Trinley Thaye Dorje () (born 6 May 1983 in Lhasa) is a claimant to the title of 17th Karmapa. The Karmapa is head of the Karma Kagyu school, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Thaye Dorje are the persisting claimants to that office and title. Biography Born on 6 May 1983 in Tibet, Trinley Thaye Dorje is the son of the 3rd Mipham Rinpoche (Tshe-dbang Bdud-'dul lineage) of Junyung Monastery, one of several persons believed to be a reincarnation of Ju Mipham, an important lama of the Nyingmapa school, and Dechen Wangmo, the daughter of a noble family descended from King Gesar of Ling. At the age of six months, he is reported to have started telling people that he was the Karmapa. (The identification of the 17th Karmapa is disputed. See Karmapa controversy) In October 1986 Chobgye Tri Rinpoche, senior Sakya master and head of one of the three Sakya lineages, contacted the Shamarpa and informed him about a dream he had had and about a relative of his from Lhasa who brought a picture of a child who reportedly and repeatedly announced that he was the Karmapa. In 1988 Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche was sent to obtain more information about the child. In 1988, the 14th Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche went on a secret visit to Lhasa to investigate whether Trinley Thaye Dorje was the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa, because, he said, the boy appeared to him in a dream. In 1994, after Trinley Thaye Dorje and his family escaped from Tibet to Nepal and then to India, Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche formally recognized him as the genuine reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa. Shamar Rinpoche then presented Trinley Thaye Dorje to his students as the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in New Delhi, India in March 1994 and he was formally enthroned in Bodhgaya where the Buddha achieved enlightenment in December 1996. He took monastic ordination from Chobgye Tri Rinpoche and underwent intensive education under the guidance of Shamar Rinpoche. Fluent in English, he has traveled extensively in the East and the West to spread the authentic teachings of the Karma Kagyu Lineage to increasingly large audiences. On 25 March 2017, Trinley Thaye Dorje married Rinchen Yangzom of Bhutan. Their son Thugsey-la, which means "Heart-son", was born on 11 August 2018. Eastern and western education Thaye Dorje's carefully coordinated