VANCOUVER: Claiming that she was in a 'marriage-like'' relationship with the Karmapa Lama and became pregnant when he sexually assaulted her in 2017, a Canadian woman is suing the second highest-ranking Buddhist monk for spousal support.
The British Columbian Supreme Court in Vancouver on Tuesday admitted a petition by Vikki HuiXin Han, a former Tibetan Buddhist nun, of Richmond city against the Karmapa Lama.
The Karmapa Lama, whose real name is OgyenTrinleyDorje and who fled to India from Tibet in 1999, ranks second in spiritual hierarchy among Tibetan Buddhists.
The monk has denied romantic links with the woman, but acknowledged having provided her "emotional and financial support for the benefit of the child the claimant told him was his daughter", according to court documents. The woman says she met the Karmapa Lama in person only "four times: twice very briefly in a public setting; a third time in private, when she alleges the respondent sexually assaulted her; and a fourth and final occasion, when she informed the respondent she was pregnant with his child".
The two first met at a large puja in 2014. The experience of the puja convinced the woman to become a Buddhist nun and she met the Karmapa Lama after the ceremony to seek his approval, the court documents said.
The case will go to trial in April 2022. (IANS)
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