Living Buddha – 17. Gyalwa Karmapa

“Living Buddha” by Clemens Kuby is the real life story of the reincarnation of one of Tibet’s greatest and most revered spiritual teachers, the Gyalwa Karmapa. The Karmapa is the traditional head of the Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Gyalwa Karmapa died in 1981 in Chicago and was born again 1985 in Tibet. Each successive Karmapa left details of their future rebirth, prophesying such things as the date and circumstances of their birth, even the names of their future parents.
When the previous Gyalwa Karmapa died, he had already entrusted his prediction letter and it was on this basis that a successful search was made to find his reincarnation. Kuby follows the search party and documents each successive stage up to the time of the 17th Karmapa’s first public blessing at the age of eight. He was identified as Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the long awaited second son in a poor nomadic family in a remote area of eastern Tibet.
An exploration of Tibet as seen through the eyes of historian/documentarian Clemens Kuby. Central to the film is the consecration of the 17th Karmapa, who according to Tibetan belief, is the reincarnation of Buddha and plays a supremely important role alongside Dalai Lama.

We apologise that due to restricted conditions in which crew members worked, in extreme situations and with sensitive political implications, especially within the Tibetan Autonomous Region, the technical quality of film doesn’t match today’s requirements. We believe that this inconvenience will be compensated by unique shots capturing many important figures of the time.