This book is a traditional description of the lives of the first through sixteenth Karmapas, written by the Fourth Karma Thinleypa of the Karma bKa' brgyud tradition. The hagiographies are replete with descriptions of visions, signs, and miracles performed by the sixteen saints in combination with an essay on the historical and philsophical background of the sect. The introduction by Reginald Ray provides an alternative hermeneutic approach to the material from the rationalistic skepticism of modern materialism.