With two claimants to the Kagyu seat, the Govt’s taking no chance
By Rakesh Sinha
Rumtek, July 2 – When he turned 19 six days ago, they organised a little celebration in Dharamsala for Ogyen Thinley Dorjee. But this wasn’t the way he wanted it. Three birthdays had come and gone and he, the 17th Gyalwapa Karmapa who had the backing of the Dalai Lama, was still not being allowed to move out of Dharamsala. What of his next birthday? Would he still be stuck in Dharamsala or celebrating in Rumtek? It bothered Ogyen.
Hundreds of miles away, at the Rumtek monastery in the hills opposite Gangtok, the same thoughts troubled Ogyen’s followers. For them, it’s been an 11-year-wait, from the time he first showed up as the Karmapa’s incarnation at Tsurphu in Tibet, the original seat of the Karma Kagyu sect. ‘‘He’s been in India three years now but they don’t let him come here. We keep praying because we know he will come here eventually,’’ says the young monk at the main prayer hall.
If Ogyen’s under watch and confined to his new home in Dharamsala, it’s no different here. Armed policemen, backed by plainclothesmen, have been keeping the peace in Rumtek, the sect’s seat-in-exile ever since the 16th Gyalwapa Karmapa fled Tibet and the Chinese in 1959. Visitors to the monastery are also under watch, repeatedly asked why they are here. ‘‘This is a Rumtek no one ever wanted to see. Because guns and a monastery don’t make sense.’’ You can only agree with the young man driving you there.
Rumtek’s problems began soon after the death in 1981 of Rangjung Rigpe Dorjee, the 16th Gyalwapa Karmapa. He had turned Rumtek into the sect’s seat outside Tibet, accepting Sikkim Chogyal Tashi Namgyal’s invitation to build a monastery. India, under Jawaharlal Nehru, was also helpful.
The monastery in Rumtek, Rangjung Dorjee thought, would be the safest place for the spiritual treasures and relics of the Kagyu lineage, threatened by the Chinese invasion of his land. He built Rumtek as a near replica of their original home in Tsurphu, founded in the 12th Century by Dusum Kyenpa, the first Gyalwapa Karmapa a.k.a ‘The Knower of Three Times’ whose birth had been prophesied by the Buddha Sakyamuni.
After the parinirvana of Rangjung Dorjee, four regents took charge of the affairs of the Kagyu order which has centres worldwide. For a while, things were okay but questions were soon being asked whether the 16th Gyalwapa Karmapa had left instructions on where and how to find his incarnation.
On July 13, 1992, Tai Situ Rinpoche and Gyaltsap Rinpoche, two of the four regents, received Ogyen Thinley Dorjee at the Tsurphu monastery as the Karmapa’s incarnation.
But Shamar Rinpoche, another regent, would have none of it. He questioned the manner in Tai Situ was installing Ogyen. The Dalai Lama had been asked to release a letter, verifying and proclaiming Ogyen as the 17th Gyalwapa Karmapa. Shamar Rinpoche’s followers said Tai Situ had misled the Dalai Lama by telling him that all Kagyu lamas were agreed on Ogyen.
In March, 1994, matters came to a head when Shamar Rinpoche introduced Thaye Dorjee as the ‘‘real’’ Karmapa at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in New Delhi. Both factions came to blows and matters spun out of control. The Government’s bewilderment was complete when Ogyen ‘‘escaped’’ from Tibet and showed up in India six years later.
‘‘With two claimants to the seat of the Karmapa, the Government didn’t want to take a chance. That’s the reason why Rumtek has been made to wait. One does not know what bearing will India’s new ties with China have on this. One will have to wait and watch. Matters have even gone to court. Hopefully, the Centre and the Dalai Lama will have this sorted out,’’ says a Rumtek resident.
In Rumtek, Ogyen’s photograph is substituting for him, staring at the exquisitely painted walls of the main hall, traditional Tibetan thankas and the figures of Sakyamuni Buddha, Manjushri and the 16th Gyalwapa Karmapa.
Outside the monastery, there are signs of a little campaign to get Ogyen to Rumek. A website signature campaign Karmapa to Rumtek’s on and stickers on Jeep windscreens plead with the Indian Government to let the Karmapa take his place with his people. ‘‘Until then, we can only wait and pray,’’ say the monks. Eleven years already, it’s been quite a wait.
