H. H. Gyalwa Karmapa XVII, Orgyen Trinley Dorje
H. E. Khentin Tai Situ Rinpoche XII, Pema Donya Nyingche Wangpo
The Twelfth Goshir Gyaltsapa, His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche
The Jamagon Kontruls New!
The Kagyu lineage, one of four major lineages or teaching traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its history back to the Indian meditation masters Tilopa (988-1069 AD.), Naropa (1016-1100), the Tibetan translator Marpa (1012-1097), the Tibetan poet-saint Milarepa (1052-1135), and Gampopa (1079-1153), a monk and physician who created the Kagyu monastic tradition.
The Kagyu tradition has been dubbed "the practice lineage" because of its emphasis on meditation practice, and also has been called "the whispered lineage" because its highest teachings are still passed on from teacher-to-student in an unbroken line. The Kagyupa order is the medium for the transmission of certain meditative disciplines, particularly that of Mahamudra. His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa, one of the four highest lamas of all of Tibetan Buddhism and a highly realized meditation master who embodies the accumulated spiritual energy of the lineage, heads the lineage.
This lineage is profoundly contemplative. Meditation is the path and also its goal-less destination. It's what lamas of the lineage want to do everyday, their entire lifetime, and the next, and the next ... The reason to become a member of the sangha of a Kagyu monastery is to practice and thereby transform one's consciousness, dedicating the merit of this activity to the relief of all suffering. On one level, that's all there is to say.
KTC Minneapolis is part of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD) Monastery, the home monastery of His Holiness Gyalwa Karmapa in the Americas.
The Importance of Time Spent in Retreat
For serious practitioners of the Kagyu Lineage, the importance of time spent in retreat can not be overstated. In one respect, that's all there is to say about it. To be a serious Kagyu practitioner you must incorporate retreat time into your normal lifetime habits.
A day in retreat usually consists of a minimum of 4 thuns (two and a half hour practice sessions.) If the retreat is a group retreat, rather than a solitary retreat, there will be at least 2 other group practices included in each day. Days start at 4AM, generally have a half hour to forty-five minute breakfast break, an hour and a half to two hour lunch break, and a short break after the last afternoon practice before the evening thun starts about 6:45PM. Lunch is the last solid food of the day. Tea is taken at the late afternoon break. The practice day ends at about 10PM.
In Tibet many monastics in this lineage aspired to spend their entire life in retreat. Even given the changed political situation, there are still Kagyu practitioners in Tibet in lifetime retreat. Twelve year retreat is also an excellent time frame and traditional retreat format. Lifetime retreat and twelve year retreat are solitary retreats. In addition, there is the better known three year three fortnight retreat, called the three year retreat, which is a group retreat.
As should be expected, it takes considerable effort and preparation time to get ready to do even the three year retreat, the shortest of these traditional retreats. Practitioners can prepare for three year retreat at KTC Minneapolis, and then do the retreat in New York state at Karme Ling Retreat Center.
Retreats aren't excellent and highly recommended just for Buddhist practitioners in the process of transforming their consciousness. Everyone needs disciplined solitude to reach optimal health and well being, and to participate from a position of wisdom and compassion in all of life's interactions. At KTC Minneapolis we have a one day retreat once a month, on average, for Buddhist and non Buddhists alike who know how to do Shamata Meditation. These retreat days are called Meditator's Retreat Days. See our current class schedule for more details and registration information.
KTC Minneapolis also has a newly prepared retreat room for solitary retreats of shorter duration. For more information about doing a retreat in this room at KTC Minneapolis click here or to schedule a retreat contact us .
KTC Minneapolis has outgrown our current building, both in function and in footprint. We need to be able to support resident practitioners, staff, and retreatants, and add a hospice-like function. A second, monastic building close to our current location is in the initial planning stages. If you would like to help in any way, please contact us .
Karma Kagyu Lineage Holders and their Teachings: Short biographies of teachers of the Karma Kagyu Lineage
by Gregg RutterH. H. Gyalwa Karmapa XVII, Orgyen Trinley Dorje
The Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism traces its origins to Shakyamuni Buddha and the primordial Buddha Vajradhara.
Buddhism was transmitted in the eleventh century by the Indian mahasiddha Tilopa to the scholar Naropa who passed the teachings and meditation practices to the Tibetan translator Marpa. Marpa brought the teachings to Tibet. Marpa's main disciple, the great yogi Milarepa, passed the teachings on to Gampopa. Gampopa transmitted them to the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa.
The Kagyu lineage has since been led by a succession of reincarnations of the Gyalwa Karmapa, "The Victorious One of Enlightened Activity," the first reincarnate lama of Tibet. He is regarded as an embodiment of compassion, represented by the deity Chenrezik.
His Holiness the Seventeenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, was born in Tibet in 1985 and was recognized in 1992 through a prediction letter left by his predecessor, the Sixteenth Karmapa Ranjung Rigpe Dorje. He spent the first fourteen years of his life in Chinese-occupied Tibet, a significant portion of these years at Tsurpu, the traditional seat of the Karmapas in Tibet. In early 2000 he made a dramatic escape to India where he currently lives in a temporary residence at Gyuto Ramoche Tantric University near Dharamsala, India, in close contact with His Holiness Dalai Lama. He continues his studies in Buddhist philosophy and receives instructions and empowerments for Vajrayana practices from masters of the Karma Kagyu lineage, and from H. H. Dalai Lama while awaiting permission from the Indian government to return to Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre, Sikkim, his seat-in-exile.
H. E. Khentin Tai Situ Rinpoche XII, Pema Donya Nyingche Wangpo
His Eminance Khentin Tai Situ Rinpoche is an emanation of the future Buddha, Maitreya. The title Tai Situ, means "far-reaching, unshakable, great master, holder of the command."
The first Tai Situpa was the Tibetan incarnation of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, Chokyi Gyaltsen (1377-1448).
The current, twelfth Tai Situpa, Pema Donyo Nyingche Wangpo, was born in Tibet in 1954. When he was six years old, political conditions forced him to leave Tibet, where he joined the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa who had also fled Tibet. He received his formal religious training under the guidance of the Sixteenth Karmapa, at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim.
In 1975, at the age of 22, he assumed his traditional responsibilities by founding the monastic project, Sherab Ling, at the request of his Tibetan followers who had settled in northern India. He founded Maitreya Institute in 1984 in response to Western interest in multicultural activity and spirituality.
His Eminence was instrumental in the identification and enthronement of His Holiness Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the Seventeenth Gyalwa Karmapa and is now guiding HH Karmapa's spiritual training in exile near Dharamsala, India.
The XII Tai Situpa continues the traditions of the practice lineage of the Tai Situpas, renowned Buddhist teachers, training in turn the next generation of Buddhist masters. Currently, His Eminence is involved in the advancement of interfaith and intercultural humanitarian efforts around the world.
The Twelfth Goshir Gyaltsapa, H. E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche
The Gyaltsab Rinpoches have always been Vajra Regents of the Karmapas and caretakers of the Karmapa's monasteries. H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche is the emanation of the Bodhisattva Vajrapani.
The 1st Gyaltsab Rinpoche, Paljor Dondrub, (1427-1489), was cared for by the Karmapa from childhood, and was appointed the Karmapa's secretary and regent at fourteen years old. Receiving the complete lineage transmission from the Karmapa and others, he became the main teacher to the next Karmapa.
The 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche was recognized while He was still in his mother's womb by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa. He was born in 1954 in central Tibet, in Nyimo, near Lhasa. In 1959, His Eminence fled Tibet with his Holiness the 16th Karmapa into exile. He remained with His Holiness' settlement group at the old Karma Kagyu monastery which had been built during the time of the 9th Karmapa at Rumtek, where he received the complete lineage transmissions.
H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche practiced and studied the dharma at Rumtek with the other heart sons of the Karmapa, including their Eminences Jamgon Kongtrul and Tai Situ Rinpoche. In 1992, H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche and His Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche enthroned His Holiness the 17th Karmapa in Tibet.
H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche, through a long line of incarnations, is known for being an expert in meditation. His Eminence resides in Sikkim and is the Resident Regent of Rumtek Monastery, the main seat in exile of the Karmapas. His Eminence will help prepare for His Holiness the Karmapa's return to Rumtek. Like H.E. Tai Situ Rinpoche and Ven. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, H.E. Gyaltsab Rinpoche is one of the main teachers of H.H. the 17th Karmapa, and has already bestowed transmissions to His Holiness.
H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche also oversees the activities at his own monasteries, such as Palchen Choeling Monastery, Ralang, Sikkim. On Friday, 2 July 2004 - the Wood Monkey Year which marks the 2,880th birthday of Guru Padmasambhava - there will be a fiftieth birthday celebration at Palchen Choeling Monastery for His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche, and Zamling Chisang ( a day for increasing one's fortune and merit by putting up prayer flags and chanting guardian deity's invocation prayers, with incense burning.)
The First Jamgon Kontrul Lodro Thaye (1813-1899) is an emanation of one of the twenty-five exceptional disciples of Guru Padmasambhava, the Great Lopon Vairotsana. Known as Jamgon Kongtrul the Great, his birth was prophesied by the Buddha in the Lankauatara Sutra. A great bodhisattva, he upheld the Dharma by preserving the teachings in writing and transmitting the Dharma through an unbroken lineage.
Jamgon Kontrul was born in Kongpo, east of Lhasa, where at that time, the Bon religion was prevalent, yet the Bon people recognized and upheld him as their supreme spiritual guide. As a simple monk, carrying his basic needs on his back and seeking alms, he travelled all over Tibet receiving teachings and transmissions from over one hundred of the most learned and realized masters of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism: Kagyu, Gelug, Sakya, and Nyingma. He never revealed himself as a greatly learned and awakened being.
Ultimately, Jamgon Kontrul Rinpoche compiled the most important teachings of the Buddha that are common to all four lineages of Tibetan Buddhism; these teachings are called the "Five Great Treasures (mDzod-lnga) of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great." He has provided clear, complete commentaries on all these teachings and maintained an unbroken line of empowerment, instructions, and other forms required in a continuous line of transmissions. Due to his work in compiling the "Five Great Treasures" an unbroken line of Dharma teachings has been preserved; without him, these teachings would have degenerated and possibly even been lost due to the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959.
Jamgon Kontrul the Great's personal root guru was the 9th Situpa, Situ Pema Nyinje Wangpo. Because of this, Jamgon Kongtrul the Great is among the golden chain of Kagyu Lineage masters. Before his passing late at the age of 87 on January 19, 1899, he prophesied that he would have five incarnations of Body, Speech, Mind, Qualities, and Activities.
The second Jamgon Kongtrul, Khentse Oser, was born in 1902 as a prince son of the Fifteenth Karmapa, Khakhyab Dorje. He became teacher to His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa; again, establishing himself among the golden chain of the Kagyu Lineage. He passed away on May 10, 1952, having accomplished great deeds for the benefit of the teachings and sentient beings.
The third Jamgon Kontrul, Karma Lodro Chokyi Senge, perfect guide of unequalled kindness, was born in 1954 into a noble family from a dakini mother. He was brought up under the special care of His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa and received full transmission and education from both His Holiness and other eminent masters of the Kagyu Lineage. In 1976 and 1980, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche accompanied the His Holiness Gyalwa Karmapa on a tour of numerous places in America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. After His Holiness' parinirvana, His Eminence Jamgon Kontrul continued to travel widely and play a major role in the expansion of the Buddhadharma.
He died suddenly in an automobile accident at the young age of thirty-nine "due to the obstacles for Buddhism and people in general, and in particular for the Kagyu tradition." (Ven Bokhar Rinpoche).
His Holiness the Seventeenth Gyalwa Karmapa prophesied the rebirth of the Third Jamgon Kontrul, and in August of 1996, the Fourth Jamgon Kontrul, only 8 1/2 months old, was located and identified. EMA HO!
Source: Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and Ven Bokhar Rinpoche.
