NEW DELHI -- A few weeks after the daring flight from Tibet to India of the 17th Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorje, an air of intrigue has descended on the Buddhist front.
The defection has reportedly precipitated a bitter power struggle that could well pit two figure heads: the 14-year-old Karmapa himself, who is part of the 5-million strong Kagyu sect impressively spread over 300 monasteries around the globe; and the Dalai Lama, who also escaped from Tibet in 1959 and now lives in Dharamshala in northern India and heads the Tibetan ecclesiastical order.
Historically, the Kagyus have competed with the Dalai Lamas for influence and control, though members of both groups say their differences were smoothened out some three centuries ago.