Tibetans hold pictures of Ugyen Trinely Dorje at a rally in his support in Dharamshala on Wednesday. (PTI)

Dharamshala, Feb. 2: The seizure of several crores in unaccounted cash from the home of Ugyen Trinley Dorje has revived the 30-year debate on who the real Karmapa is.

The debate is on since the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, died in a hospital at Zion near Chicago on November 5, 1981, and the search for his successor began.

Tibetan Buddhism has four schools — Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug. While the Dalai Lama belongs to the Gelug sect, the Karmapa is the head of the Kagyu sect.

Four senior lamas of the Kagyu sect — Situ Rinpoche, Shamar Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul and Gyaltsab Rinpoche — were responsible for finding Rangjung Rigpe Dorje’s reincarnation.

On March 19, 1992, Situ Rinpoche, officially the third-ranking lama, presented a letter to fellow Kagyu lamas which he claimed was the “prediction letter” of the 16th Karmapa and led to a boy in eastern Tibet.

Jamgon Kongtrul was on his way to Tibet to find the candidate when he was killed in a car crash in 1992.

Shamar Rinpoche, who wanted the “prediction letter” to be tested forensically, withdrew his support for Situ Rinpoche and his candidate.

However, Ugyen Trinley Dorje was enthroned as the 17th Karmapa at Tsurphu monastery, the traditional seat of the Karmapa near Lhasa, on September 27, 1992, in the presence of Chinese officials.

In 1994, Shamar Rinpoche produced a rival candidate, Thinley Thai Dorji, who he and his followers claim is the real Karmapa. The same year, Thai Dorji was enthroned as the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in New Delhi.

Trinley Dorje, who turns 26 this year, has the support of both the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama. He had escaped from the Tsurphu monastery to India through the Nepal route with a few close aides. He left the monastery in December 28, 1999, and arrived in Dharamshala on January 5, 2000.

But India, which suspects Dorje is a Chinese spy, believes his “escape” was stage-managed by Beijing.

The Dalai Lama had on June 7, 1992, announced his official support for Dorje as the Karmapa.

Shamar Rinpoche, who supports Thai Dorji as the 17th Karmapa, has repeatedly pointed out to the Dalai Lama what he feels are glaring improprieties in the case and urged him to stay out of what is a strictly Kagyu issue.

The Dalai Lama has never held any right over the confirmation, let alone recognition, of a Karmapa at any time in history. The Karmapa line precedes that of the Dalai Lamas by over 300 years and their lineage has always been separate.

Some even feel a conflict between the sects could have a role in the seizure of the six suitcases full of Indian and foreign currencies from Dorje’s Dharamshala home on Thursday.