1st Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa

[1] Düsum Khyenpa was born to a devout family of Buddhist practitioners in Teshö in Kham and was called Gephel as a child.

Gephel received empowerments and instruction in the Hevajra tantra and spent four years in strict retreat, training in samatha and vipassanā.

[citation needed] Gampopa eventually died and Dusum Khyenpa returned to Daklha Gampo to honor his remains.

He had a powerful vision of his teacher and knew that it was time to implement one of his final instructions: To go to the place where he would achieve enlightenment - Kampo Kangra - and to practice mahamudra there.

He gave it to his main disciple, Drogon Rechen, predecessor of the Tai Situpa line, who passed it to his own student Pomdrakpa.

[6] An ink and gouache drawing of Düsum Khyenpa[7] was found in a statue of the Buddha and is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Note: This text is based on the abstract from Ken Holmes book Karmapa on the web site [1] used with the author's permission.