Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje came to be regarded as the leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage through the traditional Tibetan system of recognizing the reincarnation of a great lama. After the passing of the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, senior Karma Kagyu masters undertook a search for his rebirth. A key element in this process was a prediction letter attributed to the 16th Karmapa, describing the circumstances of his future life. Guided by this letter, along with dreams, visions, and other traditional signs, lamas such as Tai Situ Rinpoche and Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche identified a child born to a nomad family in eastern Tibet as the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa.

This recognition was then presented to important religious and political authorities. The 14th Dalai Lama examined the evidence and publicly endorsed Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the 17th Karmapa, and Chinese authorities also accepted this recognition, which was unusual in the Tibetan context. On the basis of these converging confirmations, his status as the tulku of the 16th Karmapa gained broad support among many followers of the Karma Kagyu tradition. In this way, his authority did not arise from a single decision, but from a confluence of lineage holders, prophetic indications, and institutional acknowledgment.

The recognition was ritually consummated through his enthronement at Tsurphu Monastery, the traditional seat of the Karmapas in Tibet. Enthroned there as a young boy, he was installed according to Karma Kagyu protocols as the 17th Karmapa and thus as the head of the Karma Kagyu school. From that point onward, he began to assume the functions associated with the Karmapa: giving teachings, bestowing empowerments, and overseeing monastic and lineage affairs. Through these activities, his role as the living continuity of the Karmapa line was not only proclaimed but enacted in the daily life of the tradition.

Later, after leaving Tibet and taking up residence in India, he continued to guide disciples and institutions connected with the Karma Kagyu school. Among those who accept his recognition, his leadership rests on the intertwining of prophetic vision, formal enthronement at Tsurphu, and the ongoing exercise of the responsibilities historically associated with the Karmapas. At the same time, the existence of another claimant to the title serves as a reminder that in Tibetan Buddhism, questions of lineage and authority are often lived realities rather than merely abstract doctrines, worked out over time in the hearts and practices of practitioners.