Asia Times: Quest for lama's crown uncovers Tibetan politicking



	January 12, 2000	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Quest for crown uncovers Tibetan politicking
By Ranjit Dev Raj

NEW DELHI - A 15-year old Tibetan boy made the journey across the Himalayas into India last week, apparently dodging Chinese border guards in order to claim his inheritance as head of the Tibetan Buddhist Karma Kagyu sect. However, he may find that the real obstacle is not the snow-capped mountains, but the complexities of Tibetan politics.

Ugyen Thinley - the Tibetan 15-year old recognized by the Dalai Lama as the 17th incarnation of the Karmapa, head of the large Tibetan Karma Kagyu Buddhist sect - arrived in Dharamsala, home of the Tibetan government-in-exile last week, to collect his regalia, the Karmapa's Flying Crown.

Said to be woven out of the hair of angels, the legendary crown of the incarnate Karmapa lamas is secreted in the fabulous Rumtek monastery which sits on a high promontory facing Gangtok, capital of India's eastern Sikkim state. The flying crown and other precious paraphernalia of the sect were brought to India by the 16th Karmapa, who fled Tibet in the wake of the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.

A gift of a grateful Chinese emperor to the fifth Karmapa, Deshin Shegpa (1384-1415), the flying crown is worn only on ceremonial occasions with the wearer holding it down with his right hand lest it fly away - as the belief goes. No one has worn the crown since the 16th Karmapa left his material form in 1982 leaving behind a string of directions as to where the 17th incarnation would surface - but these proved too cryptic to decipher.

Finally, inscriptions on an amulet the 16th Karmapa had given to one of four regents of the sect, Tai Situ Rinpoche, to ward off illness turned out to have clear instructions of where the boy would be found - and Ugyen Thinley was discovered in 1992 in Tibet.

To be able to assert his claim to lead millions of followers of the red-hat Karma Kagyu sect he must travel to Rumtek, 1,500 kms east of Dharamsala. The monastery, founded in 1966 by the 16th Karmapa, is an exact replica of the original headquarters of the sect at Tsurphu, outside Lhasa. Rumtek has become the center of an international empire of Karma Kagyu followers stretching from the United States, through Europe and the Far East with assets estimated in billions of dollars.

Thinley's greatest obstacle trouble lies in the shape of Thaye Dorje, a ''pro-India'' claimant being groomed by a powerful faction at the well-endowed Rumtek monastery led by Shamarpa Rinpoche, another of the four official regents.

On the other hand, Ugyen Thinley and the regent who supports his candidature, Tai Situ Rinpoche, have in their favor the fact that Beijing and the Dalai Lama set aside differences to recognize him as the true incarnation of the Karmapa.

When the time comes, it will be the Karmapa's prerogative to recognize the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama and thus influence the destinies of millions of Mahayana Buddhists both in Tibet and outside, says Lama Chbospel Zotpa. Ever since the Dalai Lama announced that he would be the last of his own lineage many have believed that the Karmapa himself would one day assume the important role of spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists everywhere. Lama Zotpa, who represents the Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association here, firmly endorses Ugyen Thinley's claim and says it is no surprise that he has arrived in India to stake his claim as the incarnate heir of the Karmapa lineage.

Shamarpa is equally insistent that his ward, Thaye Dorje, who presently attends school in Kalimpong, a picturesque hill station in West Bengal state, is the rightful claimant to the flying crown. ''He (Ugyen Thinley) is a Chinese plant and has come here only take away the flying crown and other treasures that have been deposited at the Rumtek monastery,'' Shamarpa Rinpoche said.

According to the Shamarpa, Ugyen Thinley could simply not have come away from his monastery at Tsurphu without the knowledge and approval of Chinese authorities. The official Xinhua news agency quoted a government spokesperson as saying that Ugyen Thinley had merely gone abroad to collect some musical instruments and black hats used by previous incarnations and that he would not ''betray the state, the nation, the monastery or the leadership''.

Curiously enough, an Indian foreign ministry spokesperson echoed Xinhua to say that Ugyen Thinley left China ''only to get the musical instruments of the Buddhist mass and the black hats used by previous living buddhas''.

According to the Shamarpa, the dramatic arrival of Ugyen Thinley was nothing but a ''political ploy in agreement with the Chinese government'', warning that ''the government of India should not give any support for the Karmapa who has links with the Chinese.''

The Shamarpa has questioned the right of the Dalai Lama to accord recognition to the Karmapa since that has traditionally been the prerogative of an accompanying line of Sharmapa incarnations which stretches back for 13 generations. Besides, the Shamarpa pointed out, the Dalai Lama is the spiritual head of the yellow hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism while the Karmapas are the leaders of the century-older red hat sect.

Meanwhile, the United News of India (UNI) news agency reported Monday that Ugyen Thinley has been spirited away to a secret location outside Dharamsala pending a final decision on his fate. The agency quoted Tashi Wangdo, minister of religion and culture in the Dalai Lama's exile government that Ugyen Thinley needed to be in a ''quiet and peaceful place''. Wangdo refused to divulge details of discussions between officials of the Indian foreign ministry and the Dalai Lama's government either on the grant of political asylum to Ugyen Thinley or on whether he would be allowed to go to Sikkim.

In New Delhi, a foreign ministry spokesperson said he could not comment on the ''sudden arrival'' of Ugyen Thinley in Dharmasala or what his future status would be.

But in the days to come the followers of the regents Tai Situ and Shamarpa are bound to clash as they have done before - at one time even necessitating the takeover of Rumtek monastery by security forces.

(Inter Press Service)

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