The questions I had to ask people who don’t believe in God are, do you believe in accountability? First I asked Tsechu Rinpoche who visited Tibet as part of a Nepalese government delegation to obtain more information about the young boy during his visit. Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Defense sent April 3, 2005 with a response dated April 11, 2005. As of May 28, 2005, I have tried to create an appeal but have been unable because of mind control (time to appeal is running out). In spite of my personal conviction about the identity of the Karmapa, the time still had not come to make a formal declaration. In life, the ka received its sustenance from food and drink, so it was believed that, to endure after death, the ka must continue to receive offerings of food, whose spiritual essence it could still consume. That is to say we must realize that monolithic identification of Gods and Goddesses within Hinduism and even ascription of a singular interpretation of the religion ‘Hinduism’ is a historically and socially flawed process.

Even Baháʼís from outside Israel are instructed to not “teach” the religion to citizens of Israel. Even the disciples asked Jesus in Luke 17, “increase our faith.” And in Mark 9, a father longing for Jesus to perform a miracle says, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! Catholics believe that they continue the original Church as established by Jesus Christ over 2,000 years ago, with the pope as St. Peter’s successor. According to the lama, he instantly felt something akin to the post-meditative experience of deep calm and expansiveness that prevails over all forms of gross emotions. One day in early 1985, when Ngorpa Lagen, a humble old Sakya lama, was circumambulating the Jokhang Temple in the circular street, he noticed the gleaming white face of a little boy peering out of the window of a private house. A few days after this blessing, the Sakya lama, together with a group of pilgrims who had arrived from his homeland, went to Mipham Rinpoche for a prediction as to where their next pilgrimage should be.

Further along his pilgrimage in late 1985, Ngorpa Lagen went to Kathmandu, Nepal, and joined a large annual prayer and recitation gathering led by Lama Sherab Rinpoche, a disciple of the late Karmapa. A very old saint named Lobpon Kunzang Rinpoche, who had already passed away before 1991, had given the paper to Lama Sherab Rinpoche in 1983 in strict confidence on one of his many visits to Lobpon Kunzang Rinpoche’s retreat in the Rinag mountains in Sikkim. Thus faith is not something that one can simply begin to practice, but something beyond our nature. Such guidance helps attendees gain new perspectives on their faith while equipping them with practical tools to incorporate into their daily lives. However, Mipham Rinpoche remained silent about his son while hoping that he might turn out to be the reincarnation of the great Nyingma master Katog Situ Rinpoche. However, in early 1991, at the inauguration of the Karma Kagyu monastery built by Shangpa Rinpoche at Phokhara which was attended by Dhazang Rinpoche, Shachu Rinpoche and hundreds of lamas plus more than four thousand Tibetans, I announced: 1) Tibet probably would be the country of the Karmapa’s next reincarnation; 2) The supplication to the 16th Karmapa for his early rebirth should be changed to supplication to the 17th Karmapa for his long life; 3) The name of the 17th Karmapa that I had decided on was Thaye Dorje.

What could be more natural than breathing? In general, there was religious support for natural science by the late Middle Ages and a recognition that it was an important element of learning. There were a number of controversial and highly politicized cases involving the illegal construction of religious buildings or monuments on private or government-owned land. The 5th Karmapa’s prediction of the weakening of the lineage at the time of the 16th or 17th Karmapas actually refers to the discrepancy between the number of rebirths and the number of enthronements caused by the early death of the fifteenth reincarnation. However, the 5th Karmapa also predicted, “My lineage weakens, at the time of the 16th or 17th Karmapa.” On the surface Karma Pakshi’s prediction seems inconsistent with my recognition and naming of the 17th Karmapa as Thaye Dorje. They argue that the fact that religion is not a concept found in all cultures but rather a tool invented at a certain time and place, by certain people for their own purposes, and then imposed on others, reveals its political character. By the end, you’ll have a clearer understanding of this intriguing concept.