In summer 2012, Pamela White interviewed the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje. I was asked to take some photographs during the interview with Thule Jug (the official photographer of the Gyalwa Karmapa).
Here is the article and some of the pictures taken during this unique moment ending with an amazing sunset.
A great moment!
His Holiness Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in 1983 in central Tibet, he began telling his parents, the great Nyingma lama Mipham Rinpoche and Dechen Wangmo, that he was the Karmapa almost as soon as he could speak. Traditionally, the Karmapas are said to recognise themselves in each incarnation. Following the tradition of many centuries, the child was tested and formally recognised by the highest lama in the Karma Kagyu after the lineage head himself, the 14th Shamar Rinpoche, and given the name Trinley Thaye Dorje, meaning Limitless Unchanging Buddha Activity.
Having escaped from Chinese-controlled Tibet in 1994, The Gyalwa Karmapa has lived in New Delhi and Kalimpong for many years. He travels extensively throughout India, attending significant events such as the Kagyu Mönlam in Bodh Gaya each year, teaching and granting empowerments to students.
He has also visited many countries in Asia and Europe, as well as Russia, starting with giving empowerments to thousands of students in Taiwan and Singapore in 1999 and continuing actively to this day.
His formal education was completed in 2003, at which time he received the title of Vajracharya, or Great Tantric Master.
The Gyalwa Karmapa has the spiritual responsibility for over 900 monasteries and meditation centres worldwide, including the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (KIBI), which runs courses in Buddhist higher education.
Visit the website of the Magazine Tricycle – Edition Winter 2012
