The great tertön1 Chokgyur Lingpa (1829-1870)had a vision of the Karmapas. Chokyur LingpasBiography reads: “At Karmey Monastery he hada vision of the 27 Karmapas, seeing the details oftheir lives and activities. Explaining this to artistslater, he had them make paintings on themonastery walls.”2 The 17th Karmapa is shown on those paintingsas being together with a red crowned Lama,whom he interpreted to be Tai Situ Rinpoche,whose mind was said to be inseperable from the17th Karmapa:„At the side of trees and the rocky mountain, the17th Karmapa and Kenting Tai Situ sittingtogether is a sign that the hearts of the two ofthem will join as one; the Dharma leaf willflourish, and the lineage of Dhagpo will fullyripen as a fruit.“The actual Situpa knew of this thangka andordered Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, the son ofLingpa''s second reincarnation Neten ChoklingPema Gyurme, to bring the thangka to exile. Hedid, showed it to the Dalai Lama and gave it toSitupa who printed it and distributed largely thecopies – as prove that his choice of the 17th

Karmapa was right. Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche:“Many people followed the Thangka and itsprophecy – Thrangu, Tenga, Tulku UrgyenRinpoche, to them it was more important then the opinion of Shamarpa or Situpa.”3

But few people had considered a historical fact which points out that actually the 16th Karmapacould be meant with this prophecy: There was a Karmapa-incarnation after the 14th Karmapa,which died as a child before being enthroned. The official counting doesn't take notice of that child.It is not sure if Chokyur Lingpa counted that incarnation. If so, the present Karmapa would be the18th and not the 17th. The prophecy about the 17th Karmapa would then concern the 16thKarmapa, who had two root Lamas: Jamgön Kongtrül Rinpoche II and indeed Situpa XI. Thisinterpretation is plausible as Lingpa predicts that under the 17th Karmapa the Dharma spreads overthe world, what actually happened through the activity of the 16th Karmapa Rigpe Dorje.4 In thecopy of the prediction Geshe Dawa Gyaltsen presents5, it's written: „At that time [of the 17thKarmapa], summer retreat will be revived“, what happened during the lifetime of the 16thKarmapa.6 The as 16th counted Karmapa Rikpe Dorje himself said to Lama Gendün Rinpoche: “Imyself will definitely manifest in this world as the Karmapa for another three or four lifetimes.

1 A Tertön is someone who finds the treasury texts and ritual objects hidden by Padmasambhava in the 8th century.2 Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, Tulku Jigmey Khyentse; Kunsang, Erik Pema (transl.): The Life of Chokgyur Lingpa, Rangjung Yeshe Publications 1988. It seems to be rather thangkas which were put on the monastery walls, see below.3 Ugyen Tobgay talk about Karmapa's fake Prediction Letter by Situ Rinpoche, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=w5-GT5ovYOU.4 http://materialien-karmapa-kontroverse.weebly.com/choumlkgyur-lingpas-prophezeiung.html5 On the Visions of Chokgyur Lingpa - Geshe Dawa Gyaltsen, in: Wong, Sylvia: The Karmapa Prophecies, Motilal

Banarsidass 2010. 6 Khenchen Thrangu writes in his biography of the late Karmapa (as cited by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche: The Lives of

the Karmapas, 6 CDs, KTD publications, 2011/2012) that the rainy season retreat was revived in Karmapas monastery in exile, Rumtek. (Since the days of the 10th Karmapa it hadn't even practiced at Karmapas monastery of Tsurphu.)In the mentioned talk of Urgyen Tobgay he states that the prophecy attributes this to be predicted for the 15th or 16th Karmapa. So all of this remains unclear.

Thereafter my activity will spread out, through many manifestations but without the name'Karmapa'.7 That means that the 16th Karmapa predicted that there will be only 19 or 20 Karmapas.All of this is not very clear. As mentioned the Life of Chokgyur Lingpa Lingpa, Chokyur Lingpaspoke actually about 27 Karmapas. So all this is not to be taken to literally.8 In a talk Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, explaines that Shamarpa and Chokgyur Lingpa had noconnection, but Lingpa and Situpa had. Concerning the question which 17th Karmapa he followed,he didn't ask himself many questions and followed Situpa. He explains: “So no matter what is rightor wrong, my loyality will always be with Situpa.”9 Its interesting that Lingpa first had the mentioned visions andexplained them “to artists later” who made the paintings ofthem.10 In the vision about the 17th Karmapa (on the image onthe right) he saw next to him a Lama with a red crown. Both,Situpa and Shamarpa have a red crown. Might Lingpainterpreted this red crowned Lama to be Situpa as he had noconnection with Shamarpa, but actually his vision showedShamarpa? With all this questions in mind it becomes clear that theprediction of Chokgyur Lingpa is not sufficient to prove thatOgyen Trinle to be the authentic 17th Karmapa. A detailled analyses of the prophecy is found in SylviaWong's „The Karmapa Prophecies“ in the correspondingchapter which is reproduced here.Wong's „The Karmapa Prophecies“ in the corresponding chapter which is reproducedhere. (klick on "here" please).

7 Lama Gendün Recalls, Vienna Dharma Videos, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHZGcyVb2cA, 5min 15sec.8Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche; Tulku Jigmey Khyentse and Erik Pema Kunsang (transl.): The Life of Chokgyur Lingpa, Rangjung Yeshe Publications 1988, pg 21.9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5-GT5ovYOU, transcript on this worldpress site.10 See note 7.