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by Julian Gearing
A hint from the
Dalai Lama raises hopes
April 12, 2001,
Asia Week
Is an amicable
solution to the Karmapa controversy in sight? That is the question some
devotees of Tibetan Buddhism are asking in the wake of the Dalai Lama's
return to India from his controversial nine-day visit to Taiwan, a
religious trip that tip-toed dangerously close to Chinese political
sensitivities.
Touching down once
more on Indian soil April 9, the Dalai Lama hinted to a local journalist
that history points to the possibility of a settlement of the tussle
between rival claimants to head the powerful Tibetan Buddhist Karma Kagyu
sect.
The Tibetan
spiritual leader said such a clash of claimants had happened in the past
and had been resolved amicably. "During the sixth Dalai Lama's tenure 300
years ago, the seventh Karmapa was accorded recognition following a
similar controversy," he said. "But it was ultimately resolved and the
issue was settled."
Ears pricked up. The
Tibetan spiritual leader backs the 15-year-old lama Urgyen Trinley as the
17th reincarnation of the Karma Kagyu sect's spiritual head, the Karmapa.
The youth's flight from Tibet at the beginning of last year sparked
international interest and question marks over whether he might eventually
become a new spiritual figurehead for the Tibetan people. Yet there is
another boy, 17-year-old Thaye Dorje, who also claims the position. Such
comment from the Dalai Lama has encouraged hope among Thaye Dorje's
supporters that a solution to the standoff that has split one of Tibetan
Buddhism's four main sects, and triggered a crisis among the religious
hierarchy, can be found.
There is some irony
that the Nobel Peace Prize winner was again attacked by China on his
Taiwan visit as a "splittist," claiming he is trying to split the
territory of Tibet from China, when at home - meaning his constituency of
exiled Tibetans mostly in India - some charge he is a religious
"splittist" for interfering in the affairs of a key Tibetan Buddhist sect.
The Dalai Lama, on the contrary, would like to think he is drawing Tibetan
Buddhist followers together.
In an attack on the
man who is revered as the Tibetan's spiritual light,representatives
claiming to represent 500 Karma Kagyu monasteries from around the world
met in Kathmandu last month to formulate the toughest-worded response to
date to what they portray as the threat to their sect and the sacred
lineage. Given that Tibetans refrain from publicly questioning the actions
of their spiritual leader, Tibetan religious affairs seldom get more
heated than this.
Citing long-held
aggression by the Dalai Lama's Gelugpa sect against the Karmapa's Karma
Kagyu sect, members of the "International Karma Kagyu Forum" sent an open
letter to the Tibetan's spiritual leader demanding he "bow out of the
internal conflict of the Karma Kagyu school." Angry with what they see as
unjustified meddling, they said the Dalai Lama "deliberately endorsed
wrongful claims and actions" of a group "of corrupt Kagyu lamas. This
interference is absolutely unacceptable to the Karma Kagyu School."
The open letter also
called for a forensic examination of the "so-called prediction letter,"
which was used by one of the Karma Kagyu lamas, Tai Situ Rinpoche, to
"find" what they claim is the "Chinese Karmapa" Urgyen Trinley - a
candidate recognized by China as well as the Dalai Lama. Supporters of
rival Thaye Dorje claim the letter was forged by Tai Situ, and that,
therefore, Urgyen Trinley is not the true reincarnation of the 16th
Karmapa, who died in 1981. Tibetans have developed a practice - started
with the first Karmapa - of searching for the reincarnation of their
leading lamas, who are considered bodhisattvas, or enlightened beings.
Who is the "true"
Karmapa? Urgyen Trinley has been under a quiet pall of controversy since
he left Tibet, with the Indian authorities seemingly reluctant to accept
him, only recently granting him refugee status and maintaining controls
over his movements. He resides near the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. Rival
Thaye Dorje is less fettered, having had opportunities to give teachings
abroad, and appears set to spend the next few years studying in Kalimpong.
Both have their eye on the Karmapa's exile seat at Rumtek Monastery in the
Himalayan Indian state of Sikkim. Both have many supporters.
A solution to the
controversy appears to lie in the hands of the Dalai Lama. The question is
what he means by his recent statement that the issue can be amicably
resolved. Some observers are confused. Says one: is this a smoke signal
that there may be some movement? Or is it a smokescreen to conceal some
more political maneuvering to get Urgyen Trinley recognized as the sole
and true Karmapa? Is he obliquely responding to the strong criticism that
came out of the Kathmandu conference?
Careful study of
Tibetan history shows a trail of conflict and broken promises between the
line of Dalai Lamas and Karmapas. Such conflict pains to this day. The
Dalai Lama, a religious leader but also a politician, sees a close
alliance with the leader of the Karma Kagyu sect as crucial in his bid for
unity - a unity he sees as so vital as he tries to find a negotiated
settlement to the Tibetan issue that might allow him and his people to
return home.
As a religious
leader, he knows there are questions of truth over the recognition of
Urgyen Trinley. As a politician, he know Urgyen Trinley can more easily be
used as a tool in his drive for unity. But at what cost? Political
interference in the hierarchy of Tibetan lamas is nothing new. Yet the
fight over the two boys could have serious repercussions on the religious
and political future of Tibet. As the Dalai Lama says, 300 years ago a
similar controversy was ultimately resolved. Millions of devotees of
Tibetan Buddhism around the world are waiting to see whether the 14th, and
current, reincarnation of the Dalai Lama can solve this standoff.
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