I submit for your consideration that after the death of the 16th Karmapa in 1981 here in the United States of America , Tibetan exiles all, Thrangu, Akong and Khenpo Karthar Rinpoches, at the invitation of the Chinese Government did something which for us had hitherto been unthinkable for us their disciples, find common cause with said government, since 1949 an enemy of the United States of America.
This being our story this is not about what this meant to them as Tibetans at the time but what this meant to the people we were at the time, how we made sense of what Thrangu, Akong and Khenpo Karthar Rinpoches did, beginning with how what they did effected us as their disciples.
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We cannot forget the Dalai Lama’s active involvment. He not only succumed to Chinese pressure like he did in the many meetings far earlier in Beijing many years before the Chinese occupation of Tibet, but he did so in typical Gelugpa fashion trying to unite the four main schools of Tibet against their will. Although many of us westerners tend to diefy the Dalai Lama history might judge him much differently, especially when we realise that he handed China the keys to Tibet.
It seems only the 16th Karmapa knew much better of what to expect from China.