Mipham Chokyi Lodro was born on the 27th October, 1952 in Eastern Tibet, in the Kingdom of Derge, into the noble Athub family, as the nephew of the 16th Karmapa. His birth is said to have been accompanied with extraordinary occurrences: rainbows of exceedingly clear colours appeared and filled the sky, and flowers suddenly bloomed even though it was winter.

At the age of four, the child recognized old monks from Yangpachen monastery, the seat of the Shamarpas. At the age of six, the 16th Karmapa recognized the young Mipham Chokyi Lodro as the 14th Shamarpa and, in an informal ceremony, enthroned him at Tsurphu, the main seat of the Karmapas in Tibet.

Shamarpa travelled widely and taught thousands of students worldwide. In the 1990s, he started to set up a worldwide organization called Bodhi Path with the aim of offering Buddhist practice free from any sectarianism, and he continued to teach worldwide both in his own Bodhi Path centers as well as in other centers associated with the Karmapa.

Read more about the Life & Passing of Shamar Rinpoche (1952 – 2014)