Karmapa is the head Lama of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism since the XII century. The first Karmapa Düsum Khyenpa (1110-1193) was a yogi from the Kham, a region in the eastern Tibet. He arrived to the monastery of Gampopa Sonam Rinchen (1079–1153), one of the most prominent Buddhist teachers of the time, a direct disciple of Milarepa, around 1140. Karmapa was already