Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE KARMAPA CONUNDRUM
Reincarnation is an integral part of Buddhist doctrine and Tibetan political culture but it is
by no means an exact science. The controversy over the selection of the 17th Karmapa is
a fine example of how things can go horribly wrong when opinions differ on the legitimacy
of a newly chosen trulku(incarnate lama).
In 1981 the 16th Karmapa died in Chicago. Administration of the Karmapa sect in
Sikkim was passed down to four regents, who in 1992 announced the discovery of a letter
written by the 16th Karmapa that provided critical clues as to the whereabouts of his rein-
carnation, eight-year-old Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
Two weeks after one of the regents was killed in a road accident, one of the four,
Shamar Rinpoche, announced that the mystery letter was a fraud, but it was too late. By
early June clues from the letter had been deciphered, Ogyen Trinley Dorje had been found
in eastern Tibet and the Dalai Lama had made a formal announcement supporting the
boy's candidature.
Shamar Rinpoche opposed the Dalai Lama's decision and began a letter-writing cam-
paign. Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities formally enthroned the 17th Karmapa at
Tsurphu in front of a crowd of 20,000, using the occasion to announce that they had a
'historical and legal right to appoint religious leaders in Tibet'. In March 1994, Shamar Rin-
poche announced that he had discovered the rightful reincarnation, a boy named Tenzin
Chentse (also known as Thaye Dorje), who had been spirited out of China to Delhi.
In December 1999 the then 14-year-old 17th Karmapa dramatically fled Tibet into India
via Nepal's Mustang region. In a letter left behind at Tsurphu he told the Chinese he was
going to collect the black hat of the Karmapa (originally given to the 5th Karmapa by
Chinese Emperor Yongle and taken to India by the 16th Karmapa when he fled Tibet in
1959), as well as several relics, including a human skull encased in silver.
The flight of the Karmapa was a particular blow for the Chinese. The Karmapa ranks as
the third-most important lama in Tibet after the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama and is
the only high-level reincarnation recognised by both the Chinese and Tibetan authorities.
China's fury over the escape was levelled at the Karmapa's tutor Yongzin Nyima, who
spent 15 months in jail for his alleged involvement.
For now the rivalry between the Karmapas is at a stalemate. Ogyen Trinley Dorje has
been granted refugee status and residence at the Gyuto Monastery in Dharamsala, but
the Indian authorities, in an attempt to avoid a political dispute with China, have not al-
lowed him to travel to Rumtek (the black hat is kept at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim; until
