Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

A few years back I actually thought about trying to write a book about the Karmapa controversy. I got sidetracked, which is just as well because several other people have done it better and with better access.

I think this is one of those. This guy is the secretary to Lama Ole Nydahl and this is an insider's view of all of the crazy events that led to the split in the karma kagyu lineage. An insider should be able to give you a perspective a journalist couldn't and that's true here. I thought this was a very honest book and I actually admire this guy and his teacher because of their ability to admit they were naieve about the realities behind the whole tulku tradition and their ability to change and grow and take up more mature attitudes.

A good example is the "high" lama who kept ending teachings early and leaving a group of westerners who had traveled thousands of miles to feed his pet guinea pig. Tomek and Ole Nydahl deduce from this that taking children away from their mothers at a very young age leaves them with an overwhelming need to touch warm soft loving things. They concluded eventually that the whole tulku system is wrong-headed.

You really have to respect anyone who can be as completely committed to a belief system as these guys were and is still able to take in radically unexpected information and then radically change their opinions and still try to keep what is valuable for westerners without either over reacting or having some kind of breakdown.

It's a testimony to their essential mental health that the whole karmapa fiasco didn't drive them crazy.

And that's what makes this book special--it's an insiders view of how an eastern religion being exported hugely to the west had to change and reform itself. It's a tour deforce in western honesty and flexibility.

A really fascinating account of the split in the Karma Kagyu lineage. A great deal of detailed background information is provided regarding the events that have resulted in two claimants to the throne of the Black Karmapa. Lama Ole's international legacy of spiritual achievement speaks volumes, and that voice is significant. He seems to shun for himself a part in centuries of Tibetan political manoeuvering except insofar as any present machinations threaten or impede the mission given to him directly by the XVIth Karmapa. In the end, what does the controversy mean, does it matter? Buddhism holds in its means a rectitude to solve human conflicts, by healing individual lives. That has been Lama Ole and Hannah's life work. Is that disputable? Whatever else, practictioners must realize the wild human adventure in stories like this one. The book is literate, timelines are crafted with quick follow ease, and the tale it tells is, even through a great sadness, worthy of the Tathagata.

Tibet represented ones of our last dreams that is condensed in Shangrila's myth: a place where humans lived in perfect harmony.But through this sad events sourrounding the Karmapa's issue we have to awake to reality, Samsara is everywhere.Dharma has to be separeted from institutions.If we study Tibet's history we will discover that besides authentic and pure dharma practioners there has always been politics and ego trips.Anyway Karmapa's activity won't be hindered by all these fights.Dharma is a perfect tool to discover one's own mind potential.

In case you haven't noticed already, the reviewers for this book fall into two factions: those for whom H.H. Trinlay Thaye Dorje is the 17th Karmapa and those for whom he is not. This causes the polarity in ratings, most of which are 1 star or 5. So much disagreement, how exciting. Simply put, Mr. Lehnert writes what he knows, which is what every author does. There are no unbiased authors, just as there are no unbiased reviewers.

-a student of Lama Ole Nydahl

I am not a Buddhist, but I do have an interest in Buddhism. While this book presents itself as an unbiased account written by one close to the situation, that statement is, in my opinion, only half correct. Surely the author is close to what happened, but after only three chapters my feeling was that this book seemed more like a book written to recommend "Lama Ole" for Sainthood! The author was Lama Ole's traveling companion, and so could not help but be influenced by Ole's opinions and commentary - and clearly, that is precisely what happened. By the end of the book I was wondering why it wasn't entitled, "Ole, Beautiful are Thy Locks," given that it spent more time aggrandizing him than discussing the Karmapa situation.

After reading the reviews of this book, and the far superior, truly unbiased, "The Dance of 17 Lives," the inescapable conclusion is that most of the reviewers are biased by their allegiance to one side of this disagreement or the other. As an unbiased observer, "17 Lives" is better written and displays much less bias that "rogues," which would probably best be used for wrapping fish!

It was dissapointing to preview a book purporting to reveal the "inside story" of a rather unfortunate epoch in the history of Buddhism in the West.

Lehnert portrays a regretable bias from the beginning of the book which is sadly elaboarated in subsequent chapters. Though well written, Lehnert has indulged in a propaganda piece no different to what he accuses the Chinese of.

The many unsubstanciated claims made in the book, proclaimed as fact, I feel need to be challenged. Read at face value the arguements sound plausible enough but if the reader is familiar with the "conflict" in its wider context, and is well read, this book is an unwelcome contribution to the growing list of books on a remarkable being, the Gyalwa Karmapa of Tibet.

Tomek Lehnert bravely stands shoulder to shoulder with the idealists of the world who demand the truth at all costs. It was never a doubt that this book would ruffle feathers. The Ostrich-like mind of many western spoon-fed spiritual seekers would rather see every Tibetan in a robe as a holy being, than to risk their own sense of security, and discover the truth. This book shows the greatest form of solidarity possible, and is only written for the noble-hearted few who would be brave enough to criticize even their own spiritual teachers. The book states that a Karmapa must prove himself by his own words, and actions. What could be more democratic than that? Thanks in part to Lehnert's work, Buddhism has been thrust out of medieval ages and put to the test by scientists, and not only desperate believers.