Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism, the Third Karmapa and the inventation of a tradition, by Ruth Gamble

Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism examines how the third Karmapa hierarch, Rangjung Dorjé (1284–1339) transformed Buddhist belief about reincarnation into a Tibetan institution based on lineage. It surveys his life through the portal of his previously untranslated autobiographical stories and songs, which reveal the rudiments of the reincarnation tradition. They include Rangjung Dorjé’s synthesis of the first three Karmapas’ biographies and past-life stories (jātaka), upon which the later tradition was reliant. An analysis of these works shows how they used different strategies to authorize the Karmapas’ reincarnate status: they presented the Karmapa reincarnates as an extension of the Kagyü religious lineage, evoked well-known precedents of reincarnation, and highlighted the recognition they received from religious and secular hierarchs, including the Mongol emperor. This analysis also emphasizes the important role local communities played in maintaining the Karmapas’ institutions and explores how Rangjung Dorjé sought this support by living in the same sacred sites as his predecessors. Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism argues, furthermore, that all of these elements of the tradition worked together; the stories of the Karmapas’ lives enhanced Rangjung Dorjé’s authority, which helped to sanctify the sites in which he lived; this, in turn, elicited more support from local communities, who then continued to tell his multi-life narrative. At the beginning of Rangjung Dorjé’s life, no one had gone looking for a new Karmapa. But his skill in storytelling, together with the elite and community support that he cultivated during his life, meant that after he died, many expected his return.