The name Karmapa represents the embodiment of all the activities of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Each reincarnate Karmapa, past and present, has been dedicated to the preservation of the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition.

The Karmapa’s birth, as well as the scope of his dharma activity, was first prophesied by the historic Buddha, then later again by the Indian Vajrayana master, the great Guru Padmasambhava. The Karmapa’s dharma activities have spanned throughout the centuries. Each of the Karmapa’s 17 reincarnations has been the central figure in the preservation and continuation of the lineage of the Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism.