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8. December 2023.  

Thaye Dorje and Ogyen Dorje met yet again
 

The 17 th Karmapa Thaye Dorje met with the ‘Alternative Karmapa’ Ogyen Dorje and they
came up with a joint declaration

Karmapa Thaye Dorje and Ogyen Dorje has issued a joint declaration, that do not clarify anything. Instead, it looks like a repeat of their earlier joint message, that they together will find the new 15^th Shamarpa. The only new feature is, that they now also promise to educate the new Shamarpa together. But for some reason, they did not appoint the new Shamarpa just as yet. So, it is a little bizarre exercise, that maybe is due to the fact, it is a while ago they declared  their last joint message about Shamarpa in 2019.
  Otherwise, it is a common knowledge, that the 17th Karmapa’s son Thugsela (picture below), is the new incarnation.
 

 Another new thing the two declared: it was due to the Karmapa’s students and followers lack of merit, that we have had so big problems and a direct split of the Karma Kagyu tradition, ever since Ogyen Dorje was appointed and Thaye Dorje was recognized, independent of each other in a competitive way. At the time, they were both just small children without any influence on what was happening. This part of the declaration seems like spiritual bypassing, pure and simple.
  It goes like this: look at all the dirt back in your own home, instead of this other kind of political dirt in the Tibetan Tulku tradition. This type of bypassing is and was very normal in the Tibetan cultural sphere. Politics can be quite complicated, while we all always lack in merit, because we are not yet Buddhas or Bodhisatvas. So this is the easy explanation of something larger and more sinister, that is in fact not mentioned at all and left unexplained. Maybe because it hurts too much. It would seem so.
  On the other hand, it is also possible, that the two Karmapas actually point to some specific merit lacking people in the controversy of the appointments of the 17^th Karmapas in 1992 – 93 – without mentioning names.
 

 The main cause of the split, was actually the Evil Communist Chinese Empire’s intervention in the appointment of Ogyen Dorje. And the so easily corrupted Situ Rinpoche and Gyaltsab Rinpoche (among others) and their treachery to the 14^th Shamarpa. But it appears too early to talk about this in public, as Ogyen Dorje’s own organisation is still in some sort of disarray after his escape from India. Also the teachers of Ogyen Dorje are still alive and well. So he may hardly call them corrupt without causing a lot of trouble. Besides, he is himself victim to a host of big problems, lawsuits and so on; not easy at all. But he does appear to be in good health on the photograph above. This is good; people talked about Ogyen Dorje being quite sick, but he does look very healthy on the picture.
 

 That people lack merit in our time in order to uphold an unstained Buddhadharma in the world, is evident of course. The institutions of the Teachings of Buddha are stained in these years. There are problems everywhere to protect the traditions from unethical behaviour and attitudes by some religious leaders, to protect against corruption, misuse of power, greed and egotism. In our time, this is actually a problem for all religions, everywhere on the planet. The spirit of our modern time is against religion.
  So, it is OK to talk about it, but not so easy to remedy. Especially not so, if the two Karmapas do not dare touch upon Situ- and Gyaltsab Rinpoche’s treachery to Shamarpa in 1992. That was when the hurt and division started.
 

 Also it is not good, that the two Karmapas in their declaration do not mention  the Evil Communist Chinese Empire’s corruptive influence  on all Buddhist traditions in both China and Tibet. This is a gigantic problem with enormous implications, that stack on top of the rather old fashioned ways of all Buddhist traditions of Asia, that makes educated people think of Buddhism as something belonging to the past, at least in Asia. It is also like that for the Christians in the world at large, but they are not threatened by the Evil Communist Chinese Empire’s corruptive influence, dictatorial interventions and suppressive misuse of power in general. Anyway not in Europe.
 

 The two Karmapas’ declaration also do not relate to – nor explore – the defining difference between the two. Karmapa Thaye Dorje did appoint himself in his very early childhood, when he with his very first words in this life declared that he was the Tulku of the 16th Karmapa. While Ogyen Dorje has always stressed, that he had no memory of his former life, also not as a baby. With some other words, he is appointed by someone else. How the two will address this issue, we do not know. But it makes them unequal.
  Likewise, there is no news about Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, that has been disputed for a very long time. A lawsuit about the ownership is still undecided with both Karmapas claiming the right of ownership.
  So our hands are still glued to the burning hot oven, that really hurts. Nothing is really clarified by this declaration. Of course, it must be a hard nut to crack for anyone in a so complicated situation. Anyway, it still hurts badly.
 

 The positive thing naturally is, that the two Karmapas are in a dialogue and share an intent of reconciliation of our divided tradition. They made this intention known publicly in 2018. So it would seem, that the two just want to confirm this intention, because otherwise there is nothing new really in this last message. All that is of course very well, but the mentioned omissions are quite deplorable. The two have to relate to their inherent inequality, the treachery of Ogyen Dorje’s teachers and the Evil Communist Chinese Empire. These are quite enormous challenges in the culture of silence, that characterise the Tibetan Tulku tradition. It is not only about Shamarpa.
 

 This is the third time the two Karmapas have met. But it is remarkable, that no development seems to have taken place in their relationship, even it is several years ago they last met. I wonder, if Ogyen Dorje imagines that every Karma Kagyu Tulku must go through the same process like the new Shamarpa is supposed to, so in the future only one Tulku of each kind will be appointed, recognized and jointly educated by both Karmapas. If so, the Karmapa conflict will last until they both are dead and gone, if there upon only one Karmapa is recognized. That would be an awful lot of time to wait for a resolution to the problem of two official Karmapas at the same time, while they in fact are unequal.
 

 This feels like embarrassment by touch, instead of addressing all the problems one at a time – and solve them, even the corruption of some Lamas hereby are displayed and the Evil Communist Chinese Empire is confronted. Now, this last thing is maybe impossible on a practical level, because so many Karma Kagyu monasteries still exists in Tibet proper. And it is the hypocrisy of the Evil Empire that rules here, and it does not tolerate any opposition.
  But meanwhile, the world is distancing itself from the Evil Communist Chinese Empire, after giving up on waiting for reforms and in fear of losing investments there. Now people are aspiring for democracy and transparency ever more everywhere.

Read the declaration here
 

Read also about the Evil Communist Chinese Empire’s  corruptive influence on all Buddhist traditions in Asia in the paper of Arnauld Dotézac.

Read also about the first meeting in 2018.
 

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Læs artiklen på dansk - Read the paper in Danish