Category: Urgyen Trinley Dorje
Shimla: Efforts to establish a monastery suitable for housing Orgyen Trinley Dorje, claimant for the 17th Karmapa of the Kaygu sect of Tibetan Buddhism presently living at the Gyuto Tantaric monastery - Sidhbari in Kangra district for the last eight years has failed to resolve even as there are reports about land having been marked out at two possible sites.
Two sites, one at Trilokpur in Nurpur and the other at Gopalpur near Palampur have been proposed for setting up the Kaygu sect monastery, which could house the Karmapa till the controversy surrounding the real head of the sect, is settled, sources disclosed. Reacting to reports about land having been bought for setting up the monastery near Nurpur, KK Pant, district magistrate of Kangra told Times of India, “We are not aware of any such development.”
He said that matters related to Karmapa were handled by the ministry of external affairs and the state authorities are involved later. Chemed Choegyal, a member of the Karmapa’s entourage out on a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya, over phone said that the Karmapa and other members were busy with important religious ceremonies and they were not in a position to comment on the issue. A schism threatens Kaygu followers over succession of Karmapa as there are two reincarnate claimants for heading the sect after the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje died in 1981,
Besides Orgyen Trinley Dorje, the other claimant is Trinlay Thaya Dorje, both of whom have escaped from under the watchful eyes of Chinese authorities in Tibet.
Trinlay Thaya Dorje made his way to India in 1994 and Orgyen Trinley Dorje surfaced at Dharamshala in January 2000 after undertaking a dramatic journey out of Tibet which was reminiscent of the journey into exile the Dalai Lama undertook in 1959. While Trinlay Thaya Dorje has extensively travelled in India and abroad, Orgyen Trinley Dorje’s movements are monitored and has so far not undertaken an overseas tour after India granted him residency in 2001. To settle the issue of succession in the sect, a visit to the legendary Rumtek monastery in Sikkim is a must and a claim to the jewel studded ‘black hat’ of the Kaygu sect has to be accepted which will help followers back in Tibet and elsewhere to grant recognition for the real Karmapa.