Karmapa

Karmapa is the title conferred upon the head monk of the Karma Kagyu sect of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. The term karmapa, “man of action,” is derived from the Sanskrit karma (action) and Tibetan pa (man). Each successive Karmapa is understood to be a new incarnation of Chenrezig, the bodhisattva of compassion. The 16th Karmapa, His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa, established a North American center in Woodstock, New York in 1978.