The second highest Tibetan spiritual leader and 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who lives in the Gyuto Monastery at Sidhbari in Dharamsala, has been allowed to visit Sikkim. But he has not been allowed to go to Rumtek, the seat of the Karmapa, where a majority of his disciples live.
Permission for his trip to Sikkim had also been sought by Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling in a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
The 33-year-old Karmapa is the second highest religious leader revered by the Tibetans, after the 14th Dalai Lama.
Fled Tibet
He had fled Tibet, through Nepal, when he was 14, and has since been living at McLeodganj in Dharamsala. The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyu, itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
He is not allowed to move out over 10 km from the Gyuto Monastery or visit places like Rumtek in Sikkim. The official seat of the Karmapa at Rumtek is also claimed by the Karmapas recognised by the Chinese government.
The historical seat of the Karmapas is the Tsurphu Monastery in the Tolung Valley of Tibet. Many Chinese and some other foreign currency notes were seized from his monastery a few years ago. He was selected as the 17th Karmapa by China in 1992 when he was just seven.
