Explores the controversy over the reincarnation of the Karmapa, arguably the second most powerful figure in the Tibetan Buddhist religious heirarchy. Through wide-ranging research and interviews with key figures, including the young Karmapa himself, award-winning journalist Lea Terhune unlocks the riveting tale of the Karmapa's disputed incarnation, and traces the roots of the Kagyu tradition and the history of the previous Karmapas in order to illuminate the tale of the young man born to play a key role in the future of Tibet.
In January 2000, interest in the Tibetan situation hit a peak as fourteen-year old Orgyen Trinley Dorje was thrust upon the world stage. Recognized as the Seventeeth Karmapa, he made a dramatic escape from his Chinese Communist overseers to India, so that he could study with the masters of his religious lineage, follow his conscience, and be a leader of his people. While still only a young man, Orgyen Trinley Dorje's life has been marked indelibly by devotion, intrigue, and transformation. Karmapa: the Politics of Reincarnation is his amazing story.