The 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpei Dorje, was born in Denkhok in the Dergé district of Kham (Eastern Tibet), near the Yangtze River, on the day of the full moon in the 16th month of the Wood Mouse year (1924). He was born into an aristocratic family by the name of Athoub. His father was named Tsewang Norbu and his mother Kalzang Tcheuden. The Dzogtchen tulku, Chökyi Dorje, who was head of the famous Nyingma monastery in Dzogtchen, had predicted the birth of a great bodhisattva in the Athoub family. Following his advice, the future mother went to live in the cave near Padmasambhava, called the Celestial Castle of the Lion.

Not long after the child's birth, Situ Padma Wangchuk Gyalpo opened the letter left by the previous Gyalwa Karmapa predicting the reincarnation and discovered a detailed description of the house in which the parents of Rigpei Dorje lived. A delegation was sent to find the boy, and he was quickly recognized as the 16th incarnation of the Gyalwa Karmapa.

At the age of seven, Rangjung Rigpei Dorje entered the minor monastic orders under Situ Rinpoche and Jamgön Kongtrul from Palpung. One year later, the Black Hat and the Gyalwa Karmapa's robes were brought to him in Kham from Tsurphu. Situ Rinpoche then requested that the child go to his monastery, Palpung.

As they were travelling, the Gyalwa Karmapa and his entourage encountered the Prince of Dergé, Tsewang Dudul, who invited them to come to his palace. The palace, known as Dergé Lhundrup Teng, built in the 15th century by the highly accomplished Tangtong Gyalpo, was quite near Dergé Gonchen, the principal monastery of the Sakya Ngorpa school. The Gyalwa Karmapa took the opportunity to visit the vast printing facilities in the monastery and consecrate them. Soon afterwards, the group reached Palpung, where the young Gyalwa Karmapa was welcomed with great ceremony. Four days later, he was enthroned by Situ Rinpoche in the main temple of the monastery.

On the twenty-third day of the fourth month of the Iron Sheep year, Rangjung Rigpei Dorje and Situ Rinpoche, accompanied by a group of one thousand monks, set out for Tsurphu monastery, seat of the Gyalwa Karmapas. Along the way, at the Gyina monastery in Nang-Shin, Rangjung Rigpei Dorje performed the Black Hat ceremony for the first time during his lifetime. After the auspicious celebration, the travelers stopped off at Nyentchen Thanglha, a place over which the Kagyu tradition has always had strong symbolic influence. When he reached Tsurphu, the Gyalwa Karmapa was warmly received by Palpung Kongtrul Rinpoche, Pawo Rinpoche and Gyaltso Rinpoche.

Shortly afterward...