Rogues in Robes: An Inside Chronicle of a Recent Chinese-Tibetan Intrigue in the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Diamond Way Buddhism [Paperback]

Tomek Lehnert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2011

When a Tibetan Buddhist leader dies, he leaves clues as to where he will next incarnate so that he can be found and trained to take up his duties again. When the sixteenth Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage, died in 1981, the search for his successor soon began. This is the story of the politics and intrigue involved in finding him, not a simple task as it turned out, as told by a Western student of Lama Ole Nydahl.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tomek Lehnert, Author of Rogues in Robes Tomek Lehnert was born on August 15, 1956 in Gdansk, Poland. He studied Civil Engineering at the Polytechnics of Gdansk and English literature at the University of Poznan, Poland. He was active in the students' Solidarity movement in Poland in the early eighties. In 1983 he became a practitioner of Buddhism. He left Poland in 1985 and during the next three years co-ran the Karma Kagyu Buddhist center in Copenhagen, Denmark. He traveled extensively in Nepal, India, Bhutan, Burma, and Tibet, receiving initiations and teachings from high Kagyu and Nyingma lamas. He translated at Buddhist lectures into Polish and Spanish for more than ten years. He has contributed to the Buddhist magazines Kagyu Life in Germany and Diamentowa Droga in Poland. Since 1989 he has been involved in setting up Karma Kagyu centers in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, and Russia as well as Western and Eastern Europe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 334 pages
• Publisher: Blue Dolphin Publishing; Reprint edition (June 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577330269
• ISBN-13: 978-1577330264
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,563,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Strong bias weakens credibility of this book, June 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rogues in Robes: An Inside Chronicle of a Recent Chinese-Tibetan Intrigue in the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Diamond Way Buddhism (Paperback)

I was looking forward to hearing more about the current controversy regarding the two Karmapas in the Kagyu lineage. Unfortunately, the author of this book, rather than being objective, has a very strong bias towards one side, and his invectives again the other show he has no interest in any sort of 'even handedness'.

After reading the shrill denouncements of anyone not in 100% agreement with the authors viewpoint, I felt all information in the book was suspect.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars strong bias makes factual account questionable, January 29, 2000

By 

E. Paul (Ann Arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rogues in Robes: An Inside Chronicle of a Recent Chinese-Tibetan Intrigue in the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Diamond Way Buddhism (Paperback)

Having met many of the main characters in the book, I was interested in finding out more about what really happened during this controversy. Due to the strong bias in the book, I still don't feel that I have a complete picture of what really happened during the recognition of the Karampas. I now feel a need to read more from the opposing side in an effort to balance my knowledge of the controversy. The book is a good account from one point of view.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of otherwise unavailable info, but reliability is suspect, August 12, 2007

By 

Elbert D. Porter "giggle3" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rogues in Robes: An Inside Chronicle of a Recent Chinese-Tibetan Intrigue in the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Diamond Way Buddhism (Paperback)

The main intended thrust of this book is to persuade followers of Tibetan Buddhism that an unscrupulous Tai Situ has knowingly imposed a fraud, complete with false Karmapa, upon the world. Lehnert's writing is unabashedly partisan. You could pick just about any single sentence from the book and read it on its own, and if it concerns a villain, you'll know from the rhetoric in that one sentence. This strident rhetoric detracts from any sense of reliability. Thirty-five letters from principals in the conflict are photocopied and reprinted in the back of the book; however, this fails to sufficiently document much of the content of the book.

The outline of the story is that the sixteenth Karmapa died, leaving four regents to handle affairs together until the seventeenth could be found and raised to maturity. Traditionally, the Karmapa leaves instructions for finding his successor, but this time, no one seemed to be able to find the instructions.

Tai Situ eventually presented a letter, which Shamarpa (the main regent) and Topga Yulgyal (General Secretary of the Karmapa Charitable Trust and controller of Rumtek Monastery, Karmapa's main seat in exile) considered to be a forgery. Shamarpa wanted the letter forensically tested by Western experts, but Situ blocked this.

Situ subsequently announced that he had found the seventeenth Karmapa, following the instructions in the letter. His candidate was one Urgyen Trinley, in Tibet. Shamarpa did not accept the boy.

Rumtek Monastery remained in the control of Shamarpa's camp. Situ tried to arrange a legal coup by changing the board membership of the trust which controls the monastery, but these maneuvers were ruled invalid by an Indian court. Situ, according to Lehnert, used cash donated by wealthy devotees of Chinese descent to bribe corrupt government officials in Sikkim and then sent gangs and mobs to Rumtek, where they took physical possession of the monastery by violent means, with the collusion of the bought governmental authorities.

Shamarpa, operating from Delhi after losing control of Rumtek, announced that the seventeenth Karmapa had been found, one Thaye Dorje. Unlike Situ, Shamarpa took care to extract his candidate from Chinese-controlled Tibet before publicizing his identity. (Urgyen Trinley, of course, was prevented by China from leaving Tibet. Chinese authorities intended to use their captive Karmapa to advance their own control over Tibet.) Situ sent gangs, "rogues in robes", to physically prevent Thaye Dorje's recognition ceremony. Throwing rocks and bricks, they seriously injured one, but were dispersed by Indian police, and the ceremony took place.

Situ, says Lehnert, has since been banned by the Indian government from entering India. Urgyen Trinley escaped from Tibet in 1999. Indian courts have confirmed that the Rumtek Monastery belongs to the Karmapa Charitable Trust, but it still remains in the physical possession of Situ's people, while legal proceedings continue.

Lehnert does not shy from one lesson learned, that some, at least, of the Tibetan Rinpoches are, shall we say, imperfect. Heck, let's say they can be Rogues in Robes. Besides the despicable tactics attributed to Situ, we have the weak-willed acquiescence of many other Rinpoches who had varying degrees of doubt as to Situ's assertions, but who found it personally convenient, under pressure, to sign documents his people presented. We have the implicit belief by at least some Rinpoches that the whole tradition of "finding" the true reincarnation of a Tulku is a pretense.