Ogyen Trinley Dorje

On 27 October 2019 OTD and TTD released a co-authored long life prayer for Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche’s reincarnation. This composition was published on OTD's and TTD's respective websites, and circulated via various websites and social media outlets. The unprecedented joint composition was widely circulated, and garnered the support of various Kagyu teachers and communities, including Drikung Kyabgon, Rumtek Monastery, and Karma Drubdey Nunnery.

Stressing the importance of Tibetan harmony and unity, Gyalwang Karmapa has implored all Tibetans to exercise religious tolerance, stating that all Buddhist traditions in Tibet come from one source, the Buddha, so the differences between them are not great. He has warned that it is a huge mistake to inflate small distinctions into a basis for attachment and hatred, asserting one’s own tradition to be better than another’s. He has said that the reason for any future decline of the Buddha’s Dharma would not come from outside, but from within, from disputes between the holders of his teachings. Therefore, Gyalwang Karmapa has reiterated time and time again that the differences between lineages and factions are minor in terms of view, meditation, and conduct, and has urged everyone to keep a broader non-partisan perspective in mind.

As of October 2018, Ogyen Trinley Dorje was residing in the United States [3] and had been outside of India continuously since May 2017. In 2018, in order to facilitate travel abroad, he became a citizen of the Caribbean nation of Dominica [4] through a provision allowing citizenship through investment.[5]

On 10 and 11 Oct 2018, in rural France, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (OTD) and Trinley Thaye Dorje (TTD) met each other in person for the first time.

A joint statement by OTD and TTD was released on 11 October 2018, via their respective websites, and was circulated using various social media outlets. The notable event was subsequently reported by numerous Buddhist and secular media sources. The event prompted several reactions, including statements of support from Gyalwang Drukpa, Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, Beru Khyentse Rinpoche, and Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche.

On 28 October 2018, during a publicly webcasted video address, Ogyen Trinley Dorje gave further explanation about his recent meetings with Trinley Thaye Dorje in France, and his reason/motivation for doing so. OTD expressed how the Karma Kamtsang forefathers and disciples maintained and propagated the teachings through study, teaching, and practice; thus, ripened generations of disciples through their wisdom, love, and power. OTD related that this activity of ripening disciples is the essential heart of the Kagyu history, the majesty and the true weight of the Kagyu teachings. He said that we need to continue to uphold the Lineage by preserving these fine deeds and activities. However, OTD warned, if we instead spend most of our time being biased, factional, and partisan—this is extremely dangerous. If we are partisan and factional, we won't see the faults on our own side, or the qualities on the other. We won't be able to recognize what is good and what is bad. OTD said: "For that reason, it is a situation where we absolutely must be careful. So this is why I asked His Holiness Thaye Dorje for a meeting this year." Furthermore, OTD emphasized that whether reconciliation goes well or not does not depend upon only the two claimants, OTD and TTD. It depends on all the followers and the whole community of the Karma Kamtsang.

2018-2019: Freedom through Meditation (print | ebook)

2018-2019: Brief Recitations for the Four Preliminary Practices (Root Text)

2018: 供奉上師儀軌

2018: Чод: учения и практика

2018: སྣང་མཛད་ཉི་མའི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར། ༧སྐྱབས་རྗེ་འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་ན་རིམ་གྱི་མཛད་པ་དང་རྗེས་དྲན་པར་རིས། • The Illuminating Orb of the Sun: Photographs Recalling the Incarnations of Jamgön Kongtrul • 光明日輪 : 歷代蔣貢康楚紀念攝影集

10 March 2017, at the Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya, Bihar, India, eighteen women took the shramaneri vows. One additional woman would take the vows several days later on the auspicious fifteenth day of the Month of Miracles.

On 11 March 2017, on the morning of the first full moon in the Tibetan year, at the sacred site of the Bodhi Tree, the Ritual Practice for the Dharma to Flourish in Women’s and Especially Nuns’ Communities and the ritual of bestowing the shramaneri vows was successfully completed. Gyalwang Karmapa addressed the assembly.

2017: 神州鐘鳴 The Ritual of the Protector Sangharama

2017: 跟著走，就成佛 The Lamp for the Path of Enlightenment (Commentary)

2017: 我願無盡 The King of Aspirations (Commentary)

2017: བདེ་ཆེན་གྱི་གར་མཁན། ། མཁན་པོ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་མཛད་རྣམ་སྙིང་བསྡུས། • Dancer of Great Bliss: Essential Life Story of Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche • 大樂舞者 : 竹清嘉措仁波切

2017: གཞུང་ལུགས་ཀྱི་རོལ་མཚོ། ། མཁན་ཆེན་ཁྲ་འགུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛད་རྣམ་སྙིང་བསྡུས། • Ocean of Philosophy: Essential Life Story of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche • 經教大海 : 創古仁波切

2017: མཐོང་རྒྱུན་གྱི་བང་མཛོད། ། རྡོར་སློབ་བསྟན་དགའ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛད་རྣམ་སྙིང་བསྡུས། • Transmission by Seeing: Essential Life Story of Dorlop Tenga Rinpoche • 見傳寶藏 : 天噶仁波切

2017: བྱམས་ཆེན་གྱི་སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ། ། བྱམས་མགོན་ཀྭན་ཏིང་གོ་ཤྲི་ཏཱའི་སི་ཏུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཛད་རྣམ་སྙིང་བཏུས། Magical Illusion of the Great Maitreya: The Essential Life Story of Jamgön Kenting Goshir Tai Situ Rinpoche

2017: གསང་བདག་གི་རོལ་གར། ། མཚུར་ཕུའི་དྲུང་པ་གོ་ཤྲི་རྒྱལ་ཚབ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྣམ་ཐར་སྙིང་བཏུས། Lord of the Secret Teachings’ Dynamic Display: The Essential Life Story of Drungpa Tsurphu Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche

2017-2019: The Kagyu Monlam Book: A Compilation for Recitation

2017: གྲུབ་མཐའ་དྭགས་བརྒྱུད་མཛེས་རྒྱན། སེམས་ཙམ་པའི་སྐོར། The Philosophical Schools: The Ornament Beautifying the Dakpo Lineage (Mind Only)

2017-2018: Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society

22 January 2016, during the eighth day of teaching at the Arya Kshema Winter Dharma Gathering, the Gyalwang Karmapa discussed questions related to giving bhikshuni ordination to nuns.

2016: བསྡུས་པ་ཆེ་འབྲིང་ཆུང་གསུམ། The Radiant Smile of Jamyang Zhepa

Many of the previous Karmapas have left a letter stating the details of their rebirth (this is an aspect of the special self-recognizing siddhi of the Karmapas) to assist in the recognition of their future incarnation, and thus the Shamarpa's recognition through a dream has come under scrutiny. On the other side Shamarpa questioned the authenticity of the "prophecy letter" which the 16th Karmapa allegedly had written and asked Situ Rinpoche for a forensic test of the letter, which Situ Rinpoche refused. Ogyen Trinley Dorje is supported by the majority of the Kagyu hierarchy, including two lamas who have played a role in finding previous Karmapas: Tai Situpa and Goshir Gyaltsab. A fourth such lama, the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul, died early on during the controversy. Ogyen Trinley Dorje was enthroned at Tsurphu Monastery.

108 Translations was initiated in 2015 by H.H. Karmapa Orgyen Trinley Dorje. Born of a concept developed during a translators’ workshop held at Latse and presided over by Gyalwang Karmapa, the aim of the 108 Translations project is to produce a needed body of reading material that can promote the reinvigoration of Tibetan language. Rather than focussing on translating a few famous works that match the interests of a small group of well-educated readers (which has been the case for translations into Tibetan up to the present), 108 Translations aims to provide a plethora of good and easily accessible reading materials for average Tibetan readers.

On 24 January 2015, during the Second Arya Kshema Winter Dharma Gathering the Gyalwang Karmapa made the historical announcement that, beginning next year [which was later changed to 2017 for astrological reasons], he would take concrete steps towards restoring nuns’ vows in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

In recent years, Khoryug, a network of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and centers that work on environmental protection in the Eastern Himalayas, was developed under the auspices of Ogyen Trinley Dorje as part of the World Wildlife Fund's Sacred Earth: Faiths for Conservation program. And, in his April 2015 interview with Yale Environment 360, he said, "The environmental emergency that we face is not just a scientific issue, nor is it just a political issue, it is also a moral issue. And therefore all of us approaching this issue have to pick up our share of the responsibility to find and implement solutions. The scientific aspect of it, of course, is the supply of information — the creation of models and predictions and the introduction of techniques that we can use to remedy this. But our share of this responsibility is to take what scientists teach us to heart, so we actually transform our way of life into one that is sustainable.”

2015: Nurturing Compassion (Teachings from the First Visit to Europe)

Born in Lhatok Township, Chamdo County, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, to primarily nomadic parents, Ogyen Trinley Dorje is said to have identified himself to family members as the Karmapa early in childhood. Known as Apo Gaga, he was seven years old before he was recognized by a search party headed by the Tai Situpa, following instructions Situpa claims were left to him by the previous Karmapa in a prophetic letter hidden in a locket. Ogyen Trinley Dorje was installed at Tsurphu Monastery (Wylie: Mtshur-phu), the traditional seat of the Karmapa in Tibet, recognized by both the 14th Dalai Lama and the official sanction of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, who declared him to be a "living Buddha", the first time the China's communist government has officially confirmed a tulku. Already a year later, the Chinese announced during the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, that they would train him in Tsurphu for his future task as successor of the Dalai Lama.

In addition, OTD implored everyone to take as expansive a view as possible, to consider the long-term survival of the Karma Kagyu lineage. He said that those with a very short-term view may think that it was pointless for him to meet with TTD. Likewise, some people might think that OTD, by meeting with TTD, ended up losing—that he was defeated. But he said that victory and defeat is a very short-term worldly way of speaking, and that the long-term danger is that the lineage of the Karma Kagyu will disappear without a trace. Considering this grave danger, OTD said that losing face, victory and defeat, are really not important. In conclusion, OTD requested everyone to please keep this explanation in mind.

Mipham Chokyi Lodro, 14th Shamarpa (the second-longest recognized tulku lineage in the Karma Kagyu tradition, and who in previous incarnations has held and transmitted the Kagyu lineage between Karmapas), did not recognize Ogyen Trinley Dorje and instead proclaimed Trinley Thaye Dorje (Wylie: Mtha'-yas Rdo-rje), whom he purportedly identified a few years earlier than the recognition of Orgyen Thrinley Dorje in a dream as the true Karmapa. Shamarpas camp argue that until the reincarnation line of the Shamarpas was forbidden by the government of the Dalai Lama, the successive Shamarpas were the persons in charge to recognize the Karmapas, whereas the Dalai Lamas played no role in the recognition.

There are four main websites – Dharma Treasure, Adarsha, Ketaka, and Dharma Ebooks – each one dealing with a different format, tool, or translation. Adarsha, for example, makes the Kangyur, Tengyur, and Tibetan masterpieces available in digital format and has been catalogued under the guidance of the Gyalwang Karmapa himself.

On 14 September 2013, at the International Buddhist Confederation in New Delhi, Gyalwang Karmapa participated in a discussions with the Full Nun’s Ordination Working Group, joining Co-Chairs Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Abbess of Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in India, and Ven. Dhammananda, Abbess of Wat Songkhammakalayani Temple in Thailand.

2013-2014: The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out (print | ebook)

2012-2019: The First Karmapa: The Life and Teachings of Düsum Khyenpa (print | ebook)

Other high Kagyu lamas who support Ogyen Trinley Dorje include the 9th Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche; the 9th Thrangu Rinpoche; the 7th Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and his Nalandabodhi organization; the 12th Surmang Choseng Trungpa; the 7th Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche; the 3rd Tenga Rinpoche; Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche (abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra); Sakyong Mipham and his organization, Shambhala Buddhism; Drupon Rinpoche and Lama Norlha Rinpoche, among others. He is also recognized as Karmapa by both the current 14th Dalai Lama and the government of China.

Indian police said on Tuesday 24 April 2012 that they had dropped all criminal charges against Ogyen Trinley Dorje.

A judge at the Himachal Pradesh High Court issued an order for authorities to open criminal proceedings over the recovery of around 1 million USD in foreign currency during a raid on his Buddhist monastery. His spokesman stated that "He strongly believes truth will prevail at the end". Karmapa, along with nine other accused, was charged on 7 December 2012 and was asked by the court to appear personally on 6 March 2013. He failed to appear as he was out of Dharamsala. All the accused were as of July 2015 on bail.

On 9 July 2011, Dorje arrived back in the United States for his second visit. From 9 to 17 July, he participated in the Kalachakra initiation bestowed by the 14th Dalai Lama in Washington, D.C., then traveled by train to his seat at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra and also visited both his center in New Jersey and Hunter College in New York City, returning to India on 4 August. During his visit, he taught extensively on compassion, gave Refuge, and bestowed the empowerments of both the Four-Armed and Thousand-Armed forms of Avalokiteśvara. He also granted an interview with Laurie Goodstein of The New York Times, which was published on 28 July 2011.

Also sided with Orgyen Trinley Dorje are tulkus he has identified, such as the 11th Nenang Pawo, and those identified by Tai Situ Rinpoche such as the 3rd Kalu Rinpoche. There are now two recognitions of the 4th Jamgon Kongtrul, one sided with each Karmapa.

In January 2011, the Himachal Pradesh Police seized money in currencies of 25 countries including China, valued at over ₹ 60 million, during raids on the offices of a trust backed by Ogyen Trinley Dorje. They also seized several traveler's cheques and land deal documents, suspecting a hawala scam. Initially, the police suspected that the money was being used to spread Chinese influence in India, and that the Karmapa was a Chinese agent helping the Chinese government control Buddhist monasteries in India. They said even if the Karmapa was able to explain the source of the money recovered, he might be held liable for violating the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.

The Karmapa denied all the allegations and said that the seized money came via the donations from his followers. A New York Times report on the matter noted that an unnamed rival Karmapa candidate has "close ties to Indian intelligence officials." On 11 February 2011, it was reported that the central Indian government had cleared the Karmapa of all charges, finding that the money in question had been donated by followers.

In December 2011, the Himachal Pradesh Police filed a chargesheet against Ogyen Trinley Dorje, naming him as an accused in the cash and foreign currency seizure case. The Karmapa's office claimed that Dorje was not involved in the financial administration.

Requests to visit USA and Europe in 2010 were denied by the Indian government.

2010-2019: Ngondro for Our Current Day: A Short Ngondro Practice and Its Instructions (print | ebook)

On Earth Day, on 22 April 2009, Orgyen Trinley Dorje gave 108 instructions on protecting the environment.

At the second conference on environmental protection (3 to 8 October 2009, Gyuto Monastery), he stated that "For too long, people have behaved thoughtlessly and ignored the damage to the environment that they are creating and, if this continued there was a great danger that it would be too late to do anything."

On 24 October 2009, Ogyen Trinley Dorje supported international climate action day at a gathering at McLeod Ganj in northern India.

2009: The Future is Now: Timely Advice for Creating a Better World

2009: Traveling the Path of Compassion: A Commentary on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva

From May 15-June 2, 2008, he made his first trip to the West, visiting several cities in the United States (notably New York City, Boulder, Colorado, and Seattle) and was formally enthroned in the North American seat of the Karmapas at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra monastery in Woodstock, New York. All across the country, he gave multiple teachings on compassion and the environment, gave the reading transmission for a new form of ngöndro, and bestowed several empowerments, including those of Avalokiteśvara and Padmasambhava. He also spoke about the special challenges of the rapid pace of modern society, and the virtues of the Internet as a tool for the study and practice of Buddhism.

In July 2008, he requested permission to visit monasteries in Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh and in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. The Government of India initially refused to allow these visits without giving a reason. It was speculated that the reason might have been that these areas are close to the border with China and that the 2008 Summer Olympics were approaching even though the Karmapa had made it clear that he does not promote Tibetan independence and has no political stance on China. India eventually allowed his tour, which began in Ladakh, followed by Lahaul and Spiti, including the famous Tabo Monastery.

On January 3, 2007, Ogyen Trinley Dorje mandated a purely vegetarian diet in all his monasteries and centers and strongly urged vegetarianism among all his students, saying that generally, in his view, it was very important in the Mahayana not to eat meat and that, even in Vajrayana, it is preferable for students and practitioners not to eat meat.

Commenting on the Buddhist tradition of life release, where animals destined for slaughter are bought, blessed and natively released, Orgyen Trinley Dorje indicated that the meaning of this concept was broad and that practitioners should use their intelligence to expand the tradition. Similarly, when addressing the 2007 Kagyu Monlam Chenmo, he indicated that planting a single tree can be more beneficial than performing life release for many beings; recommending that monasteries should plant one to two thousand trees. In addition he urged monks to practise restraint when sponsors offer technology upgrades.

At the age of 14, he escaped to India through Nepal, arriving at the Tibetan exile quarters at McLeod Ganj on January, 5 2000. Ogyen Trinley Dorje had felt that he was unable to obtain in China the specialized instruction he needed to complete his studies and to realize his full spiritual authority. He resides at Gyuto Monastery in Sidhbari, near Dharamshala.

Ogyen Trinley Dorje (Tibetan: ཨོ་རྒྱན་འཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ་རྗེ། , Wylie: O-rgyan 'Phrin-las Rdo-rje, Chinese: 鄔金欽列多傑 ; born 26 June 1985), also written as Urgyen Trinley Dorje (Wylie: U-rgyan 'Phrin-las Rdo-rje); is a claimant to the title of 17th Karmapa Lama.