The Karmapa controversy A compilation of information 1 Foreword This work fills a requirement: to provide all meaningful information for a good understanding about the Karmapa controversy which, since 1992, shakes up the Karma Kagyu lineage. While web surfing, one can notice the huge information unbalance between the two differing sides: on Situ Rinpoche's side, there is plenty of documentation, while that on Shamar Rinpoche's side is sparse. On Situ Rinpoche's side, many websites give out information, with some, dedicated to this task, having almost daily updates. By comparison, Shamar Rinpoche side does not even provide the minimum information sufficient to understand its point of view. Now, complete information easily found is essential for everyone to make up one's opinion. To limit oneself to only one version of the facts does not allow for a full understanding and leads to all extremes, which we have sorely witnessed since 1992. Studying this controversy, one is surprised by the distressing level of disinformation and ignorance surrounding it. Few people know truly the circumstances and the unfolding of all these events which profoundly shook our lineage. Most contented themselves with adopting the view point of their entourage, siding either way, bringing up real quarrels and polemics between disciples of the same masters. It even came up to murders and monasteries attacks ! And yet, without going for any debate or confrontation, simply acquainting oneself with information provided by each side, allows us to stand back, to grasp the ins and outs in a more objective way and finally to reach a valid opinion in this matter. So this website intends to fill the lack of communication from Shamar Rinpoche's side. It provides a compilation of information which back up its line of argument (books, articles, interviews, testimonies, …) (*) sorted by chronological order. But it also provides a summary of Situ Rinpoche's side opposing viewpoint, with links to its websites. All data presented in this compilation can be checked thru other proofs. It will be a further work to list all those proofs in this site. (*) This compilation brings together books such as "the Karmapa Papers", published in 1992, the report about the "International Karma Kagyu Conference" held in 1996 at New Delhi, "Siege of Karmapa" written by Rumtek monks, "The Buddha cries, Karmapa conumdrum" work of an Indian journalist Anil Maheswari, a few excerpts from "Rogues in Robes" by Tomek Lehnert, as well as numerous e-mails, newspapers items, books excerpts, and sections found on the internet. 3 Introduction to controversy about Karmapas Politics and religion ("Karmapa Papers" introduction) A religious life, the search for ultimate truth and the development of spiritual qualities, is often considered the opposite to an involvement in politics, a so-called worldly matter. If we look at the life of Milarepa, he exemplifies this point of view. He left behind all social complexities, led a completely independent life, set up no organisation and communicated the dharma in a very direct way. Generally, however, we cannot separate religion from the society in which it is practiced. With the spread of Buddhism in Tibet, politics and religious matters became linked. Kings and noble families were often active sponsors of monasteries and teachers, which led to wide dependency. Over time, the monasteries grew in wealth and power and, in addition to their religious importance, they became socio-political factors throughout Tibet. Thus lineage-holders like the Karmapas have had two different roles: on the one hand they represent the highest of spirituality, giving guidance to countless students. On the other hand they are the heads of influential schools of Buddhism. Knowing well the propensity of Tibetans to mix dharma and politics and as a strong warning to his Western disciples, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa repeatedly and strongly told his students: "No politics in my centres". Throughout history several of his incarnations avoided entanglement in politics to the point of becoming simple travelling monks when worldly matters were too much. But willingly or not, great teachers sometimes became involved in political affairs. It was good when they could use their influence to help the people and to mediate in conflicts. We find examples of this in the lives of all Karmapas. On the other hand, there have always been people who tried to use the great lamas for their own political interests. Sometimes this even resulted in war. One example was during the time of H. H. the 5th Dalai Lama and H. H. the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje: One of the Karmapa 's supporters, the King of Tsang in Southern Tibet, discriminated against the Gelugpas during his reign. The Karmapa never sanctioned this in any way. The Gelugpas asked the Mongol Chief Gushri Khan for military help, so he led a big army into Tibet. Karmapa tried everything to avoid a war. Also the Dalai Lama lost control of events and fighting broke out between the Mongols backed by the Gelugpas and the King of Tsang. The Mongols won the battle. The King of Tsang was captured, many were killed and thousands were wounded. Although the Karmapa informed the Dalai Lama's government that he had no interest, in harming the Gelugpas and would gladly prove his sincerity on this point, forces were sent to attack Tsurphu Monastery. Many were killed, but Karmapa escaped, left Tibet and did not return until thirty years had passed. Later the 10th Shamarpa became the target of violent politics. A quote from "Karmapa the Black Hat Lama of Tibet" puts it like this: "... While he (Shamarpa) was in Nepal fighting broke out between that country and Tibet. In Lhasa an influential Gelugpa Minister, Tagtsag Tenpe Gonpo, became aware of the political opportunity and claimed that Shamar Tulku was instigating the fighting from Nepal. He seized the great Yangchen Monastery of the Shamarpa and government order was passed that all monasteries of Shamar Tulku must become Gelugpa and that he must never reincarnate again. His ceremonial Red Hat was buried under the floor of Shamarpa 's temple in Lhasa and the building was turned into a court house. In fact, Shamar Tulku was at that time trying to make peace with the Nepalese and had visited the country only for reasons of pilgrimage..." The law to stop the lineage of the Shamarpas forbade the recognition of any of his incarnations. He was no longer allowed to reside in Tibet. In "Karmapa the Black Hat Lama of Tibet" H. H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa comments on the period like this: "Merit was becoming less and less. There was much political interference. Black was becoming white. The real was becoming unreal. At that time it was not practicable to have any Shamarpa recognized or enthroned. Everything was kept secret. The incarnations (of Shamar Rinpoche) appeared, but were not revealed." 4 It was only in 1964, that is to say after nearly 200 years, that this case was resolved completely. At that time, after meditation and dreams, H. H. the 14th Dalai Lama formally allowed the reinstatement of the Shamarpas. In addition to clashes between the different spiritual traditions, disputes sometimes arose within one lineage such as the Karma Kagyu. The autobiography of Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye shows that there was a period where he had to leave the monastery of Palpung, the seat of the Tai Situpas. In 1873 the King of Derge visited Palpung. While he was there, a great number of monks gave him an indictment which accused Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and Bontrul Rinpoche. Khyentse Rinpoche advised the king not to pay attention to the matter. He said that this would greatly harm the buddhist teachings in Eastern Tibet, but the young Situ Tulku, Pema Kunsang, insisted on a judicial investigation. It was done, with the effect that most of the accusations were proved to be invalid. However, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and Bontrul Rinpoche had to leave Palpung. The latter died shortly thereafter and Jamgon Rinpoche did not come back to Palpung until the death of Situ Pema Kunsang 14 years later. From this and the above mentioned examples we can see that even though great bodhisattvas and teachers may be beyond worldly selfish concerns they can nevertheless get involved in conflicts. Thus they can become victims of political intrigues and sometimes the outer circumstances leave them little space to act for the benefit of others. Also the tulku-system, which is of great use in the continuous and authentic transmission of the dharma was sometimes affected by political interests. The recognition of a tulku was not always motivated by religious views. As it became a mark of social honor for a family to have a son in a high religious position such as an abbot, sons of rich and influential families who sponsored a monastery were sometimes recognized as tulkus. But there have also been other reasons for the recognition of incarnate teachers. For example the great Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, prophesized by Buddha Shakyamuni himself, was recognized as a Karma Kagyu tulku not only because of his spiritual qualities, but also to avoid him from being taken away from Palpung by Derge officials who wanted him as a secretary. Since some of the key figures in Tibetan politics were incarnate teachers their recognition was also a highly political act. This becomes very clear when one considers the institution of the Dalai Lama. Whoever sees the recognition of the Karmapa in this light understands how many-faceted and important this matter is. Considering the present status of the Tibetan community in exile and the continuing turmoil and suffering in Tibet itself, disturbances like the recent ones are to be expected.