The 14th Shamarpa, Mipham Chökyi Lodrö, was born on October 27, 1952, in the former kingdom of Derge in East Tibet. His father was Delkar Choktrul Rinpoche, and his mother was Phuntsok Wangmo. She is descended from a noble family in Thrumo Tsang. As with previous Shamarpas, the 14th also belonged to the same family as the Karmapa, in this case, the highly respected Athub family. He was the nephew of the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje (1924–1981). His siblings are his older brother Jigme Rinpoche, the current general secretary of the Karma Kagyü lineage, and a younger sister and brother. The younger two largely kept themselves out of the public spotlight during his lifetime. The house of the 16th Karmapa in Denkok, which is now a museum, was the meeting place of the family at that time. In the spring of 1956, at the age of four, their mother sent Shamarpa and his brother, Jigme Rinpoche to Tsurphu monastery in far-off central Tibet, the main seat of the Karmapas near Lhasa.
Just a few months after his arrival, the boy recognized some monks whom he had not met before—in this life—from his nearby monastery, Yangpachen. With these signs of the special abilities of the Shamarpa, the Karmapa made efforts to convince the 14th Dalai Lama to revoke the prohibition of the Shamarpa incarnations.1 However, an extensive pilgrimage through India, Nepal and Sikkim in 1957 by Shamarpa, got in the way of this. The young Shamarpa accompanied his uncle, the Karmapa, to the celebrations of the Buddha’s 2,500th birthday. The following year, when the Dalai Lama visited Tsurphu monastery, the opportunity presented itself to ask him directly to revoke the ban, and he gave his informal consent. With this, a private enthronement of Shamarpa took place in 1958. After the 16th Karmapa had to flee Tibet in 1959 because of the Chinese occupation, Shamarpa stayed with his older brother in Bhutan. Not long afterwards, he followed Karmapa to Rumtek in Sikkim, India, where they had received a large piece of land near the old monastery of the 9th Karmapa in order to establish their new seat in exile.
Shamarpa’s formal education began in Rumtek and included the most important transmissions of the Kagyü lineage, which he received from Karmapa over the following years. Later, he complemented these transmissions by means of very special teachings from other great masters of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages. The consent of the Dalai Lama to recognize the Shamarpa was now no longer a factor, because the Dalai Lama had lost his political power. Despite this, out of politeness, Karmapa allowed the Dalai Lama to perform the hair-cutting ceremony for the Shamarpa, at which time the government once again allowed the position of the Shamarpa. In 1964 he was officially enthroned as Shamarpa in Rumtek and was reinstated in his positions as the deputy of the Karmapa, which he had held in many previous centuries. 2
Following the completion of his Buddhist studies in 1979, at the age of 27, Shamarpa began his extensive teaching activity. Karmapa then sent him as his representative to Nepal and gave him the responsibility for the Karma Raja Mahavihara temple at Swayambu Stupa, where Shamarpa conducted extensive restoration work. After the 16th Karmapa died in 1981, Shamarpa took up his role as head of the Karma Kagyü lineage. The insertion of the four regents, which was the idea of the general secretary at the time, proved not to be very useful, as the respective monastic organizations were competing for influence in the lineage. Because Shamarpa was the only one of the four who did not have an organization of his own, the others attempted to disempower him through several court cases. He won these court cases and later turned the tables when he dissolved the model of the four regents.
As Karmapa’s representative, Shamarpa was obliged to accept the invitations of those interested in Buddhism to share his knowledge and his experience of the mind. He thus continued the activity begun by the 16th Karmapa and went on several extensive journeys to bring Buddhist teachings to other continents. This activity fits with the second part of his name, Chökyi Lodrö, the name of Marpa the Translator. It was Marpa who originally brought the core teachings of the Kagyü lineage from India to Tibet. Shamarpa wanted to be well prepared for this task, and in 1982 became a student at the University of California at Berkeley for a year. He learned English and studied Western sciences, which interested him during his whole life.
The Fulfillment of Karmapa’s Wishes
In the 1980s, he devoted all his power to the fulfillment of Karmapa’s wishes. He established the Nalanda Institute in Rumtek in order to bring the education of the exiled Tibetans to a higher level. For this purpose, he later also founded the Shri Diwakar Institute, a primary school in Kalimpong, as well as a retreat center in Parphing, Nepal. He had another edition printed of both the Tenjur, the collected commentaries of Tibetan masters on the direct teachings of the Buddha—around 240 volumes—as well as the Nges don phyag rgya chen po’i khrid mdzod, the comprehensive collection of Indian and Tibetan Mahamudra works in thirteen volumes. He oversaw the construction of the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (KIBI) in New Delhi, for which the 16th Karmapa himself had laid the foundation stone and provided the contents for filling the central Buddha statue. He opened the institute in 1990 together with the then-President of India and personally oversaw the beginning of the first semesters.
Shamarpa also continued Karmapa’s activity in the West. In the United States, he founded a large center in Virginia. In Europe, he concentrated his efforts in France, where he supported the further construction of Dhagpo Kagyü Ling and its retreat center, Le Bost, where he later opened a library and an institute. At the same time, as the deputy head of the lineage, it was his main task to take care of the search, identification and enthronement of the next incarnation of the Karmapa. He personally pursued all information in this regard. For instance, when he heard that the 17th Karmapa was in Lhasa, he traveled to Tibet, but because of his high profile, could not contact the Karmapa at that time. In 1987 he sent Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche to Lhasa, who then confirmed the identity of the 17th Karmapa, Thaye Dorje. Shamarpa used all the means at his disposal, including information about the outer facts, meditation, intuition, dreams and oracles, until he had complete certainty.
This author had the good fortune to see a clear sign at the time of the rebirth of the Karmapa. At a series of empowerments given by the late Kalu Rinpoche in 1983, in his monastery in Sonada near Darjeeling, he suddenly changed the daily program in the month of June. At the conclusion of the day, the wishes for the swift rebirth of the Karmapa were not being sung. Instead, Kalu Rinpoche had composed wishes for his long life. This change in the program sparked an overwhelming joy among the participants. As a matter of fact, the 17th Karmapa was born in May 1983.
Among the most important evidence for Karmapa’s authenticity is his own statement that he is the Karmapa, which he has made since he was a small child. As the highest realized master of Tibet, a Karmapa must recognize himself. Other lamas, especially the Shamarpas who act as regent, can only confirm this after careful examination. Of course, this confirmation is extremely important so that no one can simply claim to be Karmapa without having the necessary qualifications. When Karmapa came to India in 1994, Shamarpa led the welcoming ceremony in KIBI and officially enthroned him in 1996 in Bodhgaya. True to the first part of his name, “Mipham” (the invincible), Shamarpa accomplished this central task in the face of massive obstacles. For example, when Tai Situ Rinpoche and his followers violently took over Rumtek monastery in 1993, Shamarpa gave his own house in Rumtek to the monks who had been driven out so that they could stay there and continue their tasks. Shamarpa also confidently handled the attack by thugs—disguised as monks—on KIBI in early 1994. Against the hostility of the opposing side, he continually worked for harmony within the lineage, for justice and for freedom from political influences. He succeeded in identifying the 17th Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje, who had proven all his qualities as Karmapa. He took responsibility for educating him, passing on all the transmissions of the lineage to him as his main teacher, and finally returning the leadership of the lineage to him.
Shamarpa’s Own Projects
As Karmapa took over responsibility for the Karma Kagyü lineage, Shamarpa was able to devote himself to tasks that had to do with his own connections from previous lives. His monastery, Yangpachen in Tibet, which had been turned into a Gelugpa monastery for almost two hundred years and had been destroyed during the Chinese cultural revolution, was given back to the Karma Kagyü lineage by the Chinese government at the wish of the monks.
The monks asked Shamarpa to lead the reconstruction. He agreed and built and oversaw both a retreat center and an institute for studies for his Tibetan students, next to his own monastery. Following his strong connections from numerous previous incarnations, he relocated a large part of his activities to Nepal. There he built the Shar Minub retreat center and Institute with a gigantic vision for future education in the Karma Kagyü lineage. He conceived of it as a place for concentrated meditation practice and as meeting place for exchange between East and West. In 2011 he led a public ceremony for peace in Kathmandu with more than 100,000 participants. In addition, he continued to look after his many students in Ladakh. In 1996 he founded the Bodhi Path organization primarily for his Western students. He developed a special meditation program for them based on the Mind Training by Atisha, the meditation on Loving Eyes and instructions on Mahamudra practice.
Shamarpa met leaders of society in many countries and maintained an intensive exchange with kings and presidents, with nobility, high-level managers and scientists. He wrote several books, took part in large conferences and founded several charitable organizations. The Himalaya Hilfe (Himalaya Help) focuses on supporting children and the old and sick in the Himalayan region. Shanti Path takes care of women, widows and orphans from disadvantaged parts of society. The Infinite Compassion Foundation primarily works for better treatment of animals. The poor treatment of animals is a problem throughout the world, but takes on extreme dimensions in China. A Maha-Bodhisattva eases the suffering of all living beings wherever possible, and Shamarpa engaged himself with all his power in this area.
Shamarpa’s Activity in Diamond Way Centers
In 1979, Shamarpa was already visiting Diamond Way centers in Europe and other parts of the globe. In 1970, he had given Lama Ole and Hannah Nydahl the Bodhisattva Promise. He had also taken part in empowerments and Black Crown ceremonies by the 16th Karmapa with them. He supported their activity wherever it was possible amidst all his other activities around the world for more than forty years until his death. He knew and publicly stated that both Lama Ole and Hannah were requested by the 16th Karmapa to teach and start centers and that they kept their connection to Karmapa pure and only fulfilled his wishes. Likewise, Hannah and Lama Ole successfully supported Shamarpa in his efforts regarding the Karmapa conflict to protect the Karma Kagyü lineage from impending collapse.
Hannah Nydahl regularly translated for him. She was his advisor and, for several months a year, organized his activities as Karmapa’s deputy around the world. Alongside the official general secretary, Topga Rinpoche, Hannah was a kind of unofficial general secretary of the Karma Kagyü lineage. Together with Shamarpa, she guided education in the lineage and created various programs of study for East and West for more than twenty years. At the same time, she was his bridge to the Diamond Way centers and organized his programs in those centers. To a large degree, because of her selfless activity, Diamond Way practitioners worldwide currently have the most modern and comprehensive development of all the schools in Tibetan Buddhism in terms of contents solidly secured by tradition. Lama Ole Nydahl, the driving force behind this tremendous development, first met the Tibetans as a hippie near the end of the 1960s. This image stuck with Shamarpa for a long time. This was due, at least in part, to Lama Ole’s students. Once in the early 1980s, on a hot summer day, Shamarpa sent out of the room some participants who were too scantily clothed during an empowerment, instructing them to come back with suitable clothing for the empowerment. Through closely observing developments, he gradually corrected his opinion of Lama Ole and his students. A turning point became apparent when, during a spontaneous visit to the Easter course in Berlin in 2003, Shamarpa greatly praised the maturity of the Diamond Way practitioners and the friendly atmosphere they created with one another.
Despite this, in 2012, he allowed false information about Lama Ole and the Diamond Way—e.g., concerning Tantric sex teachings—originating from some of his American students onto the Bodhi Path website. When a statement from Lama Ole and his students corrected the misinformation, he realized that there was nothing to it, formally apologized, and removed the article from the website. In the late 1980s, Shamarpa gave numerous lectures on the qualifications of a lama of the lineage and declared that it is not enough for a lama to be enlightened. He or she also needs to have received the special transmissions of the lineage, have practiced them appropriately and be able to pass them on to their students. Furthermore, to hold the title of a lama, it is not decisive whether one has done a three-year retreat or not, but solely how far one has recognized the nature of mind and can therefore, guide others in meditation.
Accordingly, in 1991 in Dhagpo Kagyü Ling in France, Shamarpa asked the author of this article about the courses that Lama Ole was giving at the time. When he heard that Lama Ole was successfully giving Phowa courses, the practice of conscious dying, he explained: “If that is so, then he should carry the title of a lama.” Various individuals from within and outside the Kagyü lineage had questioned this at the time. But Shamarpa said the same thing again publicly at the summer course, that same year in Kassel, Germany. He made it abundantly clear, that from the perspective of the leadership of the lineage, Lama Ole had the qualifications of a lama and was to be recognized as such.
Shamarpa traveled constantly around the world and, from 1979 on, visited Diamond Way centers nearly every year. He gave lectures which concisely covered all important points and directed each listener to the next step on their path of spiritual development. The empowerments he gave were also mostly short and extremely powerful. Altogether, he gave over thirty empowerments in Germany, including Amitabha, Medicine Buddha, Vajrasattva, Avalokiteshvara, Marpa, Milarepa, various Karmapas, and others. Among the empowerments, there were occasionally extraordinary ones, such as the 3rd Karmapa, which he gave in 2009 for the first time in his life at the Europe Center.
He also took time on numerous occasions for extended courses, during which he passed on the highest teachings of the lineage, the Mahamudra teachings, in an understandable form and with great inspiration. Shamarpa was often asked for advice and blessing on important points in various Diamond Way projects. When possible, he contributed his ideas to the projects. In Hamburg, for instance, he supported a clear, modern style for the architecture of the Buddhist center from the beginning of the project, far from any colorful temple atmosphere. Even before the reconstruction of the previous ships-carpentry workshop, he proposed the space for the meditation hall in the new complex—where it is now located—which, at the time, no one else could foresee. After the death of Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche in 2003, he spontaneously took over the inauguration of the Benalmádena Stupa near Malaga in southern Spain. The last great Diamond Way project that he visited and blessed in 2014 was the new Buddhist center in London, in the Beaufoy Institute.
Shamapa’s Extraordinary Personality
His outstanding personality, which was a perfect example for his students, was characterized by the deep compassion that he radiated equally to all living beings and by which he acted solely for the benefit of others. Moreover, through his discriminating wisdom, he was able to break people’s stiff ideas. For example, when a delegation from a Buddhist center came to pick him up at the airport and waited for him at the passenger exit, he appeared behind them and asked, “Are you waiting for me?” Of course, with his diplomatic passport, he was able to move around more easily than other passengers. Surprising things always happened around him, such that everybody was able to stay spontaneous and fresh in the moment. Shamarpa was a very modern lama. He had a driver’s license, and especially in India liked to drive his car himself when he was not traveling in an official capacity.
During his first visit to Hamburg in June of 1981, he was already able to adjust to the West in a wonderful way. In the middle of his lecture, he suddenly said, “In Tibet, the students always sit on the floor in front of the lama.” All the participants who sat in the first row of the lecture in the school auditorium got down from their chairs and sat on the floor so that they sat directly in front of the high stage where Shamarpa sat upon his even higher throne. Only the author of this article, who sat at the end of the first row, remained in his chair, as this instruction seemed totally absurd to him. Everybody looked questioningly at him as if he had not understood whatShamarpa said. Then Shamarpa continued, “But here we are in the West.” At that, everybody got back up on their chairs.
As a true free spirit, he often changed his plans, which was a challenge for the organizers of his programs. He called people who had stiff ways of thinking “package believers” and confronted them when they got involved in internal Kagyü issues without being qualified to do so. Once he said, “Blind belief does not exist in Buddhism. In Buddhism, belief or trust means knowing how things are.” His first speech in KIBI, in 1990, included the following sentence: “Even if you are now studying buddha nature, don’t have any fixed ideas about buddha nature.”
At the same time, he was very joyful, and with a smile, he could dissolve the sharpness in the most difficult of situations. The Tibetan title that he held, Künzig, meant “the all-seeing” or “all-knowing.” While he clearly had this ability of a Buddha, he never put it in the foreground. He also did not want to be called “His Holiness,” although he was entitled to this honorary form of address. He often helped his close students with advice that pointed far into the future. In discussions and lectures, he often gave answers to his students’ questions before they even asked them. He was a true artist who not only loved and collected Buddhist art but could also draw very well himself, and he played the flute exceptionally well.
Above all, towards the end of his life, in a manner similar to the 16th Karmapa, he gave clues as to the events to follow his death. When a small group of American students asked him what his plans were for a pilgrimage to Asia with them, which he had announced a few months previously, he answered: “Yes, we will make this trip together. The places we will visit will be New Delhi, Kalimpong, Thimphu and Kathmandu.” Only a few months later, on June 11, 2014, he died in Renchen Ulm, Germany. His earthly remains (Tib. Kudung) were brought to New Delhi, Kalimpong, Thimphu and Kathmandu. The 17th Gyalwa Karmapa and some of his Western students accompanied him on this last journey. The many special signs during his cremation in Kathmandu likewise showed his high realization. In the same manner, he opened Kathmandu and the whole country of Nepal to the activity of the Karmapa, who visited Kathmandu for the first time and, during the weekend of the cremation, received over 15,000 followers for blessings. Although Shamarpa’s death was a big shock for everyone who knew him, he had already prepared for the occasion. During his last lectures and discussions, he had given appropriate teachings. His major projects were more or less complete. After his swift rebirth, he will be enthroned and educated by the 17th Karmapa, Thaye Dorje. May we never be separated from this great master, a fully realized Buddha, and all soon meet him again!
- In short: The Tibetan government, under the leadership of the Gelug lineage, accused the 10th Shamarpa Mipham Chödrup Gyatsho (1742–1792) of inciting the Nepali government into starting a war against Tibet. They confiscated all of his monasteries and prohibited the official recognition of future incarnations of the Shamarpa for about 200 years. More details appear in Dhungel, Ramesh K., “Nepal-Tibet Cultural Relations and the Zhwa-dmar-pa” in Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) Journal, vol. 26, pp. 190–4. See also the author’s “Die Bedeutung der Shamar Rinpoches,” in Buddhismus Heute, vol. 55, pp. 42-49. ↩︎
- The author has provided an overview of the previous incarnations of the Shamarpa in the previously cited article in Buddhismus Heute, vol. 55. ↩︎
