'There is no religion greater than truth' : Mahatma Gandhi

'He who knows not and knows not he knows not, is a fool -- shun him! He who knows not and knows he knows not, is ready -- teach him! He who knows but knows not he knows, is asleep -- wake him! He who knows and knows that he knows, is wise -- follow him!'

'To err is human, to forgive divine.' -- Alexander Pope.

‘Some people are born great;

some achieve greatness;

whilst others have greatness thrust upon them!’

I

I am left wondering as to the greatness thrust upon a three year old peasant boy from Amdo in eastern Tibet . The year was 1938, the boy none other than the famously known as His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzing Gyatso, Nobel Peace Laureate 1988.

From our perspective in this modern age, we are able to conclusively aver that an infant of that age understands only the love and nurture he derives from his mother and the care and protection from his father. Not for him are the intricacies of Buddhist logic and philosophy, the hardened hearts of his caretakers or the stone cold and daunting walls of the golden Potala.

Imagine dear reader, if you were to be snatched from your cradle at that tender age! What would become of you? Would not every single atom of your being revolt openly against this unnatural separation? Would you not feel angry, rejected, hurt and highly resentful of the fact that you are powerless to do anything about it? All this would merely go to the creation of low self esteem within! Your parents too, whom you have loved, cherished and trusted until then, would find themselves in a quandary, unable to stand up to this august tradition of Tibetan Buddhism which demands that their child be taken away from them! The trauma is certainly reduced due to the fact that his went on to become the First Family in Tibet , an honour rarely achievable!

This could have resulted only in the child within of the Nobel Laureate, being badly hurt and wounded at that tender and formative age -- wounds he would carry along throughout this life and subsequent lifetimes until he or she found the proper circumstances including guidance to deal with them. The result could only be one -- a dysfunctional personality and that too one aptly covered by the panache of royalty! One hardly needs to be a psychologist to know this!

It is tautological indeed that it is infants such as him, growing up bereft of parental love, are the very same who are acclaimed as ‘Living Buddhas’. They are those who are specially trained as leaders and expected to fulfill their varied religious, social and political obligations!

It is the norm to expect that such babies, given the force of their aspirations, supported by years of meditation in their preceding lives, would be enabled to take this estrangement in their stride. Nothing could be further from the truth!

What is even more fascinating is that it is understood that especially Tibetan Buddhism has an extremely profound and extensive understanding of the human psyche. Thus it would only be natural for an ordinary person such as I, to question the deficiency quotient of prajna and upaya, wisdom and skill in means, embodied in the psyche of the person who had first conceived of this noble idea and implemented what we would now term a barbaric practice! And even further questionable is the deficiency quotient of those who subsequently perpetrated it and continue to do so even today in spite of all the conclusive scientific evidence against such an august practice!

Is it any wonder then that it is such ‘leaders of humanity’ who invariably manifest their loveless childhood as dis-ease? Perhaps you, dear reader, already know that there is no substitute in the entire world for the suckling at one’s mother’s breasts!

Deprived of parental love during these early years, as they mature, such wander vainly through the darkened cloisters of their existence seeking solace, albeit temporary, from others similarly deprived! Thus, the not-so-merry cycle rolls merrily along, on and on without respite -- samsara is merely intensified! Twenty to thirty lifetimes of Buddhist studies and sadhana represent merely a mote of dust on the banks of the river Ganga ! However it is within these flecks of time and space that get imbibed personality issues urgently in need of being unraveled, a process which could span several aeons!

Let me be frank about it -- this is the cul de sac Tibetan Buddhism has driven itself into! Sadly Tibetan Buddhists throughout the world unquestioningly accept it as the norm!

Dear reader, can all one’s erudition and copious compendium of professedly pertinent works in various languages, ever compensate for the child within a seventy year old, crying out yet for his mother’s milk? Can such a person ever be hailed as a ‘leader of humanity’, ‘the supreme amongst beings’, ‘the wish-fulfilling gem’, ‘the messiah of the new age’?

Your answer is yours alone! It is within your choice to empower such a person, investing him with the authority to suggest to you as to what may be right and what may be wrong!

Can the future of any person then, leave alone the world, be entrusted to and ever be secure in the hands of such worthy individuals? Surely their inscrutability, their glistening and bejeweled mausoleums, their billion dollar establishments embellished liberally with gold, encrusted with jewels, the hundreds and thousands of the clergy and laity as their following, ever substitute for the parental love they were forcibly deprived of when they needed it the most? It is in vain then that they seek treasures and glory ‘which moth doth eat and rust corrupt’!

The Potala where H.H. the XIVth Taala’i Lama, Taendzin Gyats-ho, for that’s how his name is more accurately phoenticised, grew up and lived in, could hardly be termed ‘a cradle of spirituality’. Whatever else the Potala might have been it was certainly the ‘creche of Tibetan Nationalism’, a mantle now worn by Dharamsala in Himachal.

Heinrich Harrer in ‘Seven Years of Tibet ’ gives seminal insights into the inner workings of this imposing edifice. It remained to the late K. Thondup, husband of Dr. Dolkar, to deal authentically with events as they unfolded within the Tibetan polity in its modern era spanning the XIIIth Taala’i Lama until the enthronement of the XIVth. He died prematurely, shortly after the publication of his amazingly candid and powerful work ‘The Water Bird and Other Years’ in 1986. This is now almost out of print. An extremely erudite exposition must also be contained in Shakabpa’s ‘The History of Tibet’ urgently in need of a reprint.

Having been deprived of his mother’s love, this young lad was nursed on the milk of Buddhist Compassion, by his Senior Tutor Trijang Rinpoche and the Junior Ling Rinpoche of Ganden. The former was a direct disciple of the famous Phawangkhapa renowned for his mastery in the destruction of images of Guru Padmasambhava! Besides worshipping a deity not in consonance with the teachings of the Buddha, he is best known for his unequivocal claim that it is only through the following of the Gelugpa teachings, could the attainment of enlightenment ever be possible. His contention was that through the following of the other Buddhist traditions, even personal evolution was not possible. This fundamentalism made him extremely popular amongst a large section of the Gelugpa populace waiting for the opportunity to snub and suppress the other traditions in Tibet .

It stands to reason therefore, that those teachings received by the Taala’i Lama from his Senior Tutor, is impure in lineage! The fact is that there exists a cleavage of Vajrayana Covenants, Skt. samaya, Tib. Dam.tshig., between Phawangkhapa and all the other traditions -- a natural result of the destruction he had wrought. Hence it is considered anathema for the followers of the Nyingmapa, Sakyapa and the Kagyupa schools, all of whom worship Guru Rinpoche, to receive any of those teachings, transmissions, initiations and so on from the Taala’i Lama, routed through Phawangkhapa. Such spiritual connections will merely create further obstacles in the pilgrims’ progress. Devout Himalayan Buddhists conveniently overlook this basic consideration in their ardour to revere the Taala’i Lama without any understanding of what lies awaiting them in the future.

How the Taala’i Lama is able to reconcile the existence these antithetical lineages in his own person, is beyond ordinary comprehension. The bottom line is that the Dharma is equally and inexorably applicable to all, whether teacher of disciple, whether HH the Taala’i Lama or the local butcher!

Authentic Masters of other traditions are certainly skilled in a display of bon homie with this Nobel Laureate as they do clearly are left choice less in the larger interests of Tibetan Nationalism. The reason for doing so is sheer expediency and purely political, lacking in spiritual depth and relevance of any kind whatsoever. It is merely an expression of solidarity in the best spirit of Tibetan Nationalism.

It was the far-sightedness of the XIIIth Taala’i Lama which succeeded in bottling up this genie. Had this not be done, Phawangkhapa would have ensured that the Lhasa Redaction of the Kangyur or Buddha Vachana in Tibetan, would have degenerated into the Gelugpa Bible. In spite of it, this redoubtable gentleman continued to consolidate his base even to the extent of persuading the Two Regents Radreng and Tagdhra to release him yet again upon the demise of the XIIIth. Stories concerning the physical and mental disabilities of subsequent Phawangkhapa incarnations abound as folklore.

What is the more pertinent is that of all the diverse traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, it is the Gelugpas who really stress personality development, terming it Lojong. The catch is that much like Brahminism in India , it has become the object of erudition and ritual observance. The principal aim of its implementation to moderate one’s behaviour, is conveniently forgotten.

It cannot be over emphasised here that for a Tibetan, his or her Tibetan-ness is of paramount importance; certainly not the Buddhism which has been incorporated into that host culture perhaps like a patch . There certainly exist notable exceptions however, such as the saint Togden Shakya Shri of the Drugpa Kargyud tradition, contemporaneous with the illustrious and colourful personality mentioned earlier. It is also a verity that true spirituality invariably appeals merely to a small handful of people. For the majority, nationalistic, racist and cultural issues are clearly the dominant concerns! It should not be particularly difficult to identify which of these have been thrust upon the XIVth.

Personally I have been repeatedly told by Tibetans both highly placed and the insignificant, that it is crazy to even think that a Tibetan girl would ever marry an Indian. Clearly the indigenous people of the country of their refuge are not worthy enough for Tibetans! Has the Dharma then succeeded in finding its home amongst Tibetans?

II

One wonders as to whether the greatness achieved by this Angel of Peace, is due to the force of his own personality. Those who have been blessed by H. H. the XVIth Gyalwang Karmapa know that HH was sufficient in himself in each and every way. He never needed the prop of Tibetan Nationalism and other accouterments to boost his presence.

The reason for this is easy to come by. He was compelled to spend his single digit years with his parents even as the Potala seethed with conspiracies and intrigues concerning the person of the XVIth. Apparently, the son of a nobleman had been installed at Tshurphu then under the auspices of the XIIIth Taala’i Lama. This charlatan was not permitted by the fierce protectors of the tradition to live more than a few years! The vacuum was then filled by Rangjung Rigpa’i Dorje, whom the world came to adore! He was by then a very balanced personality!

Similarly the H.H. the XVIIth Gyalwang Karmapa Trinlay Thaye Dorje was welcomed as the XVIIth only when he was 12. He too is evolving into a balanced person commanding respect and devotion in his own right both in India and abroad without help from political agencies!

In direct contrast Urgen Trinlay Dorjee, the protégé of the XIVth Taala’i Lama, finds himself constrained to remain within narrowly defined confines by the GOI which is fully aware of the vast difference between his physical and purported ages!

It is a historical fact that HH the XIVth Taala’i Lama is nursed by the CIA. The Govt of India or GOI, treats him as the modern manifestation of Lord Vishnu. This is a dubious distinction at best as according to the Hindu tradition, only an aryan could ever be ascribed such sanctity. Simultaneously the ordinary Indian is easily overawed by charisma, seeking in its desperation merely to worship divinity, rather than emulate it in one’s daily life -- their unwillingness to personally practise virtue and revel in vicarious spirituality being the greatest weakness!

This xenophobia is well reciprocated by the XIVth who finds it equally impossible to separate his beloved Gelugpa tradition from nationalism and politics. Believe me, no self respecting Tibetan would ever care to be seen doing prostrations to a Trulku with blonde hair and blue eyes, or one with Indo-aryan features!

This is clearly visible from the utter paucity of non Tibetan incarnates across the board. This in itself is a bold assertion of Tibetan national identity which unabashedly proclaims that people from all other races are simply not good enough! Moreover its principal thrust is to empower itself over all other nations!

It is not difficult to empathise with the plight of a sixteen year old Taendzin Gyats-ho put on the throne of a kingdom concerning which he knew precious little beyond the bounds of his golden citadel! It is only natural then, that he would turn to an immediate elder relative for orientation to the external world. This he found, by his own admission, in the person of his brother Gyalo Thondup, actually Dhondrub, a shrewd and crafty gentleman who had learnt the subtile art of survival with aplomb within these dark corridors of power. He also did not suffer the disability of having been cradle snatched.

It has since transpired that it is the elder who crafts the policies, draws up and elaborates machiavellian schemes and plots and takes the decisions which the younger suppliantly implements. Thus it was that they were able to escape the clutches of the Chinese -- assiduously following the plan devised by the CIA and the GOI. Left to their own devices this duo would have long since been incarcerated in dreaded Chinese captivity and history written differently.

Here, yet again, the deficiency quotient of prajna and upaya must need be invoked! Had this duo any sliver of gratitude to the country which embraced them with open arms, they would never have played the Chinese hand against India for dubious personal gains! Thus has come to exist that which is now known as the Karmapa Controversy, preceded immediately by the murder of His Eminence Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche in an operation executed meticulously making it appear as an accident!

Who is it who assigned to the Taala’i Lama the authority to decide on the person of the XVIIth Gyalwang Karmapa, when the latter predates him by centuries? To add injury to insult, his selection of the Karmapa -- Urgen Trinlay Dorjee -- is being groomed at Gyuto, a Gelugpa monastery in Dharamsala, HP. This is totally without precedence and merely indicative of the fact that the Taala’i Lama is completely and utterly confused! Obviously the Taala’i Lama considers himself to be divinely ordained to do as he may please, the rectitude of his actions and decisions not to be ever questioned by ordinary mortals!

He attempts to blend spirituality with politics, a total impossibility. Yes, religion and politics certainly make excellent bed fellows! Apparently he is totally confused about who he is a person and his role in the new world order. He is basically a king without a kingdom which he had lost in part due to his own incompetence! Yet he presents himself as the arbiter of the destiny of Buddhism in this world!

This is in direct contrast with the phenomenon of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the progenitor of The Art of Living. Their Silver Jubilee bash Feb 16-17, 06 in Bangalore , attended by close to a million people from 140 countries, serves as an eye opener to the fact that people all over the world yearn for true spirituality! Similarly Swami Ramdev is creating waves in India with his simple prescriptions for remaining healthy! Clearly people are drawing close to those Masters for whom the welfare of the common person is the prime mover!

The extent to which this might apply to the Taala’i Lama may be gauged by the fact that his appeal is no longer as charismatic nor his methods considered particularly pertinent by the ordinary person! For a start he is not able to reach out to the ordinary person in India . Nor is he even inclined to, comfortable as he is hobnobbing with the rich and famous, creating lobbies through the bestowing of largesse from donations received copiously from abroad, and so on! After all he is far too busy running the Holy Tibetan Empire!

Is the Taala’i Lama thus beginning to lose relevance in the new age with antiquated festivals like the Kalachakra bash organised with great pomp and show by the Govt of Andhra Pradesh last January?

“No sir! You certainly have not been divinely ordained to play chess with the lives of real flesh and blood people in this world! This is not Tibet , a feudal, medieval and obscurantist citadel over which you were once the ultimate authority! So long as you stay within the limits of decency and goodness you will certainly be respected! But haven’t you already transgressed beyond? Please, please don’t nurture grandiose ideas about yourself!”

As Leo Tolstoy has said, “Only one clear quality marks an action as either good or evil: if it increases the amount of love in the world, it is good. If it separates people and creates animosity amongst them, it is bad.”

Indications have been perceptible for more than a year now, that the elder at 75 is beginning to feel his age! Reports indicate their urge to tie up at least some of the various loose ends created by them. Clearly their conscience has brought to the fore a tremendous sense of guilt of the perverted misuse of power, faced with illness and fast approaching death.

A Hindi song reads in part: “You spent your childhood in play; your youth wasted in sleep. When you experienced old age, you howled in anguish -- this is the age old story!” The refrain continues: “Oh you! Please don’t tell lies! You need to go to God and on that journey you will have neither an elephant nor a horse to ride upon! You will need to walk it there in person!”

Should they even now in their twilight years, desist from their grandiose machiavellian intrigues and conspiracies and heal the schisms they have engendered within the comity of Buddhism and enter the path of expiation, they will be fondly remembered by posterity for their far-sightedness and goodness even though belatedly manifest!

Should they not, the duo is certainly fully aware that they will be sent to the not too comfortable purgatory currently awaiting them! The insights of Drugpa Kunleg, the Divine Madman, about the Gelugpas, are certainly worth invoking at this juncture! These are a must read for any interested in a deep understanding of Tibetan Buddhism! Similarly revealing is the absolutely hilarious folklore around a person known as Aku Tonpa!

It is hardly likely that any rapprochement with the Govt of the Peoples’ Republic of China is in the offing! Neither will it ever permit the mortal remains of the XIVth to be interred in the Potala as has been customary for four centuries.

The danger certainly exists that their tortured consciousness will be heard howling for weeks after their demise, like a tortured banshee, as had been experienced around the massive mausoleum built by Taimur Lane or Lang for himself at Samarkand, after he had been interred some seven centuries ago!

Yes, it may be possible to conquer the world, but it is certainly not possible to fool The Lord of Death!

III

The greatness the XIVth was born with is certainly indisputable. His predecessor the glorious and Great Fifth, as he continues to be referred to, was directly responsible for the wanton massacre of tens of thousands of unarmed monks and the destruction of more than two hundred Buddhist monasteries. Their crime, simply stated, was that they each cherished their own traditions rather than convert to the Gelugpas!

He had also attempted the assassination of the Xth Gyalwang Karmapa, one which was foiled by the high level of spiritual realisation of the Xth Gyalwang Karmapa, Cho-ying Dorje. Paraphrased, the last phrase refers to the Karmapa who has attained mastery over apparent phenomena!

More recently H.E. Jamgon Rinpoche, a direct disciple of HH the XVIth was eliminated out of sheer political expediency in a blood vendetta. His maternal grandfather was Ngapo Ngawang Jigme, a Nyingmapa Minister in the former Ka-shag or Cabinet of Ministers of Tibet currently living in Beijing ! His family, the Sadhutsangs, nobility from Lhasa and based in Kalimpong, preferred to swallow their grief. They felt thoroughly disempowered by their supposed fealty to their purported liege!

Those who perpetrated this murder had absolutely no concern for the welfare and happiness of the hundreds of thousands whose lives this truly noble Lama had touched in a myriad of ways! Neither was any thought given to the fact that his demise would certainly be the greatest loss suffered by the entire Buddhist world in the preceding century! The motto most certainly was and remains: ‘ Tibet , Tibet -- uber alles!’

It is certainly the more surprising that the person called the Great Fifth could ever even have reincarnated given the close affinity he shared with Peter the Hermit, Ghenghis Khan, Osama bin Laden and countless such others in between! It could be for this reason that the VIIIth to the XIIth incarnations of this hallowed person all died premature deaths under mysterious circumstances! These purported incarnations of the Taala’i Lama, perhaps genuine, perhaps those of other individuals, were compelled to carry the burden of the title! The IVth incarnation, incidentally a grandson of the Mongolian Chieftain Alta Khan, was murdered by Tibetans themselves who did not want a Mongolian to lord over them!

But then the Tibetan establishment is a law unto its own self, responsible and accountable to none! It is known that in the late fifties the nobility of Lhasa preferred to remain for the most part in a stupour, playing mahjong with Chinese largesse, even as events would irretrievably destroy them! The Dharma for them is merely an uncomfortable adjunct to which they must perforce profess their allegiance!

Amazingly Gehnghis Khan is now being treated as a national hero in China and Mongolia . The Moghul dynasty of India were direct descendants of Taimur Lang. Oama bin Laden has emerged as a heroic figure who has stood up against the west in the name of Islam! Even Slobodan Milosevic, who had masterminded the massacre of over two lakhs of Muslims in former Yugoslavia , is being treated as a national hero by ethnic Serbians. It’s hardly likely that the Bosnian and Kosovar Muslims would consider him similarly! Evidently nationalism is a force in itself, not necessarily understood by those who do not subscribe to it. It is all mixed up with religion as well!

Human experience decrees the impossibility of perfection! Jesus, the very Word incarnate, was human, exceedingly human! St. Augustine wrote his famous Confessions in the seventh century. St. John of the Cross in medieval Europe experienced Dark Nights of the Soul, expressed in a book by the same title. His junior, St. Theresa of Avilla, suffered pangs of the stigmata. The Blessed Mother Teresa, herself a Nobel Laureate of an earlier vintage, too needed by her own admissions, spiritual counseling and exercises!

Will the Taala’i Lama ever care to express himself in similar terms? The answer is an emphatic no! According to the Dalai Lama purana or hagiography being delicately and assiduously crafted by the White Brahmins, his able PR managers, he is‘the supreme amongst beings’. His copious anthology of works include titles such as Ethics for the New Millennium! Have you dear reader, really empowered the Taala’i Lama to be the spokesperson for your conscience? I certainly have not! Yet he pretends to be the conscience keeper of this new age, apparently by the divine right bestowed upon him by Uncle Sam!

Tibetans, as with other nations, are fully entitled to their own myths, symbols and rituals. But where is the concomitant requirement that non-Tibetans too must actively subscribe to the Tibetan perspective -- tribal, feudal, medieval and out of synch with modern realities? It remains to posterity as also his own conscience, to adjudge his personal righteousness or its deficiency quotient!

It will suffice to state here for his own good in his immediate rebirths, that he would do well to be reborn in the circumstances which will enable him to experience life directly, even as an underdog, as he has compelled the Indo-aryan incarnation of the XVIth Gyalwang Karmapa to do! One hopes that it will be experiences such as these which will spur the Taala’i Lama to enroll himself in nurseries of spirituality much as the historical Buddha once did, rather than the palaces the latter had spurned in search of answers to the questions troubling his aroused conscience on the way to the seeking of fulfillment!

The great saint Milarepa’s final secret admonition to his favourite disciple Gampopa, incidentally himself a Geshe in the Kadampa tradition, the predecessor of the Gelugpa sect, was to lift up the scant cloth covering him to reveal his badly calloused buttocks. It is also the human experience documented throughout history that any yogi or evolved person will invariably engage in activities, be they of body, speech and/or mind, which will invariably benefit others. This then, is the only path to spiritual evolution extolled by the ancients, inclusive naturally of parental care!

Yogis and Bodhisattvas do not engender schisms and create competing aggressive lobbies as the Taala’i Lama has repeatedly done in exile! The Taala’i Lama’s role as the very embodiment of Tibetan Nationalism is its exact antithesis!

Buddhism delves deeply into the human psyche, prescribing virtue and proscribing sinful indulgences. It is the human experience that twenty or thirty lives spanning two millennia of spiritual engagements, are merely a fleck in the vast ocean of eternity! They are hardly sufficient to erase the seeds of raaga, dvesha and moha, or passion-desire, aggression-hatred and stupidity-ignorance planted in the individual’s consciousness through a deficiency quotient of prajna and upaya.

As with us all, it is upto him to decide as to when he will diligently apply the teachings of the Buddha to work with himself away from the distractions of regalia!

The BBC archives are replete with flesh and blood instances, where one discovers to one’s horror the verity, that it is the rich and the famous who experience and manifest the greatest emotional distress and personality dysfunctions. Evidently it is publicity and universal acclaim which manifest as the greatest impediments to personality development and spiritual growth!

This was recently manifest by the person of the sixteen year old Ram Bahadur Bomjan immersed in samadhi without food and drink for many months, seated in the hollow of a tree in southern Nepal. Recently he simply went missing. Reports state that he has left this place of his own accord as he had found himself being disturbed by the constant stream of devoted visitors, even outside in the outer circle!

Clearly the Taala’i Lama presents himself as an ideal candidate!

Postscript:‘Life ... The poor player struts and frets his way across the stage; And then is heard of no more!’ The Bard.

Iti shubham! Lama Shree Narayan Singh on the Coromandel Express between Chennai and Kolkata Mar 12, 06 and finalised May 16, 06, the day after Holi, the festival of colour!

Further: Just as this was being concluded, I had received the news that Ashley Carney, a 23 yr old US citizen had been found dead under mysterious circumstances at the Root Institute for Wisdom and Culture, Bodh Gaya. This was the day after International Women’s Day had been observed throughout the world! It is being made out to be a suicide even though a report in the Hindi daily Dainik Jagaran dtd 13-3-06 questions this premise on the basis of circumstantial evidence at the purported place of occurrence. So does Times of India, Patna , Mar 18, 06.

Coming as it does in the wake of the Jessica Lall murder acquittals in a local court in New Delhi and the stirring of the conscience of the nation, there is every reason to suspect foul play and murder. Apparently this young lady, in her American naivety, had learnt far too much concerning the inner workings of the Root Institute and she was killed to keep her quiet. Or perhaps she was being compelled to have sexual relations with some of the organisers, an idea which she might have abhorred!

It is perhaps the simplest of things to do in India knowing fully well that the international reputation of the Taala’i Lama will invariably prevent the incident from being blown out of proportion and despoiling the repute of the Root Institute! The Jessica Lall case stimulated a tremendous nationwide response of disapproval concerning the manner in which the accused had been acquitted simply because of their being sons of high profile political leaders!

A national debate has already started, discussing this issue ‘When the judicial system fails, does the public have the right to intervene?’ The same yardstick needs to be applied in this case as well, otherwise the guilty will go scot free yet again!

This is a typical example of Gelugpa behaviour, the sole repository of Buddhism in the world; the one which needs to be brought to the attention of the all those who blindly believe in the purported righteousness of any individual! The intelligent reader is referred to the accounts of the sacking of Radreng Monastery by Buddhist troops of the Govt of Tibet, the murder of the Regent Radreng c. 1950 in Tibet and also the blinding of Long-shar-wa in ‘The Water Bird and Other Years’.

There is every reason to believe that the police and the media has been paid off by Root Institute, cherished by the Taala’i Lama, to cover up for its vulnerability! Perhaps the CIA and the GOI will oblige the Taala’i Lama and hush up this affair, since it involved after all, just another American! And Americans together with countless other westerners consider the Taala’i Lama to be totally above board which he most certainly is not!

But oops! Sorry, that was in Tibet . The Govt of Tibet in exile, illegally constituted and governing, is certainly far more civilised! Or is it! History certainly does not support this contention at all! Tibetans have recently exercised their franchise to elect their new ‘parliament’! Few if any have so far ventured to even question the legality of the so-called Govt of Tibet in exile run by him from Dharamsala, HP!

It is pertinent to point out here that it is this very Root Institute for Wisdom and Culture, a part of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Teachings, headed by a Sherpa Lama, Zopa Rinpoche, from Nepal and run by people from abroad, which has drawn up grandiose plans for the $100 mn Maitreya Statue Project, under the patronage of the Taala’i Lama. Various State Govts and the GOI have refused to permit its execution so far either in Bodh Gaya or anywhere else in the country for obvious reasons of national security coupled with the desire to contain the spread of ‘cultural pollution’!

Clearly the GOI and various State Govts are aware that a lot goes on within the establishments of the Taala’i Lama: the best way to deal with them is to contain him skillfully which the present UPA dispensation is clearly doing!

It is unfortunate indeed that the current NDA dispensation in Bihar has seen it appropriate to reward this institute yet again with the possibility of the execution of this grandiose project in Bodh Gaya, virtually as a gift for the apparent murder of Ashley Carney without a deep and proper analysis of its multifarious implications.

Dainik Jagaran, Patna March 13, 06

The death of a young American woman in Bodh Gaya

under mysterious circumstances.

The police is treating it as a case of suicide.

Our own reporter, Bodh Gaya, Gaya .

A young woman Kaisley Kamray [Ashley Carney] from Louisiana in the US , has died on Sunday morning under mysterious circumstances at the foreign Root Institute for Wisdom and Culture. The Gaya Police had her body videographed in front of a duly constituted medical board followed by a post mortem.

Indians are debarred from the widely renowned Root Institute for Wisdom and Culture. It is here that the 23 yr old Kaisley Kamray [Ashley Carney] had come to learn ‘meditation’. After her mysterious death, the Bodh Gaya police has taken the body in its possession. Institute authorities said in front of the police that this young lady had committed suicide after jumping off the dormitory building. The Gaya Police too has supported this statement of the foreign institute.

However, the question arises that that no one is willing to believe that she could have died having jumped off a roof 10’-20’ above the ground. Nobody had seen her jump. Her body was lying straight and flat on the ground [not possible for a person who had supposedly jumped off a height!] The back part of her head was on the ground [clearly someone had placed it that way.] There was a blue discolouration near her right eye. The question arises as to whether she has been pushed to her death from the roof or not? She was staying in a dorm with six other young ladies. How is it that none from amongst them saw her leave the room?

The Superintendent of Police Dr. Amit Kumar Jain said that it is only after receiving the post mortem report that Gaya Police will decide on the course of investigation. The body is then to be flown to the US Embassy, New Delhi by a special plane after the post mortem. From there her body will be taken to the US . The Regional Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sri Aniruddha Prasad Sinha has said that the diary of the deceased person has been obtained in which she has written concerning ‘obstacles’ in her ‘meditation’. He also said that the entries refer to some incidents which have ‘taken place’ during the preceding four days. He said that the young lady was part of a 22 member American group who had come to Bodh Gaya Mar 5. Their intent was to take training in meditation there. He said that for the time being, the police is treating this death as a suicide. However, the police is going to look into every aspect of this case.

The preceding January an American lady tourist had told her relatives over the phone that she was going to commit suicide as she had not been given a place in the meditation course being run by the Root Institute. After this the US Embassy had informed the Bodh Gaya Police Station requesting them to investigate this story. Meditation, sadhana and yoga are extremely valued in the Buddhist tradition. This is the reason that dozens of meditation, sadhana and yoga training centres are being run in Bodh Gaya, the place where the Buddha performed his observances.

Rendered into English by Lama Shree Narayan Singh, Munger.

Hindustan Times, Patna , March 13, 06.

American woman commits suicide in Bodh Gaya

HT Correspondent Gaya March 12.

In a sensational incident, American citizen Ashley Carny, (23) committed suicide by jumping off the terrace of the Bodh Gaya based Root Institute early on Sunday morning. Ashley had come to Bodh Gaya three days earlier with a 22 member US team for yoga and meditation training.

Ashley left behind a suicide note saying that she was taking the extreme step owing to some disturbance in meditation. [Was this note in her handwriting?] According to reports, she had lost mental balance.

Bodh Gaya DSP Anirudh Prasad Sinha said police recovered the body and sent it for post mortem examination to the Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital (ANMMCH).

The American embassy in India has been informed about the incident, the DSP said, adding that arrangements were being made to send the body to Delhi . Police have recovered the woman’s passport (047709100) and visa (U720553) he said.

On getting information, Gaya SP Amit Kumar Jain and other police officials arrived on the spot. Other group members informed the parents of Ashley in America about her death.

It may be mentioned that in January last too, the body of a Sikkimese youth, Marchin Lipcha, was found hanging from a tree near Mahuabad between Bodh Gaya and Magadh University . He had come to Bodh Gaya to attend the Nyingma Monlam Chenmo puja.

Times of India , Patna March 13, 06

US tourist commits suicide in Bodh Gaya

Times News Network

Gaya : Ashley Carney (21) an American tourist, committed suicide at the Root Institute of Wisdom and Culture early on Sunday morning. Ashley jumped off the roof of the institute building. The hospital records show her as brought dead.

Ashley came to Bodh Gaya alongwith a 14-member tourist group to participate in the meditation programmes conducted by the Root Institute. According to sources, Ashley was perturbed over the interruptions in meditation and she is reported to have mentioned her disappointment due to the interruptions in her diary. The nature of interruptions has not been made public.

Meanwhile, institute officials made themselves unavailable to the media and attempts to contact the institute director went in vain. Confirming the incident, Gaya SP Amit Jain said prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide. However, the autopsy report was being awaited, said the SP. The SP also said that from the contents of Ashley’s diary it appeared that she was under great emotional stress and suffering from depression. The American embassy has been informed about the incident.

Times of India , Patna March 18, 06

Need to put monasteries under scanner

By Abdul Qadir/TNN

Gaya : Following the mysterious death of US national Ashley Carney at the Root Institute of Wisdom and Culture, Bodh Gaya, recently, the need to put the Bodh Gaya-based foreign monasteries under the scanner has become all the more necessary. Circumstantial evidence now tends to confirm that Ashley did not commit suicide.

Though experts are reluctant to be quoted in view of the sensitive nature of the case, in private discussions, however, they admit there are several reasons that go against the suicide theory. First of all, those intending suicide, according to a psychiatrist, want a sure death and jumping from the first floor terrace does not mean instant death as the possibility of survival with only fractured limbs is strong in the situation in which Ashley was placed.

Moreover, there is no suicide not. As per reports, Ashley had been maintaining a personal diary and as such, penning a suicide note would not have been very difficult for her.

If the suicide theory does not hole enough water, the two other more likely scenarios are the possibility of an accidental fall from the terrace or the deceased being pushed by someone else. According to experts, if for the sake of an argument, it is assumed that Ashley’s death was caused by an accidental fall from the first floor terrace of the institute building, it points towards a distinctly defective building design.

The inclusion of a gyanaecologist in the medical board constituted to conduct the autopsy of the deceased, indicates notwithstanding their stand that they do not suspect any foul play, the district officials are skeptical about what happens inside the closed walls of the institute.

It takes more than normal digestive power to believe that the institute building design was fatally defective and the natural question that arises is whether the Root Institute got its construction plan approved by the Gaya Regional Development Authority and if the map was approved, was there any deviation from the approved map.

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

Mark Twain.