The government of India this week indicated that it is reviewing its stance on the status of His Holiness the Karmapa in India. A senior official from India’s Ministry of Home Affairs stated that the authorities are willing to ease restrictions on His Holiness’ movements in India, and dismissed suspicions previously held by the country’s intelligence community that the Karmapa was acting as an agent for China.

Ogyen Trinley Dorje was born in 1985 in Lhatok, in the traditional region of Kham in eastern Tibet, and received his initial education at Tsurphu Monastery, the traditional seat of the Karmapa lineage. On 28 December 1999, at the age of 14, he fled to India after months of careful planning, traveling by car, foot, horseback, helicopter, train, and taxi, eventually arriving on 5 January 2000 in Dharamsala, where he was received by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Since his arrival on Indian soil, the movements of the Karmapa, who, until recently, was based at Gyuto Monastery in the town of Sidhbari in Dharamsala, have been closely monitored by the Indian government. In 2000, a state security committee passed an order restricting the Karmapa’s freedom to travel to sensitive parts of the country without prior permission, including Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, built by the 12th Karmapa in the mid-1700s and a focal point for sectarian tensions within the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. In 2015, the government decided to review the order on travel restrictions, which were eased with the exception of Rumtek Monastery.

“India doesn’t doubt . . . [that the Karmapa] is the future face of Tibetan Buddhism,” said Amitabh Mathur, advisor on Tibetan affairs in the Ministry of Home Affairs. “We have no doubts about his commitment to the Tibetan civilization struggle, his loyalty to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and his attachment to India. If anyone feels that the old situation [of suspicion that he is acting as an agent] may arrive again, we are trying to dispel that notion. There are no restrictions on his travel. Apart from the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa is the only [Tibetan] Buddhist leader who had met elected representatives of the government.” (The Indian Express)

Mathur was appointed as an intermediary for Tibet affairs in India three years ago. Along with Bhutan and Nepal, India is home to the largest community of the Tibetan diaspora living outside of Tibet, which has been a major source of friction in Sino-Indian relations. Mathur is scheduled to complete his tenure on 21 September.

Since the turn of the century, Buddhism has emerged as a major strategic tool in the “soft diplomacy” efforts of Asia’s emerging economic behemoths China and India. The governments of both countries have been active in promoting their respective Buddhist histories, jockeying to positions themselves as cradles of Buddhist thought and culture in order to bolster their political power with the weight and reach of Buddhism’s cultural and spiritual influence, both domestically and internationally.

It is widely believed that the 33-year-old Karmapa could eventually succeed the Dalai Lama, now 83, as the principal figurehead of Tibetan Buddhism and by extension Tibetan communities around the world. Political commentators say that New Delhi is softening its stance toward the Karmapa in the hope of benefiting from His Holiness’ influence in the global Buddhist community and improving relations with Beijing.