Editing Rumtek Monastery (section)

==Controversy==
Rumtek was in the centre of the [[Karmapa controversy]], with a lengthy battle which played out in the Indian courts. Two rival organisations, each supporting a different candidate for the 17th [[Karmapa]], claimed stewardship of the monastery and its contents. The two organisations are the Tsurphu Labrang (supporting [[Ogyen Trinley Dorje]]) and the Karmapa Charitable Trust (supporting [[Trinley Thaye Dorje]]). Neither candidate resides, nor has been enthroned, at Rumtek. [[Ogyen Trinley Dorje]] was enthroned at Tsurphu Monastery. Ogyen Trinley Dorje's followers maintain that the trust was established solely for the sake of seeing to the welfare of the Karmapa's followers, providing funds for the maintenance of the monastery, and for the monks' medical fees. The administration of the monastery was the responsibility of the Tsurphu Labrang, which was organized as a legal entity for a related case:<ref name="sourceofcopies">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2018-08-31 |title=The Karmapa Controversy |url=https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/the-karmapa-controversy-1502680000.html |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=The Statesman |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1982, Shamar Rinpoche and his cousin, Topga Yugyal, gained control of the estate at Rumtek monastery a month after the 16th Karmapa's passing. Three monasteries in Bhutan were sold,<ref name=Enlightenedheart>Enlightened Heart, ''Tibet's Kagyu Buddhists face a leadership battle'', (24 March 1999), https://www.karmapa.org.nz/news/15/64/Tibet-s-Kagyu-Buddhists-face-a-leadership-battle/</ref> and control was gained over the Karmapa Charitable Trust, organized in 1961 by the 16th Karmapa. Disagreements over the Shamarpa's and Topga's financial dealings began in 1988.<ref name=Enlightenedheart/> Beginning in 1992, the monastery became the site of pitched battles between monks supporting one candidate or the other.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/tibetan-buddhist-factions-come-to-blows-a-dispute-that-has-challenged-the-dalai-lamas-authority-led-yesterday-to-a-battle-writes-tim-mcgirk-in-new-delhi-1429837.html|title=Tibetan Buddhist factions come to blows: A dispute that has challenged the Dalai Lama's authority led yesterday to a battle, writes Tim McGirk in New Delhi|first=Tim|last=McGirk|location=[[New Delhi]]|date=1994-03-18|access-date=2010-08-20|work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref>

Control of Rumtek Monastery became the subject of a legal contest filed in 1998 "by the Karmapa Charitable Trust, [and the plaintiffs] Shri T.S. Gyaltshen, Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche, and Shri Gyan Jyoti Kansakar against the State of Sikkim, the Secretary of Ecclessiastical Affairs and Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche. The plaintiffs seek to evict the monks and other occupants of Dhama Chakra Centre, Rumtek and to possess and administer the monastery for their own purposes."<ref name="court">{{Cite web |title=The Supreme Court of India Decision Regarding Litigation in Sikkim District Court {{!}} Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa |url=https://kagyuoffice.org/official-releases/the-supreme-court-of-india-decision-regarding-litigation-in-sikkim-district-court/ |access-date=2022-12-06 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2003, monks supporting Trinley Thaye Dorje were thrown out of Rumtek by Indian security forces in order to quell violence between the two factions,<ref name="two">{{Cite news|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/EL24Ad02.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031225042558/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/EL24Ad02.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2003-12-25|title=The tale of two Karmapas|first=Julian|last=Gearing|date=2003-12-24|access-date=2010-08-20|publisher=[[Asia Times]]}}</ref> and armed Indian soldiers patrol the monastery to prevent further sectarian violence.<ref name="two"/>

{{update|section|date=December 2023}}