The 50 Years of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling
The year 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, the transmission place of Gampopa’s lineage, and the European seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
Every month this year, from the moment in January when the Gyalwa Karmapa, in his 16th and 17th incarnations, set foot in Europe twenty-five years apart, right up to the present day, we will highlight milestones that planted the seeds for women and men from across Europe and beyond to receive authentic Buddhist teachings, experience the Buddhist path, and for Buddhist knowledge to be preserved and shared.
This is a year to learn about the precious Karma Kagyu lineage, to be inspired by what has been accomplished and to pay tribute to the masters that made it all possible. In this way, we deepen our confidence in the Buddha Dharma.
The year will be marked by dedicated practices on key dates to connect us to Dhagpo’s history, an online series of talks on the life of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, and special events that will be announced over the months to come.
June
June 6, 1981 : Tai Situ Rinpoche’s First Visit to Dhagpo Kagyu Ling
On June 6, 1981, Tai Situ Rinpoche, then twenty two years old, taught for the first time at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, where he stayed for two weeks.
This high-ranking lama of the Karma Kagyu lineage chose to teach in English about the first commitment of all practitioners, the gateway to the Buddhist path: taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. […]
Event
To commemorate this event, on June 6, Meunlam prayers will be recited throughout the day at Dhago Kagyu Ling.
This event will only take place onsite.
June 11, 2014: Künzig Shamar Rinpoche enters into Parinirvana
In the early morning of June 11, at his main European seat in Renchen-Ulm, Germany, the 14th Shamarpa, Mipham Chökyi Lodrö, passed away at age sixty-two from heart failure, leaving his innumerable disciples across the world in deep shock. He had just completed several days of teachings. […]
Event
To commemorate this event, we will gather for a day of practice in the Temple, followed by a Talk on the life of Künzig Shamar Rinpoché given by Trinlay Rinpoche in the Institute. It will be streamed online and translated into several languages.
June 11-13, 1987 : Coming out of First Retreat at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling and Arrival at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling
After three years, three months, and three days in seclusion from the outside world, the first group of fourteen men and five women to complete the traditional retreat emerged on June 11, 1987 from their drupkang, retreat center, at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling, and then traveled to Dhagpo Kagyu Ling on June 13,1987. […]
Event
The retreatants’ arrival to Dhagpo Kagyu Ling as well as the Institute’s consecration will be marked by a day of practice at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, followed by a friendly tea-time get together on June 13.
This event takes place only onsite.
June 13, 2013: The Inauguration of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling’s Institute
From June 13, 2013, Dhagpo Kagyu Ling’s Institute was inaugurated in the presence of several thousand people from all over the world, fulfilling one of the 16th Karmapa’s wishes to make the Buddha’s authentic teaching accessible to as many people as possible. […]
Event
The retreatants’ arrival to Dhagpo Kagyu Ling as well as the Institute’s consecration will be marked by a day of practice at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, followed by a friendly tea-time get together on June 13.
This event takes place only onsite.
June 19-20, 1982 :International Tibetan Buddhism Days with Künzig Shamar Rinpoche at the Vincennes Pagoda
In June 1982, seven months after the parinirvana of the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rikpe Dorje, the 14th Shamarpa, Mipham Chökyi Lodrö, now solely responsible for the Karma Kagyü lineage, initiated the International Days of Tibetan Buddhism and Tradition at the Pagode du Bois de Vincennes in Paris, alongside Lama Gendun and Lama Jigme Rinpoche. […]
The Imprint of the 14th Shamarpa, Mipham Chökyi Lodrö, on Dhagpo Kagyu Ling
For thirty-three years, from 1981 to 2014, Shamarpa took care to come to Dhagpo Kagyu Ling nearly every year to share teachings and empowerments. Primary holder of the Karma Kargyü lineage, he also took care to confer the essential transmissions of the lineage in the traditional three-year-three-month-three-day retreat center at Dhagpo Kundreul LIng.
June 26, 1992: Legal Recognition of the Karma Thartchine Lhundroup Monastic Community
By decree dated June 26, 1992, signed by the French Prime Minister, the Karma Thartchine Lhundroup Buddhist monastic community, based in Biollet, Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne, was legally recognized.
This is the second legal entity linked to the activities of the Gyalwa Karmapa in France to be formed following the recognition of the Karmé Dharma Chakra monastic congregation, based in Saint-Léon-sur-Vézère, Dordogne in January 1987, the first non-Catholic congregation to be recognized by the French government.
This legal recognition provides protection for the monastic community of Dhagpo Kundreul Ling, the site of a monastery where traditional three-year-three-month-and-three-day retreats have been held since 1984, fulfilling one of the wishes of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, Ranjung Rikpe Dorje.
Today, Lama Jigme Rinpoche, spiritual advisor to Dhagpo Kagyu Ling and secretary-general of the 17th Karmapa in Europe, is the superior of these two congregations, ensuring the cohesion and vision of the entire community.
May
May 3, 1975 – Lama Jigme Rinpoche Arrives at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling
In January 1975, I was in Geneva with Lama Namgyal. I was taking care of the 16th Karmapa’s birds as he was in Zurich.
I was waiting for him and the rest of the group so that we could all return to India together. It must have been around four o’clock in the morning when the phone rang. I wasn’t quite awake when I picked it up. […]
Event
This day will open with a smoke offering practice (sang puja) from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in the Institute.
The ritual will be followed by Jigme Rinpoche’s teaching for the Chenrezig Progressive Curriculum of Study & Meditation, onsite and online.
The teaching is given in English and translated into French, Spanish and German..
May 4 and 5, 2000 : Chogye Trichen Rinpoche Confers Two Empowerments
After transmitting key teachings to Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling in the Auvergne, the eminent Sakya master Chögye Trichen Rinpoche made a stop in Dordogne to confer the empowerments of One-Thousand-Armed Chenrezig and Green Tara on May 4 and 5, 2000. […]
May 6, 1983. Birth of the 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje
Eighteen months after the passing of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje on November 5, 1981, his reincarnation, later recognized by the 14th Künzig Shamarpa, was born in the Barkor area of Lhasa on May 6, 1983.[…]
Event
The 17th Karmapa’s birthday as well as the transmissions he received from Künzig Shamar Rinpoche at Kundreul Ling will be marked by a day of practice at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling and Dhagpo Kundreul Ling.
Part of this event will take place onsite only; another part will be offered onsite and online..
May 21–27, 2002: Karmapa, in retreat at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling, receives transmissions from Khenchen Trinley Paljor Rinpoche
Upon the request of Künzig Shamarpa, Khenchen Trinley Paljor Rinpoche, one of the primary holders of the Kagyu lineage transmitted the Karma Kamtsang tradition of the six yogas of Naropa, Dorje Pamo practice and other texts on meditation practice to Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa from May 21 to 27, 2002 at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling. […]
Event
This transmission from the master Khenchen Trinley Paljor Rinpoche will be commemorated on May 21 by the extensive practice of Dorje Pamo in the Institute and the screening of the film “From Youth to Mastery”.
This event takes place only onsite.
May 24, 2014 : Künzig Shamarpa’s Last Teaching at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling
The 2nd Gyalwa Karmapa, Karmapa Pakshi (1204–1283), indicated that he would manifest in the future in two physical forms that would be one in essence: the Black Crown Karmapa and the Red Crown Karmapa, otherwise known as the Shamarpa. […]
Event
Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 May
This event will be commemorated by the screening of Künzig Shamarpa’s last teaching at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling on the fourfold application of mindfulness.
This event takes place in Dhagpo Kagyu Ling’s Institute. It will be screened online and translated into several languages (English, Spanish, German, Russian).
May 2000: Karmapa receives the transmission of two key collections of the Karma Kagyu lineage at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling
IIn May 2000, Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, then in retreat at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling since February, received the transmission of two key collections of the Karma Kagyü lineage […] His Holiness, the 14th Künzig Shamarpa, Mipham Chökyi Lodrö (1952–2014) conferred these transmissions.
Event
The 17th Karmapa’s birthday as well as the transmissions he received from Künzig Shamar Rinpoche at Kundreul Ling will be marked by a day of practice at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling and Dhagpo Kundreul Ling.
Part of this event will take place onsite only; another part will be offered onsite and online.
April
April 26–May 1, 1992 – Learning to Live Freely: The First Teen Course
“Using your strengths to gain your freedom.” This was the theme of the first course for 13 to 18-year-olds guided by Lama Jigme Rinpoche at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling from April 26 to May 1, 1992.
“At the time I was doing courses for top management. That’s when I saw there was something missing for the young generation, to help them have a vision,” explains Lama Jigme Rinpoche. […]
April 2000: A Library is Born
Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, explained that the existence of a library is one of the five key resources for Buddhism to take root where it did not previously exist.
The mission of the Dhagpo Kagyu Library is therefore to preserve a unique Buddhist corpus faced with […]
Event
On April 30, from 3:00 p.m., to mark this event and for this first time at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, all practitioners will be invited to join a Kangyur procession.
Ahead of this, between April 14 and 18 (from 10 to 10:30 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.), practitioners who can read Tibetan are invited to join reading aloud from each of the 103 volumes that constitute the collection, in the Library’s reading room and in the Tibetan documentary holding room.
April 9–22, 1990: Kunzig Shamarpa Teaches the Dawe Öser, Treatise on Mahamudra Meditation
In the courtyard of the Lama House, buffeted by the colds spring winds in April 1990, the 14th Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche Mipham Chökyi Lodrö transmitted a major treatise on the stages of Mahahumdra meditation, Moonbeams (Dawe Öser), by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (1512-1587).[…]
Event
To commemorate this event: April 9, 10, and 11, the audio recordings of Kunzig Shamarpa’s teaching on the Dawe Öser will be streamed in the Institute (in French and English).
This is an in-person event.
The recordings are also available for consultation in the Dhagpo Kagyu Ling Library.
April 2000 – The 25th Chogye Trichen Rinpoche Transmits Major Teachings to Karmapa at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling
April 6, 2000, Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, one of the most eminent Sakya masters of the 20th century, is welcomed to Dhagpo Kundreul Ling in order to transmit teachings to Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, who had been in retreat there since February 6, 2000. […]
Event
Sunday, April 27 at 3:30 p.m.: Talk by Dhongtsang Shabdrung Rinpoche.
Dhongtsang Shabdrung Rinpoche of the Sakya school is renowned for his great erudition. His predecessor was the elder brother of the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpé Dorjé. While he is at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling, he has agreed to speak to us about Chögyé Trichen Rinpoche.
Streaming in several languages will be available.
March
March 17, 1984 – A Historical Step: The First Three-Year Retreat
Close to 6:30 in the evening, after a day of rituals, a convivial buffet, the receiving of their sacred texts, and a procession around their future place of practice, fifteen men and five women crossed the threshold of the retreat center or drupkang located in Dhagpo Kundreul Ling, which they would not leave for the traditional period of three years, three months, and three days. […]
Event
To mark this event, three days of practice will take place in the small temple of Dhagpo Kundreul Ling:
Sunday 16 and Monday 17 March: Extensive ritual of Dorje Pamo
March 8, 1993: Consecration of the Stupa of Enlightenment
With the consecration of the Stupa of Enlightenment, Dhagpo Kagyu Ling welcomed its first support for offering and virtue accumulation, representing the very manifestation of Buddha’s mind.
This stupa is so named because it was first built in India on the occasion of Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment […]
Event
To mark this event, we will gather on March 8th in the presence of Lama Jigme Rinpoche to perform the Guru Yoga practice of the 16th Karmapa at the Institute and carry out recitations and offerings around the stupa.
The practices will also be streamed online.
March 1, 1982 – Anchoring the Dharma in the City: Creation of the First Urban Center in Biarritz
Offering the opportunity to connect to the Dharma in the city, close to home—this is the vocation of the Karma Teksum Tchöling centers, the first of which began in Biarritz in March 1982.
To begin, what is the meaning of this name given by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa? Karma indicates that the center is under the spiritual authority of the Gyalwa Karmapa. Teksum means […]
Event
To mark this event, on March 1st, Lama Jigmé Rinpoche will continue his account of life alongside Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa.
Streaming in several languages will be available.
After Losar, the Nyungne season
Since 1980, Nyungne retreats—the meditative practice of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion with eleven faces and one thousand arms—have been a feature of Dhagpo’s program in the first month of the Tibetan year, a period considered to be very propitious for Dharma practice.
The practice—a powerful means of purification—is based on the […]
February
1985: Dhagpo Kagyu Ling Turns into a Worksite
From the month of February 1985, bulldozers transformed Dhagpo Kagyu Ling into a vast worksite to improve the Center’s living conditions and welcoming capacity.
Despite the rain, the work went ahead to dig trenches in order to install drains, water supply and electricity distribution pipes.[…]
Losar Over the Decades
As a local newspaper reports in February 1980,
“To celebrate this first day of the Tibetan New Year, people had come from everywhere: from Germany, the Paris region…but also from Périgord,” with Tibetan cakes served for all in the early morning.
The article refers to the presence of Lama Gendun Rinpoche and Lama Jigme Rinpoche, as well as Tenga Rinpoche
February 6, 2000: the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa in Retreat at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling
After his first European tour, Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, travelled to Dhagpo Kundreul Ling in the Auvergne region where he stayed in retreat from February 6 to June 8, 2000 to pursue his education alongside His Holiness the 14th Künzig Shamarpa, Mipham Chökyi Lodrö (1952-2014).[…]
Event
To mark this event, on February 6th, the extensive ritual of Dorjé Pamo will be performed throughout the day in two locations: at the Institute of Dhagpo Kagyu Ling and in the great temple of Dhagpo Kundreul Ling.
February, 1996: Creation of Dhagpo Dedröl Ling, a center for secular practitioners
“Gendun Rinpoche spoke to us about his wish to create a retreat center for secular practitioners.
He asked us to carry out tsok accumulation practices for this to go well,” confides Lama Henrik in an interview with Tendrel magazine (no. 42, December 1996).
January
January 21, 2023: the Library Receives an Exceptional Collection
The late Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche had asked the Dhagpo library to acquire this exceptional work, to complement the version from Derge held in the traditional pecha format in its collection.
January 21, 1975: The16th Gyalwa Karmapa Touches Down in Dordogne
During a day trip to Dordogne on January 21, 1975, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje visited the stretch of land on the Côte de Jor that was to become Dhagpo Kagyu Ling.
He was invited by Bernard Benson, a British industrialist who owned the Château de Chaban and surrounding land on the Côte de Jor
[…]
Event
On January 21st, Lama Jigme Rinpoche will give a talk on the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, who described him as “his heart.”
Streaming in several languages will be available.
January 17, 1975: The 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Meets Pope Paul VI at the Vatican
In a highly symbolic moment marking the Church’s openness to a Buddhist presence on European soil, Pope Paul VI met with the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje at the Vatican, in Rome, on January 17, 1975.
Welcoming the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, the Pope stated that “the Second Vatican Council expressed admiration for Buddhism in its various forms and for the contribution it makes to the spiritual elevation of man.”
Event
Dhagpo Kagyu Ling will perform a day-long garsang, a ritual practice that restores any damage caused to the inner or outer environment.
January 9, 2000: During His Inaugural European Trip, the 17th Karmapa Visits Dhagpo Kagyu Ling
Under gusty skies at the turn of the new century, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, was greeted at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling on January 9— three days after arriving in Paris on his first visit to Europe.
Addressing some two thousand practitioners under a large marquee, the 16-year-old Gyalwa Karmapa recalled his predecessor’s instructions for Buddhism to take root in the West,
[…]
Event
To mark this date, we will gather in Dhagpo’s Institute to recite the Five Royal Sutras and the practice of Vajrasattva as requested by the 17th Karmapa, as well as the Sutra of Longevity.
The practice will also be streamed.
January 8, 1988: Official Recognition of Karme Dharma Chakra Congregation
Coming soon… The key dates for June
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