India Raids Holy Money To Karmapa - 5

By Manuwant Choudhary

McLeodganj, Dharamsala: I envy the monks who sit on their computers overlooking the pines at the Dalai Lama Trust study room but am sure the Chinese hate this place and must be sending a million viruses to bug the Dalai Lama's computers.

As a journalist I have had a few extraordinary encounters that are still memorable.

One event was being pushed around by Tibetan women bodyguards of the Dalai Lama at Bodh Gaya even as we tried to get close enough to attract the Dalai Lama's attention, the women bodyguards were tough and rude but effective, "What journalist? We know no journalist."

So we were sent back some hunderds of metres away but even as the Dalai Lama emerged journalists shouted at the top of their voices, "His Holiness, His Holiness, His Holiness!"

And to our delight and surprise His Holiness looked at us and contrary to the itenary came towards us.

Hordes of cameras clicked away while TV crew pushed mikes into his face.

And His Holiness said, "Ask."

There was silence.

He smiled, "Ask. ask."

Complete silence again.

His Holiness laughed this time, "Questions, please."

Nothing came from the journalists who expected the Dalai Lama to give a sermon.

Just then I realised what the problem was...all the journalists there were Hindi speaking and they simply did not know English.

So on the spur of the moment I asked some 6 questions.

The Dalai Lama for the first time spoke out against the war in Iraq.

There was so much insecurity in the world that I asked his what is security and the Dalai Lama pointing to the gun weiliding bodyguards around him laughed, "This, this, no security."

He went on to explain perhaps like no one has what security means to the individual.

A rare insight into a great mind.

He looked me in the eye.

I have also seen the Dalai Lama being greeted by lakhs of Tibetans who worship him, and I can think of no individual who has shouldered his responsibilities as well as he has.

I asked him who will be the next Dalai Lama?

And he had replied, "I will be the last Dalai Lama."

Then added, "Tibetans should elect their leader. They can call him the Dalai Lama if they want to."

It is this democratic views of the Dalai Lama that really scare the Chinese.

The Chinese say they do not recognise him, yet they spend all their propoganda machine trying to target the Dalai Lama.



Over the years I have somehow become a pilgrim of peace.

I have been lucky to meet a few Nobel laureates like the Dalai Lama and South Korea's late President Kim Dae Jung.

Outside the Dalai Lama house is the familiar wooden post `May Peace Prevail On Earth."

Just as health is most important to an individual, peace is most important for the world.

I have also had an opportunity to visit the International Court of Justice at the Hague, where they have this post outside.

And I want to meet the brave lady of Burma Aung San Suu Kyi one day.



Near the Dalai Lama house is a museum of rare photographs. If you do visit Mcleodganj you cannot miss them. There are rare photographs of the Dalai Lama escaping from Tibet and about brave Generals who died fighting the Chinese.



I watched a film there. There were just three persons in the audience, the other two were westerners.

It was called `Red Flag Over Tibet."

I cried.

India Raids Holy Money To Karmapa - 4

By Manuwant Choudhary

McLeodganj, Dharamsala: I wanted to see the Tibetan parliament so I wandered down a path but I suddenly found myself surrounded by a million prayers.....a solitude...when even if you don't believe in God..you can feel his presence....a strong breeze made the prayer flags flutter....

I felt this once before at Kedarnath when I walked across the snow to the temple for the evening aartee. I had said, "If God exists, he lives here."

Many years later when I worked at the Afternoon Despatch & Courier, my editor Behram Contractor wrote a piece on Kedarnath saying the same `If there is God, he lives at Kedarnath'. Mr. Contractor was a Parsi and he had visited Kedarnath many years before I did.

As I stood amongst the fluttering prayer flags I felt closer to `The Maker'.

I also thought about distant Tibet.

The breeze carried with it something of Tibet.

I thought about the strange world of Tibetan buddhism where faith in non-violence is stronger than a rock....even thorns had prayer flags tied around them.

I thought about the world of incarnations and whether it was real.

Was it just a succession plan?

Does one have a past life?

Or a rebirth?

Why do we do what we do?

Why do we fall in love?

Why do we not fall in love with everyone?

What was I really doing at McLeodganj surrounded by these prayer flags, overlooking the breath-taking view of the plains.

From here it made everything that goes on in the world really petty....



I entered very briefly into the world of Tibetan Buddhism.

It is said that Buddhism came to Tibet in the reign of King Trisong Detsen - 755 CE, wherein Buddhism becomes Tibets official religion. It was the King who had invited famous Indian teachers like Shantarakshita and Padmasambahava to Tibet.

Until then the religion followed in Tibet was Bon.

It was Padmasambhava - a master of Tantra - who is credited with spreading Buddhism in Tibet. He built the Samye montastery and his influence on develpment of Tibetan Buddhism is incalculable. He was also referred to as Guru Rinpoche.

Nyingma - the oldest among the four major Tibetan Schools of Buddhism - claims Guru Rinpoche as its patriarch.

According to legend when Guru Rinpoche arrived in Tibet he pacified the Bon demons and made them protectors of `Dharma'.

Then comes the Kagyu sect, of which the Karmapa is the 17th descendant, so its the oldest lineage. The Karmapa is discovered only through letters left behind by the previous Karmapa..which should cite the time, year, place of birth..and other clues to enable high monks to find the incarnation.

Then comes the Gelug or the `Yellow Hat Sect'..the Dalai Lama is their spiritual leader and they value `compassion' the most.
It is said that a high lama from this sect Sonam Gyatso converted Mongol Altan Khan to Buddhism and it is bleieved that he gave the name to him Dalai Lama or `Ocean of Wisdom' in 1578. Sonam Gyatso was the 3rd Dalai Lama. The first two got their title posthumously.
Later Gashri Khan declared himself King of Tibet and in 1642 recognised the 5th Dalai Lama as spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet.

But again there is another theory which suggests the Dalai Lama existed before the invasions of the Mongols.

Then there is the Sakya whose head is Nawang Kunga Thekchen Rinpoche (born 1945) and their headquarters are at Rajpur in Uttar Pradesh.

THE KARMAPA CONTROVERSY

There are two claimants to being the Karmapa.

1) Trinley Thaye Dorje, born May 6 1983 at Lhasa, Tibet, and it is said that when he was 6 years old he began saying that he was the Karmapa. So in 1988 Shamar Rinpoche went on a secret visit to Lhasa since the boy appeared to him in a dream. In March 1994 Trinle Thaye Dorje escapes from Tibet to Nepal and then to India where Sharam Rinpoche recognises him as Karmapa. He lives at Kalimpong and apart from Tibetan studies he receives western education as well.


2) Ogyen Trinley Dorje, born June 26 1985, in eastern Tibet, he was born to nomadic parents who moved from one place to another...but his parents found his behaviour unusual when he insisted that his parents move camp early.

Thus when the search party came they found the boy in exactly the same place as was predicted in the letter handed down from the 16th Karmapa..he was recognised as Karmapa at the age of 7.

Tai Situpa gets an intution and finds a prediction letter in an envelope marked "Open in Metal Horse Year." Letter said the Karmapa was to be reborn `to the north, in the east of the land of the snow.'

Is a country where divine thunder spontaneously blazes.

In a beautiful nomad's place with the sign of a cow,

The method is Dhondrub and the wisdom is Lolaga.

Born in the year of the one used for the earth.

With the miraculous, far-reaching sound of the white one, is the one known as Karmapa.

Ogyen Trinley Dorje's mother's name is Loga and father is Karma Dondrub Tashi.

In June 1992 he moved to Central Tibet to Tolang Tsurphu Monastery - main seat of all previous Karmapas..

The Chinese recognsed him as a Karmapa.

So did the Dalai Lama who says he had a dream about the area where the Karmapa was found. Although the Dalai Lama has no say in lineage of other sects, lineage itself is extremely important in Tibetan Buddhism since tradition is sustained through teachers passing along their knowledge and wisdom to the next generation of disciples..

In 1999 the Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorge escapes from Tibet and arrives in India. Here he is warmly received by the Dalai Lama and the Indian government grants him asylum.

However, the Sharmapa Rinpoche refused to recognise him.

The first Karmapa & Sharmapa Rinpoche control the Karmapa Trust but have no control over the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim.
The monks who control the Rumtek monastery support Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the Karmapa. The matter has now gone to India's Supreme Court.

The Dalai Lama held a meeting with the Sharmapa Rinpoche to resolve the dispute for the sake of all Buddhism.

Ogyen Trinley Dorje met the Sharmapa Rinpoche at Oberoi International Hotel in New Delhi on January 9 2007..and the Dalai Lama met the Sharmapa on August 13 2010 and the Sharmapa promised to work towards an amicable solution, "Although this matter is not easily resolved since it is connected to the politics of China and India....."

The 16th Karmapa wrote this song in 1940.

In the springtime, a cuckoo comes as guest.

In the fall when the harvest ripens, it knows where to go.

Its only thought is travel to the east of India.

In the lofty land of Tibet, inhabitants high and low,

And in particular, you, Tai Situ the Lord and Protector of Maitreya,

Who remains above the crown of our head,

May your activities, like the sun and moon set in space,

Be continuous, stable and without hindrance.

I pray that we meet again and again.

(Credits to Wikipedia)

India Raids Holy Money To Karmapa - 3

By Manuwant Choudhary

McLeodganj, Dharamsala: Even as the Indian media cover the Karmapa issue like a cheap spy-thriller, this action of the Indian government in attempting to portray the Karmapa as a `Chinese spy' has hurt all Tibetans.

The Karmapa in his decade of exile has not said a word against the Indian government or against the Dalai Lama.

India is of course jittery that the Chinese have sent the Karmapa to India to gain control of the rich Rumtek monastery.

And what happens when the Karmapa succeeds the Dalai Lama as the spiritual and political heir of the Dalai Lama and says that the Chinese government is doing great work giving jobs to the Tibetans?

Questions and more questions.

But the real question is that is the secular Indian government meddling in Tibetan religious affairs only to control the Karmapa?

They have accused the Karmapa of violating foriegn exchange rules and also that he wanted to buy benami properties to build a monastery.

But while this may appear to be news to Indians, at Dharamsala itself this is an old issue and the Tibetan government in exile has been in talks with the Himachal Pradesh government to relax the rules to enable Tibetans to buy land openly.

Its ironical that while the BJP activists campaign against article 370 which grants special status to Kashmir, denying Indians the right to buy property there, it doesn't talk about section 118 Himachal Pradesh Tenancy & Land Reforms Act which is an old socialist act, which says only farmers can buy land in Himachal Pradesh.

Yes, you got that right even Himachali businessmen need government permission to buy land.

As for the Tibetans, India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru granted asylum, successive Indian governments have not addressed core issues faced by Tibetans. In 50 years their population has increased and surely they cannot live at refugee colonies all their lives.

They also have larger families to support so they become hotel oowners or run restaurants or sell wollens, many such businesses require land.

But Titebans were not allowed to buy land.

So like the Tibetans, the issue of the Karmapa should not be viewed from a purely legal viewpoint.

Surely, the Karmapa does not have a Chinese passport !



Near the Dalai Lama residence is a Buddha temple, and outside I watch a 3-year-old Tenzin Chechup plays with an Indian child.

I wondered what Tenzin would grow up to be.

Just a refugee - a child with no country.

I also wondered whether he would be as freindly to Indians when he grows.

Or will he be angry?

Would he even question his faith?

Tenzin's future lies in what we Indians do to him.

How our governments treat him?

So with all these questions I went to meet another Tibetan Member of Parliament Mr. Dawa Tsering. He also runs a school called Yongling School.

As I arrived at the school kindergarden school children greeted me with a smile and a `Namaste'.

When I just smiled at them, they became a chorus and shouted `Jee Maharaj' and burst out laughing.

It was clear they love to watch TV serials like the Mahabharat where courtiers worship their kings.

But Tibetans are no courtiers and hence the glee.

Tibetans are independent and free.

They want to return home but with self-respect and dignity and freedoms.

Never without.

By evening Mr. Dawa Tsering was at home. The first time he entered the Tibetan parliament was as a nominee of the Dalai Lama himself.

But through his years as Mayor of Mcleodganj and social works in the area he has a greater understanding of the problems faced by the Tibetan community.

He said, "The Tibetans did not buy the benami lands on their own, its their Indian friends who showed them a loop-hole in the laws that would enable them to get on with their lives."

Mr. Dawa Tsering explains, " the Indian government should have a policy that if a refugee is born here then he should be allowed to buy land."

Since 1996 Mr. Dawa Tsering has been campaigning for land rights to Tibetans.

But the Himachal government said that the only way to legalise benami transactions was for the Central Tibetan Administration to first submit them a list of the benami properties which the HP government would acquire and then lease it back to the Central Tibetan Authority after they pay 10 per cent of the market rates to the HP government.

So after years of struggle the Tibetans submitted a list of 70 benami properties, both individuals and institutions, and a cabinet order was passed on May 8, 2005, under Clause 3 of article 348 of the Constitution of India as a one-time settlement.
Later on a case to case basis also the HP government would grant permissions for buying land.

Said Mr Tsering, "So the Karmapa also has applied for permissions to buy land."

But the process is slow and even Tibetans are lazy about it all. "Its so much easier to give money and buy land."

Mr. Dawa Tsering's father served in the Indian territorial army and talking to him we did not see the time, until we found dinner on our tables in front.

Mr. Tsering is a vegetarian.

After a long day I relished the home-cooked chicken curry and rice.

I asked Mr. Tsering whether he enjoys his life as a Tibetan MP and what do the MPs do? His reply, "Often we have MPs taking credit for works completed months ago by someone else."

As I walked through the dark to my hotel I wondered why the Indian government agreed to stop talking about Tibet when China said that Sikkim is an integral part of India.

Its not the Karmpa, but the Indian government which has sold out to the Chinese.

We have abandoned Tibet.