Karmapa Public Course 2025: Impressions

March 15, 2025

This year’s Karmapa Public Course at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (KIBI) started on 9 March, 2025, and will continue until 17 March.

On the afternoon of the first day, Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, granted the empowerment of White Tara (Tib. Drolkar), one of the Buddha aspects representing longevity, to an assembly of approximately 500 practitioners, including Rinpoches, monks, nuns, and lay practitioners from East and West. Karmapa gave detailed instructions on the meaning and essence of the practice, so as to enable the students to follow the steps of the empowerment.

In the following days, Karmapa continued his teaching on The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by the great Indian scholar Shantideva. This year the focus is on the 8th chapter of this great work, dedicated to the Paramita of Meditative Concentration (Tib. Samten).

In addition to Karmapa, there are once again other eminent teachers sharing their knowledge of the Buddha Dharma to the participants: His Eminence Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche teaches on Buddha Nature, Venerable Lama Jampa Thaye continues his explanations on Shentong Madhyamaka, and Venerable Khenpo Lobsang his teachings on the topic of Buddhist Epistemology (Tib Tsema).

The Dharma talks are live-streamed, so that practitioners from around the world can participate in the sessions: https://www.karmapa.org/karmapa-public-course-2025-streaming/

Please enjoy this selection of pictures from the first five days of the course.