The high-ranking spiritual leader of Tibet, the Karmapa Lama, has fled Tibet to the Dalai Lama in India and brought the leadership of China, who has used him as a political puppet, to a state of confusion. Due to this event the whole future of Tibet and the Chinese Tibetan policy is now faced with a new situation.
The Karmapa Lama who has valiantly escaped the strict control of China is now in the centre of attention of the world and the media.
Karmapa – Two Ways of Divinity is a unique, award-winning documentary on the Karmapa and how China has used him as a springboard in its politics that have lead to violation of religious rights. On another level the film tells the story of the existence of two rival candidates for Karmapa and how the situation of the two Karmapas has lead to an internal crisis of the Buddhist denomination, as proponents split into different camps.
The documentary has been realised in 1994-1998 in Tibet, China and India and it also presents the Dalai Lama and representatives of the Chinese Government. The film has been awarded the European Union Humanitarian Award and at the Gava Film Festival as the best produced and edited documentary.
Karmapa - a Voyage on the Roof of the World, the follow-up documentary to the film, is about the many-year-long realisation of the difficult project and how the film-makers, for example, visited Tibet three times, meeting with the Karmapa Lama. The documentary also tells the story of the moral dilemmas the filmmakers faced in front of a sensitive issue and the shock the Chinese Government experienced when the film revealed the skilfully intrigued aims of its politics.
In the turn of the millennium the Karmapa who had lived in Tibet fled from the restrictive and oppressive policy of China, leaving the Tsurphu Monastery. The incident was a serious setback for the Chinese "policy of religious assimilation". Apart for the official support of the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa who fled from the Tsurphu Monastery is also backed by a majority of the Tibetan Buddhists. Even so, the other Karmapa still has an active, growing group of supporters. The conflict of the two Karmapas still remains unsolved.
LINKS
17th Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje
www.kagyu.org
The North American Seat of His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa
www.karmakagyu.org
The Karma Kagyu Institute – a cultural and educational organisation under the direction of His Holiness the 17th Gualwa Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorje
www.nalandabodhi.org
www.kagyu.org.nz
The New Zealand Karma Kagyu Trust - a center in New Zealand
www.helsinginsanomat.fi/uutisarkisto
17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje
www.karmapa.org
The Black Hat Lama of Tibet
www.dhagpo-kagyu.org
The 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje and his centres
www.karmapa-institute.org
www.karmapa-issue.org
Other Buddhist links
www.dalailama.com
Dalai Lama of Tibet. Official site of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
www.tibet.com
The Government of Tibet in Exile
www.samyeling.org
Kagyu Samue Ling. Monastery & Tibetan centre
www.cc.jyu.fi/~liikanen/ksivut.htm