21/12/2023
HIS HOLINESS THE XVII KARMAPA, OGYEN TRINLEY DORJE,
IS THE REINCARNATION OF THE FIRST CHINESE MING EMPEROR,
HONGWU EMPEROR – ZHU YUANZHANG
His Holiness the XVII Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Apo Gaga, that means ‘Happy Brother’, was born June 1985 into a nomad family in the Lhatok region of Eastern Tibet.
The first emperor of the national Ming dynasty of China, Hongwu emperor, whose name was Zhu Yuanzhang, was born in 1328 to a peasant family.
When his parents died, Zhu Yuanzhang tonsured himself and entered a Buddhist convent, becoming a mendicant monk, although he did not fully share their ideas. He crossed paths with a revolutionary movement, that of the so-called Red Turbans, joining them in 1352 and then renouncing his vows as a monk.
He actively engaged in the defense of the peasants and on their behalf. As a first step he confiscated land from the rich and redistributed it to the peasants.
His Holiness the XVII Karmapa has demostrated along all these years to be very close to the Monastic Sangha, who can be considered as ‘peasants’ for their poor and simple life, supporting them, who are thousands, in any possible way.
The reign of the Hongwu Emperor is notable for his unprecedented political reforms. The emperor abolished the position of chancellor,[12] drastically reduced the role of court eu**chs, and adopted draconian measures to address corruption.
The emperor had a strong aversion to the eu**chs, epitomized by a tablet in his palace stipulating: "Eunuchs must have nothing to do with the administration".
That is the same His Holiness the XVII Karmapa thinks of Tai Situ Rinpoche, the historical eu**ch and administrator of Kagyu Lineage and of the full life of Karmapa since his childhood.
The emperor re-instituted, then abolished, then restored, the Confucian civil service imperial examination system, from which most state officials were selected based on their knowledge of literature and philosophy.
Similarly the Tibetan Debate requires the highest level of logic and knowledge of the Buddhadharma and Karmapa introduced it in Kagyu Lineage in a very serious way, especially for nuns.
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Buddhism practiced by His Holiness Ogyen Trinley Dorje, each of the 5 Dhyani Buddhas is depicted with a different colour: red, white, yellow, green and blue, the same as wu cai ceramics, the porcelain which in the Ming period (1368-1644) assumed the maximum refinement.
More than the actual number of colors, the number five was of great symbolic importance in Chinese art:
5 elements of the Universe
5 Dhyani Buddhas
5 Directions
5 Sacred Mountains
5 Wisdoms
The same in Buddhism.
China at the beginning of the Ming dynasty was the most advanced nation on Earth.
"Seldom has the course of Chinese history been influenced by a single personality as much as it was by the founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang."
Patricia Buckley Ebrey
'an adventurer from peasant stock, poorly educated, a man of action, a bold and shrewd tactician, a visionary mind, in many respects a creative genius; naturally coarse, cynical, and ruthless, he eventually showed symptoms of paranoia, bordering on psychopathy.'
Simon Leys
His Holiness the XVII Karmapa has a charismatic personality with thousands of followers. He has a visionary mind and he’s a genius.
Fonts: Italian and english wikipedia and Treccani encyclopedia.
In Dharma,
Barbara Grilli&WE
20 November 2023