Mipham Chokyi Lodro, Tibetan lama and educator (b. 1952)
Mipham Chokyi Lodro (27 October 1952 – 11 June 2014), also known as Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche, was the fourteenth Shamarpa of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Shamarpa is the second-most important teacher of the Karma Kagyu school, after the Karmapa.
The Karmapas are sometimes referred to as the Black Hat Lamas, referring to their distinctive, black crown. Karma Pakshi, the second Karmapa, prophesied that "future Karmapas shall manifest in two nirmāṇakāya forms." Later, the third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, presented to his principal student, Khedrup Drakpa Senge, a ruby-red crown (Tibetan: ཞྭ་དམར། Wylie: zhwa dmar, pronounced /shamar/, "red hat") that was—apart from its color—an exact replica of his own crown; the Karmapa explained that the red crown symbolised their identical nature, and so the lineage of the Shamarpas began. The fourteenth Shamarpa was recognised by the sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje.