Audacity and Tradition

The masters of a Buddhist tradition are part of a succession of successions while prolonging it. Their thoughts and teachings echo those of their lineage, but each master presents them in a new light, according to the needs of the time. This is the case for Mipham Chö kyi Lodrö (1952-2014), the 14th reincarnation of Shamarpa or holder of the red headdress, an accomplished meditator and leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage of Shamarpas dating back to the 13th century is the second oldest line of reincarnation of Tibetan Buddhism. This book pays tribute to a modern master, heir to Buddha methods, who used his life to make them accessible and to transmit them in a double framework: that of the East with its traditions and that of the West with its fascination.

Karma Trinlay Rinpoche is a Buddhist teacher and scholar. He is the first Westerner of French and American origin to have been recognized as Tü lkou (reincarnation of an accomplished Master of Buddhism) by the 16th Karmapa, Ranjung Rikpé Dorjé (1923-1981). Karma Trinlay Rinpoche received all the important transmissions of Buddhism and completed traditional Buddhist training as well as academic training in philosophy, history and philology. Mastering both English, French and Tibetan, a charismatic speaker, he teaches regularly in the West and in Asia. Karma Trinlay Rinpoche was the translator of the 14th Shamarpa for many years and he received from him the rarest and most important transmissions of the Kagyu line.