Our founder, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, first visited Maine in 1996 and gave his fledgling Portland dharma center the name Vajra Vidya. Our name reflects our heritage and our purpose: Vajra Vidya means “Indestructible Awareness.” It is the Sanskrit translation of the name of the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje, who was the previous spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu lineage and the guru of Thrangu Rinpoche. In naming our center after his teacher, Thrangu Rinpoche was expressing our connection with the Karma Kagyu lineage, a living tradition of Tibetan Buddhism that emphasizes meditation, retreat, and direct experience passed from teacher to student through generations of realized masters.

The Karma Kagyu lineage traces back to Marpa the Translator (1012–1097), who traveled to Nepal and India to bring authentic Buddhist teachings to Tibet. Marpa’s most famous student was the great yogi Jetsun Milarepa, who passed the teachings on to Gampopa, who in turn transmitted the teachings to Dusum Khyenpa, the First Karmapa. Since then, the Karma Kagyu lineage has been headed by a succession of reincarnations of the Gyalwang Karmapa.

The present Gyalwang Karmapa is the Seventeenth, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who was born in 1985 and enthroned at the traditional seat of the Karmapas at Tsurphu in Tibet. In 2000 he left Tibet for India, at which time Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche was appointed his tutor.

Thrangu Rinpoche led meditation retreats in Maine annually until 2006. Vajra Vidya now operates under the spiritual guidance of senior lamas from his monastery and other teachers of the Kagyu lineage as an independent nonprofit organization led by a board of directors and supported entirely by dues and donations.