Word: karmapa
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...hour, tooth-loosening drive west of Gangtok, Sikkim's capital, the monastery is at the center of a divisive and sometimes violent battle within Tibetan Buddhism's Kagyupa (Black Hat) sect: Who is the rightful 17th Karmapa? Is it the New Delhi Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje? Or is it the Tibetan Karmapa-Ugyen Trinley Dorje-endorsed by the Dalai Lama...
...While the sect teaches peace, love and understanding, rival factions have actually come to fisticuffs over who should ascend the throne at Rumtek. And there's little doubt about which Karmapa the monks of Rumtek favor. A life-size photograph of the Tibetan Karmapa rests on the golden throne in a residence at the top of the monastery. But until the Indian government allows him to make the long trip to Rumtek, the controversy will doubtless continue. Some say the conflict is more about control of the monastery's surfeit of treasures than of spirituality. Until the ascension dispute...
...Karmapa's escape?eight days by jeep, horse, helicopter, train and car?to Dharamsala and the Dalai Lama's Tibetan government-in-exile was initially viewed as proof that a united fight for Tibetan independence endures. But then came the crackdown. China closed Tsurphu to visitors and arrested the devout. This February, the U.S. State Department reported that since the Karmapa's departure, "a large number of monks and nuns remain detained or imprisoned." The monastery is now open again. (The official Chinese explanation for shutting it: the peeling frescoes needed repair.) But the thousands of visitors who made...
...monks, too, have returned to their retreats, spending days, months and years in dark solitude, sustained only by food slipped into their cold rooms. Unlike the Summer Palace in Lhasa, where you can visit the former private rooms of the Dalai Lama, tourists don't get to see the Karmapa's old bedroom. Tsurphu hasn't become a museum: it is still a working monastery. We have arrived during a brief break in afternoon prayers and are able to walk inside the dim, main meditation hall and, with the aid of a flashlight, inspect the frescoes in the eerie silence...
...simplest way to handle the bureaucracy, but far cheaper is a three-day trip bought in China or Nepal after which sightseers can go off on their own as long as they take government guides. Hiring one in Lhasa to Tsurphu costs from $50 per day. Without the Karmapa to draw the crowds, these days you'll likely be the only visitors...