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He has been described as "His Hotness" by Western women. But His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa tells Joel Rai that he relishes the opportunities that his title brings him to strive for change in the world
When the young monk makes an appearance amid a flurry of maroon robes and a few grey civvies at a function to launch his book in New Delhi, there's a sense of excitement. People quickly stand up and watch in silence. He walks jauntily, like any 27-year-old does, his lips turning into half smiles as he acknowledges the deferent greetings. He isn't given to airs and has no problems interacting with the crowd: he smiles impishly, arches his eyebrows, brushes his hand against his shaved head, even stares at some people through his rimless spectacles. He rolls his eyes in play-acted exasperation as a posse of photographers close in. And then he shrugs his shoulders in a self-deprecatory gesture as he assumes his seat on the dais.
Like all young stars, maybe he makes light of his elevated status. But Ogyen Trinley Dorje, unlike the others, does not indulge in high fives or air kisses - though he does banter with his translator in cases of mistranslation (he can speak in English, but prefers a translator for formal occasions). After all he is His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, the holder of a lineage that began in the year 1110. He tempers gravitas with a youthful energy, though mindful of the 900 years of history he carries on his shoulders. This we realise at a long interaction he has with us a couple of days later. "Having the Karmapa title means that my responsibility to act is clearly spelled out," he says, as his fingers play with his holy beads. "If that title helps me fulfill some responsibility, so be it. It is an opportunity."
This opportunity can translate into influence over millions because the Karmapa is one of the most important leaders in Tibetan Buddhism. As heads of two schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the 14th Dalai Lama (Gelug school) and the Karmapa (Kagyu sect) are popular not only among Tibetans, but across the globe. But even with the baggage of geopolitics, they are primarily spiritual leaders.
"In exile, the Kagyus have been more effective in spreading Tibetan Buddhism because of their non-preoccupation with politics," says Dibyesh Anand, associate professor of International Relations at London's Westminster University and an expert on Tibetan affairs as also the author of Tibet: A Victim of Geopolitics. "The Karmapa's influence is over not only Tibetans and quite a few Han Chinese in the Tibetan regions of China, but also in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Europe and elsewhere."
The Karmapa is happy to have the ear of his followers, for he has an important message as a monk for the modern times. Addressing the TED conference in Bangalore in 2007, he had said that spiritual leaders had to take a lead in addressing social issues. So the young man today brings the Buddhist philosophy of interdependence to inform his views about contemporary topics like environment, gender inequality and food justice. His book discussing these issues in what social activist Aruna Roy called "a language and an idiom which reaches out quickly to us" was launched last week. The Heart is Noble reads quite unlike the product of a Buddhist religious mind. "The Karmapa's teaching on compassion, including practical steps like social service, environment protection and humanitarian service, is a unique way of relating Buddhism to young people around the world," says Tenzin Tsundue, writer, poet and Friends of Tibet activist.
And true to his title ("Karmapa" the word, in one tradition, comes from "karma" or action and, therefore, denotes a man of action), the head of the Kagyu sect walks his talk. He has initiated the Khoryug environment project across monasteries in the Himalayan region, in which monks and nuns engage with experts in assessing risks from environmental degradation and climate change in their regions and discuss strategies to deal with disasters like earthquakes, landslides and droughts. The Karmapa is also a vegetarian, having given up meat a few years after he came to India in 2000, mainly due to concerns about the environment. He admits that he was "notoriously fond of meat" when he was younger, but realised that "our reliance on meat is a major cause of climate change, deforestation and pollution".
Eco activist Vandana Shiva says his teachings would "really be useful for the Indian youth who are so charmed by consumerism." The Karmapa was born to love nature, so to say. He was the eighth of nine children in a nomadic family in the remote northern highlands of Tibet. "You actually couldn't get closer to nature than we were, living in a place untouched by any aspect of modern development or its influence," he says. When recognised as the incarnation of the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Ripge Dorje, he was relocated to Tsurphu Monastery in central Tibet, the traditional seat of the Kagyu head. It was from here that in 2000, he escaped and reached India after a five-day flight across mountainous terrain. His yearning to return to those pristine times has resulted in beautiful paintings of animals and nature.
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The Karmapa's willingness to tread into new territories harkens to his escape from China. "Such a drastic step entails leaving behind altogether one's comfort zone," he says of his 2000 saga. "It is a leap into the unknown, from all that was familiar before." With a spirit that has faced adversity and emerged from it, he is not afraid to do things in his own way. Says Tsundue: "This Rinpoche (incarnate lama) sports goggles, is tech-savvy, speaks in five languages, produces multi-media modern plays and still teaches sacred Buddhist texts. No wonder Western women address him as 'His Hotness' instead of His Holiness."
He is also a dramatist, painter, calligrapher, poet and an accomplished dancer. "I want to make use of as many diverse arts as I can to express my appreciation of and gratitude to nature," he says. But above all, he remains the spiritual head of the Kagyu sect. The Karmapa says that he left Tsurphu primarily because he needed to have access to theological teachers who would coach him in the ways of his lineage. Of India, he says, "As you know Tibet was closed off. There was little information. We had to make suppositions - India must be like this, Dharamshala must be like that." But India surprised him. He recalls, "When I first reached India, in contrast to my aim in coming here, which was simple and clear, somehow many things got tied into it - from political directions, and other directions. It made the transition more challenging, and in a painful way, more difficult."
It was perplexing for a spiritual guru to reach what he thought was a "land of khushi" (happiness) and find himself being drawn into controversies right from the start - from aspersions being cast about his motives to charges of financial irregularities. To add to the list, a Dharamshala local says, "The Tibetans have spoilt our land." The Karmapa's officials admit there have been tensions between the Tibetans and the locals in Dharamshala, but they say this is a minor clash of cultures and nothing more should be read into these. The followers of the Karmapa, though, are aggrieved over what they say are the Indian Government's unwarranted scrutiny and restrictions placed on his travels. The Karmapa's head monastery in exile, the Dharma Chakra Centre at Rumtek in Sikkim, set up by the 16th Karmapa, remains off bounds for the incumbent as much perhaps for its closeness to the Chinese border as the dispute over claims to the lineage.
The Karmapa faces opposing claim to the title from another lama, Trinley Thaye Dorji, endorsed by one of the four regents who oversaw the transition after the death of the 16th Karmapa in 1981. Tibetans say this rivalry has hurt the image of the Karmapa, but resolution is difficult since the Karmapa lineage depends not on DNA or succession certificates but on interpretation of esoteric signs left behind by the predecessor. So why does this 27-year-old have a bigger following than the claimant? "I do not have the spiritual instincts to know which of them is the true Karmapa," says a follower. "But the Dalai Lama does, and he has named His Holiness Ogyen Trinley Dorje as Karmapa." In fact, he is perhaps the only monk of stature recognised by both the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government.
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The high visibility of the 17th Karmapa, especially after his escape from Tibet caught the imagination of the world, makes him, as Time said on its cover during his visit to the United States in 2008, the "World's Next Top Lama". With age catching up with the Dalai Lama, who is 79, the young resident of the Gyuto Monastery in Sidhbari, Dharamshala, is being seen as a natural GenNext face of Tibetan culture. Many of his followers feel that with the Panchen Lama (second highest lama in the Gelug sect) still in Chinese government's custody, it's increasingly becoming clear that the Karmapa may have to play an unprecedented leadership role in the future. This view is also endorsed by Anand. "Leadership is as much about inherent charisma as about learned behaviour and opportunities. Karmapa has all the qualities to be an effective spokesperson for the Tibetan cause," he says. "But," the University of Westminister don adds, "it will depend upon whether he gets permission from the Indian government to travel abroad without restrictions. The main obstacle is the narrow, conservative and self-defeating security-bureaucratic thinking in Delhi that shows a poor understanding of the Karmapa's potential and importance."
The Karmapa himself is not quite so sanguine. He says, "His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the face of the Tibetan people and faith, and he is the bearer of that responsibility. He is our all-in-one. However, if you are in a situation where everything depends on one person as the mover, then obviously that is dangerous and unrealistic. So I personally think every Tibetan, especially the young people, needs to recognise that we have a common responsibility. I am counted among them."
Tthere are no such doubts in his followers' minds. Given the age of the Dalai Lama and the youth of the Karmapa, there is bound to be an interregnum when the Kagyu Lama will find himself the most prominent Tibetan around. The Karmapa, it is probable, may then have to venture out of his comfort zone once again and confront something never approached by his 900-year-old line: the political domain. As Anand also says, "It is not about replacing the Dalai Lama, but carrying on his legacy while Tibetans undergo an uncertain transition between the 14th and 15th Dalai Lama. Given the severe pressure Tibetans suffer in China and the intricacies of the reincarnation system, the Karmapa could be the rallying figure in the future."
