DHARAMSALA, India - By: Kanak Nair A teenage Tibetan lama staked his claim Friday to the controversial seat of a powerful sect of Tibetan Buddhism in northeastern India, barely two months after he was given refugee status in India.
The 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, claimed support from most Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama, and lamas of his own Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism and said all want him to take over the sect's main seat at the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim.
''From my point of view, going to Rumtek would be like returning home to continue the activity of my predecessor. That is why I consider it important,'' the 15-year-old Karmapa said in a statement at the Gyuto Ramoche Tantric University in Dharamsala in the foothills of the north Indian state Himachal Pradesh.
While maintaining, like his predecessors, he would not indulge in political activity, the Karmapa said: ''I am fully confident that I will be able to go to (Rumtek) since Sikkim is a state in India. I am also fully confident that just as my predecessor did, I will be able to travel abroad to meet my numerous disciples and fulfill their spiritual needs. With this end in mind, I have submitted an application to the proper authorities.''
India, after dithering for months on the Karmapa, granted him refugee status in February but has restricted him from visiting the two most important seats of his Kagyu sect -- the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim and the Sherabling Monastery in Himachal Pradesh.
The 15-year-old Karmapa said that having received refugee status, he has no desire to return to Chinese-run Tibet.
''I do not plan to return to Tibet until the Dalai Lama does, but I will go back with him as and when he returns to his homeland,'' the Karmapa told reporters at his first press conference at Gyuto Monastery, 15 months after his arrival in India.
Tibet's third most powerful lama has been staying at the monastery for the months since his escape from Tibet.
While admitting he left behind a letter when he fled Tibet, he dismissed Chinese claims the teenage lama went to India only to reclaim the sacred Black Hat and other possessions of the Kagyu sect from Rumtek and bring them to Chinese-ruled Tibet.
China chose to play down the Karmapa's 1999 escape, but it did give a veiled warning to New Delhi against giving him political asylum.
The 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, fled Tibet in 1959 and settled in Sikkim where he built the Dharmachakra Center, Rumtek Monastery, which went on to become the main seat of the Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Kagyu is considered to be more powerful than the Dalai Lama's Gelugpa sect, despite being subordinate.
Although the 17th Karmapa had the rare distinction of being accepted as successor to the 16th Karmapa by both the Chinese and the Dalai Lama in 1992, there is another claimant to the throne of the Black Hat, as the Kagyu sect is known, and rivalry between the two factions has led to violence in Sikkim.
Because of that, India has barred claimants to the throne from visiting the shrine.
But Friday, the young lama dismissed the existence of a rival, asserting: ''The identity of the Karmapa is not decided by popular vote, nor by debate, nor by discussion between two rival groups. It is decided by prediction of the previous Karmapa.''
In reply to another query, the 17th Karmapa said there was no pressure from China on him to recognize the Panchen Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's second most powerful leader, who is usually selected by Beijing.
However, the young lama admitted he had begun to suspect the Chinese might want to play him off against Tibet's most holy leader, the Dalai Lama.
Telling of his dramatic escape from China in late 1999 through treacherous terrain in the winter cold by air, road and rail, the teenager stressed that the decision to leave his homeland was his own.
No one, he said, told him to leave China nor did anyone invite him to India.
The 17th Karmapa fled Tibet on Dec. 28, 1999 and reached Dharamsala on Jan. 5, 2000.
India is home to thousands of Tibetan refugees and the Tibetan government-in-exile is in Dharamsala. The Dalai Lama has lived in the Indian city since he fled Tibet following a failed uprising against the Chinese in 1959.
Copyright 2001 The Kyodo News Service.