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Battle for Rumtek – Matter of faith?
By Julian Gearing
 Even
though the Supreme Court of India has effectively blocked the entry of
Urgyen Trinley to Rumtek monastery in Sikkim to claim the fabled Black
Hat of the Karmapa, the controversy and the battle is not likely to die
soon. There are many more strands to it then the claim to being the 17th
Karmapa. At stake are the national interests of India and China and the
hold of Dalai Lama over exiled Tibetans.
It is said that the Black Hat of the Karmapas is the physical
representation of a "spiritual crown" woven from the hair of 100,000
female deities and that when the Karmapa places it on his head, he has
to hold it down with his hand to prevent it flying away. A gift to the
Fifth Karmapa from the Chinese Ming Dynasty Emperor Tai Ming Chen in the
15th century, today the crown of this high Tibetan Buddhist lama is
locked away in the hillside monastery of Rumtek in Sikkim, an Indian
state bordering Tibet. For many Himalayan people, he who sits in this
monastery and wears this crown is the Karmapa.
It was in a quest for the fabled Black Hat that the young 17th Karmapa
Urgyen Trinley is said to have fled Chinese government oppression in
Tibetin 2000, aiming to reach the Sikkim monastery that his predecessor,
the 16th Karmapa, built after he fled from Tibet in 1959. Now, in a
major blow to the second-best-known lama after the Dalai Lama, a
decision by the Indian Supreme Court has in effect blocked him and his
supporters from claiming the monastery and its crown. Through the ruling
on July 5 his right to enter the monastery was said to have been
"irrevocably" rescinded.
The court decision solves a difficult problem for the Indian government
at a time when it wants to put relations with old rival China on a
better footing. Sikkim has been a point of contention between India and
China for many years. The controversy over Rumtek Monastery caused
unrest in Sikkim. Now China appears to have tacitly accepted India's
control over the state.
Further, as far as this Tibetan lama is concerned, it opens the way for
a legal process that could put the property of the Sikkim monastery into
the hands of a rival Karmapa, Thaye Dorje. While this "competing"
Buddhist lama is far less well known internationally, he also has
hundreds of thousands of followers in the region and around the world.
The decision is the most dramatic development for Urgyen Trinley since
he fled Tibet. It has wider implications for the Karmapa's badly split
Karma Kagyu Buddhist school and it has geo-strategic implications for
China and India. It also impacts the Dalai Lama himself and Tibetan
Buddhism's sometimes difficult entry into the modern world.
While the young lama's flight from Tibet in 2000 caused a media splash
at that time, today there has been a silence from the international
press about the Indian Supreme Court verdict. The court ruled that the
Tsurphu Labrang, an entity set up by Urgyen Trinley's followers, does
not have any legal standing in its claim to Rumtek Monastery and its
assets in Sikkim. In the words of the verdict of the highest court in
the land, their appeal was "dismissed".
The decision has crucial implications. While Urgyen Trinley was being
feted and received much media attention, a quiet and bitter legal battle
had been going on for control of the monastery. Now the most important
legal decision is in.
This means the only party that has legal standing to claim Rumtek is the
Karmapa Charitable Trust. The Trust, a body set up by the late 16th
Karmapa, supports rival Karmapa, Thaye Dorje, 21, a young lama with no
links to China.
China rejects Tibetan autonomy despite the cries of Tibetan
nationalists, Beijing says Tibet has always been an inalienable part of
China and it rejects any talk of greater autonomy for the strategic,
mineral-rich region on the "roof of the world".
Karmapa Urgyen Trinley's close circle reportedly is demoralized, and the
young lama is under virtual house arrest by the Indian authorities in
Gyuto Monastery just a few kilometers from the Dalai Lama's headquarters
in the hill town of Dharamsala. The few followers of the young lama
worldwide who even know of the court decision are said to be struggling
to come to terms with this dramatic setback.
Thierry Dodin, director of the Tibet Information Office in London, says
that if the Karmapa Charitable Trust were to win the monastery it "would
be a bitter defeat" for Urgyen Trinley. "On a personal level, he is
likely to be more than disappointed, because he has not been
particularly happy since he reached India," said Dodin, referring to the
young lama's frustration over the Indian government's limits on his
movements and its unwillingness to allow him to go to Rumtek. "The local
authorities there mistrust him. There are people in India who think he
is a Chinese spy”, said Dodin.
In contrast, the supporters of the rival Karmapa, Thaye Dorje, are
quietly euphoric. Shamar Rinpoche, the Tibetan lama who recognized Thaye
Dorje and claims he is the real 17th Karmapa, says the court decision is
"welcome news". But he notes that local court actions in Sikkim are
needed before the monastery, violently taken over in 1993 by followers
of Urgyen Trinley, is returned to the trust. Shamar says the trust must
petition the High Court in Gangtok in Sikkim to turn the monastery over,
carry out an inventory, and evict the monks. "These monks cannot be
trusted to stay there for fear of any reprisals; they may again take the
property as they have done in the past," he said.
The monastery and the Black Hat are important, according to Michael den
Hoet, spokesman for the German Buddhist Association. But he said
followers of Thaye Dorje feel that what is much more important is that
Urgyen Trinley's followers cannot continue to claim both Rumtek and the
Karmapa title for their candidate without proving the legitimacy of
their claims. "If the court decision really turns out to be what it
seems to be, this judgment is a victory for common sense, critical
examination, openness and justice," he said.
The Karmapa controversy blew up in 1992 when the Karma Kagyu lamas Tai
Situ Rinpoche and Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche pushed forward the nomination
of their Karmapa candidate through the use of an allegedly fake "letter
of recognition". Since then the legitimacy of the recognition of Urgyen
Trinley as the "true" reincarnation of the late 16th Karmapa, who died
in 1981, has been in question. Critics claim it was wrong to involve not
only the Dalai Lama but also the Tibetan government in exile and the
communist Chinese authorities, who made a fuss over him as their "Living
Buddha". None of them in the past had been involved in the internal
spiritual matters of the independent Karma Kagyu school. Compounding the
wrong, they say, violence was used to take over Rumtek.
Ruling affects China-India ties but the court decision has implications
beyond the spat between supporters of two lamas of one of the four main
Tibetan Buddhist schools. The plight of this one lama may affect
Sino-Indian relations and the Chinese government's plan to tackle what
it views as the Tibet problem and its relations with the Dalai Lama, who
seeks greater autonomy for Tibet. China opposes further autonomy of what
it calls the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Barry Sautman, professor of political science at the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology, says the Chinese government -
which still claims a hold on Urgyen Trinley despite his flight from
Tibet - would now seem to have nothing to gain from his enhanced
prestige in exile. It has been alleged that the Chinese planned to
install the "Chinese Karmapa" in Sikkim. "It is more difficult to say
whether the government of the People's Republic of China estimates its
position might be benefited or harmed if Urgyen
Trinley were to go on and play a role in post-Dalai Lama exile
politics," Sautman said, referring to speculation that the young lama
could stand in as the Tibetans' spiritual leader after the Dalai Lama
dies.
Given the upset, will the young lama return to his monastery in Tibet?
Tomek Lehnert, a Polish author of a book on the Karmapa and supporter of
Thaye Dorje, says the Chinese government will call on Urgyen Trinley to
fulfill his duty to the Tibetan people and return to the motherland.
"They may try to use Urgyen Trinley's people to force his hand to go
back to Tibet," he said.
India remains key. "Ultimately, the whole development flowing from the
decision will depend on how the government of India reacts to it," said
Tibetan Review editor Pema Thinley in New Delhi. "I think it will do its
best to maintain the status quo."
The Indian judiciary, independent of the Indian government, has made a
ruling that lets the government off the hook. And the government has
treated Urgyen Trinley as an unwelcome guest. According to one Tibetan
source who backs his "challenger", the Indian government must be
relieved that a judicial decision puts the monastery under the control
of Thaye Dorje, "who is not directly or indirectly aligned with the
Chinese government". The decision helps India tighten its grip on Sikkim.
Many Western followers may soon have to come to terms with the fact that
Tibetan spiritual affairs at times have their darker political side.
"One reason that Buddhism is pretty popular in the West is that some of
its principles match so well with important Western values, such as
stress on common sense, critical examination, openness and justice,"
said German Buddhist Association spokesman den Hoet. "Thus it was no
surprise that most of the Western Karma Kagyu Buddhists have always been
very critical about the way certain lamas tried to promote Urgyen
Trinley as the 17th holder of the Karmapa title."
There is a question as to whether the Dalai Lama, who endorsed the young
lama's recognition, will gain or lose from this legal battle and its
implications. Tibetan critics say that while the court decision will not
directly affect the Tibetan spiritual leader, his image may be slightly
tarnished because the court has decided that individuals he has backed
have no authority over Rumtek Monastery.
But the case may affect the Dalai Lama in another subtle way. For years
the Gelukpa sect leader has tried to exert his authority over the
independent Sakya, Nyingma and Karma Kagyu sects, including recognizing
the reincarnate heads of those sects, the most prominent being Urgyen
Trinley. The Indian Supreme Court in no way ruled about the legitimacy
of one Karmapa over another. Yet the court decision demonstrates that
the procedures to regain control of the Karmapa's main seat outside
Tibet, followed by Lama Tai Situ and others who were indirectly
sanctioned by the Dalai Lama, were not legitimate. Therefore it would
appear the Dalai Lama's plan to gain control over the Tibetan Buddhist
schools, at least over the Karma Kagyu sect, has hit a bump in the road,
not necessarily a roadblock, according to critics.
As to who is the "real" Karmapa? It's a matter of belief. As one
well-informed Western follower of Urgyen Trinley put it, "Whatever
material setbacks occur, the true spirituality of the Karmapa will show
itself more and more as time goes by. The young lama is a teacher and a
friend to the whole world. Rumtek is just one monastery."
Just one monastery - but it would appear to be much more important to
Karmapa Urgyen Trinley than his challenger.
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