View source for Rumtek Monastery

{{Short description|Tibetan Buddhist gompa near Gangtok, Sikkim, India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox Tibetan Buddhist monastery
|name = Rumtek Monastery
|native_name=Rum-theg Dgon-pa<br />རུམ་ཐེག་དགོན་པ་
|image =Vikramjit-Kakati-Rumtek.jpg
|alt = 
|caption = Rumtek Monastery
|map_type = India Sikkim
|coordinates = {{coord|27|17|19|N|88|33|41|E|type:landmark_region:IN-SK|display=inline,title}}
|map_caption = Location within Sikkim
|country = India
|location= Near [[Gangtok]], [[Sikkim]], [[India]]
|founded_by =[[Wangchuk Dorje, 9th Karmapa Lama]]<br />[[File:Karmapa9.jpg|100px|Wangchuk Dorje]]
| established = {{date and age|1966}}
|year_completed=16th century
|sect = [[Karma Kagyu]]
}}
'''Rumtek Monastery''' ({{bo|t=རུམ་ཐེག་དགོན་པ་|w=rum theg dgon pa}}), also called the '''Dharma Chakra Centre''', is a [[gompa]] located in the [[India]]n state of [[Sikkim]] near the capital [[Gangtok]]. It is the seat in exile of the Gyalwang Karmapa, inaugurated in 1966 by the 16th Karmapa. It is also a focal point for the sectarian tensions within the [[Karma Kagyu]] school of [[Tibetan Buddhism]] that characterize the 17th [[Karmapa controversy]].

==History==
Originally built under the direction of [[Changchub Dorje, 12th Karmapa Lama]] in the mid-18th century,<ref>{{cite journal |first=Achary Tsultsem |last=Gyatso |translator=Saul Mullard and Tsewang Paljor 
|url=http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/bot/pdf/bot_2005_02_03.pdf |title=A Short Biography of Four Tibetan Lamas and Their Activities in Sikkim |journal=Bulletin of Tibetology |number=41 |date=February 2005 |page=57}}</ref> Rumtek served as the main seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage in [[Sikkim]] for some time. But when [[Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa]], arrived in Sikkim in 1959 after fleeing [[Tibet]], the monastery was in ruins. Despite being offered other sites, the Karmapa decided to rebuild Rumtek. To him, the site possessed many auspicious qualities and was surrounded by the most favorable attributes. For example, flowing streams, mountains behind, a snow range in front, and a river below. With the generosity and help of the Sikkim royal family and the local folks of Sikkim, it was built by the 16th Karmapa as his main seat in [[exile]].

After four years, construction of the monastery was completed. The sacred items and relics brought out from [[Tsurphu Monastery]], the Karmapa's seat in Tibet, were installed. On [[Losar]] in 1966, the 16th Karmapa officially inaugurated the new seat, called "The Dharmachakra Centre", a place of erudition and spiritual accomplishment, the seat of the glorious Karmapa.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 2022 |title=Rumtek Monastery also called the Dharmachakra Center |url=https://www.sikkim.com/news-documentary/Rumtek-Monastery-also-called-the-Dharma-Chakra-Centre,-is-a-monastery-located-in-Rumtek,East-Sikkim.-It-is-the-seat-in-exile-of-the-Gyalwang-Karmapa,-inaugurated-in-1966-by-the-16th-Karmapa.-It-is-also-one-of-the-main-tourist-attractions-in-Sikkim./143591199247394068411567530544047870308 |access-date=October 10, 2022 |website=www.sikkim.com}}</ref>

The monastery is currently the largest in Sikkim.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} It is  home to the community of monks and where they perform the rituals and practices of the Karma Kagyu lineage. A golden [[stupa]] contains the  relics of the 16th Karmapa. Opposite that building is a college, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}

Rumtek is located {{convert|24|km}} from Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, at an altitude of about {{convert|1500|m}}.

==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}}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Dharma Chakra Centre.jpg|Dharma Chakra Centre
Image:PrayerWheelsRumtek.JPG|Prayer Wheels in the Monastery
Image:Lamas Rumtek.jpg|Students of Rumtek Monastery
Image:Rumtek Monastery - Front View.jpg|Rumtek Monastery
Image:Rumtek Monastery 04.jpg|Rumtek Monastery
Image:Rumtek Monastery 07.jpg|Doors in Rumtek Monastery
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Tourism in North East India]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041013171418/http://www.kagyuoffice.org/mainseats.rumtek.monastery.html Rumtek Monastery] at Kagyuoffice.org

{{Buddhism topics}}
{{Karmapas}}
{{Buddhist monasteries in Sikkim}}
{{North East India}}

[[Category:Buddhist monasteries in Sikkim]]
[[Category:Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples in India]]
[[Category:Karma Kagyu monasteries and temples]]
[[Category:1740 establishments in India]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in the 1740s]]
[[Category:Gangtok]]
[[Category:Tourism in Northeast India]]