Gyalwa Karmapa is the first consciously reborn Lama of Tibet.  Since the 12^th century, the Karmapas have been the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. 

The 17^th Karmapa Thaye Dorje, was born in Tibet in 1983 as the son of Mipham Rinpoche, a master of the Nyingma tradition, and Dechen Wangmo.  At the age of one and a half the boy started telling people that he was the Karmapa. In 1994, he and his family managed to escape from Tibet to Nepal and then to India. The young Karmapa arrived in New Delhi in March of the same year, where during a welcoming ceremony H.H. Shamar Rinpoche formally recognized him as the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa. The 17th Karmapa was given the name of Trinlay (meaning Buddha activity) Thaye (limitless) Dorje (unchanging).

In October 1999, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa embarked on his first international teaching tour and gave initiations to several thousand people in Singapore and Taiwan. The beginning of the new millennium was marked by his first historic visit to the West. In Dusseldorf, Germany, Karmapa was enthusiastically received by 6,000 students from several hundred Diamond Way Buddhist centers from over 30 countries. In the summer of 2003, H.H. the 17th Karmapa conducted his first official program in the United States, giving a series of empowerments and teachings.

Today Karmapa's work is ever expanding, as he touches the lives of those who meet him and teaches and inspires his students around the world.