Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim

The Buddhist Rumtek Monastery is the largest in Sikkim and is also called the Dharma Chakra Center. During the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje fled with an entourage of more than 160 lamas, monks and lay people from Tibet via Bhutan to Sikkim and built the new Rumtek above the original monastery.

We were very impressed by the magnificent building, but the armed military controls were a bit strange. As an explanation, the monks gave us the story of two rival groups who preferred different candidates for the 17th Karmapa, which led to the so-called Karmapa conflict.