On Dalai's heels, another key lama to visit U.S.

Kari Huus Reporter • Profile • E-mail

First there were violent anti-Chinese riots in Tibet, then a harsh government crackdown on dissent followed by noisy anti-Beijing protests along the path of the Olympic torch relay. Then in Seattle, hundreds of angry Chinese showed up to protest appearances by the Dalai Lama, deriding the Tibetan spiritual leader as a liar and a "CIA-funded militant” responsible for violence in Tibet.

Lost amid the conflict was a quiet announcement that offered a glimmer of hope for accommodation in the long-running dispute arising from China’s 1950 occupation of Tibet: One of the most important figures in the world of Tibetan Buddhism — Ugyen Trinley Dorje, a 22-year-old lama, or teacher — had scheduled a teaching tour in the United States.

Known as the 17^th Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorje is widely believed to be the reincarnation of previous leaders of the Kagyu or Black Hat sect, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. But unlike other Tibetan religious leaders, including the far more famous and revered Dalai Lama, the Karmapa is uniquely positioned to play a role in easing tensions between his homeland and Beijing.

The young monk, who stunned his followers and embarrassed Beijing when he fled to exile in India in 2000 at the age of 14, has long been the source of diplomatic tension between Beijing and New Delhi. Until now, Delhi has papered over the conflict by barring the Karmapa from traveling overseas.

The lifting of restrictions on his travel suggests a possible shift in the sensitive geopolitics surrounding Tibet. And the May 15-June 2 trip to the U.S., during which he will make appearances in New York, Boulder, Colo., and Seattle, while billed as purely religious in nature, provides an international forum for a potentially pivotal political figure.

‘Being groomed for ... leadership role’
“The general consensus is that the Karmapa is being groomed for some kind of leadership role in the future,” says Ben Carrdus, senior researcher at the International Campaign for Tibet. “He is in a unique position to build a bridge between Beijing and the Tibetan people.”

kagyuoffice.org Ugyen Trinley Dorje at age 7, when he was enthroned as the 17th Karmapa in Tibet in 1992.

The Karmapa was born to nomadic parents in 1985, in the remote region of Kham in Tibet. He was discovered there at the age of 7 by a delegation searching for the reincarnation of the 16^th Karmapa. All signs mentioned in a prophetic letter left behind by the late monk indicated that the boy was indeed his successor, and he was named the 17th Karmapa, and sent off to be raised in a monastery and trained in Buddhist texts and Tibetan culture.

Beijing sent an official delegation to Tibet to give the young monk the Chinese government’s stamp of approval — as well as to take a hand in his upbringing. They installed him in a monastery near Lhasa under the watchful eye of Chinese government security. And as the boy grew older, he was treated as a VIP by Beijing, which trotted him around the country, and showered him with favors.

This too, was in line with tradition that goes back to Mao Zedong and beyond. China has long sought to project religious tolerance and control potentially rebellious areas by co-opting and controlling their religious leaders.

The Karmapa "was treated as a prince, albeit a prince in a gilded cage,” said Robert Barnett, who teaches of Modern Tibetan Studies at Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute.

It took all parties by surprise when the teenage Karmapa disappeared from Tibet in December 1999, only to reappear in India after a dramatic 1,000-mile journey through the Himalayas by car, foot, horseback, helicopter, train and taxi. With his arrival in January 2000, he became the highest level defector from Tibet since the great exodus of lamas and lay people in 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled into exile.

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