Zhamar

The Zhamarpas are an important tulku lineage within the Karma Kagyu branch of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, second after the Karmapas. Founded in the fourteenth century, the Zhamar and Karmapa lineages have a close teacher-student relationship, when one passes away the other takes charge of identifying and educating the new incarnation. In 1788, the Tenth Zhamarpa became involved in a conflict between the Shah synasty of Nepal, the Dalai Lamas’ Ganden Podrang, and the Qing dynasty. As result the Geluk-led Ganden Podrang government banned the Zhamar lineage, which went underground until being formally pardoned by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in 1963.