17th Karmapa Leader Expects 1st Child, Says ‘May Benefit Lineage’

The 17th Karmapa heads the 900-year-old Karma Kagyu lineage, the oldest lineage in reincarnate Tibetan Buddhism.

The 17th Gyalwa Karmapa announced on 12 March that he and his wife Sangyumla Rinchen Yangzom are expecting their first child.

(Photo: Karmapa official website)

Thaye Dorje, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, leader of one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, announced on 12 March that he and his wife Sangyumla Rinchen Yangzom are expecting their first child, read the official twitter handle of Karmapa.

The due date is during the first week of September and both Sangyumla and the baby are in good health so far, a statement on Karmapa’s official website read.

Since the leader is the third Karmapa to marry, and the second to become a father, he said “all my decisions may benefit our precious lineage and all sentient beings, now and for generations to come,” the statement added, hinting towards the newborn being the likely successor.

The 17th Karmapa is the head of the 900-year-old Karma Kagyu lineage, the oldest reincarnate lineage in Tibetan Buddhism. It has existed before the Dalai Lama’s Gelug school by over 200 years, the statement added.

He went on to add that his role as Karmapa is “imbued with even more purpose, more responsibility and more compassion” after the special addition to the Karma Kagyu family.

According to the official source, the 15th Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje, who was also a father, had three sons, two of whom he recognised as reincarnate masters.

The Tibetan government-in-exile has cancelled one of two events in New Delhi, planned to commemorate 60 years of the Dalai Lama in exile this year. According to a 2 March report in The Indian Express, Foreign Secretary Gokhale requested Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha in a note dated 22 February to issue a “classified circular advisory advising all Ministries/Departments of Government of India as well as State Governments not to accept any invitation or to participate in the proposed commemorative events.”

(With inputs from Karmapa website )