Karma Thinley Rinpoche ཀརྨ་འཕྲིན་ལས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ (born 1931),^[1][2] is an important master of the Kagyu^[2] Mahamudra, Sakya Lamdré^[2] and Chod traditions of Tibetan Buddhism active in the west and Nepal. He is also well regarded by Tibetans as a scholar, poet and artist.

Karma Thinley Rinpoche was born in Nangchen, Kham, in Qinghai^[1] in 1931.^[1][2] At age two, he was recognized as a reincarnation of Beru Shaiyak Lama Kunrik.^[1][2]

Throughout the 1950s, Rinpoche made pilgrimages to Radeng, Samye, Sakya and Lhasa.^[2] Eventually, he settled for a period at Tsurphu Monastery,^[2] traditional seat of the Karmapa. The 16th Karmapa recognized Rinpoche as a tulku of Karma Thinleypa.^[2]

Karma Thinley Rinpoche left Tibet for India in 1959^[1] and during the 1960s was abbot of the Young Lamas Home School^[1] and Karma Drubgyu Thargay Ling nunnery^[2] both founded by Freda Bedi in Dalhousie, HP. There he was one of the first Tibetan refugee Lamas to teach western students. In 1971 he accompanied a group of Tibetan refugees resettled in Ontario, Canada as their Lama^[2] and in 1973 established a Buddhist center, Kampo Gangra Drubgyud Ling meditation centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.^[2]

In 1982, Karma Tinley Rinpoche was able to visit his homeland Nangchen for the first time since leaving a quarter of a century earlier.^[1] Returning several times since then he has established a temple in Shorda, capital of Nangchen District and a school for nomad children in the Sangshung valley.

In 1988, he also established a nunnery, Tekchen Lekshay Ling, at Boudhanath Nepal and subsequently a small meditation retreat center at Pharping.

His students include Lama Jampa Thaye, a British Buddhist teacher who is Karma Thinley Rinpoche's dharma-regent and founded the Dechen sangha,^[3] and the Nepalese Lama, Rana Guru.

• Karma Thinley. History of 16 Karmapas. Shambhala (2001) ISBN 1-57062-644-8
• Karma Thinley Rinpoche. The Telescope of Wisdom. Ganesha Press (2009) ISBN 978-0-9509119-6-0