The Karmapa is a revered religious leader whose popularity cuts across sectarian lines. The 17th Karmapa is loyal to the Dalai Lama

–By Namrata Biji Ahuja Updated: June 30, 2025 10:21 IST

Ahead of the 90th birthday of Dalai Lama, the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorjee, head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, has come out in strong support of the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama, calling him a “refuge and protector for Tibetans of all lineages” and condemning China’s violent occupation of Tibet and its attempt to sever Tibetan identity.

The Karmapa’s letter is crucial as it makes his position clear and isolates China in its attempts to declare the next Dalai Lama. The support given by the revered religious leader, who was born in Tibet and recognized by both China and the Dalai Lama, is highly significant as his popularity cuts across sectarian lines. Unlike other Tibetan religious leaders of his generation, he was born in Tibet and enthroned in the Karmapa’s traditional seat in Tsurphu where he lived till he fled to India in the year 2000.

The 17th Karmapa is loyal to the Dalai Lama and his stirring tribute marks yet another landmark moment as he describes the Dalai Lama as “the one and only who can be crowned with the title of ‘The Second Buddha’.” In a poetic verse penned in Washington, where the Karmapa lives today, he condemns China as “fierce invaders” who “smeared the snows atop the world with the dark red dye of blood,” “splitting the people of the three regions and six highlands into home and exile.” He says it is when “six million Tibetan subjects had no one to cry out to but the sky,” it was the Dalai Lama who “arrived as a messenger from our great ancestors, like timely rain.” Click here to read more.