Evil behind a holy boy

At the age of seven this yak herder was discovered as a 17th incarnation

5 April 2012

This is a book about skullduggery and drama on the roof of the world. Its dramatis personae include the Dalai Lama, the Chinese premier Jiang Zemin, a power-hungry regent and, at the centre, a 16-year-old boy, grave, measured, utterly poised, sitting in a gold silk shirt on a raised dais and acknowledging the veneration of Buddhists everywhere.

He was born Apo Gaga, the son of a Tibetan nomad, and his summers were spent herding yak with his family. At the age of seven he was 'discovered' and recognised as the 17th Karmapa in an unbroken line of succession going back to the 12th century.

As such, his spiritual power as leader of the oldest order of Tibetan Buddhism, Karma Kagyu, is second only to the Dalai Lama himself. Yet after his enthronement in 1992, he was under virtual house arrest by the Chinese and then by the Indian government.

Mick Brown, who explores religions in the way other people explore mountain ranges, ploughs his way through dynastic thickets of lamas, tunkus and rinpoches: religious teachers who are often the reincarnation of deceased gurus.

What he uncovers is like a passage from our own medieval history - a bitter war of succession complete with scheming regent, allegations of murder and a young pretender groomed to usurp the 17th Karmapa's throne.

In a universe governed by signs and wonders these Dallas-style machinations were met with sheer bewilderment by faithful Buddhists.

Traditionally, the previous Karmapa had always left a ' prediction letter' which guided the chief priests to the birthplace of the newborn leader. But when the 16th Karmapa Rigbe Dorje died apparently without leaving such a letter, the trouble began.

Chinese policy has always been to control Tibetans by subjugating their Buddhist faith, and the 16th Karmapa had followed the Dalai Lama in fleeing to India.

shrewd, ebullient-figure, the 16th Karmapa was a brilliant proselytiser for the ancient mysteries of Tibetan Buddhism. After establishing his headquarters at Rumtek in Sikkim (now part of India) he travelled the globe, setting up new monasteries and teaching centres.

The 16th Karmapa was more downto-earth than his followers. When he was dying of cancer in 1981 he chose to be guided by an American alternative therapist who treated Hollywood celebrities.

Instead of returning to Rumtek monastery, he died expensively in Illinois, leaving behind four lamas, to serve as regents until the new Karmapa was found.

Cue the serpent, in the form of Topga, a Machiavellian placeman at Rumtek who spoke good English and favoured well-cut suits. A gold smuggler who had escaped jail only because he had married the sister of the King of Bhutan, Topga took over the monastery's affairs after its general secretary died one hour after Topga paid him a private visit.

His ambition was to unseat three of the four lamas appointed by Dorje, and share the huge riches of Rumtek with the eldest lama, Shamar.

This plot, straight out of Shakespeare, could only be foiled if the reincarnation of Dorje was discovered and crowned as the 17th Karmapa. It was then that one of the other three lamas remembered being given a brocade pouch by the dying Dorje to be worn round his neck as a talisman.

Opening it, he found the prediction letter, written in a poetic code which led the search party to Apo Gaga's home in eastern Tibet.

It was all too neat for Shamar. Guided by his Iago, he refused to accept Apo Gaga as the 17th Karmapa and launched lawsuits. In the formal, ceremonial world of Tibetan Buddhism, this was a thunderbolt which threatened to tear the entire monastic society apart - especially when Shamar recognised his own '17th Karmapa', a modest, sensible boy rather out of his depth.

It didn't help that the Chinese quickly recognised Apo Gaga, flying him to Beijing to meet Jiang Zemin. And when the Dalai Lama also signalled his approval, Shamar's lobby was quick to suggest that he had an agenda, too.

Mick Brown travelled thousands of miles and interviewed hundreds of people (including the Dalai Lama and the 17th Karmapa) to piece together a story which shows that politics is politics, however exotic and remote its setting.

But it also conveys the strength of a spirituality which is beyond political control. The young Karmapa was a pawn of the Chinese until his hairraising escape from Tibet through the Himalayas.

The Indian government, fearful of Chinese plots, still surround him with police and armed guards. Shamar's lawsuits drag on.

But Apo Gaga, now 18, has tranquilly devoted himself to prayer and scholarship - and his many thousand devotees are in no doubt that with him they are in the presence of holiness.

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Evil behind a holy boy

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