RADIANT COMPASSION: GLIMPSES OF THE LIFE OF THE 16TH GYALWA KARMAPA
  • Welcome
  • Short Biography of HH the 16th Karmapa
  • Words of His Holiness
    • Prophecies >
      • Prophecy 1944
    • Vajrasongs >
      • Spontaneous Vajrasong at the Ground Breaking Ceremony of the Shri Nalanda Shedra in Rumtek
      • Words of Advice >
        • Short Wisdom Quotes
    • Interview 1980
    • Long-life prayers by HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa
    • Western Visitor's Interview
    • Letter to European Disciples 1978
    • Words of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa: From Social Media, Part One
    • Guidelines for Buddhist Studies in the Karma Kagyu School
    • Compassion -- the Language of the Bodhisattva
  • A book about HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa
    • Presentation of the book about HH the 16th Karmapa >
      • Interviews
      • background informations
  • Extracts from Radiant Compassion
    • Table of Contents
    • prefaces and introduction
    • From Volume One, Chapter One >
      • Enthronement in Tsurphu
      • Lama Tönsang about Tsurphu
      • Tireless Dharma activity despite escalating violence
      • Garchen
    • From Volume One, Chaper Two: Travel to Nepal, Bhutan and India >
      • Birth of a Buddha
      • Construction of the Rumtek Monastery
      • travels
      • Minor Obstacles Abroad
      • The First Western Students
      • The 16th Karmapa in the USA 1974
      • Visit to the Hopi Nation
      • extracts of volume two >
        • Vienna 1977
        • Laying of the Foundation Stone of the KIBI
        • HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa's Parinirvana
        • Birdstories
        • Steve Roth Supreme Lord of Compassion
        • The Black Crown of the Karmapas
        • Moments that Changed Entire Lives
        • Bardor Rinpoche
        • Peace!
  • Who's the Karmapa?
  • Press articles about HH the 16th Karmapa
    • Visit in Rumtek 1965
    • The Priest and the Pekinese
    • Sickness and Parirvana
    • Visit in Rumtek 1965
  • Videos
  • background
    • rumtek shedra >
      • additional information >
        • dates
        • risks
  • bibliography
  • mistakes and modifications
  • links
  • about the author
  • contact, disclaimer, copyright
  • Dana - Donations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Feedback and Reviews
  • Disclaimer
  • sitemap
    • original documents >
      • Karmapa Charitable Trust
      • ranking
      • Letter to Practitiones in Scandinavia
  • Contact
  • additional interviews and accounts
  • the latest posts
  • Victory banner of the Dharma
  • Towards Illumination
  • Bookorders Volume One and Two
    • Prices
    • Volume Two
  • Interview with HH the 16th Karmapa, New York City 1980.
  • Letter to Prime Minister Nehru

To
His Excellency Shri Jawaharlal Nehru,
Prime Minister of India
Dated New Delhi, the 15th December, 1960

Your Excellency.
Your Excellency is fully aware of the evil forces that gathered momentum and let loose unbearable sufferings and miseries in the Land of the Snows where the sublime spirit of the Dharma prevailed for centuries. I must express my deepest sense of gratitude and genuine appreciation to Your Excellency for tile great benefits of protection help and guidance that have been extended by the Government of India towards the Tibetan people who have taken refuge in India—lamas, monks and laity—under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Our Spiritual I lead.
While I am in New Delhi I should like to place before Your Excellency some facts concerning myself and my dependents. 1 have brought with me from Tibet several objects of worship like sacred Images and relics preserved for a thousand years; and with me have come over 200) people including Avatar- saints (Incarnate Lamas), learned Lamas, monks and lay devotees all belonging to one of the four principal Buddhist Sects in Tibet, namely, the Kagyud Sect. Bereft of any means of subsistence, these people are absolutely dependent on me for food, shelter and clothing. Up to now, I have managed to meet their hare necessities with the limited resources I have. Hereafter, too, I will continue to manage until such time as my means permit. These Avatar-saints (Tulkus), lamas and monk-disciples have been conducting their devotional practices and meditation and such other cultural activities to preserve the Sacred Doctrine originated from Great Scholar Saints of India like Tilopa and Naropa and later, Tibetan saints like Marpa and Milarepa. It should be mentioned here that the Kagyud Sect, which specialises in Meditation, had its origin in India.
The most pressing problem before me and all those with me is to set up a Monastic Centre in Sikkim where we have been staying since the time of our arrival. It is thought that the best possible way of accomplishing this would be by securing solid financial assistance and aid in the shape of donations from the Governments of Sikkim and Bhutan with whom there has been very intimate spiritual and cultural relations for centuries. Help is already coming from this source, but for a project of this kind more is needed. Also we look for help from individual devotees, well-wishers and benefactors in general. In undertaking this task, I confidently request Your Excellency for sympathy, valuable advice and guidance and also for such generous assistance as the Government of India may deem proper to bestow upon hereafter through the Indian Representative in Sikkim.
I should like to bring it to Your Excellency's notice that since my arrival was prior to dial of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, my group is not regarded as refugees officially, for one and a half years. I have not required Government help to feed and maintain them. However, Your Excellency will, I am sure, realise that some practical scheme of accommodation and maintenance has to be worked too if there is to be any security for the Sacred Doctrine of the "Enlightened One" in the future. While I am willing to take the initiative in this direction, it would help me much to have the assurance of Your Excellency's support and guidance, which You have always given unstintingly to the Tibetan refugees and in fact, to all m distress.
With Highest Regards and blessings
Yours sincerely.
His Holiness Gyalwa Karmapa
 
From: Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Series 2/ Vol. 65 /  December 1960
 

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  • Welcome
  • Short Biography of HH the 16th Karmapa
  • Words of His Holiness
    • Prophecies >
      • Prophecy 1944
    • Vajrasongs >
      • Spontaneous Vajrasong at the Ground Breaking Ceremony of the Shri Nalanda Shedra in Rumtek
      • Words of Advice >
        • Short Wisdom Quotes
    • Interview 1980
    • Long-life prayers by HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa
    • Western Visitor's Interview
    • Letter to European Disciples 1978
    • Words of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa: From Social Media, Part One
    • Guidelines for Buddhist Studies in the Karma Kagyu School
    • Compassion -- the Language of the Bodhisattva
  • A book about HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa
    • Presentation of the book about HH the 16th Karmapa >
      • Interviews
      • background informations
  • Extracts from Radiant Compassion
    • Table of Contents
    • prefaces and introduction
    • From Volume One, Chapter One >
      • Enthronement in Tsurphu
      • Lama Tönsang about Tsurphu
      • Tireless Dharma activity despite escalating violence
      • Garchen
    • From Volume One, Chaper Two: Travel to Nepal, Bhutan and India >
      • Birth of a Buddha
      • Construction of the Rumtek Monastery
      • travels
      • Minor Obstacles Abroad
      • The First Western Students
      • The 16th Karmapa in the USA 1974
      • Visit to the Hopi Nation
      • extracts of volume two >
        • Vienna 1977
        • Laying of the Foundation Stone of the KIBI
        • HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa's Parinirvana
        • Birdstories
        • Steve Roth Supreme Lord of Compassion
        • The Black Crown of the Karmapas
        • Moments that Changed Entire Lives
        • Bardor Rinpoche
        • Peace!
  • Who's the Karmapa?
  • Press articles about HH the 16th Karmapa
    • Visit in Rumtek 1965
    • The Priest and the Pekinese
    • Sickness and Parirvana
    • Visit in Rumtek 1965
  • Videos
  • background
    • rumtek shedra >
      • additional information >
        • dates
        • risks
  • bibliography
  • mistakes and modifications
  • links
  • about the author
  • contact, disclaimer, copyright
  • Dana - Donations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Feedback and Reviews
  • Disclaimer
  • sitemap
    • original documents >
      • Karmapa Charitable Trust
      • ranking
      • Letter to Practitiones in Scandinavia
  • Contact
  • additional interviews and accounts
  • the latest posts
  • Victory banner of the Dharma
  • Towards Illumination
  • Bookorders Volume One and Two
    • Prices
    • Volume Two
  • Interview with HH the 16th Karmapa, New York City 1980.
  • Letter to Prime Minister Nehru