(Khedrup) Dragpa Senge (1283-1349) was the first shamarpa, also called shamar rinpoche, a Tibetan tulku from the karma kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. A tulku is a lama in Tibet, incarnated in compassion to lead believers on the path to enlightenment. Reincarnation line
Prior to the life of Khädrub Dragpa Sengge, the second karmapa Karma Pakshi had announced in his life that his consciousness would be expressed in two people. However, they should not be seen as identical, as different from each other, but as expressions of the same consciousness. According to the tradition, he referred to his reincarnation in the third karmapa Rangjung Dorje and the first shamarpa, or Khädrub Dragpa Sengge. biography
Khädrub Dragpa Sengge was the most important pupil of the third karmapa. The karmapa, black crown holder, gave him an identical ruby-red crown and called him shamarpa, meaning "holder of the red crown."
When the karmapa was too young to lead karma kagyü, the shamarpa also had the task of finding the reincarnation of the karmapa, and vice versa.
Because the Kagyu line focused mainly in Kham, the monastery Yangpachen was assigned to Shamarpa at Lhasa in Central Tibet.
wiki
