Clarifying Misrepresentations About the 17th Karmapa’s Tribute to His Holiness the Dalai Lama
On May 31, 2025, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, composed a tribute honoring the upcoming 90th birthday of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. This tribute was shared publicly on June 1. However, on that same day, Dakini Translations and Publications—the Facebook page of Adele Tomlin—published a harsh critique targeting the 17th Karmapa and the Karma Kagyu lineage for offering this early tribute. In her post, Tomlin accused the Karmapa of succumbing to “Gelug sectarian pressure” and participating in a “US-backed failed agenda.”
Background Information:
Adele Tomlin is an English woman and translator who has long published English translations of Tibetan Buddhist teachings on her website, Dakini Translations and Publications, while also soliciting public donations. In recent years, she has focused on translating the teachings and activities of the 17th Karmapa. However, she is neither the Karmapa’s official translator nor authorized to represent him.
Her actions have raised concern, as she has repeatedly invoked the Karmapa’s name to criticize His Holiness the Dalai Lama, challenge respected high lamas, voice opposition to the Tibetan exile government, and question the unity of Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Paradoxically, while claiming to be a follower and promoter of the Karmapa’s teachings, she has at times publicly criticized him—prompting doubts about the consistency of her position.
📸 Below is Adele Tomlin’s Facebook public post (June 1, 2025):
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📌 Let’s look at the actual facts:
🔹 On May 31, 2025, the 17th Karmapa wrote:
📖 Original Tibetan excerpt:
ཨ་རིའི་རྒྱལ་ས་ཝ་ཤིན་ཊོན་དུ་༧གོང་ས་མཆོག་དགུང་གྲངས་དགུ་བཅུར་ཕེབས་པའི་གོ་སྟོན་གྱི་མཛད་སྒོ་གནང་བའི་སྐབས་བསྟོད་ ཚིག་ཅིག་འབྲི་དགོས་ཞེས་བསྐུལ་མ་བྱུང་དོན་ལྟར། སློབ་འབངས་སུ་གཏོགས་པ་ཀརྨ་པ་ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ་རྗེས། སྤྱི་ལོ་ ༢༠༢༥ ཟླ་ ༥ ཚེས་ ༣༡ ཉིན་བྲིས་ནས་ཕུལ་བ་དགེའོ།
💬 English excerpt:
“Written on a request for a praise of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for a celebration of his ninetieth birthday in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, by one of his students, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, on May 31, 2025.”
🗒️ Clarifications:
– The Karmapa did not state that he was physically present in Washington, D.C.
– He composed the tribute upon request, but there was no pressure or coercion involved.
– His location at the time was not disclosed; any claim to the contrary is speculative.
– The tribute was composed privately and offered sincerely, free from institutional or sectarian pressure.
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🔹 On June 3, 2025, the Karmapa’s Office (Tsurphu Labrang) issued an official statement clarifying the context:
This confirms that:
– The tribute was read during the event, but the Karmapa did not attend in person.
– The event’s timing was determined by organizers—not by sectarian politics.
– The tribute was offered as an expression of spiritual respect, not political allegiance.
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📚 Summary of Facts:
✅ The 17th Karmapa composed a tribute to His Holiness the Dalai Lama upon request.
✅ He was not pressured or coerced in any way.
✅ The tribute was shared during a scheduled event, not timed for political motives.
✅ There is no evidence of sectarian pressure or manipulation behind the offering.
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🎯 Conclusion:
To allege that this heartfelt tribute was the product of political coercion or sectarian compromise is not only inaccurate, but also disrespectful to the values of compassion, gratitude, and inter-lineage harmony that His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself embodies.
Honoring His Holiness is not a betrayal of lineage—it is an expression of the very principles all Buddhist traditions uphold.
This clarification is presented in the spirit of transparency and mutual respect—not to incite division, but to correct public misinformation with facts, clarity, and regard for the integrity of all involved.
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🕊️ May we uphold truth, respect, and harmony among all Dharma lineages.
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📜 Appendix: A Praise Composed and Respectfully Offered by the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa in Honor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 90th Birthday
IN PRAISE OF HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA ON THE OCCASION OF HIS NINETIETH BIRTHDAY
(English translation of a recent praise poem composed by the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, as shared by Kagyu Monlam)
Were all the buddhas gathered with their offspring and disciples into one,
They could not rival even a fraction of your deeds, great guide of existence and peace
And leader of gods and humans, Tenzin Gyatso. Your fame is as vast as an ocean!
Protect all beings with your millions of virtues until they are awakened!
When fierce invaders smeared the snows atop the world with the dark red dye of blood,
Splitting the people of the three regions and six highlands into home and exile,
And your six million Tibetan subjects had no one to cry out to but the sky,
You arrived as a messenger from our great ancestors, like timely rain.
By bringing the teachings of the Sugata on unified emptiness compassion
Across the Himalayan mountain range and spreading them across the seas,
You erected a great column preserving the Buddha’s teachings between the heaven and earth.
Only you deserve to be crowned with the title of “The Second Buddha.”
With the golden key of your intelligence uniting the ancient and the modern—
The yogis’ determination through perception of the view, meditation, and conduct
And scientific understanding of physics discovered through technology—
You opened a new gateway to happiness and benefit for body and mind.
A refuge and protector for Tibetans of all lineages, Bön and Buddhist;
A leader for world peace who shows no favoritism for either East or West;
A teacher for our times who does not discriminate between Buddhist and non-Buddhist:
You are the only one who can be called a friend for all from the first sight.
Though you may be world-famous, the mara of the eight concerns has never seduced you.
Though busy day and night, you never miss your study, contemplation, and meditation.
Though many even threaten your life, your great altruistic intentions never weaken.
Though burdened by the weight of ninety years, you never let your courage wane.
Equally friendly to everyone, high or low, your character is free of pretense.
Welcoming all, both close and distant, with a smile, you are as loving as an uncle.
Clearly seeing the religious and secular, your knowledge is as vast as the sun and moon.
No matter which of your qualities I think of, my faith in you grows that much stronger.
In an age when those with violent ways—intoxicated by the liquor
Of hatred and desire—have more and more weapons that can destroy the entire earth,
With your joined palms and peaceful ways, you circle the entire globe and show
Your concern to all beings throughout space—there’s none who can give refuge as you do.
Merely by living long, you have brought joy and happiness to wandering beings.
Your name alone makes the downtrodden people of Tibet hold their heads high.
However I think of it, there’s no-one else more precious in this world than you.
Please live, unshakeable, as long as Mount Sumeru and the earth endure!
Written on a request for a praise of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for a celebration of his ninetieth birthday in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, by one of his students, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, on May 31, 2025.
