Blog

Arriving in Dharamsala you immediately feel as though you have left India and have entered the world of Tibet. The small winding streets are filled with Tibetan monks and nuns, mala beads in hand, their robes creating a sea of red as they walk to and from classes and prayers. Dharamsala is also filled with western faces, Buddhists from Europe and the US and lots of 'spiritual tourists' (as they are called by the locals) sitting in coffee shops and internet cafes. Waking early on our first day I walked the streets before dawn listening to the sounds of monks chanting in the crisp mountain air, and passed others softly murmuring as they turned their prayer wheels – quite the contrast to the busy streets of Delhi!

We had been granted an interview with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, the head of the Kagyu lineage, and one of the most revered spiritual leaders in Tibetan Buddhism. There is some controversy around the Karmapa because there are two people who claim to be the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa, but only one is recognized by HH the Dalai Lama. The recognized Karmapa escaped from Tibet to India in 2000 where he was given refugee status. As a result, he is closely guarded by the Indian government and considered a political target. In order to film the interview with the Karmapa we had to obtain permission from the local superintendent of police, which we were told would just take a few minutes and a little paperwork. It turned out to not be so simple – but after several hours, lots of paperwork, some serious pleading and a whole lot of luck, we finally got the film permit!

On Saturday morning, we drove down the valley to the Karmapa's Gyoto Monastery, a fairly large place filled with mostly young monks milling around enjoying their morning off. After making our way through the first round of security I was stopped and asked to describe the nature of our project (again) and to write down the questions we would be asking the Karmapa. After they approved my questions we were led through some hallways, up some stairs into his audience room. The Karmapa is a young, tall and powerful figure who received us rather formally and spoke in Tibetan through his translator but could understand some English (or so it seemed). He sat with us for an hour, answering my approved questions thoughtfully before we were ushered out by his assistants. Before leaving we got a chance to see a puja taking place in the main hall of the monastery with some of the monks dressed up as dakinis, the Tibetan female deities.

We will put the interview up after it's translated from Tibetan!

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee