The recognitions of the Karmapa incarnations are of central importance in the Karma Kagyu lineage. This is not the first controversy around a Karmapa incarnation. Background Conflicts with previous Karmapa recognitions Despite an intriguing history, the high lamas involved are meeting with each other on good terms and issuing statements that they are confident there will be an amicable solution. Historic disputes regarding the 17th Karmapa controversy are the focus of numerous accounts, reports, and journalism articles, and are also the subject of several books that typically support one or the other candidate. In 2020, Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje jointly announced they would work together to find the next incarnation of the Shamar Rinpoche, historically considered second in importance to the Karma Kagyu lineage after the Gyalwang Karmapa, similar to the Panchen Lama's role as second in importance in the Gelugpa school after the Dalai Lama.

In 2018, Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje met for the first time to begin creating a personal relationship with one another, and to encourage their spiritual communities to heal the divisions and join in efforts to help preserve the Karma Kagyu tradition. As the years passed, separate sets of organizations and highly recognized lamas, or teachers, supported one Karmapa or the other. Tai Situ Rinpoche recognized Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the 17th Karmapa, and Shamar Rinpoche disagreed and chose Trinley Thaye Dorje as the rightful claimant to the title of the 17th Karmapa. The recognition of the 17th Karmapa created a split within the Karma Kagyu lineage. The divisiveness started in the early and mid 1990s, with semi-public accusations of impropriety from those closely involved, and continued for several years thereafter. The Karmapa is the spiritual leader of the nine-hundred-year-old Karma Kagyu lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. There are currently two, separately enthroned 17th Gyalwang Karmapas: Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje.

History of dalai lama reincarnation