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Karmapa claimant seeks Ogyen Trinley tests

One of the three claimants to the 17th Karmapa title, Lama Dawa Sangpo Dorjee, has said that Sikkim will face…

Karmapa claimant seeks Ogyen Trinley tests

Lama Dawa Sangpo Dorjee

One of the three claimants to the 17th Karmapa title, Lama Dawa Sangpo Dorjee, has said that Sikkim will face a “big loss” if the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje is allowed to visit the state.

The claimant has once again challenged Ogyen Trinley to undergo tests–scientific, divine and traditional– if he considers himself the original incarnation of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

“If I fail in the said tests, then I am ready to bow down before him and accept him as the real Karmapa,” Lama Dawa Sangpo told a press conference here on Monday.

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“If Ogyen Trinley visits Sikkim, me and my supporters (Sikkim Karmapa Committee) will wear black bands in our forehead and march in a protest rally in the capital here. If I am not allowed to enter Rumtek, then I won’t allow a false claimant to enter there either,” he said.

He also alleged that MLA from Sangha constituency Sonam Lama is doing a “very shameful deed’ by putting monks into relay hunger strike. “He is playing a game with the monks and the people of Sikkim. He is selling the dharma,” he alleged.

He also said that if the authorities concerned do not take any step, he will serve an ultimatum of 45 days in the future and make a third attempt to enter Rumtek, the seat of the Karmapa.

Wangdi Tshering Lama of the Sikkim Karmapa Committee said that their demand was unheard by the Centre, state and other organisations just because they are a minority Buddhist community.

“We are being dominated by the high-profile Buddhist community, which is not only illegal but an open crime,” he said. Dawa Sangpo Dorjee was born on 30th May 1977 in Mangan in North Sikkim.

He proclaimed himself as the Karmapa at the age of 2.5 years. In 1987-1988, after the traditional test, Dawa Sangpo Dorjee was identified by Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche as the incarnation of the 16th Karmapa.

After the demise of the Kongtrul Rinpoche, a controversy surfaced after the Situ Rinpoche and the Dalai Lama endorsed Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Shamar Rinpoche nominated Thaye Thinaly Dorjee as the incarnation of the 16th Karmapa. It may be mentioned here that the Central government recently allowed Ogyen trinley Dorje to enter Sikkim, but barred his visit to Rumtek.

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