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Escape of Karmapa : India’s dilemma over asylum issue

	January 17, 2000

The escape to India of the 14-year old 17th Karmapa Lama from a monastery in Tibet after a seven hundred mile clandestine journey in a terrain known for blizzards and frostbite has left the Chinese red faced and India in a diplomatic fix. While pressure is building from the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan followers in India to grant him political asylum, China has left New Delhi in no doubt that it would jeopardize its relations with Beijing which have yet to fully recover from the 1998 chill after some Indian ministers made anti-China statements. Treading cautiously, India at the most could grant him a refugee status rather than political asylum and if he so wants, allow him to go to any other European country like Switzerland or even the US where the Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje, has a large following. After discussing the wider implications of the defection from Tibet of the 17th Karmapa, at the highest level, for the moment, the Government of India is said to have decided against granting political asylum to the boy monk and instead accept the Karmapa’s de facto refugee status.



China’s veiled threat



China issued a veiled warning to India not to give political asylum to the Karmapa Lama, who is the third highest Tibetan religious leader after the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. Breaking the Chinese silence on the escape of the Karmapa, foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao at a press briefing on Jan. 11 indicated that any political asylum granted to the Karmapa would violate the five principles of peaceful co-existence (Panch sheel) which form the basis of bilateral relations between New Delhi and Beijing. He said China hopes that India will strictly observe its commitment to recognize Tibet as an inalienable part of Chinese territory and that the Dalai Lama will not be allowed to engage in political activities in India. He reiterated the Chinese government’s official view that the Karmapa had gone abroad to collect a “black hat and Buddhist musical instruments”.



In its another signal of anxiety over the escape of Karmapa, India’s ambassador to Beijing, Mr. Vijay Nambiar, was approached by the foreign ministry and asked to get a status report from New Delhi about the circumstances and other details of Karmapa’s arrival in India. Sources say the Chinese authorities are believed to have asked for the issue not to be publicized. In this context, they urged India to ensure that its policy of not allowing the large Tibetan refugee community in this country to participate in political activities is not violated.



Karampa shifted to safe place



Karmapa, who is the third highest Tibetan religious leader after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, and is hailed as the living Buddha, is ensconced in Dharmashala, the Head Quarters of the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile after he fled the China ruled Tibet. The Karmapa and his associates, including his 14-year old sister, who is a nun, escaped through a monastery in Lahasa and fled on Dec. 28 and arrived in India crossing the snow bound difficult mountainous terrain via Nepal. After living in Dharmashala for three days and audience with the Dalai Lama, he has been shifted to the Norbilunga monastery at Sidhbari, a suburb of Dharmashala to keep away from media persons and because of threats to his life. The Dalai Lama intercepted his two and a half month prayers and meditation retreat for a two hour meeting with the Karmapa which was described by his aides as rare. Hundreds of shaven-headed monks trekked for hours to the home of the Tibetan government-in-exile to visit Dharmashala to see their leader. Security has been tightened at the monastery and Tibetan volunteers are screening all the visitors. This monastery has been building in commemoration of the Dalai Lama’s Nobel peace prize in 1989. Karmapa who has rarely spoken to the press or his followers, broke his silence on January 12 when he told a delegation of India-Tibet Friendship Association that coming to Dharmashala has been a pilgrimage for him and that he wants to stay in Dharmashala to continue his religious strategies. However, he is likely to settle down either at the Sherbaling monastery in Bhattu near Baijnath or Rumtek monastery in Sikkim.



Reports say that a maternal uncle of the 14-year old Karmapa, Nangayal Gompo visited McLeodganj, the seat of power of the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile to try to see him and convince him to return to Lahasa. He was however, not allowed to see the Karmapa and could only meet his sister to seek an assurance that Karmapa would return after completing his religious education. He even rebuked his niece for taking such a drastic step (of defecting Tibet) without thinking of the consequences for the family members left behind. He also carried two letters requesting the Karmapa to go back to Trusphu monastery in Tibet so that his family members and relatives there do not face the wrath of Chinese authorities. It could not be ascertained who wrote the letters.



Political asylum issue



That India is in no hurry to grant him political asylum was clear from a clarification from the foreign ministry spokesman on Jan. 13. Without referring to the veiled threat from China, the spokesman said the government has not so far received any request in this connection. He said, the status of Karmapa was yet to be determined. He however confirmed the receipt of a personal memorandum from a Tibetan member of parliament, Dolma Gyari, seeking political asylum for him but said no formal request from the Karmapa was received.



The Kashag, Tibetan cabinet in exile, met at McLeodganj on January 11 to discuss the issue of political asylum for the Karmapa and the international repercussions involved in his escape from Tibet and the Dalai Lama had his second meeting with the Karampa Lama on Jan. 14 during which he told the spiritual leader to plead his case for political asylum with the Government of India. But, it has been left to Karampa himself to write to the Indian Government and the Dalai Lama will pursue. The religious affairs minister in Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile, Tashi Wangdi, told newsmen that any request for asylum will have to come through the person concerned and as far as their government is concerned, it had no intentions of politicizing the issue. He however said, if the government of India decides to give asylum, that can be accepted. While admitting that by granting political asylum to the Karmapa, there might be some immediate consequences on the India-China relations, he observed that at this stage, the Indian government should be guided by the larger issue of humanitarian concern and not the immediate fallout of the decision.

Meanwhile, public pressure is building on the Vajpayee government to grant him political asylum. The US Assistant Secretary of State for Population Control, Refugees and Migration, Ms. Julia Taft, flew to New Delhi after the Karmapa’s escape and in addition to holding talks in New Delhi she also visited Dharmashala. Although she said that her visit had nothing to do with the Karmapa’s escape. In Dharmashala, she discussed with Tibetan officials the contentious issue of the Karmapa and matters relating to Tibetan refugees. The Himachal Buddhist Cultural Association scholars and other pro-Tibet group scholars have appealed to government of India not to buckle under threats but to grant political asylum to Karmapa. Pinto Narbu, former Jammu and Kashmir minister has alleged that the Chinese had given him recognition only because they wanted to prop him up against the Dalai Lama as the parallel head of Tibetan Buddhists. Two supreme Court lawyer,Naresh Mathur and Dipak Thakur, have said, Karmapa has shown an independent mind by leaving Tibet and if he was sent back, he would face prosecution. They said, Karmapa was being tutored and groomed by the Chinese government to make statements against the Dalai Lama which he did not like. Once his request to leave for India for further religious study and collect instruments of prayer was rejected, the Karmapa was left with no option to flee. Primarily he has come to India for teachings which was not possible in China, he said.

India is trying to balance itself on the tight rope by arguing that refugees from all countries and not just Tibet have sought shelter here. At the same time, by terming the issue “religious” Delhi wants to assure Beijing that the Karmapa would not be allowed political rights.

Meanwhile, the Centre is continuing its hectic behind the scene activities and it has reportedly sent another Home Ministry team to Dharmashala to make an assessment of the status of the Karmapa.



Succession struggle for Rumtek monastery

Once Karmapa is granted the refugee status or political asylum, the question will arise as to where he will settle down permanently. Both the Tibetan government-in-exile as well as karmapa himself would like to settle down at the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim. But he will have to deal with a faction in control of the monastery which is opposed to him. Sources in Dharmashala say if the feud between the two groups at Rumtek is not settled amicably, his next destination may be Sherbiling monastery at Baijnath in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, 45 kilometers from Dharmashala. It is headed by the 46-year-old Tai Situ Rinpoche, who was instrumental in selecting the 17th Karmapa. Another destination which is being considered is the lonely Buddha temple in the hills of Kullu district.

Already Karmapa’s arrival has renewed the succession issue of Rumtek monastery. While two regents of Rumtek, Tai Situ Rinpoche and Gyansen Rinpoche support the Karmapa, another regent Shamarpa Rinpoche is opposed to the choice of Dorgi as the 17th Karmapa. He supports a rival claimant, Thaye Dorje, to the Karmapa title. He has described the defection of Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje as a political ploy in agreement with the Chinese government. This has upset the Karmapa and angered Buddhist community in Sikkim. Several Buddhist associations in the state have criticized Shamarpa’s claim that he was the second in line in the sect. The lineage of Shamarpa was done away with as he was frequently creating trouble in the sect they say, adding that it is Gyaltsab Rinpoche, who is the traditional caretaker of the Karmapa seat.

It is Gyaltsab Rinpoche who is the traditional caretaker of the Karmapa seat,” they said. Ugyen Trinley Dorje was first given the seal of approval Bhuktham Rinpoche by the Dalai Lama on June 7, 1992, and was recognized by the Chinese authorities 20 days later. In 1992, the group of four monk regents of the Rumtek monastery split as the 16th Karmapa apparently left behind no tell-tale clue about his successor. While Tai Situ and Gyaltsab identified Tibet-born Dorje as the 17th Karmapa, the other faction, led by Shamarpa, insisted that India-born Thinley Thai Dorje was the 17th Karmapa.



The Tibetan government-in-exile is making efforts to solve the dispute. According to sources Karmapa himself was apparently not happy with reports that Shamarpa Rinpoche, despite belonging to the same sect was opposed to his going to the Rumtek monastery which belongs to the Karma Kagyu school of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama’s Religious Affairs Minister, Mr. Tashi Wangdi has rejected Shamarpa Rimpoche’s charge that Karmapa’s alleged defection was part of a Chinese plot to grab the Black hat and other religious objects kept in the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim. Before the conflict is resolved, Karmapa is expected to stay at Sherabiling monastery near Baijnath controlled by his loyalist in Rumtek, Tai Situ Rinpoche. Tai Situ Rinpoche, said to be brain behind the escape of Karmapa’s has begun plans to mobilize support for the Karmapa. A big group of Lama’s is expected to go to Rumtek to support his claim to occupy the monastery.



It may be recalled that following the death of the 16th Karmapa, who had established the Kagyu sect monastery at Rumtek in 1959, there was a succession row between the two rival camps. While Tai Situ Rinpoche and Gyaltsab Rinpoche identified the present Karmapa in Tibet as the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa, Shamarpa Rinpoche and Jagmon Rimpoche identified their own Karmapa.



The Kagyupa sect, to which this 17h Karmapa Rimpoche, Ugyen Trinley Dorje belongs, has its origin in the 12th century. It is also known as the black hat sect for being blessed with the black crown. One who wears it is the rightful heir to the Rumtek’s dharma throne. The spiritual significance of the crown is what the legend describes better. After the first Karmapa, the great meditator, spent many years meditating in a cave, tens of thousands of spiritual beings came to congratulate him and each offered him a strand of hair. These strands were woven together into a black hat. This hat has been passed down from one Karmapa to another. Before wearing the black hat, one has to be cautious that it doesn’t fly away in the air. Hence, the wearer holds it with both hands before putting it as a crown over his head.



Written texts suggest Karmapa’s black crown is a ceremonial crown. A real Karmapa had two crowns which he wore alternately for ceremonies. One was left in Tibet when the 16th Karmapa escaped to India. The other coveted crown is in the Rumtek monastery. The one at Rumtek was offered by the Tai Ming Yunglo, the second ruler of the Ming dynasty to the 5th Karmapa, Dez-in Shegpa. Since then, a tradition of crown ceremony started whenever a Karmapa gave blessings to his followers in public. Later, the other left back in Tibet was also offered back by the King of Li Jiang. The crown or hat holds significance for its mentioning in the texts that the holy Buddhas predicted whoever appears with that black hat is a real Karmapa. And the first Karmapa appearing with that was enough for the followers to believe it and they follow it even today.



The hype around the Karmapa being the third most important Lama after the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama is true only in a religious sense. For, unlike the Dalai Lama’s Gelug sect, which was the ruling theocracy of Tibet until it was overthrown by the Chinese in 1959, the Karma Kargyud sect has never been a political player in Tibet. Based on the teachings of an Indian Buddhist teacher Tilopa, the Kagyu doctrine is an interpretation of Gampopa, a scholar and disciple of Jetsun Milarepa (1052-1135 AD) one of the most revered figures of Tibetan Buddhism. The Karma Kargyud school, a sub-sect of the Kagyu, owes its origins to Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa, (1110-1193 AD) a disciple of Gampopa, who also established its principal monastery at Tsurphu, outside Lhaha, besides a monastery in Kham. The sect was also the first to begin the tradition of reincarnation, with Karamapakshi being recognized as Khyenpa’s Tulku, or reincarnation.



Popularly known as the Black Hat sect, because of the colour of the hats senior monks wear during ceremonies, the Karma Kargyud soon spread through Tibet, and its neighborhood. Though the Kagyu, with its strong tantric influences, was soon eclipsed by the Skya and alter the more puritan Gelug set of Tsongpkhpa in Tibet, it continued to retain its influence in neighbouring Sikkim, Bhutan, and Ladakh, where it is still the predominant Buddhist sect. Ironically, its lack of political clout stood it in good stead in 1959, when China took formal control of Tibet. Its monks suffered less persecution and when its leader, Rangjun Rigpe Dorji, the 16th Karmapa, fled to India in 1959, he had both followers across the border and a monastery to take refuge in. In 1962, at the invitation of Sikkim’s royal family, he was installed at Rumtek Monastery, constructed by the ninth Karmapa in 1730. A strong local following, the financial clout of Rumtek and absence of political baggage allowed the Karma Kargyud is one of the most influential and fastest growing sects of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.



The feud has its origins in the section of the successor to the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, who died in 1981, and involves the highest-ranking living lamas of the Karma Kagyu lineage - Shamarpa Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche and Goshir Gwaystab Rinpoche. In July 1992, the Dalai Lama recognized Ugyen Trinley Dorje, then living in Tibet, as the 17th Karmapa and head of the Karma Kagyu lineage. Tai Situ Rinpoche and Gwaytsab Rinpoche subsequently travelled to Tsurpu in Tibet for the 17th Karmapa’s enthronement, which was also officially recognized by the Chinese authorities.



The present 17th Karmapa was discovered in Lhatok in eastern Tibet after a long and tedious search initiated by Tai Situ Rinpoche on March 29, 1992 after the death of the 16th Karmapa who left behind a sacred prediction letter about his incarnation. Following the direction of the letter rinpoche and a group of Lamas posing as pilgrims found a nomad couple, Loga and Dondrup, with a family of six daughters and three sons. The middle son named Apo Gaga, or beloved elder was identified as the next Karmapa, after it was found that some incidents which tookplace matched with those predicted by the late Karmapa. It was said that at the time of his birth three suns had appeared in the sky with a rainbow arching over the central orb and for as long as two hours after his birth, the sound of conch bells reverberated through the valley, leading people to believe that a high Lama had arrived in the area. The letter of the sixteenth Karmapa had mentioned that the Karmapa’s birth would be accompanied by “wondrous far-reaching sound of the white one”. His mother revealed that she had many prophetic dreams while carrying her son, one of which featured three white cranes who handed her a golden letter balanced atop a cup of yogurt, saying that the letter was sent by guru Rinpoche and would reveal her son’s identity.



The news of the discovery in 1992 was conveyed to Tai Situ Rinpoche and Gyaltsab Rinpoche who informed the Dalai Lama who confirmed that the description of the child’s birth placed corresponded perfectly with a whistle he himself had had several months earlier. Later the Dalai Lama sent a letter of confirmation to the young Karmapa together with a silk scarf, a blessing cord and his personal rosary through Tai Situ Rinpoche and Gyaltsab on June 30, 1992. They presented the letter to the boy on July 13, 1992 at Thurphu monastery in Tibet. Formally blessing him as the new Karmapa. A month later, the seven-year-old boy was formally ordained as a monk in an elaborate ritual known as hair-cutting ceremony.



China mutually recognized the Karmapa and his enthronement in 1992 was the first time that Communist China ever acknowledged a living Buddha, as part of its strategy to counter the struggle of self-determination-independence led by the Dalai Lama. Ever since then, Beijing had been grooming Karmapa and he was often extolled as an example of the benoulence of Beijing’s minority policy. Now, the boy Lama, by following in the footsteps of Dalai Lama have to be proved another source of irritation to China.



The Dalai Lama factor

Political observers in New Delhi say, the Karmapa controversy is a portent of what could follow the death of the present Dalai Lama, who is 64. China, seeking to complete its hold on Tibetan religious orders while changing Tibet’s ethnic composition, is likely to insist on selecting the new Dalai Lama. For that, it will need support from a pliant Panchen Lama and Karmapa Lama. For India, the Dalai Lama is a powerful ally. When China annexed Tibet, India surrendered not only its British-inherited extra-territorial rights over that historical buffer, it also signed a pact in 1954 accepting Chinese sovereignty over Tibet without seeking any quid pro quo, into even the Chinese recognition of the then existing Indo-Tibetan border. That monumental folly stripped India of leverage and encouraged the Chinese to lay claims to Indian territories on the basis of Tibet’s putative historical links with those areas. If India still has any card against Beijing, it is the Dalai Lama.



As long as the Dalai Lama remains based in Dharmashala, it is a great plus for India. The Tibetans will not side with the Chinese against India, nor accept the despotic Chinese rule. If the institution of the Dalai Lama, like of the Panchen Lama, gets captured by China, India will lose the equivalent of three army divisions. Indira Gandhi understood that and regularly consulted with the Dalai Lama. Most subsequent prime ministers, however, have treated the Dalai Lama less honourably, scared to even be seen in public with him, lest Beijing protest. After a half-century trail of mistakes in dealing with China, India has to ensure the Karmapa does not go the Panchen Lama way. A Chinese marionette has been installed as the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama’s appointee held in communicado with his family for five long years.