Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Forum for discussion of Tibetan Buddhism. Questions specific to one school are best posted in the appropriate sub-forum.
Post Reply
Ngawang Drolma
Founding Member
Posts: 2230
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:44 pm

Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Ngawang Drolma »

Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?
Claude Arpi | 2010-07-16 17:41:25

Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa, has been denied permission to leave on a two-week religious tour to the US later this month.

"The Karmapa was scheduled to attend prayer sessions being organised by Karma Triyana Dharamchakra centre in Woodstock in New York, but Indian authorities refused to grant him permission to visit there," said the Karmapa's secretary Gompo Tsering. "We fail to understand that why restrictions were imposed on his movement as the tour was purely a religious one."

Earlier this year, the young Karmapa was denied permission to attend a series of religious teachings in nine European countries.

What could be the reason for the Government's refusal? Particularly given that the head of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, who lives in the Gyuto Tantric Monastery, near Dharamsala, had earlier been granted permission by the Government of India to visit the United States in May 2008?

Everyone remembers how the 15-year old Karmapa, in a Bollywood-type escape reached Dharamsala in January 2001 after crossing the highest Himalayan passes in the midst of winter, and the initial reluctance of the Indian government to grant him refugee status.

To read more, click the link below:

http://sify.com/news/why-was-the-karmap ... gfhfi.html
User avatar
conebeckham
Posts: 5694
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by conebeckham »

If I recall, HH Gyalwa Karmapa's office responded after the European Tour was cancelled, and they indicated that people should not fault India for the cancellation. This article is written by a Frenchman, published in an Indian forum. I would just counsel people to not jump to conclusions regarding whose "Fault" it was.

HH Karmapa has repeatedly stressed his gratitude for the kindness of his adoptive country.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Ngawang Drolma
Founding Member
Posts: 2230
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:44 pm

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Ngawang Drolma »

Thank you very much Conebeckham for clearing that up. If you just read this without any other information it's kind of alarming!

Best,
Laura
:namaste:
User avatar
Sönam
Posts: 1999
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:11 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Sönam »

Plus Karmapa is on his way to Switzerland ... (which is not Europa :smile: )

Sönam
By understanding everything you perceive from the perspective of the view, you are freed from the constraints of philosophical beliefs.
By understanding that any and all mental activity is meditation, you are freed from arbitrary divisions between formal sessions and postmeditation activity.
- Longchen Rabjam -
User avatar
kirtu
Former staff member
Posts: 6965
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:29 pm
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by kirtu »

Sönam wrote:Plus Karmapa is on his way to Switzerland ... (which is not Europa :smile: )
Sonam - Is he for sure touring Switzerland?

Kirt
Kirt's Tibetan Translation Notes

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche

"Most all-knowing Mañjuśrī, ...
Please illuminate the radiant wisdom spirit
Of my precious Buddha nature."
HH Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
User avatar
Sönam
Posts: 1999
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:11 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Sönam »

kirtu wrote:
Sönam wrote:Plus Karmapa is on his way to Switzerland ... (which is not Europa :smile: )
Sonam - Is he for sure touring Switzerland?

Kirt
A friend (shangpa lama) told me it was already arranged ... on another hand I read he was expecting his visa. My intuition is that it will work ... because Swiss is not Europa.
But sure we will have the confirmation soon ...

http://www.karmapa2010.ch/ ... they say the request is underway ...

Sönam
By understanding everything you perceive from the perspective of the view, you are freed from the constraints of philosophical beliefs.
By understanding that any and all mental activity is meditation, you are freed from arbitrary divisions between formal sessions and postmeditation activity.
- Longchen Rabjam -
narraboth
Posts: 442
Joined: Wed Jun 09, 2010 1:18 pm

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by narraboth »

Sönam wrote:
kirtu wrote:
Sönam wrote:Plus Karmapa is on his way to Switzerland ... (which is not Europa :smile: )
Sonam - Is he for sure touring Switzerland?

Kirt
A friend (shangpa lama) told me it was already arranged ... on another hand I read he was expecting his visa. My intuition is that it will work ... because Swiss is not Europa.
But sure we will have the confirmation soon ...

http://www.karmapa2010.ch/ ... they say the request is underway ...

Sönam
I truely wish that he can come, but I am not sure if europe and switzerland make big differences for Indian government.... If they refused a tour to europe, I can't see the reason they will grant a tour to swiss.
User avatar
conebeckham
Posts: 5694
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by conebeckham »

Again---don't be sure it's the Indian Gov't. that is "to blame." There are a whole bunch of factors in play.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
User avatar
Sönam
Posts: 1999
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:11 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Sönam »

the visit to Switzerland has been canceled ...

Karmapa Chenno !
By understanding everything you perceive from the perspective of the view, you are freed from the constraints of philosophical beliefs.
By understanding that any and all mental activity is meditation, you are freed from arbitrary divisions between formal sessions and postmeditation activity.
- Longchen Rabjam -
narraboth
Posts: 442
Joined: Wed Jun 09, 2010 1:18 pm

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by narraboth »

Surely it's Indian government, otherwise whom HH Karmapa's office sent application to and who refused his visit? In the end India is an independent state, the government is responsible for its own decision no matter how many factors involve isn't it? Indian Gov might have its own concern, I respect that, but I can't say that I am not disappointed even I don't 'blame' it.

I think the focus of not to blame someone is 'not to blame' rather than 'someone'.

conebeckham wrote:Again---don't be sure it's the Indian Gov't. that is "to blame." There are a whole bunch of factors in play.
User avatar
Sönam
Posts: 1999
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:11 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Sönam »

‎"Chinese government has suddently impose a ban on the pictures of Karmapa."

http://enrichingthoughts.blogspot.com/2 ... anned.html

Karmapa Chenno

Sönam
By understanding everything you perceive from the perspective of the view, you are freed from the constraints of philosophical beliefs.
By understanding that any and all mental activity is meditation, you are freed from arbitrary divisions between formal sessions and postmeditation activity.
- Longchen Rabjam -
User avatar
Sonam Wangchug
Posts: 427
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 8:26 pm

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Sonam Wangchug »

Very sad they are banning pictures of HH karmapa
"To have confidence in the teacher is the ultimate refuge." -Rigzin Jigme Lingpa
narraboth
Posts: 442
Joined: Wed Jun 09, 2010 1:18 pm

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by narraboth »

the link is not available anymore.
I think even there is a ban, it's limited in some 'sensitive' area.

Seems in Han-Chinese area, news and teaching of Karmapa are still freely spreading.
http://www.karmapa-chinabbs.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And I think it's too late for Chinese communists to against Karmapa since there are already many Karmapa followers (not just Tibetan) in whole China. Karmapa can speak good Mandarin and more than once said that he feels close to Chinese culture. Chinese Buddhists must also feel something special on him.
User avatar
Jangchup Donden
Posts: 419
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:44 am

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Jangchup Donden »

narraboth wrote:the link is not available anymore.
I think even there is a ban, it's limited in some 'sensitive' area.

Seems in Han-Chinese area, news and teaching of Karmapa are still freely spreading.
http://www.karmapa-chinabbs.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And I think it's too late for Chinese communists to against Karmapa since there are already many Karmapa followers (not just Tibetan) in whole China. Karmapa can speak good Mandarin and more than once said that he feels close to Chinese culture. Chinese Buddhists must also feel something special on him.
HH Karmapa was also recognized by the Chinese government, so I don't know if they'd want to admit they were wrong about that.
User avatar
Luke
Posts: 1999
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:04 pm
Location: Europe

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Luke »

from the article posted above:
"...Thagye Dorjee who is presently living in Europe."

I just wanted to point out that this information is incorrect. Karmapa Thaye Dorje lives in India and has lived there for a long time. I don't think he ever had a permanent residence in Europe. He received his traditional Tibetan Buddhist education as well as his western education in India. He came to give teachings in Europe for the first time in the year 2000.

I hope your Karmapa's travel problems are cleared up soon.
User avatar
Sönam
Posts: 1999
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:11 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Sönam »

Karmapa who's images are banned is the Gyalwa Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje ...
By understanding everything you perceive from the perspective of the view, you are freed from the constraints of philosophical beliefs.
By understanding that any and all mental activity is meditation, you are freed from arbitrary divisions between formal sessions and postmeditation activity.
- Longchen Rabjam -
narraboth
Posts: 442
Joined: Wed Jun 09, 2010 1:18 pm

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by narraboth »

' "your" Karmapa's travel problems' ?

opps
User avatar
Luke
Posts: 1999
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:04 pm
Location: Europe

Re: Why was the Karmapa's US tour cancelled?

Post by Luke »

Sönam wrote:Karmapa who's images are banned is the Gyalwa Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje ...
Exactly, but since my sangha follows Karmapa Thaye Dorje, I wanted to correct the incorrect information about him from that article.

I also wanted to express kind wishes towards your Karmapa (Ogyen Trinley Dorje).
Post Reply

Return to “Tibetan Buddhism”