Delhi Signals Red to Karmapa’s Visit to Border Areas

Phayul[Thursday, July 24, 2008 10:36]

Dharamsala, July 24, 2008 - The Indian Government denied permission to the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorjee to visit the Buddhist regions close to the border of Chinese administered Tibet Autonomous Region, reported Indian daily Hindustan Times.

17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, head of the Karma Kagyud tradition.

According to a report published today in Hindustan Times, the young head of the Kagyu sect of the Tibetan Buddhism (black hat sect) had sought permission from the Indian government to go on a two-month religious tour to Buddhist areas of Ladakh in Jammu&Kashmir State. Gyalwang Karmapa had also expressed his wish to preach in Kinnaur and Lahual Spiti in Himachal Pradesh.

However, the Indian government denied permission to the Buddhist leader who remains under the watchful eyes of the intelligence agencies at his temporary abode at Gyuto Tantric monastery, the paper said.

The Hindustan Times reported his aides as saying that the programme had to be cancelled due to the upcoming Olympics in Beijing.

The young Buddhist leader who is seventeenth in the lineage escaped from Tibet in January 2000 and was last month in the United States on his first ever foreign trip. He is the only Tibetan Buddhist leader recognized by the Dalai Lama and approved by Beijing. However, Tibetan Buddhist leaders traditionally do not require approval from Beijing.