#  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.