Karmapa calls on Dalai Lama in Zurich, their first meeting in seven years – Tibetan Review

(TibetanReview.net, Aug26’24) – The 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, one of Tibet’s most prominent religious figures, living in exile since Dec 1999, has called on the Dalai Lama in the Swiss city of Zurich on Aug 25 in their first meeting in over seven years, reported the IANS news service Aug 25.

It was the day on which the Dalai Lama, on a stopover from New York City to New Delhi, was offered a long-life prayers offering by Tibetans in Switzerland and Liechtenstein in a capacity packed Hallenstadion, Zurich.

It was not clear what transpired in their meeting.

The report said the meeting, the first since Jan 2017 during the Dalai Lama’s 34th Kalachakra teachings, given in Bodhgaya, revived hopes among his followers that the Karmapa may return to India soon.

The Karmapa has a significant following in India, especially in Sikkim which had for long lobbied with New Delhi for his visit and eventual return. The Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim’s Capital Gangtok is the Karmapa’s exile seat.

Most recently, the state’s Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang reached out to Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, in Delhi and held discussions regarding the prospect of bringing the 17^th Karmapa to Sikkim.

The Karmapa fled Tibet in Dec 1999 at 14 years of age and sought refuge in India, citing lack of religious freedom under Chinese rule. He mostly lived at the Gyuto Monastery in Sidhbari near Dharamsala, with the Indian government treating him as an ‘honoured guest’.

He left for the USA in 2017 to seek medical treatment and later took up citizenship of the Commonwealth of Dominica. He has since then been unable to visit or return to India.

The Karmapa is the head of the Karma (or Kamtsang) Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, of which he is the holder of the oldest lineage of reincarnations.

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