1st Karmapa, Düsum KhyenpaThe 1st Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa (Tibetan: དུས་གསུམ་མཁྱེན་པ་, Wylie: dus gsum mkhyen pa, 1110–1193) was the 1st Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. His name Düsum Khyenpa means "knower of the three times", the past, present and future. It was given to him to refer to the knowledge of the three forms of time he gained at his enlightenment, including the "timeless time" of enlightened awareness.
Rumtek MonasteryRumtek Monastery (Tibetan: རུམ་ཐེག་དགོན་པ་, Wylie: rum theg dgon pa), also called the Dharma Chakra Centre, is a gompa located in the Indian state of Sikkim near the capital Gangtok. It is the seat in exile of the Gyalwang Karmapa, inaugurated in 1966 by the 16th Karmapa. It is also a focal point for the sectarian tensions within the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism that characterize the 17th Karmapa controversy.
Karma KagyuKarma Kagyu (Tibetan: ཀརྨ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད, Wylie: karma bka'-brgyud), or Kamtsang Kagyu (Tibetan: ཀརྨ་ཀཾ་ཚང་, Wylie: kar+ma kaM tshang), is a widely practiced and probably the second-largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage has long-standing monasteries in Tibet, China, Russia, Mongolia, India, Nepal and Bhutan, with current centres in over 60 countries.
Tsurphu MonasteryTsurphu Monastery (Tibetan: མཚུར་ཕུ་དགོན་པ) or Tölung Tsurphu (Tibetan: སྟོད་ལུང་མཚུར་ཕུ, "Tsurphu of Tölong") is a gompa which serves as the traditional seat of the Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. It is located in Gurum in Doilungdêqên District, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, 70 kilometres (43 mi) from Lhasa. The monastery is about 4,300 metres (14,100 ft) above sea level.
Tibetan BuddhismForm of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and globallyTibetan Buddhism is a branch of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism which developed in Tibet and is practised in parts of Asia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahayana Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Buddhism (which included many Vajrayana elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist tantric practices of the post-Guptaearly medieval period (500–1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments.
TulkuA tulku (Tibetan: སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་, Wylie: sprul sku, ZWPY: Zhügu, also tülku, trulku) is an individual recognized as the reincarnation of a previous spiritual master (lama), and expected to be reincarnated, in turn, after death. The tulku is a distinctive and significant aspect of Tibetan Buddhism, embodying the concept of enlightened beings taking corporeal forms to continue the lineage of specific teachings.
KagyuThe Kagyu school, also transliterated as Kagyü, or Kagyud (Tibetan: བཀའ་བརྒྱུད།, Wylie: bka' brgyud), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the four major schools (chos lugs) of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu lineages trace themselves back to the 11th century Indian Mahasiddhas Naropa, Maitripa and the yogini Niguma, via their student Marpa Lotsawa (1012–1097), who brought their teachings to Tibet.
TibetEthno-cultural region in AsiaGreater Tibet regions and claims; click image and go to 'More details' to understand more about the various coloursTibet ( ) is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau. It is the homeland of the Tibetans. Other ethnic groups also reside on the plateau, including Mongols, the Lhoba, Monpa, Qiang, Sherpa, and since the 20th century, Han and Hui peoples.
Tibetan diasporaThe Tibetan diaspora are Tibetan people residing outside Tibet and mainland China. The diaspora mostly consists of Tibetans exiled from Tibet, their land of origin, to other nation states to live as immigrants and refugees in communities. The diaspora of Tibetan people began in the early 1950s, peaked after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, and continues to exist.
Ü-TsangAlternative Chinese nameTraditional Chinese衛藏Simplified Chinese卫藏Tibetan nameTibetanདབུས་གཙང་Ü-Tsang (Tibetan: དབུས་གཙང་, Wylie: dbus gtsang) is one of the three Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo to the northeast and Kham to the east. Geographically Ü-Tsang covers the Yarlung Tsangpo drainage basin, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount Kailash, and much of the Changtang plateau to the north.
SikkimSikkim ( SIK-im; Nepali: [ˈsikːim]) is a state in northeast India. It borders Bhutan in the east, the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is one of the two Indian states that share their border with just one other Indian state — West Bengal. Sikkim is also close to the Siliguri Corridor, which borders Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
IndiaCountry in South AsiaIndia, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the world's seventh-largest country by area and the largest by population. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is near Sri Lanka and the Maldives.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.