Thekchok Dorje (1798–1868), also Thegchog Dorje, was the fourteenth

Gyalwa Karmapa The Karmapa (honorific title ''His Holiness the Gyalwa'' ��ྒྱལ་བ་, Victorious One''Karmapa'', more formally as ''Gyalwang'' ��ྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་, King of Victorious Ones''Karmapa'', and informally as the '' ...

, head of the

Kagyu The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. The Kagyu lineag ...

School of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

. Thekchok Dorje was born in Danang,

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham ...

and was recognized because Drukchen Kunzig Chokyi Nangwa received a letter from

Dudul Dorje Dudul Dorje (1733–1797) was the thirteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. Dudul Dorje was born in Champa Drongsar and recognized by Gyaltsab Rinpoche at the age of four. He received an education in the monast ...

, the thirteenth Karmapa, detailing where his next reincarnation would be born. He was ordained at the age of nineteen as a monk. Thekchok Dorje traveled extensively through Tibet and was very active in the

Rimé movement The Rimé movement is a movement or tendency in Tibetan Buddhism which promotes non-sectarianism and universalism.Sam van Schaik (2011). ''Tibet: A History'', pp. 161-162. Yale University Press. Teachers from all branches of Tibetan Buddhism - ...

, which was an attempt to bring all the Tibetan schools together and find common grounds without attempting to equalize the different schools. He was especially interested in the exchange of knowledge between his own

school and the different

Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and trans ...

schools. Thekchok other interests were with poetry, sculpturing and

dialectic Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...

. His direct successor is not counted, because he died at the age of three. The

Gelugpa 240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantati ...

school, on the other hand, does count children who are too young to receive transmissions.

External links

* "THE FOURTEENTH GYALWA KARMAPA, Thegchog Dorje"

External links

Further reading