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 Recently
Rumtek Monastery has been in the centre of controversy after the
fourteen-year-old Rimpochi who is designated as the 17th Karmapa of
the monastery crossed over from Tibet to India and took shelter with
the Dalai Lama in Dharmshala. The question of giving him asylum in
India has not yet been settled. The crux of the issue is the
disagreement between the senior Lamas of Rumtek Monastery as to who
is the real successor to the sixteenth Karmapa. One group had
identified a child in Tibet as the genuine successor to the 16th
Karmapa but the other group has selected a child from Himachal,
who is currently being educated at Delhi, as the real reincarnation
of the sixteenth Karmapa. In the midst of all this
succession-confusion, the fourteen-year-old Rimpochi has escaped from
Tibet under the nose of the Chinese government. The tradition is that
once the Karmapa is found he has to go through a rigorous test of
basic Buddhist techniques of meditation and teaching connected with
the Kangyur training.
During the general election of 1999, I was an
election observer for Sikkim. While there, I had the unique
opportunity to observe its Buddhist culture very closely. I also
found that Tibetan Buddhism has evolved quite uniquely compared to
the Buddhism as found in other parts of the world. There is a lot of
emphasis on tantra, as well as reincarnation of Masters (which very
well corraborates to the Jataka stories of Buddha). I also took some
time off to visit the Rumtek Monastery. Situated very close to
Gangtok, the Rumtek monastery was built by the 4th Chogyal and has
been recently renovated. During 1958 when China took over Tibet and
the Dalai lama took asylum in India, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, the
Head of the Kangyur order in Sikkim also escaped to Sikkim. When he
came to Sikkim, then Chogyal, the king of Sikkim invited him to stay
in Sikkim.
From then on he lived in the monastery and
supervised the work of its renovation. He was also responsible for
completion of the majestic 'Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre'. Although
the Centre is relatively new and was built only in 1960, it draws
many pilgrims and visitors from the Buddhist world. It conducts
advance courses in Buddhism learning. It is the seat of Kangyur order
of Tibetan Buddhism. When the 16th Karamapa escaped from Tibet he was
accompanied by a large entourage of devotees and monks. They brought
along with them treasures of Tibetan heritage like thankas, holy
books, scriptures, manuscripts, xylographs, antique articles of
worship, etc., whatever they could physically carry.
It was mentioned to me by the Lamas at the Rumtek
Monastery that after taking over Tibet, the Chinese soldiers
mindlessly burnt the great treasures of the Buddhist tradition
including libraries of manuscripts and Xylographs, paintings,
sculptures and tankhas, rare and ancient ritualistic objects and
instruments. The articles made of gold & silver and studded with the
precious stones were broken and melted to take the metal and the
gems. The plunder of Tibet can be termed as the third deplorable
episode in the history of mankind when the accumulated treasures of
the human knowledge were destroyed. The other two sad examples are
the destruction of the great library at Alexandria in Egypt and the
destruction of the Buddhist University and its priceless library at
Nalanda in India, by the Muslim fundamentalists. The destruction of
Alexanderia and Nalanda have occurred thousands of years ago but to
think that the rape of Tibet occurred in our times makes one
distressed at the tremendous loss of human heritage which could have
been prevented. It was reported to me that 95% of all monastries and
their arti-facts were destroyed and more than 2000 monks were killed.
In these circumstances whatever has been salvaged
and brought to Sikkim and the Dharamshala from Tibet by the escaping
monks is of great importance to the entire world. The Dharma Chakra
Centre at Rumtek was built by the 16th Karmapa as a replica of the
Kangyur Headquarters in Surphu in Tibet. It is a treasure house of
Buddhist Art and Technology. Along with Karmapa the four Tulkus of
the order Shamar Rimpoche, Situ Rimpoche, Gyalsep Rimpoche and Jamgey
Rimpoche also fled to Sikkim. After the death of the 16th Karmapa
these four have been in charge of the Gyalwa Chakra Centre. For the
identification of the 17th Karamapa, the detail of his birth and
signs to recognise him have been left by the 16th Karmapa.
Unfortunately there has been a dispute between the senior monks, and
two different successors have been identified. One of whom has just
escaped from the Chinese occupied Tibet. A solution will have to be
found and finally, who knows, both the reincarnates may jointly
manage the monastery as they grow up.
The Rumtek Monastery is also very famous for its 'Cham
Festival'. The Cham is held in all the Buddhist monasteries, normally
in the month of December and in the Rumtek Monastery on the fifth
month of the Tibetan Calendar. It is the festival of dance held for
two to three days. Mask dances are performed by the Lamas during the
festivals. The stories from the life of Buddha & Guru Rimpochi and
the demons are depicted in the form of a dance. The dance symbolises
the defeat of the demons from the Guru Rimpoche, the victory of good
over evil.
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