Karmapa, 7th

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PeopleKarmapa, 7th


ཆོས་གྲགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
Seventh Karmapa Chödrak Gyatso(1454 - 1506) 

During the lifetime of the Seventh Karmapa, the Great Encampment of the Karmapas expanded greatly, earning him the epithet “Chödrak Gyatso of the Great Encampment.” Chödrak Gyatso created the practice of holding massive prayer festivals on the major Buddhist holidays, establishing the precedent for today’s Kagyu Monlam Chenno.

The widely learned Chödrak Gyatso introduced a formal study institute (shedra) into the Great Encampment itself, and similarly created a shedra at Tsurphu Monastery. An accomplished scholar, the Seventh Karmapa authored a number of influential commentaries on Indian philosophical treatises. His text on epistemology, the multi-volume Ocean of Reasoning, remains one of his most important works, alongside his commentary on the Abhisamayalaṅkāra, the Lamp of the Three Worlds.

While these formed his major deeds, Chödrak Gyatso’s varied activities to benefit beings also included bridge construction, the resolution of factional disputes and protection of animals. As had been the case in the Great Encampment since its inception, no meat whatsoever was consumed—or even allowed within the camp. (Source Accessed July 28, 2020)


On the topic of this person

Other names

  • ཀརྨ་པ་བདུན་པ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • karma pa bdun pa · other names (Wylie)
  • Karmapa, 7th · other names

Affiliations & relations

  • Karma Kagyu · religious affiliation
  • 'gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal · teacher
  • ban sgar ba 'jam dpal bzang po · teacher
  • Goshir Gyaltsab, 1st · teacher
  • Tai Situpa, 2nd · teacher
  • pad+ma gling pa · teacher
  • gsung rab rgya mtsho · teacher
  • Shamarpa, 4th · student
  • Tai Situpa, 3rd · student
  • Goshir Gyaltsab, 2nd · student
  • shAkya mchog ldan · student
  • karma phrin las pa · student
  • chos rgyal bstan pa · student
  • Sangye Nyenpa, 1st · student
  • byams chen chos rje sna tshogs rang grol · student
  • bya 'jam dbyangs bkra shis rnam rgyal · student
  • bdud mo bkra shis 'od zer · student
  • 'brug pa kun legs · student
  • mtshungs med chos skyong rgyal mtshan · student