Tibetan religious leader who fled China seen in public

January 9, 2000
Web posted at: 12:52 a.m. HKT (1652 GMT)

In this story: Karmapa reportedly denied visa Rival group says journey to India is "political ploy" Statement from Dalai Lama's administration Defection an embarrassment for China RELATED STORIES, SITES

From wire reports

DHARMSALA, India (CNN) -- A young Tibetan religious leader who defected to India this week was spotted in public on Saturday for the first time since he made his trek out of China across the snow-covered Himalayas.

RESOURCES The Dalai Lama

The 14-year-old boy, known as the 17th Karmapa, got out of a car and briskly climbed the stairs to a closely guarded rest house in Mcleodganj, about nine kilometers (six miles) from Dharmsala, where he met with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.

The Karmapa, wearing a dark brown monk's robe and light orange scarf, appeared in good humor when he arrived at the Chonor House, on the Dalai Lama's compound. But he was said to be tired and suffering from blistered feet and scratched hands after his journey out of China.

Monks presented him with brightly colored Tibetan shawls and other gifts while the Dalai Lama's guard service and police from the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh watched.

Security men pushed aside dozens of reporters and photographers at the scene.

Supporters said the Karmapa left China because Chinese officials refused to give him an exit visa and restricted his religious education. China insisted however the boy had not meant to betray the Chinese state, while a rival Tibetan faction said he went to India as an agent of Beijing.

The boy is considered the third-highest-ranking Tibetan Buddhist religious leader.

Karmapa reportedly denied visa

A unattributed statement was published on Saturday on a U.S. Web site -- Kagya.org -- dedicated to the Karmapa and the Karma Kagyu Tibetan Buddhist religious order he leads. The statement, citing unnamed Tibetan sources, disputes the official Chinese assertion that the boy had not betrayed Beijing by fleeing the Tsurphu Monastery in Tibet and hinted he would return to China.

The Web site said the Karmapa wrote a letter to the monks of his monastery near Lhasa, Tibet, saying he had tried several times to obtain an exit visa from the Chinese government to travel overseas as head of the Kagyu sect, which has a wide international following.

"The Chinese government had never acquiesced to these requests and left him no choice but to leave," said the Web site statement.

China's official Xinhua news agency had said on Friday the boy left a letter saying he had gone abroad to get musical instruments and black hats used by his religious order, the Karmapa Kagya. Xinhua quoted the letter as saying he did not mean to betray "the state, the nation, the monastery or the leadership."

Rival group says India trip is "ploy"

In New Delhi, India, Shamarpa Rimpoche, second highest lama of the sect but a supporter of a rival claimant to the Karmapa title, described the defection as a "political ploy."

"I believe he came here in agreement with the Chinese government, with their support," Sharmarpa told reporters. "Ugyen Trinley, an innocent boy, should not be used as a political instrument."

The Press Trust of India news agency quoted an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying India was looking into the circumstances and consequences of the boy's arrival.

Tibetan officials said they would talk with the Karmapa next week, when he was rested, to discuss his plans for the future.

Statement from Dalai Lama's administration

The Dalai Lama's administration made its first public comment Saturday about the Karmapa's defection.

"He is 14 years old and he has undertaken a long and difficult journey. He is not talking properly. He is very tired and very restless," Kalong Tashi Wangdi, minister for religion and culture in the Dalai Lama's administration, said at a news conference.

The Dalai Lama's group had been reluctant to talk about the Karmapa's arrival for fear of reprisals in Tibet -- the lama left behind his parents and several siblings in China. There also was concern about harming trade relations between India and China, which fought a war in 1962.

"We were caught by surprise when we were told that he had arrived," Wangdi said. "We have not been able to get details about why he arrived and how he arrived. After hearing his views, only then will we be able to give details."

The Karmapa arrived in Dharmsala, India, on January 5 after a week's trip through the snow-covered Himalayas.

The flight of the 17th Karmapa and his five followers, including his 24- year-old sister, is the most significant exodus since the Dalai Lama and tens of thousands of Tibetans left their homeland after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

Defection an embarrassment for China

Called His Holiness Karmapa, the boy's name is Ugyen Trinley Dorje and is revered as a "living Buddha" by members of his sect. He is the only Tibetan Buddhist leader recognized by both the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama. He was installed as the 17th reincarnation of the Karmapa in 1992 and China has since groomed him as a "patriotic" lama.

His defection is seen as a major embarrassment to Chinese leaders striving to suppress separatism in the mountainous region and establish religious leaders loyal to Beijing.

The Karmapa had not been allowed to leave Tibet to visit teachers in India despite assurances from Chinese authorities at the time of his recognition that he would have access to religious mentors, the London-based Tibet Information Network (TIN) said.

Tibetans had been concerned for some time about Chinese attempts to manipulate the Karmapa Lama to undermine support for the Dalai Lama, TIN said in a statement.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.