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Kagy Samye Ling and Kagyu Samye Dzong centres in Europe and Africa
Resident and visiting lamas. Other lineage teachers and dharma helpers.
HH the 17th Gyalwa Karma, Urgyen Tinley Dorje. The illustrious Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
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The principal holders of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan BuddhismLamas visiting the Kagyu Samye Ling and Samye Dzong centres This sectionAbbot of Kagyu Samye Ling and Director of Holy Island

Dr Akong Tulku Rinpoche
- ROKPA's founder

Part One: Early Life in Tibet

       

Born in 1939, near Riwoche in Kham, Eastern Tibet, he was discovered at a very young age by the search party seeking the reincarnation the previous (1st) Akong, Abbot of Dolma Lhakang monastery near Chakdado, in the Chamdo area of Kham. The search party was following precise instructions given by HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, Supreme Head of the Kamtsang tradition.
Around the age of four, the child was taken to Dolma Lhakang to receive the spiritual and formal education necessary for him to be able resume his work as Abbot later on. Dolma Lhakang was a monastery with some 100 monks and many associated small retreats and nunneries. Besides his religious studies, the young Akong also trained in traditional Tibetan medicine.
As a teenager, he travelled from community to community, performing religious ceremonies and treating the sick. He then went to the great monastic university of Secchen, where he received transmission of the quintessential mahamudra Kagyu Buddhist lineage from Secchen Kongtrul Rinpoche. His spiritual training as a holder of the Kagyu lineage was further completed under the guidance of HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa , who also certified him as a teacher of Tibetan medicine.  Rinpoche also holds many lineages of the Nyingmapa tradition.
Throughout this period he was treated with much reverence and respect.

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