Inseparable from Avalokiteshvara, the first Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa was born in 1110. He will be the future Buddha, who is the sixth one of this fortunate eon and known as the Lion. Dusum Khyenpa became the chief disciple of the peerless Gampopa and attainted realization of ultimate unity. In establishing the Kamkhyim Temple in Litang, he began the lineage of the Kamtsang Kagyu. His main disciple was Situ Drogon Repa Chenpo, to whom he transmitted the profound inner teachings in their entirety. Since that time, the Golden Garland of the Kagyu, known as the practice lineage, has been passed down in an unbroken transmission to this day.
The buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions empowered Dusum Khyenpa as the glorious Karmapa, and his incarnations have continued down to the present through the special method of the previous incarnation foretelling the birth of the subsequent one. In Central Tibet, Dusum Khyenpa established Tolung Tsurphu Monastery, known as Akanishta, and from this great seat, his incarnations have extended their Dharma activity throughout the upper, middle, and lower parts of Tibet as well as to China and India.