Siliguri, December 1 – The controversy surrounding the Rumtek monastery has deepened with a youth claiming that he is the “real incarnate” of the 16th Karmapa.
Dawa Sangpo Dorje has requested Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to allow him to prove his “supernatural power”, along with two other claimnants for the throne of the Dharma Chakra centre, the headquarters of the Kagupa sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
“I’m the real Karmapa and if the Gelupa sect head, the Dalai Lama, has recognised Tibet-born Ugyen Trinley Dorje as the 17th incarnate, the former should allow him to show his supernatural power with two other claimants to prove who is the real incarnate of the 16th Karmapa”, the 27-year-old told a news conference on Sunday evening.
While Ugyen Trinley Dorje was recognised by two Rumtek’s regents – Tai Situ Rimpoche and Gyaltsab Rimpoche – in 1992 and approved by the Dalai Lama, another regent Shamar Rimpoche of Rumtek defied this and projected Thinley Tai Dorjee of Kalingpong Monastery as the real inheritor of Rumtek.
However, the youth from Sikkim has now added a new dimension to the controversy. Sangpo Dorje was born in Mangan in north Sikkim in 1977 and is now residing in Damthang in South Sikkim.
