3. Tremors in Shangrila

About 6.5 million people inhabited Tibet in 1959. Tibet had a total area of 1.3 million sq. km. At least 1,80,000 Tibetans are in exile. India alone accounts for about 1,10,000 while Nepal has about 20,000 with the rest scattered over Europe, USA, etc. Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), Dehra Dun (Uttaranchal), Kushalnagar (Karnataka), Darjeeling (West Bengal), Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Ladakh in India have settlements of Tibetan Buddhists. Even the total ruin of Tibet wasn't affliction enough to prevent the collective tendency of the Buddhist lamas to quarrel amongst themselves. Enlightened sages in Tibet have contantly lamented that the consciousness of Tibetans has become hard as butter-leather. Not so long ago, a Tibetan Master asserted that Tibetans had forgotten about Karma, cause and effect, in their daily lives.

No sooner had the dust from the disaster settled than the old feuds dating back into the past revived with a vengeance. The old Lhasa regime of the Gelugpas under a new name, 'Tibetan Government-in-exile', using its old name of Dewar Zhung, based at Dharamsala in India inherited and resumed the old agenda of hostility towards the other Buddhist orders. The agenda was taken up with all the enthusiasm, prejudices, rivalries and fights of the past.

In 1964, the government-in-exile of the Dalai Lama wanted to introduce social, economic and religious reforms to the recently evicted Tibetans. Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama's brother, dubiously proposed to abolish the old Buddhist orders, and do away with the rich, religious diversity so characteristic of Tibet, and thus bring the high lamas to heel. The new policyin one way or the other sought to curtail the freedom of all Tibetans. The spiritual hierarchies of the Nyingmapa, Sakyapa, Kagyupa and their corollary sub-orders fell victim to slander and reproach. Gyalo Thondup's machiavellian programme struck fear into the lamas' hearts. As further details of the elaborate plan surfaced, the lamas realised that a coup against three of the orders was being plotted. The proposed new religious body that would replace the traditional orders would be in the sole control of the Gelugpa hierarchy. The worried lamas rushed to the Karmapa.

Though the Karmapa resolutely shunned Tibetan politics, he nevertheless, was a voice to be reckoned with in Tibetan Buddhist affairs. Apprehensive of being swallowed up by the 'big brother' in such a sombre atmosphere, refugees from Kham, in particular, chose the Karmapa as their political leader. Thus, a powerful and opposing power centre to the Dalai Lama and the official line of Dharamsala sprang into existence.

The leaders of 13 large Tibetan settlements created an alliance called the 'Association of Thirteen Settlements'. Another large camp from Nepal, led by General Bawa Yeshe, joined them, thus becoming 'Fourteen Settlements'. Khamtrul and Chogling Rinpoches were appointed President and General Secretary, respectively. Ultimately they prepared to face the Gelugpa challenge. The stalemate continued for about a decade until the Dharamsala coterie called it off in 1973. However, for years to come, the Tibetans in exile continued to be polarised into two main groups. Chagrined at not being able to subdue the other orders, the Dharamsala supporters planned to launch a lethal strike. According to the plans, a handful of dissidents were to be eradicated.

On March 13, 1977, dusk was falling in Clement Town, on the outskirts of Dehra Dun in India. Gungthang Tsultrim, a prominent leader of the 'Fourteen Settlements' was strolling in the backyard of his house, oblivious to the threat to his life. A short distance away, behind a tree, an assassin was lurking. The assassin waited for the darkness to deepen. Minutes later, whipping out a gun from a hand-woven sack, he shot Tsultrim several times at point blank range. Simultaneously, the power supply conveniently went off, enabling the assailant to escape.

Horrified relatives and friends rushed out but Tsultrim was beyond all earthly help. They found a sack and a pair of spectacles, presumably belonging to the assassin. A child from the neighbourhood recognised the spectacles as those of his father. The police launched a crackdown on the assailant. Three months later, the Nepalese police arrested a suspect in Kathmandu. Shortly before his extradition to India, where he was wanted in another murder case, the arrested man confessed to murdering Gungtang Tsultrim. Hired for the job, he was paid rupees three hundred thousand by the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala. The Tibetan government-in-exile had also offered him more money for eliminating the XVIth Karmapa, he confessed. Similarly endangered were the lives of Dudjom Rinpoche and Dhilgo Khyentse Rinpoche also the Rajaguru of Bhutan.

The disciples of the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in the USA and Europe came to know of this and sent representations to the President of India, the Governor of Sikkim and others including the Dalai Lama, seeking protection for the XVIth Karmapa.

The Sikkim government immediately provided an armed escort of 11 men to the Karmapa. The assailant was extradited to India, to be lodged in Lucknow prison. There, he repeated his confessional statement. Outraged, representatives of the 'Fourteen Settlements' staged an angry demonstrations at Dharamsala.

Thereafter, matters stayed low-key but the incident was a watershed for many Tibetans. It was obvious that even in exile, the newly installed bureau had brought with it the same old ways of repression, divisive designs and sectarian persecution.

On its part, the Dharamsala coterie would not forgive the Karmapa's uncompromising stance in the dispute and his defiance of the Dalai Lama's authority. Consequently, Kagyus became the targets of unsavoury attacks. The renewed friendship between the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa was strangled by burgeoning hostilities generated by the unsavoury power struggle. And the painful realities made it impossible for either side to forgive or forget.

In the light of the Karmapa's independent position, Dharamsala came to regret the Dalai Lama's change of policy concerning Shamar Trulku. The lifting of the ban was, to a large extent, an empty gesture because neither the Dalai Lama nor his government held jurisdiction in India. Shamar Trulku no longer required permission from the Dalai Lama. The Karmapa and his second-in-command Shamar Trulku were considered a threat to the Gelugpa's political aims.

The Dalai Lama, as nominal ruler of all Tibetans, was expected to remain above such scheming and unhealthy politics. But, surrounded by players with a serious bent for conspiracy and hamstrung by trying to accommodate all parties, he had only the reputation of his name left at his disposal. In order to check the machinations of the less rational members of his cabinet, he would periodically declare himself td be the last incarnation in the line of the Dalai Lamas. The strategy would work for a time, until his politicians reassumed their scheming tactics against the other three Buddhist orders.

However, clashes among Tibetans were not confined to the harassment of the rivals by the Gelugpas. Opposition to Shamar's reinstatement emerged unexpectedly from far more immediate quarters than Dharamsala.

Every trulku in Tibet was surrounded and groomed from cradle to grave by a retinue of professional advisers and servants. Life after life, their families held the same functions around their lama. These groups grew in prominence and size until they became de facto courts, straitjacketing their master. For them, personal ambitions meant a great deal more than one would expect from people in the service of a spiritual teacher.

The reincarnations of the Karmapa and his close disciples maintained such an entourage whose members zealously guarded their place in the hierarchy of the lineage. When Shamar and his household were banned from the public scene, the groups surrounding other eminent Karma Kagyu lamas moved, together with their rinpoches, one notch higher in the pecking order.

Shamar's sudden return brought about an end to that cozy state of affairs. As he reclaimed his place as senior student to the Karmapa, the retinue of Situ Rinpoche was forced one notch down in the power system. Even more displeased were the followers of Gyaltshab Rinpoche. They shared several buildings with the Karmapa's administration in Tsurphu, the traditional seat of the Karmapa in Tibet. On top of that, they had been filing lawsuits for centuries to contest the property rights.

Due to the Shamar's reappearance and after the XVIth Karmapa's insertion of Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche as fourth in the lineage, Gyaltshab Rinpoche had to be content with the fifth position. After 200 years of enjoying higher status, the protective families that surrounded Situ and Gyaltshab Rinpoches were unwilling to accept the latest declining twist in their fortunes. In them, Dharamsala found an unforeseen ally in challenging the senior Karma Kagyu lineage holder. It was generally assumed, though not always proven, that the rinpoches themselves were above these machiavellian calculations. Evidently such an assumption is grossly incorrect.

While the Karmapa was yet alive, he remained the undisputed leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage. He personally took over the education of his four close disciples who progressed under his supervision, receiving instructions and empowerments into the treasures of the Kagyu transmissions. Though growing together under the Karmapa's watch, the four young incarnates did not mix with each other. To cap it all, the fact that Shamar and Situ claimed origin from diametrically opposite social backgrounds hardly helped to bridge the differences either. The former enjoyed the lustre of aristocratic descent with links to the Karmapa's family while the latter bore the stigma of the son of a blacksmith.

However, in one respect, Shamar was at a disadvantage. During his two centuries of official banishment, he had lost his loyal retinue of assistants. Therefore, he was more vulnerable to political attacks compared to his three peers.

Before his death in the autumn of 1981, the Karmapa had desired that three vital projects be completed: the Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies at Rumtek, the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in New Delhi, and the printing of 500 sets of the Tenjyur, an extensive collection of commentaries on the Buddha's teachings. The first of three projects came under the supervision of the Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, while the project in Delhi, became the domain of Shamar Rinpoche. The printing of the Tenjyur, a tedious and meticulously long process, was also to be finalised in Delhi.

Situ Rinpoche, opting to venture out of the Rumtek monastery in 1976 before the completion of his training, had set up his monastery in Himachal Pradesh in proximity to Dharamsala. Time and again, the Karmapa asked his close disciples of foreign origins to request Situ Rinpoche to return to Rumtek and finish his instructions on mahamudra — or the Great Seal — the ultimate view on the nature of reality. But his appeals fell on deaf ears. When Situ Rinpoche finally came around, the time and terms for the fulfillment of his training were over. In one of his notes to the Karmapa, Situ Rinpoche wondered why the Karmapa refused to answer his many previous letters. Apparently, after years of pleading with his disciple, the frustrated Karmapa had decided against having Situ Rinpoche at his quarters. And, therefore, except for a stay during the Karmapa's cremation ceremony and a few brief visits thereafter, Situ Rinpoche took care to stay away from Rumtek until 1992.

But, when he did appear in May 1992, he had a good deal more in his mind than just the desire to perform his religious duties. However, he had been with the XVIth Karmapa when the latter had breathed his last.

The seeds of confrontation between the two senior regents of the Karma Kagyu order had already been sown earlier. In the summer of 1983, Kalu Rinpoche had agreed to give Rinchen Terdzod empowerments to transmit the main teachings of Guru Rimpoche, the Indian master who had brought Buddhism to Tibet. The empowerments served as a unique method for preserving the continuity of the teachings in Tibet. During the ceremony, a disciple is introduced to a certain aspect of the Buddha's life and works. An accomplished Master would grant it to aspiring students, who would then become holders of the practice with the potential to, one day, fully realise it and pass it on to others. This is not to say that the hundreds that would crowd a monastery's courtyard to receive an initiation were all striving practitioners ready to jump into the regime of a spiritual pursuit. The laity among Tibetans fought fiercely at the completion of each ceremony to get a blessing from the lama, but this was as far as his religious enthusiasm would go during such functions.

Since, in the old days, certain popular empowerments could attract a throng of several thousand people, it was not uncommon that a monastery would encourage its head lama to obtain and later perform the highly sought after initiations. After all, even a few-hundred-strong army of pilgrims was a potent source of income for a cloister. Such practical reasoning was not entirely lost on the masters when Tibetans established themselves on Indian soil. The life of refugees, particularly groups of destitute monks thrown into an environment fraught with unknown hardships depended solely on the spiritual skill of their Master for survival.

It is entirely to the credit of Kalu Rinpoche that during the uncertain early years of their diaspora he was able to establish himself at Sonada, Darjeeling and actively support a monastic establishment, aided by his nephew Lama Gyaltsen. Amazingly the monastery was gifted to him by Thrijang Rinpoche, the elder tutor of the Dalai Lama, and a staunch Gelugpa. There he established a retreat centre where the three and a half year retreat was started imparting instructions in the Shangpa Kagyu tradition.

In fact he was the first 'conventional' Lama to venture out to the west in 1970. He established a meditation cum retreat centre in Vancouver, Canada which served as a model for his later network of centres spread throughout the world. At his monastery he established a system of passing on instructions to non-Tibetan students of the Dharma which continues to this day. He erected a large stupa which was consecrated by the XVIth Karmapa and his four principal disciples in 1973. That this conglomerate has chosen to side with Tai Situ is perhaps the most unfortunate.

Relations between him and the Seat of the Drugpa Kargyu in nearby Darjeeling were not as amicable as one would expect. Apparently Kalu Rinpoche had been made in charge of disbursing refugee rations to that monastery as well. Something went wrong and the rations didn't reach their eventual destination leading to strained relations, typical of the Tibetan polity. What was amazing in the early 70-s in Darjeeling was that even though there were various monasteries within a radius of 10 km. Interaction amongst them was negligible.

However, in 1983, nearly 25 years after fleeing Tibet, basic survival was not an issue for most Tibetans anymore. With the sudden and recent arrival on the scene of affluent patrons from the Chinese community in South-East Asia, not to mention copious funding from western disciples, the high rinpoches and their households sensed big fortunes lying ahead. Not surprisingly, when the rich Chinese devotees showed a penchant for elaborate initiations, a number of lamas and their enterprising assistants went out of their way to satisfy such tastes. An empowerment resurfaced as a hot potato that could buy influence and bring wealth.

Lama Paljor from Palpung, the traditional seat of Situ Rinpoche in eastern Tibet, called Shamar, Situ, Jamgon and Gyaltshab Rinpoches and gave them a dose of what he considered conventional guru wisdom. "Think about the future," he began patronizingly to the rinpoches. "Soon you will need funds to run your monasteries," he dangled the bait. "You should learn the popular empowerments. Consider the thousands that would come when you, the high trulkus, grant your initiations. All these people, the whole mass, would become your disciples," Paljor further tempted his listeners. "Kalu Rinpoche is a great Master. You must ask him for rinchen terdzod, an empowerment in highest demand." Thus, the lama summed up his arguments.

Without delay, Jamgon and Gyaltshab Rinpoches petitioned Kalu Rinpoche, informing him of their desire to receive the invaluable rinchen terdzod. When the distinguished lama readily acceded, they engaged the local Karma Kagyu world in energeticpreparations for six months of lengthy ceremonies. Shamar Rinpoche himself was lukewarm to the idea because the motivation seemed to be a dubious one. However, since his refusal to join the ceremonies would be construed as an offence to the old Kalu Rinpoche, he reluctantly went along with the others. As usual, Situ Rinpoche stayed at separate quarters. Shamar Rinpoche however did not attend except for a few empowerments, preferring to stay away in Darjeeling.

In the meantime, Lea Terhune — dismissed from the services of the Rumtek administration and later made the secretary of Situ Rinpoche — came out with a paper accusing Shamar Rinpoche of usurping the Delhi land of the Karmapa. The three other rinpoches, without pursuing a fair inquiry into the allegation, decided to take the senior regent, Shamar Rinpoche, to court.

And so, as lamas and students gathered at Sonada, Kalu Rinpoche's seat that lay 16 kms from Darjeeling, to receive the empowerment, the three venerable rinpoches readied to deliver a masterstroke of their own making. One misty morning, nearly halfway through initiations, Shamar Rinpoche received a startling legal notice from lawyers representing the three lineage holders. Three of the Karmapa's 'heart sons' — as they were called because the Karmapa had accepted them as his sons — intended to officially charge their senior peer with stealing the Karmapa's property in Delhi.

Adding insult to injury, the three Eminences had schemed to counter-coup a notch higher. Shamar Rinpoche discovered that they had approached Kalu Rinpoche with an intricate request: At the completion of the ceremonies, the eminent lama was to publicly ask the four regents to place the future XVIIth Karmapa in Tsurphu in occupied Tibet, rather than at his new Seat at Rumtek. Thrangu Rinpoche, the chief abbot of Tsurphu, was already pressing the point for the sake of the old cloister. To Sharnar Rinpoche, the whole idea behind the benevolent desire to rebuild Tsurphu was nothing less than a manoeuvre to seize control of the Karma Kagyu order. Were the reincarnation of the Karmapa to fall into the communists' grip, the allies of China, the powerful lamas could remain at the helm of the lineage and rule the roost. If caught unawares, Kalu Rinpoche would have to come down after the empowerments with this peculiarannouncement. Shamar Rinpoche then would be left with no other option but to agree to his appeal. After receiving the precious initiations from Kalu Rinpoche, Tibetan etiquette would leave Shamar Rinpoche with no choice but to concede the teacher's wish — no matter how wilfull this was.

Disgusted with such intrigues but bent on avoiding a showdown during the ceremonies as well as the prospect of the XVIIth Karmapa becoming a citizen of China, Shamar Rinpoche decided to leave Sonada. Taking leave of Kalu Rinpoche, he rushed to Delhi. In Sonada, his seat remained conspicuously vacant during almost all the ceremonies. The senior regent's departure was a bolt from the blue for the naive Tibetans.

It was during the early days of these empowerments that a photograph of the Indian Karmapa infant was shown to the impassive Tibetan heirarchy including Kalu Rinpoche eliciting no response whatsoever. Obviously it further steeled their resolve to have none other than a Tibetan sit on the throne, a clear demonstration of the Four Brahma Viharas they recite repeatedly and urge others to in order to prove their magnanimity.

Despite their attempts to sully Shamar Rinpoche's image, his three rival lineage-holders failed to carry the day in court. Lawyers hired by the General Secretary of the Rumtek administration proved the absurdity of the charge. The plot of land in question had been donated to the XVIth Karmapa by the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. The land was given on a 99-year lease on a token lease rent of rupee one per annum. This meant that the real owner of the land was the Government of India and not the Karmapa. The whole allegation that the Karmapa's land had been transferred in someone else's name was, therefore, ludicrous.

Replying to a query by Shamar Rinpoche, Mr. Samar Roy Choudhury, a Calcutta-based advocate, in September 1983, said:

'By virtue of, and under a registered perpetual lease, the President of India transferred the Delhi land in the name of the Karmapa as the supreme head of the Dharma Chakra Centre. You can rest assured that there is no way in law to remove the name of the Karmapa with regard to the said land. Unfortunately some errors and mistakes have been found in the said deed and, as such, the same are required to be rectified immediately. As per the provision in the law, the proposed rectification can only be done by executinganother document named 'Deed of Rectification¹, and such document like another deed can only be executed by and between the original lessor, that is to say, the President of India, and the original lessee, that is to say, the Karmapa. But since the Karmapa is no more, the proposed deed should be registered by and between the President of India and the successor of the Karmapa. Execution of the said deed of rectification in the aforesaid manner, that is to say, by and between the President of India and yourself as the sole executor to the Karmapa, shall not be treated as transfer of the said land. Your role in the said deed will be to represent the Karmapa since deceased. The deed of rectification can easily be executed in the aforesaid manner which will be the part and parcel of the original deed of perpetual lease and both should be treated as a part of each other and as such the Karmapa's name as the original transferee of the said land will be unaffected.'

A legal signatory that represented the Karmapa was required. All this happened after the group regency of four rinpoches had been established and, during his tenure, Shamar Rinpoche acted on behalf of the group. This amended document was what Lea Terhune, the dismissed clerk of the Rumtek administration, had unearthed.

Now, it was the turn of Shamar Rinpoche to deliver his masterstroke. Threatening his peers with legal action, he stated that he had lost trust in the three Eminences' integrity to stand for the lineage. He, however, proposed to drop his proposed lawsuit against them if they, in return, agreed to dissolve the group regency. Caught between the devil and the deep sea, Jamgon Kongtrul and Gyaltshab Rinpoches chose not to walk the plank and signed the corresponding declaration. And so, after merely a few years of its unsteady course, the group leadership ceased to exist.

Under the Karmapa's administration, Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche, according to tradition, assumed the role of the representative of the Karmapa till the reincarnation was found but his role was restricted only to officiating and attending formalceremonies on the Karmapa's behalf. The four rinpoches still remained, as agreed beforehand, in joint control of the process of recognition of the reincarnation. Meanwhile, Tobga Yulgyal, General Secretary of Rumtek administration, became a thorn in the flesh of the three Eminences, Situ, Jamgon Kongtrul and Gyaltshab Rinpoches.

At this stage, in contrast to the other two rinpoches, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche tried to mend fences and establish a new relationship with Shamar Rinpoche based on mutual trust and respect for the main regent's position.