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发帖数: 4825 | 1 http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/01/china_india_and_k
The Karmapa's comeuppance?
Jan 31st 2011, 17:09 by Banyan
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A CONTROVERSY that has festered for years among Tibetans has flared up. Ever
since the infant Ogyen Trinley Dorje was recognised in 1992 by both the
Chinese government and the Dalai Lama as the 17th incarnation of the Karmapa
Lama, head of one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, he has faced
challenges from rival claimants. And ever since 1999, when he fled from
Tibet to India, some Indians have been suspicious of him, fearing that China
helped him escape, hoping to make use of him.
Now he has been questioned by the Indian police after huge amounts of cash—
the equivalent of $1.6m in some reports—in various currencies, including
Chinese yuan, were seized from Gyuto, the monastery he occupies near the
Dalai Lama’s base in Dharamsala, in northern India. Two people have been
arrested in connection with the incident.
The suspicion is that some of the money came from China, for the Karmapa to
use to buy influence in Tibetan monasteries in India, notably in Sikkim—
where the 16th Karmapa had his seat at Rumtek monastery. On January 31st
India’s home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, said no conclusion had been
drawn as to whether he was a Chinese agent or not. China’s government, for
its part, has felt moved to deny that it sent a living Buddha into India to
spy for it, and has lamented the “mistrustful attitude” the Indian
suspicions betray.
The Karmapa has denied any wrongdoing and has said the money was donated by
adherents. It is true that his lineage has many wealthy backers. His
predecessor’s monastery at Rumtek (pictured below) has a lavishly financed
institute, with plaques listing donors from all over the world. And the 17th
Karmapa’s audiences at Gyuto are packed with pilgrims with deep pockets.
As if the embarrassing hoard of cash were not enough, the doubts about Ogyen
Trinley’s claim to be the Karmapa have also been aired again. The Times of
India has reported that his medical records have gone missing from an
institute at Chandigarh in the state of Punjab, where he was examined after
reaching India. The significance is that his opponents claim they showed him
to be older than stated on the birth certificate he provided attested by
the Dalai Lama, implying he is too old to be the true incarnation.
Thousands have thronged Gyuto to show their solidarity with the Karmapa. He
has a big following for a number of reasons: his predecessor’s success in
building a global network; his own stature and charisma; and the support of
the Dalai Lama himself. The Dalai Lama, too, has backed his protégé,
though chiding him gently for sending “wrong signals” by keeping the money
in cash.
It does seem incredible that China and the Karmapa are in cahoots, or even
that China connived in his escape and has been using him as a stooge. His
flight to India was humiliating for China: even a young monk it had feted
and nurtured to help bolster its rule in Tibet rejected it in the most
dramatic way. But as I suggested in my print column on January 8th, the
ructions the Karmapa disputes have caused among exiled Tibetans may have
given China the last laugh.
They also have implications for another theme of that column—the Dalai Lama
’s hints at his own retirement from political involvement. The Karmapa is
perhaps the only other exile who could come close to unifying Tibetans. His
troubles make the Dalai Lama’s hopes of a retreat into a purely religious
role even harder to realise. | T1
发帖数: 4732 | | m***6
发帖数: 8479 | 3 US,Texas,Canada and Quecbec | d******g
发帖数: 6966 | 4 白猪又在yy西藏独立了...哈哈哈哈。。一群可怜鬼。。。白猪已经正式和台巴子一个
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发帖数: 4948 | 5 嗨，有个啥的，昨天女友才回来抱怨说她老师一口一个台湾和中国什么什么的 | d****z
发帖数: 9503 | | u***r
发帖数: 4825 | 7 这是阴国办的杂志，该对他们说 England, Ireland and Scoctland? |
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