was one of the most renowned of the Karmapas, a great meditation master as well as a prolific and learned scholar, author of over thirty volumes of work, including very ...