DHARMSALA, India (AP) - As a refugee home goes, it's not bad: The snow-flecked Himalayas are in the distance and the rooms are decorated with magnificent applique pictures of deities and brocade furniture.
But for a 15-year-old high-ranking Tibetan Buddhist monk who was confined to the Gyuto Monastery until winning refugee status recently, it was like a prison.
Now, ``it's as though the sun of my freedom is starting to rise,'' says Ugyen Thinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa - and the only senior lama to be recognized by both China and the Dalai Lama, the supreme leader of Tibetan Buddhists.
Since his escape from Tibet in January 2000 after an 875-mile trek over the Himalayas, the Karmapa has been living in Dharmsala, the northern Indian home of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
The Karmapa's arrival came at a sensitive time for India, just as its relations with China, which have often been tense, were on the mend. This was the reason his movements were restricted for so long, and may still account for his reluctance to criticize China.
In February, he was granted refugee status by the Indian government and has taken advantage of his freedom by undertaking a pilgrimage to some of India's Buddhist holy sites. He spends his time writing poetry and studying Buddhism, computers and English.
``I think that nowadays in this world the study of languages is very important and also the study of the technology that we employ in our daily lives, so these are two interests of mine,'' he told a news conference Friday. ``I know a little bit about how to use a computer, although not that much, and I don't yet have Internet access.''
The English lessons appear to be paying off, as he smiled and nodded at questions well before they had been translated for him. At the end of Friday's news conference, he read a prepared statement in competent if accented English. And his answers to questions suggested a maturity beyond his years.
Still, the Karmapa dismisses speculation that he is being groomed to one day succeed the Dalai Lama, now 66, as leader of Tibetan Buddhists.
``I'm fairly young now and I must complete my studies, my education in Buddhism,'' he said.
Although the Karmapa is now free to travel around most of India, he has been barred from visiting two locations.
One is Sherabling Monastery, the home of his tutor, Tai Situ Rinpoche, just 30 miles away. He called the ban on visiting Sherabling, ``baffling.'' There was speculation it was due to security concerns.
The other is Sikkim state, bordering China, where a monastery founded by his predecessor is at the center of a bitter dispute over succession - a faction in the Karmapa's Karma Kagyu sect has put forward a rival claimant to be the true incarnation of the Karmapa.
The Karmapa said his greatest desire was to take a seat at the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. But with the region at the center of a territorial dispute between India and China, this seems unlikely any time soon.
As for returning to Tibet, the Karmapa said that he would only do that in the company of the Dalai Lama.
In the meantime, the Karmapa said he hoped to travel overseas, both for his own education and to impart the teachings of the Buddha.
AP-NY-04-30-01 1347EDT
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.