The Dalai Lama accepts money from China

The opinion piece below was sent to dorjeshugden.com for publication. We accept submissions from the public, please send in your articles to [email protected].

 


 

By: Solaray Kusco

This article, published in the Hindustan Times, is the latest in a long list of publications highlighting the Tibetan leadership’s financial inefficiency, irregularities and hypocrisies.

For the last 20 years, in a misguided attempt to discredit Dorje Shugden practitioners, supporters of the Tibetan leadership have led a feverish charge to falsely accuse Shugden devotees of being anti-Tibetan, pro-China traitors. Among the many unproven charges levelled against Shugden practitioners has been the accusation that they are receiving money from the Chinese leadership, to maintain their practice and create a split within the Tibetan community. This accusation is in spite of the fact it was the Tibetan leadership themselves who banned Dorje Shugden, thereby creating the split.

This “China pays you” accusation has persisted despite no evidence having ever been produced to support such claims. Even those who do not rely on Dorje Shugden themselves, such as Justin Whitaker (Buddhist author and speaker) have rubbished these claims, stating that the oft-cited Reuters investigation similarly provided no such proof.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been accused of receiving money from the Chinese Communist Party

The Hindustan Times recently revealed however, that Dorje Shugden practitioners are not the only individuals or groups who have allegedly received money from the Chinese leadership. In this latest revelation, it has been asserted that none other than His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself receives funding from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

What this allegation really brings into question is the Tibetan leadership’s source of income which has never been revealed. What percentage of Dharamsala’s income is derived from government-run businesses? What proportion stems from donations from Tibetan non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and from private donors throughout the world? And what is this funding being spent on? Some of these questions were asked by Maura Moynihan, daughter of Senator Patrick Moynihan. Both father and daughter have been lifelong stanch supporters of the Tibetan movement. Yet Ms Moynihan penned an article in the Washington Times implying that the Tibetan leadership and its associated organisations are at best inefficient, and at worse guilty of financial mismanagement.

Ms Moynihan stated that Tibetan NGOs, in particular the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), have raised millions of dollars in donations and aid over the last 60 years. Yet these donations have resulted in very little, both politically and physically. The Chinese continue to reject dialogue with the Tibetan leadership, Western countries refuse to take a stand for the Tibetan cause, and the Tibetans living in exile continue to endure terrible living conditions. In short, the Tibetan leadership operates some of the most intensive fundraising campaigns in the world, but has very little to show for it.

Ms Moynihan’s article is not the first time the Tibetan leadership has been accused of financial mismanagement. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher previously directed the same accusation against the Tibetan leadership, stating that Dharamsala receives millions in funding from the American government and yet, they have very little to show for it. He alleges that the Tibetan leadership are guilty of financial mismanagement to some degree, and even alleges that the Tibetan leadership had a role to play in the firing of Ngapo Jigme, the head of the Tibetan Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA). RFA is an American government-funded radio program broadcasting in areas of the world where unbiased journalism is suppressed and freedom of speech is next to non-existent. It has been alleged that when Mr Ngapo Jigme refused to use his RFA platform to propagate the Tibetan leadership’s policies, they influenced the RFA to dismiss him.

This behavior of removing opponents who refuse to follow the leadership’s diktats is a pattern and habit when it comes to the Tibetan leadership who bear no accountability to anyone. To claim that the Tibetan leadership is held accountable could not be further from the truth. Whatever bodies, organisations, institutions or regulations established to maintain accountability are farcical in nature, a smokescreen designed to provide a veneer of democracy and transparency when in fact, there is none. And there is plenty of proof that the Tibetan leadership is not accountable to anyone. For example, during the recent 2016 Sikyong election debacle, the supposedly impartial Election Commission was harangued into changing the rules mid-election. This was done to disqualify the candidate Lukar Jam Atsock after he had been socially blacklisted as “anti-Dalai Lama”. That the rules of an election can be changed mid-way through the voting process is unheard of in any modern-day democracy.

Being a democracy however, the leadership should at least attempt to appear accountable to their people who elected them into positions of power. So based on this, we call on the Tibetan leadership to reveal their accounts. In the interests of full transparency, and to prove to their people that they have nothing to hide, all government employees (those who receive any form of remuneration from the leadership) should be compelled to declare their wealth and sources of income. Similarly, the government themselves should open their accounts and budgets for their people to examine.

What is there to hide if they have been using money as it has been donated?

Rather disappointingly, though unsurprisingly, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not the first religious leader within the Tibetan community to face questions over his sources of income. In more recent times, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Orgyen Trinley was taken to court for failure to declare income. When the police raided his residence in Gyuto Monastery, they found US$1mil stashed away in 26 different currencies. He was subsequently charged with money laundering, illegal possession of foreign currency, forgery and conspiracy. It is worth noting that Orgyen Trinley is Dharamsala’s approved choice of Karmapa (Dharamsala being the Indian town where the Tibetan leadership is headquartered).

The 41st Sakya Trizin later implemented changes to the Sakya Trizin system of hereditary inheritance, amidst accusations that he had been taking advantage of and benefiting from being in power. Meanwhile, another one of the Dalai Lama’s associates was also embroiled in financial scandal. Lodi Gyari Rinpoche, who has a history of questionable financial dealings, found himself and his son-in-law, Phakchok Rinpoche in the middle of an investigation. From Phakchok Rinpoche’s various bank accounts, Nepali authorities seized approximately US$1.4mil. This followed the authorities’ previous seizure of US$375,000, an act which alerted them to the even larger sums of money he had been receiving. In this case, the US$375,000 had been sent from the USA to his bank accounts, on the pretext of raising funds for victims of the 2015 Nepali earthquake.

And this just refers to religious leaders in the Tibetan community, where nepotism is rife and pretty much accepted as fact by the populace. Amongst the Tibetan political leadership, the 9th Session of the 15th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile saw the former Speaker of Parliament Penpa Tsering accused of murder whilst two of his colleagues faced accusations of embezzlement and corruption. Penpa Tsering has also been accused of orchestrating a visas-for-money ring, abusing his position to obtain visas from the American embassy in Delhi in return for financial compensation. Meanwhile, Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay’s sudden windfall and ability to pay off a US$227,000 mortgage shortly before his first election win is still considered to be highly suspicious.

Thus the financial dealings of the Tibetan elite continue to hover like a cloud over their community, casting a dark shadow of suspicion over every decision they make. This suspicion arises from the fact the Tibetan leadership are not, and have never been answerable to their people. And so in light of this revelation of the Dalai Lama receiving money from China, the Tibetan leadership need to take clear and definitive steps to allay their people’s fears. For a government that has conducted most of its dealings in the dark, the most effective way of doing so would be for the Tibetan leadership to finally come clean and be fully open with their accounts.

In the past, those who received money from China were vehemently accused of being anti-Tibetan, pro-Chinese and traitors to the Tibetan people. This accusation is especially ludicrous now it has been revealed that the Dalai Lama himself, the very top of the Tibetan leadership, has accepted money from CCP leaders. One wonders if the Tibetan people will now question His Holiness, and if the label of ‘anti-Tibetan traitor’ applies to him too. Yes, the very notion is a ridiculous one and hopefully more people will now understand how ridiculous it is to accuse someone of being a traitor for supposedly having Chinese links, when the Dalai Lama himself has these links too.

So instead of always keeping their people in the dark, instead of treating them with kid gloves, instead of babying them and assuming that they would not be able to ‘handle’ or comprehend these issues, the Tibetan leadership should for once put their trust in their people. Trust that their people will be able to handle bad news, make difficult decisions and accept that no matter how holy someone may appear to be, the men and women in their government are just humans and will sometimes make mistakes. Financial scandals are a mistake and the Dorje Shugden ban is a mistake, like so many other poor decisions the leadership has made. Enough covering up and pretending like everything is perfect and things can go on in this way for another 60 years. It is time that the Tibetan leadership takes into account the fears, worries, frustrations and concerns of their people, and tries to provide some relief. It would only be fair for Dharamsala to trust their people, as their people have put their trust in them for the last 60 years.

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  1. “Lies, damn lies and statistics.”

    What this article just described at length while trying to push a view is unfortunately without strong backing evidence, for its assertions. However it does show what the nexus of money, politics and religion can produce. The history of religion is littered with examples.

    Most recently, the Christian conservatives in the USA somehow managed to back and help elect a President who made his living from feeding people’s gambling habits. He was also a bigamist!

    What I am trying to say is that there is no black or white, there is just muck in samsara. And even statistics lie.

  2. There is some justice here for the Dorje Shugden, most Gelug organisations still holding on strongly to Dorje Shugden practices most have to raise their own funds and work to be standing firmly on their own two feet.

    Yet occasionally some international agencies who are misled and armchair politicians will publish a piece on Dorje Shugden people receiving funds from the Chinese. So I don’t think we can label Dalai Lama a Chinese spy right?

  3. “Financial scandals are a mistake and the Dorje Shugden ban is a mistake, like so many other poor decisions the leadership has made.”

    The above statement is what impacted me the most in reading this article. Corrupt Governments will never find the balance to be of service to the citizens. In order to hide their inefficiency the Leaders like those of CTA will put the blame of their poor results on issues that will provoke emotions and irrational thinking. As of now the Ban on Dorje Shugden is definitely creating enough chaos and disharmony for the Tibetans not to rationally question CTA and demand accountability.

    Has the Dalai Lama been receiving money from China? Good question which will never be answered. So blame other Dorje Shugden lamas for this same act.

    No more “Shadow Play” CTA.

  4. This article really nail the Tibetan leadership on the spot. Since Tibetan leadership is surviving with sponsorship it’s important to show transparency not only to the sponsors but also to their own people.

    I have seen that Tibetan leadership ask for monetary support during the draught but at the same time why use the fund to produce book and video to discriminate Dorje Shugden practitioners? What is the logic behind this action? Why not unite their people and support their own people to self-sustain instead of creating segregation to their own people’s spiritual belief?

    The world is watching now and this will not help Tibetan in long run and if the Tibetan Leadership still do not show any positive result not only in managing their funding but also stopping unnecessary discrimination towards their own people, they may face even greater lost in the end.

  5. To put to rest this allegations, the Tibetan leaderships should declare their income and assets as do other countries’ politicians and government office bearers. Whatever donations and sponsorships to the CTA should be used for the welfare of Tibetans, including for spiritual and religious benefits to the people. It’s coming around in full circle for the CTA, and now they are on the receiving end after accusing others of receiving money (without proof) from China. Let’s see what CTA have to say or as usual, remain mute hoping this will be forgotten in time.

  6. Well, this is exciting. I would wonder how the CTA settle their people thoughts over their own head leader accepting money from neighboring country cum enemy. To remain with their idiotic ego or let go, apologize and make peace?
    Apology is the hardest word to said when lots of misunderstanding been dragged for many years. This should be end. That’s a quote say,” A cow will never get it drink without bending it head.”

  7. I totally understand how it feels like to be accused of something so serious. Just like what was written in this article http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/features/did-reuters-get-it-wrong/. No solid evidence yet the accusations are always made to defame Dorje Shugden practitioners. So now, it is being aimed at CTA. I wonder how does it feel like to have this written and shown to the world, back at them. Karma returning?

    Whether or not CTA receive fundings from China officials, its up to them but the question is…. what do they spend it on? The betterment of Tibetans in exile or personal gains? The Sikyong also have ‘sponsor’ to pay for his mortgage? Wow! Covering up, more lies, poor decision making, scandals, etc will all be revealed in time. People are not ‘stupid’ to see and understand what is really going on. To think that you are smart, there will always be others who are smarter than you.

  8. The Dalai Lama spent his whole life trying to separate Tibet from the mainland of China, regardless of how much privilege and freedom the government offered the people of Tibet. His conflict with China government caused property loss, deaths of innocent people and panic among the general public.

    ‘Money, money, money: where is morality, where is religion freedoms?’

    My point : Instead of receiving money, and why don’t the Dalai Lama release the ban of Dorje Shugden practice?

  9. Another elucidating article on dorjeshugden.com! How come that a so-called democratic government does not show openly where they spend the money they receive from many generous donors towards the Tibetan people.

    It is clear that many people have helped the Tibetan Government over the past 60 years but what have they done with the money to benefit their Tibetan people?

    A lot of money has been spent in undemocratic activities such as splitting the Tibetan people based on their religious choice, pressure families, friends, monastics to stay away from their friends and family members because they are Dorje Shugden practitioners.

    Is this appropriate for a government? Sure not and this is why there are people who investigate such us Ms Moynihan and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.
    How come the “democratic” CTA focusses on things such as firing of Ngapo Jigme, the head of the Tibetan Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA) who asks too many questions for the CTA. And the supposedly impartial Election Commission, rules were changed mid-election, to disqualify the candidate Lukar Jam Atsock… yes democratic! What a shame CTA!

    Now, what will the CTA do against HH the Dalai Lama… who apparently receives money from China!

  10. In this world there will always be people being accused and being bad mouthed. In this case, Dalai LAMA is not excepted from this. As there are no proofs to this, I can’t really conclude what is this all about but probably just an accusations because why would China want to give money to Dalai LAMA? I hope however is something that the Dalai Lama will understand how it feels to be being framed or wrongly accused as this is how Dorje Shugden practitioners feel since 1996. Somehow I do hope the ban on Dorje Shugden be lifted once and for all after this.

  11. I had heard many times that how Tibetans / CTA accusing people who receive money from China and they are being called traitor to Dalai Lama, so now if Dalai Lama is receiving money from China, what is it called then? Dalai Lama betraying himself? This is just so inappropriate..

    Whether anyone received money from anyone, it is not the matter of who the money they received from, but it is how they use the money to benefit others, get funding from China is still far more better than some party who get funding all the time but the money is only for their own use and not for the benefit of others. Really hope CTA can wake up soonest and realize their harmful act that is damaging their own people and not anyone else.

  12. It’s heart breaking to know that the government of one country is not doing their best to develop the country and provide better living quality for their citizens. It’s not an easy task to do so, therefore, as part of the government, they should get better pay and more benefits from serving the country. However, visible physical results of the growth of the country should be showed obviously. Otherwise, the government has failed to manage the country.

  13. I am not surprise if Tibetan leadership received fund to help development Tibet and help the exile Tibetan has better living condition to settle down with good shelter. But the sad news is CTA always using those fund to power up their political side but not helping their own tibetan people.The worse is divined their own people believe, no human and religion practice freedom. This cruelty act has to stop. Dorje Shugden ban have to end. People cannot tolerent anymore if their continue get hurt and suffering.

  14. Thank you for the article. As Dorje Shugden practitioners, we are often being accused of receiving money from the Chinese government or being considered as Chinese spies just because we practice a religion that is not in accordance with the Dalai Lama’s advice not because the accusers have adequate evidence.

    Now that it is revealed that the Dalai Lama accepts money from China, but nobody was accusing the Dalai Lama of being a Chinese spy or agent. However, if we apply the same logic that if one is assumed to receive money from China, one is a Chinese agent. Then, should the CTA claimed that the Dalai Lama is also a Chinese agent/ spy too?

    I do not wish to defame the Dalai Lama in anyway shape or form. But I do wish that the Dalai Lama’s followers and the CTA stop making a baseless accusation against Dorje Shugden practitioners.

  15. Interesting article but sad to read. I always hope this kind of corruption issue is happening every where in the world but monasteries. Sangha cannot be trusted neither when comes to money. The funds collected are suppose to help the people, rebuild the community and country, but end up millions of USD being kept personal reasons. Now, who is actually receiving money from who and put up the drama to lie the people and then happily put donors kept in their own pockets and get over everything.

    I believe this is nothing new to Tibetan exile government. A country with such a poor management, corruption is like a tradition or culture for those who are in the pool. Those do not want to participate will have to be out just like during the recent 2016 Sikyong election debacle, the supposedly impartial Election Commission was harangued into changing the rules mid-election done to disqualify the candidate Lukar Jam Atsock.

    The conclusion is stop believing these people because they are really corrupted. Dorje Shugden ban is something they made up and to be used to distract and confused people’s mind away from all the bad the CTA have done. Stop burning yourself for your country because this will be used as the reason to ask for more funds by CTA. Being the poor baby shouting for help. In another words, you are helping them to generate more income so that they can have bigger and more houses and cars.

    We all know that this is happening in every where in the world, but it doesn’t mean that we should do nothing and continue to let it happen. Tibetan should wake up and look at your own Tibetan leaders. The CTA is created severe karma by using the Dorje Shugden ban which is the Buddha Dharma to lie and create so much of sufferings for their own benefits. So siinful.

  16. Whether the Dalai Lama receive money from China or not, only he knows it. But by looking at the relationship between Dalai Lama and China, I don’t think China would give him any amount of money. Even if the Dalai Lama and CTA really received money from China, where do the money go? Yet, they still need to ask for financial aid from the west? And why nobody calling Dalai Lama the spy from China? I think CTA start to feel shaky now, as everybody start asking where do the money go. I think the only way to clear all these questions and doubts, is Dalai Lama goes back to China since he said he wants to be part of China, lift Dorje Shugden ban, all the Tibetan in Dharamsala go back to China, dismiss CTA, case close, world peace.

  17. What will CTA say now that Dalai Lama is also receiving money from China? What actions will CTA take for this matter? Are they going to say that His Holiness is pro-China too? Will CTA say that His Holiness is a traitor too? I am really curious of the next action that they will take. CTA better think twice before their next move because they are already weak.

  18. Oh, what a relief! Now that Dalai Lama receives funding from China, “too”, the names calling and baseless accusation of Dorje Shugden practitioners having received funding from China will no longer be a valid contention. It’s like the pot calling the kettle black.

    Unless, of course, CTA and Dalai Lama do not view themselves as the pot, nor the kettle. Which means, they are imposing the “I can it but you cannot” rule. Technically, it is called tyranny.

    Well, tyranny is not new in human history. The only thing new is, Dalai Lama happens to be the King of Buddhism, “too”. Does it mean that Buddhism and Buddha Dharma is dead in the hands of Dalai Lama?

  19. Over the last 60 years, Tibetan government in exile and the peoples are surviving on largely fund from international sponsors especially from the west. However is very upset to hear the mismanagement of fund which the funds is misused to satisfy CTA selfish agenda. And to cover all their failure and the misuse of fund, CTA accused that Dorje Shugden practitioners take money from the China government. Obviously this is just an excuse in order to shift the focus of Tibetan peoples that the failure of Tibetan cause in not Tibetan Leadership but caused Dorje Shugden practitioners. Can you see that the Nechung Oracle is also upset with the Tibetan leadership. See here http://tinyurl.com/gqhg3no

  20. This is hilarious! After all these years of damning accusations against the Shugden practitioners of receiving funding from China, now this revelation that the Dalai Lama also receives funding from China. This should be able to shut down CTA’s propaganda against Shugdenpas as the enemies of Free Tibet movement when their Head of State, the Dalai Lama is “colluding” with China too. I think that all the sponsors of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in Exile should demand proper accounts of receipt and expenditure for the sponsored funds of USD millions if not billions over the 60 years span as nothing of value seemed to have been accomplished. Certainly not for the majority of the “refugees” who still strive hard for living under the governance of CTA. So what have they spent the monies on? What we see are the CTA, their cronies and families living in luxury as well as expensive PR and materials wasted on propaganda against China and illogically against the practice of enlightened protector Dorje Shugden. Imagine 60 years of easy living on sponsored monies and not an iota of accountability nor progress in meeting for dialogue on the matter of the exiles returning home. Are the sponsors so gullible or is CTA that good at playing the victim?

  21. Dare I say, that asking the CTA to be honest, open and transparent is like asking a leopard to change its spots? Do you think they would kill the goose that laid the golden egg? CTA and their cronies will try to create more smokescreen to cover this smokescreen.

    After all, they are running out of time before the Tibetan community has to consider moving out of those land that they have occupying. Their lease is almost up. As the article said, it’s been 60 years. The rot could have gotten really deep in those years. 2 generations have grown up in those intervening years.

    The sponsors obviously have their own agenda, so they have not been asking for accountability from the government in exile. So, where do the poor Tibetans go from here? More, “anyone not following the Dalai Lama’s dictate is a traitor”?

    You can call for transparency for all you want, it will not happen.

  22. Perhaps CTA doesn’t really want Free Tibet cause to succeed. Imagine if this cause is successful, donations will stop coming, CTA cannot victimise themselves to get more money. They have to put in a lot of effort to rebuild their country, to develop the economy of the country, to fulfil the promises they have been giving to their people. Looking at how developed Tibet is now, CTA won’t be able to provide the same quality of life to Tibetan if they ever become the ruler of the country. Just look the the current situation now, what have CTA done for the Tibetans in overseas? And how many Tibetans in Tibet really want CTA to become their leaders?

    CTA continues to use Dorje Shugden as the scapegoat to the failure of CTA delivering what they have promised the Tibetans since 60 years ago. The real reason is they do not want Tibet to be freed, they want to continue receiving financial aids from the West so they can have easy life and yet not accountable at all for the failure.

  23. I think everyone must know about this clear video showing His Holiness the Dalai Lama asking the monasteries to expel monks that practice Dorje Shugden. Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTgYWidYw3U

  24. Nechung is ZUMA 👎 before I m think he is one of d best when I m watch dis video By Geshe Dorjee la but now I m think is not d truth n he is lie to Tibet people we r not back to Tibet yt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIDZLzXIgW8 Chithue Tenpa Yarphel la tq for talk about truth of Nechung . I m watch to this video many time la https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if2dFMKIr_8 n after I hear you talk I m not belief to Nechung

  25. Although His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s secretary had previously denied that His Holiness was paid $1 million to speak for Raniere, a trace has been found that the Dalai Lama’s trust has received US$ 2 million in donation ten days after the event. Raniere is the leader of a cult called NXIVM which brands women on their pubic region with his initials and requires them to give him nude photos of themselves and other damaging material in case they reveal the secrets of his cult.

    Although the Dalai Lama office continues to deny that the donation was related to the speaking engagement, one can’t help but wonder whether His Holiness would have received such donation if he did not come to Albany to speak in the first place?

    Dalai Lama Secretary denies $1 million paid to speak for Raniere; Yet Dalai Lama Trust founded 10 days after Albany speech with $2 million in donations
    January 27, 2018 | By Frank Parlato
    The Dalai Lama’s secretary has denied the Dalai Lama was paid $1 million by Clare and Sara Bronfman to endorse cult leader Keith Raniere. That may be true. He might have got $2 million.
    The Dalai Lama’s secretary, Tseten Samdup Chhoekyapa, wrote:
    Clarification in Response to the Daily Mail Story of 24 January 2018
    The 24 January 2018 Daily Mail article by Ryan Parry regarding an appearance by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at an event held in Albany, New York in 2009 contains incorrect statements and untrue allegations. We wish to categorically state that His Holiness the Dalai Lama never takes an honorarium or fee of any sort, nor does he require that any payment be made to charities or organizations, as a condition of his making a personal appearance. Therefore, the reported allegation has no basis. Neither His Holiness the Dalai Lama nor the Dalai Lama Foundation ever received the alleged $1 million in connection with His Holiness’s appearance in Albany. As reported in the Daily Mail, during His Holiness’s talk in Albany in 2009, he called on the media to investigate the allegations made about the NXIVM organization and its founder, and was quite clear that the truth should be exposed.

    It is true, the Dalai Lama asked the media to investigate Keith Raniere. But whether he received money or not is another issue. Let’s parse the above statement a little:
    The Dalai Lama’s secretary said the Dalai Lama “never takes an honorarium or fee of any sort”.
    A donation is not a fee or an honorarium.
    The secretary said: “nor does he require that any payment be made to charities or organizations, as a condition of his making a personal appearance.”
    Again, the secretary says a payment was not required. But he does not say a donation was not made by Clare and Sara Bronfman.
    The Dalai Lama appeared in Albany on May 6, 2009 and he gave Raniere a white scarf onstage. He allowed the Bronfman sisters to sit onstage with him. [For readers unaware, Keith Raniere heads a cult called NXIVM which brands women on their pubic region with his initials and requires them to give him nude photos of themselves and other damaging material in case they reveal the secrets of his cult.]
    The Dalai Lama may have received a donation that was understood to be an ‘unconditional donation” not connected to his speaking engagement in Albany.
    He may have agreed to speak in Albany, and they may have agreed the donation was unconnected to his speaking so, therefore, it not ‘connected’ to his appearance.
    The Dalai Lama’s secretary does not deny that the Bronfmans donated money.  The Secretary said, “Neither His Holiness the Dalai Lama nor the Dalai Lama Foundation ever received the alleged $1 million in connection with His Holiness’s appearance in Albany.” [emphasis mine].
    I get it: He did not receive the $1 million ‘in connection with His Holiness’s appearance’ but, again, the secretary does not say the Dalai Lama did not get $1 million [or possibly more] from the Bronfmans.
    He only states the Dalai Lama did not get $1 million ‘in connection with his appearance’.
    It may have been what is called an ‘unconditional donation.’
    Now let us look at some coincidences:
    The Dalai Lama spoke in Albany on May 6, 2009.
    The Dalai Lama Trust was founded May 16, 2009. [10 days later].
    http://www.dalailamatrust.org/
    https://www.charitiesnys.com
    See the Dalai Lama trust’s IRS return for 2009.
    See also: Dalai Lama Trust certificate of incorporation.
    The IRS return shows $2.2 million in unconditional donations and royalties for 2009.
    It could be a coincidence, but it is peculiar that the Dalai Lama appears in Albany on May 6, 2009 and 10 days later the Dalai Lama trust is formed in the USA which gets $2 million plus in donations etc.
    When I worked for NXIVM/Bronfmans, I was told by a high ranking NXIVM official that, prior to the Dalai Lama’s coming to speak [before he canceled the first time] the Bronfman sisters pledged to donate $1 million to him.
    When he canceled, the sisters, plus Keith Raniere and Lama Tenzin, rushed to India to get the Dalai Lama to change his mind. I was no longer working for NXIVM. But I heard they offered the Dalai Lama another million [making it $2 million]. I never confirmed the second million, and I never saw the checks.
    It may be true the Bronfmans did not donate anything. But it seems far fetched that the Dalai Lama came at his own expense to Albany and got nothing in return. And then a trust suddenly opens in the US just 10 days after his appearance?
    http://artvoice.com/2018/01/27/dalai-lama-secretary-denies-1-million-paid-speak-raniere-yet-dalai-lama-trust-founded-10-days-albany-speech-2-million-donations/#.Wm0_0maB10J

    Artvoice-Dalai-Lama-Secretary-denies-$1-million

  26. What will the all the people around the world and in Tibet do now? Dalai Lama says he is happy that Tibet is a part of China and should remain a part of China. So many Tibetans self-immolated for Tibet to be independent and now Dalai Lama did a 360 degree turn and says he wants to go back to Tibet and China and Tibet should be a part of China. So unbelievable. So many are angry and disappointed.

    Tibetans ready to be part of China: Dalai Lama
    Organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the event was a part of “Thank You India – 2018″ held by the Tibetan community across India to mark 60 years of its exile in the country.
    Indo-Asian News Service
    Bengaluru
    Tibetans are ready to be a part of China if guaranteed full rights to preserve their culture, the Dalai Lama said on Friday.
    “Tibetans are not asking for independence. We are okay with remaining with the People’s Republic of China, provided we have full rights to preserve our culture,” the 83-year-old spiritual leader said at “Thank You Karnataka” event here in the city.
    Organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the event was a part of “Thank You India – 2018″ held by the Tibetan community across India to mark 60 years of its exile in the country.
    “Several of Chinese citizens practicing Buddhism are keen on Tibetan Buddhism as it is considered scientific,” the Nobel laureate said.
    Born in Taktser hamlet in northeastern Tibet, the Dalai Lama was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. He fled to India from Tibet after a failed uprising against the Chinese rule in 1959.
    China annexed Tibet in 1950, forcing thousands of Tibetans, including monks, to flee the mountain country and settle in India as refugees.
    Since then, India has been home to over 100,000 Tibetans majorly settled in Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh among other states.
    https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/india/tibetans-ready-to-be-part-of-china-dalai-lama/293109.html

    d

  27. Dear Dalai Lama,

    Since you started the cruel ban against the 350 year Dorje Shugden practice, how has it benefit your Tibetan society and Buddhism in the world? Things have become worse and most educated Tibetans can see this. They don’t speak out not because they don’t see your ban as wrong, but you instill fear in them and not respect. It is like fear of a dictator. I am sorry to say so. Everyone is divided. There is no harmony. Before your ban there was more harmony and unity.

    By enacting the ban, you split the monasteries, split so many families, split regions in Tibet apart, split your disciples from you, split your own gurus from you, split Tibetan Buddhism apart. You have created so much disharmony.

    It is not democratic what you have done to ban a religion within your community. You always talk of tolerance and acceptance and democracy and yet you do not accept and tolerate something different from your beliefs. When people practice Dorje Shugden you ostracize them, ban them from seeing you, ban them from using Tibetan facilities. You know you have done that. There are videos that capture your speech and prove this point. You even had people expelled from monasteries just because they practice Dorje Shugden. Some of the monks you expelled have been in the monastery for over 40 years. Many older monks shed tears because of this.

    Many young educated Tibetans lost confidence in you as they saw the damage the Dorje Shugden ban created and they lose hope. Many have become free thinkers. They reject what you have done. So many people in the west left Buddhism because of the confusion you created with this ban against Dorje Shugden which is immoral.

    You could of had millions of people who practice Dorje Shugden to support, love and follow you, but you scared them away. They are hurt and very disappointed. They loved you and respected you deeply before the ban. It has been 60 years and you have failed to get Tibet back. Your biggest failure is not getting Tibet back after 57 years in exile. Now you are begging China to allow you to return to Tibet to the disappointment of thousands of people who fought for a free Tibet believing in you. So many self-immolated for a free Tibet and now you want Tibet to be a part of China with no referendum from Tibetans. Just like a dictator, you decide on your own. It was your government and you that lost Tibet in the first place. Your policies and style of doing things do not benefit Tibet and Buddhism. You have been the sole ruler of Tibet your whole life and you still have not gotten our country of Tibet back for us. Our families and us are separated. Yet you create more pain by creating a ban to further divide people. Please have compassion.

    No other Buddhist leader has banned or condemned any religion except for you. It looks very bad. You are a Nobel laureate and this is not fitting of a laureate. You should unite people and not separate them by religious differences.

    You said Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi did not do right to the Rohingya people in Myanmar due to religious differences, but you are doing the same thing to the Shugden Buddhists within your own society. There is a parallel in this. You separate the Shugden Buddhists from the others in Tibetan society.

    You have lost so many people who would have loved and supported you. You have lost so much support around the world. The Shugden Buddhists who love you number in the millions. When you are fast losing support from governments and private people, it will not do you well to lose more.

    After you are passed away in the future, the rift you created between the Dorje Shugden and non-Dorje Shugden people will remain for a while and that will be your legacy. Disharmony. You will be remembered for this. Not as a hero but a disharmony creator.

    Dorje Shugden will spread and further grow, but you will be no more as you are a human. No one wishes you bad and in fact we hope you have a long and healthy life, but we have lost so much hope and have so much despair because of you. All the hundreds of Dorje Shugden lamas, tulkus and geshes are maturing and there are hundreds of Dorje Shugden monasteries in Tibet who will not give up Dorje Shugden. You have made a mistake. These hundreds of teachers and teachers to be will spread Dorje Shugden further in the future.

    The gurus that gave us Dorje Shugden as a spiritual practice and you have called these holy gurus wrong and they are mistaken in giving us Dorje Shugden. How can you insult our gurus whom we respect so much? If they can be wrong, then you can be wrong. Then all gurus can be wrong. So no one needs to listen to any guru? You have created this trend. It is not healthy. Your own gurus practiced Dorje Shugden their whole lives. Your own gurus were exemplary and highly learned.

    Dalai Lama you have created so much pain with this ban against so many people due to religion. You are ageing fast. Are you going to do anything about it or stay stubborn, hard and un-moving. You show a smile and preach peace and harmony wherever you go. But will you do the same to your own people? Please rectify the wrong you have done. Please before it is too late. You can create harmony again or you can pass away in the future with this legacy of peace. May you live long and think carefully and admit what was a mistake in having this unethical ban against Dorje Shugden religion.

  28. Why doesn’t the United States and its allies end Refugee Status for the useless Tibetans? They have been refugees for 60 years now and don’t tell me they still cannot get their lives back in order?

    Tibetans really know how to put on a good show and use people, take their money and do nothing in return.

    Trump and Allies Seek End to Refugee Status for Millions of Palestinians
    In internal emails, Jared Kushner advocated a “sincere effort to disrupt” the U.N.’s relief agency for Palestinians.
    BY COLUM LYNCH, ROBBIE GRAMER | AUGUST 3, 2018, 2:12 PM
    Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, has quietly been trying to do away with the U.N. relief agency that has provided food and essential services to millions of Palestinian refugees for decades, according to internal emails obtained by Foreign Policy.
    His initiative is part of a broader push by the Trump administration and its allies in Congress to strip these Palestinians of their refugee status in the region and take their issue off the table in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to both American and Palestinian officials. At least two bills now making their way through Congress address the issue.
    Kushner, whom Trump has charged with solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has been reluctant to speak publicly about any aspect of his Middle East diplomacy. A peace plan he’s been working on with other U.S. officials for some 18 months has been one of Washington’s most closely held documents.
    But his position on the refugee issue and his animus toward the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is evident in internal emails written by Kushner and others earlier this year.
    “It is important to have an honest and sincere effort to disrupt UNRWA,” Kushner wrote about the agency in one of those emails, dated Jan. 11 and addressed to several other senior officials, including Trump’s Middle East peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt.
    “This [agency] perpetuates a status quo, is corrupt, inefficient and doesn’t help peace,” he wrote.
    The United States has helped fund UNRWA since it was formed in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians displaced from their homes following the establishment of the State of Israel and ensuing international war. Previous administrations have viewed the agency as a critical contributor to stability in the region.
    But many Israel supporters in the United States today see UNRWA as part of an international infrastructure that has artificially kept the refugee issue alive and kindled hopes among the exiled Palestinians that they might someday return home—a possibility Israel flatly rules out.
    Critics of the agency point in particular to its policy of granting refugee status not just to those who fled Mandatory Palestine 70 years ago but to their descendants as well—accounting that puts the refugee population at around 5 million, nearly one-third of whom live in camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza.
    By trying to unwind UNRWA, the Trump administration appears ready to reset the terms of the Palestinian refugee issue in Israel’s favor—as it did on another key issue in December, when Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
    In the same January email, Kushner wrote: “Our goal can’t be to keep things stable and as they are. … Sometimes you have to strategically risk breaking things in order to get there.”
    Kushner raised the refugee issue with officials in Jordan during a visit to the region in June, along with Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt. According to Palestinian officials, he pressed the Jordan to strip its more than 2 million registered Palestinians of their refugee status so that UNRWA would no longer need to operate there.
    “[Kushner said] the resettlement has to take place in the host countries and these governments can do the job that UNRWA was doing,” said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
    She said the Trump administration wanted rich Arab Gulf states to cover the costs Jordan might incur in the process.
    “They want to take a really irresponsible, dangerous decision and the whole region will suffer,” Ashrawi said.
    Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator, told reporters in June that Kushner’s delegation had said it was ready to stop funding UNRWA altogether and instead direct the money—$300 million annually—to Jordan and other countries that host Palestinian refugees.
    “All this is actually aimed at liquidating the issue of the Palestinian refugees,” hesaid.
    The White House declined to comment on the record for this story. A senior executive branch official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. policy regarding the U.N.’s Palestinian refugee program “has been under frequent evaluation and internal discussion. The administration will announce its policy in due course.”
    Jordanian officials in New York and Washington did not respond to queries about the initiative.
    Kushner and Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, both proposed ending funding for UNRWA back in January. But the State Department, the Pentagon, and the U.S. intelligence community all opposed the idea, fearing in part that it could fuel violence in the region.
    The following week, the State Department announced that that United States would cut the first $125 million installment of its annual payment to UNRWA by more than half, to $60 million.
    “UNRWA has been threatening us for six months that if they don’t get a check they will close schools. Nothing has happened,” Kushner wrote in the same email.
    State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said at the time that the U.S. had no intention of eliminating funding for Palestinian refugees, and that it was taking time to explore ways to reform UNRWA and to convince other countries to help Washington shoulder the financial burden of aiding the Palestinians.
    But the following day, Victoria Coates, a senior advisor to Greenblatt, sent an email to the White House’s national security staff indicating that the White House was mulling a way to eliminate the U.N.’s agency for Palestinian refugees.
    “UNRWA should come up with a plan to unwind itself and become part of the UNHCR by the time its charter comes up again in 2019,” Coates wrote.
    She noted that the proposal was one of a number of “spitball ideas that I’ve had that are also informed by some thoughts I’ve picked up from Jared, Jason and Nikki.”
    Other ideas included a suggestion that the U.N. relief agency be asked to operate on a month-to-month budget and devise “a plan to remove all anti-Semitism from educational materials.”
    The ideas seemed to track closely with proposals Israel has been making for some time.
    “We believe that UNRWA needs to pass from the world as it is an organization that advocates politically against Israel and perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem,” said Elad Strohmayer, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
    Strohmayer said that Palestinians are the only population that is able to transfer its refugee status down through generations.
    The claim, though long advanced by Israel, is not entirely true.
    In an internal report from 2015, the State Department noted that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees “recognizes descendants of refugees as refugees for purposes of their operations.” The report, which was recently declassified, said the descendants of Afghan, Bhutanese, Burmese, Somali, and Tibetan refugees are all recognized by the U.N. as refugees themselves.
    Of the roughly 700,000 original Palestinian refugees, only a few tens of thousands are still alive, according to estimates.
    The push to deny the status to most Palestinians refugees is also gaining traction in Congress.
    Last week, Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, introduced a bill that would limit the United States to assisting only the original refugees. Most savings in U.N. contributions would be directed to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United States’ principal international development agency. But USAID is currently constrained by the Taylor Force Act, which restricts the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian Authority until it ends a policy of providing aid to families of fallen terrorists.
    “Instead of resettling Palestinian refugees displaced as a result of the Arab-Israeli Conflict of 1948, UNRWA provides aid to those they define as Palestinian refugees until there is a solution they deem acceptable to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Lamborn’s bill states.
    “This policy does not help resettle the refugees from 1948 but instead maintains a refugee population in perpetuity.”
    A congressional aide familiar with the legislation said its intent isn’t to gut UNRWA funding, but redirect assistance to descendants through USAID.
    “The people that are suffering should still get assistance, but through appropriately defined humanitarian channels and aid programs,” the aide said.
    Similarly, Sen. James Lankford, (R-Okla.), has drafted legislation that would redirect U.S. funding away from UNRWA and to other local and international agencies.
    The bill, which has not yet officially been introduced, would require the U.S. secretary of state certify by 2020 that the United Nations has ended its recognition of Palestinian descendants as refugees.
    “The United Nations should provide assistance to the Palestinians in a way that makes clear that the United Nations does not recognize the vast majority of Palestinians currently registered by UNRWA as refugees deserving refugee status,” reads a draft obtained by Foreign Policy.
    Previous U.S. administrations have maintained that the vast majority of Palestinian refugees will ultimately have to be absorbed in a new Palestinian state or naturalized in the countries that have hosted them for generations.
    But the fate of the refugee issue was expected to be agreed to as part of a comprehensive peace pact that resulted in the establishment of a Palestinian state.
    “It’s very clear that the overarching goal here is to eliminate the Palestinian refugees as an issue by defining them out of existence,” said Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.
    “This isn’t going to make peace any easier. It’s going to make it harder.”
    https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/03/trump-palestinians-israel-refugees-unrwaand-allies-seek-end-to-refugee-status-for-millions-of-palestinians-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-unrwa-israel-palestine-peace-plan-jared-kushner-greenb/

    DS.com Trump and Allies Seek End to Refugee Status for Millions of Palestinians (1)

  29. Supreme Court of India JUSTICE Mr. MARKANDEY KATJU (RETD) writes that Tibet is much better under the Chinese than it was under the lamas who only wanted to make the populace slaves. It was feudal and it will never return to the backwardness again.

    Time has come to acknowledge that Tibet has vastly improved under Chinese rule
    JUSTICE MARKANDEY KATJU (RETD) | 12 August, 2018
    From a terribly poor state hinged on a feudal system, Tibet has modernised and grows faster than the rest of China
    This article has been prompted by Jyoti Malhotra’s article in ThePrint ‘Tibetan government quietly changed its PM’s designation. India won’t be unhappy about it‘.
    China’s annexation of Tibet in 1959, ousting the Dalai Lama, had attracted it worldwide criticism. The Dalai Lama fled and was granted asylum in India, where he set up a government-in-exile with its headquarters in Dharamshala.
    The Chinese claim Tibet on the grounds that it has been part of the country since the Yuan dynasty of the 13th century, which is disputed by the government-in-exile. But let us leave this that matter aside.
    The more important question is whether Chinese rule has benefited Tibet.
    The answer is that it undoubtedly has. As the Reuters’ Ben Blanchard writes: “Today Tibet is richer and more developed than it has ever been, its people healthier, more literate, better dressed and fed”.
    Although Ben goes on to argue that this development masks “a deep sense of unhappiness among many Tibetans”, I will disagree. How can anyone be unhappy if s/he is healthier, better fed and better clothed?
    Under the rule of the Dalai Lamas (Buddhist priests), the people of Tibet were terribly poor, almost entirely illiterate, and lived like feudal serfs.
    Today, Tibet presents a totally different picture. The illiteracy rate in Tibet has gone down from 95 per cent in the 1950s to 42 per cent in 2000. It has modern schools, universities, engineering and medical colleges, modern hospitals, freeways, supermarkets, fast food restaurants, mobile stores and apartment buildings. The capital Lhasa is like any other modern city.
    While the economic growth in the rest of China has slowed down to about 7 per cent, Tibet has had a 10 per cent growth rate in the last two decades.
    Tibet has huge mineral wealth, which was only awaiting Chinese technology to be tapped. Nowadays, it has numerous hydro and solar power plants and industries running with Chinese help.
    Tibetan literature is flourishing, contrary to claims that the Chinese want to crush Tibetan culture.
    Of course, now the lamas cannot treat their people as slaves.
    The so-called ‘government-in-exile’, of which Lobsang Sangay claims to be the President, is a fake organisation, funded by foreign countries. They only want to restore the feudal Tibet, ruled by the reactionary lamas, something which will never happen.
    The writer is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India
    https://theprint.in/opinion/time-has-come-to-acknowledge-that-tibet-has-vastly-improved-under-chinese-rule/97172/

  30. While the government of Nepal has framed a policy to tighten the noose around non-governmental organisations, they have welcomed 30 Chinese NGOs to enter the country. These NGOs will penetrate the country’s social sector at the grassroots level. This is the first time such a large number of Chinese NGOs have entered Nepal at one time. Nepal is increasingly open to Chinese influence, a sign that ties between both countries are strengthening, while India’s influence is being reduced. The time has passed for India’s monopoly to remain uninterrupted in Nepal as opportunities to engage with China are being welcomed.

    30 Chinese NGOs all set to work in Nepal
    REWATI SAPKOTA
    Kathmandu, July 30
    At a time when the government has framed a policy to tighten the noose around non-governmental organisations, 30 Chinese NGOs have entered Nepal to penetrate the country’s social sector and the grassroots.
    The Social Welfare Council Nepal and China NGO Network for International Exchanges, an umbrella body of Chinese NGOs, have signed a memorandum of understanding to enable Chinese NGOs to work in Nepal. The agreement was signed yesterday between SWCN Member Secretary Dilli Prasad Bhatt and CNIE General Secretary Zhu Rui in the presence of Minister of Women, Children and Senior Citizen Tham Maya Thapa and Chinese Deputy Minister of External Affairs Wang Yajun.
    The agreement has paved the way for the first batch of 30 Chinese NGOs to work in Nepal for a period of three years. Their contract will be extended based on the consent of SWCN and CNIE. Representatives of these 30 Chinese NGOs were also present during yesterday’s signing ceremony. They have agreed to work in partnership with local NGOs to implement their programmes and projects.
    The Chinese NGOs are eyeing areas such as livelihood, healthcare, education, skill-based training, community development and disaster management. This is the first time such a large number of Chinese NGOs has entered Nepal at one time. The Chinese assistance so far in Nepal has largely been limited to development of infrastructure projects. But the entry of these NGOs indicates China is keen on making its presence felt in Nepal’s social sector and the grassroots, which, till date, have remained domains of the West and countries such as Japan and India.
    The MoU signed between SWCN and CNIE states that Chinese NGOs will be mobilised for ‘the benefit of needy Nepalis and to enhance ties between China and Nepal through people-to-people support programmes’.
    “The Chinese NGOs will abide by the law of Nepal in its entirety while carrying out development cooperation in Nepal,” says the MoU, adding, “Chinese NGOs will submit programmes to the SWCN to carry out development activities in partnership with Nepali NGOs and SWCN in line with plans and policies of the government of Nepal.”
    The MoU was signed at a time when the government has drafted the National Integrity Policy to limit activities of NGOs and INGOs, as some of them were found ‘trying to break communal harmony and proselytising Nepalis’. There were also concerns that high administrative cost of many NGOs and INGOs was preventing money from reaching the real beneficiaries. The policy clearly states that NGOs and INGOs cannot spend more than specified amount under administrative and consultant headings. They will also be barred from working against Nepal’s interests, culture and communal harmony and conducting activities to promote their religious, social or other agenda, adds the policy.
    Around 48,000 NGOs are currently registered in Nepal, of which only 1,600 have been receiving funds from INGOs, as per SWCN. The SWCN has directed INGOs and NGOs to spend 60 per cent of the budget to generate tangible results, while the remaining can be used to cover administrative costs and organise training, meetings and seminars.
    https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/30-chinese-ngos-all-set-to-work-in-nepal/

  31. The cracks in Tibetan society are starting to show, and it is now coming to the attention of local Indians who have all but identified the Tibetan leadership as the source of the divisions. According to this author, disunity amongst the Tibetans is now creating problems for Indian law enforcement agencies, and this disunity may culminate in young Tibetans holding silent grudges against their host country. It is incredible that after six decades of generosity from India, Indians are now facing the very real possibility Tibetans can be ungrateful towards India. The Tibetan leadership totally failed to impart positive values upon their exiled community, like gratitude for those kindest to them and the need to repay these kindnesses with real, tangible results. It’s also very unlikely that the Tibetan leadership will now start to do this, after six decades of failing to do so. Indians need to realise this, and see that there is no benefit for their nation to align themselves with the Tibetan leadership, and there never will be.
    Tibetan disunity not in India’s interest
    John S. Shilshi
    Updated: August 7, 2018, 11:00 AM
    India is home to the Dalai Lama and an estimated 120,000 Tibetan refugees. Though this humanitarian gesture on India’s part comes at the cost of risking New Delhi’s relations with China, India has never wavered in ensuring that Tibetans live with dignity and respect. Notified settlements across the country were made available so that they can live as independently as possible and practice Tibetan religion and culture. They are also allowed to establish centres of higher learning in Tibetan Buddhism. As a result, several reputed Buddhist institutes came up in Karnataka, and in the Indian Himalayan belt. In what may be termed as a gesture well reciprocated, and because of the respect and influence His Holiness the Dalai Lama commands, the Tibetan diaspora also lived as a peaceful community, rarely creating problems for India’s law enforcement agencies.
    The situation, however, changed from 2000 onwards when unity amongst Tibetans suffered some setback due to developments like the Karmapa succession controversy and the controversy over worshiping of Dorje Shugden. In a unique case of politics getting the better of religion, two senior monks of the Karma kargyue sect of Tibetan Buddhism, Tai Situ Rinpoche and late Shamar Rinpoche, developed serious differences after the demise of Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa, in 1981. This animosity ultimately led to emergence of two 17th Karmapa candidates in the early nineties. While Tai Situ Rinpoche identified and recognised UghyanThinley Dorje, late Shamar Rinpoche anointed Thinley Thaye Dorje as his Karmapa candidate. Enthronement of their respective protégés at the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, the supreme seat of the Karma Kargue linage, being their primary objective, both started indulging in activities monks normally are expected to, and bitterness spewed against each other.
    The bitter rivalry assumed a new dimension when UghyenThinley Dorje suddenly appeared in India in January 2000. The competition became fiercer and hectic political lobbying, never known in the history of Tibetan Buddhism on Indian soil, became common place. Apart from pulling strings at their disposal in Sikkim as well as in the power corridors of New Delhi, these senior monks spat against each other with allegations and counter allegations, widening the gaps between their supporters. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, choosing to favour one of the candidates—a decision many Tibet watchers felt was ill-timed—had also limited possible scope of rapprochement. Hence, the Karma Kargyue followers are now vertically divided, while the camps are dragged into a long drawn legal battle.
    Another development that unfortunately split the Tibetans is the controversy over Shugden worshipping, which again is an internal matter of the Gelugpa sect, to which the Dalai Lama belongs. It erupted as a result of the Dalai Lama urging Tibetans to refrain from worshiping Dorje Shugden, a deity believed to be a protector, according to Tibetan legend. Shugden practitioners, who felt offended by the call, describe it as an attack on freedom of religion, a right, which Dalai Lama himself tirelessly fought for. On the other hand, die hard Dalai Lama followers perceived the questioning of the decision as one challenging the wisdom of the Dalai Lama and mounted massive pressure on Dorje Shugden practitioners to relent, with some even demolishing the statues of the deity. The rivalry ultimately led to split in two Gelug monasteries in Karnataka, and Serpom and Shar Garden monasteries in Bylakupe and Mundgod respectively came under the control of Shugden followers. The bitterness associated with the split is exemplified by the fact that till today, members of these monasteries are treated as some sort of outcasts by the others. Thus, for the first time, the Tibetan diaspora in India gave birth to sections opposed to the Dalai Lama, with spillover effects in Tibet and elsewhere.
    For India, with a fragile internal security profile, a divided Tibetan population on its soil is not good news. It has several long-term implications. It is common knowledge that China considers Dalai Lama as a secessionist, one plotting to divide their country. The latter’s claim of “all that Tibetans were asking for, was a status of genuine autonomy within the Constitution of the Peoples’ Republic of China”, had fallen into deaf ears. China also considers him as someone who plays to the Indian tune to tickle China. Therefore, at a time when China has successfully shrunk the Dalai Lama’s space internationally, India continuing to extend the usual space for him is viewed as complicity. Sharp reaction from China when he was allowed to visit Arunachal Pradesh in April 2017, is a recent example. Such being the delicate nature of India-China relations on matters and issues concerning Tibetans, India can hardly afford to ignore the division within the diaspora. Past experience of dubious elements from Tibet having succeeded in infiltrating the Central Tibetan Administration, including the security wing, should be a warning.
    It is also time India understands the reason behind Tibetans seeking Indian passports, despite an existing arrangement for issue of Identity Certificates, which is passport equivalent. Some had even successfully taken recourse to legal remedy on the issue, and left the government of India red-faced. These changing moods should not be viewed as desires by Tibetans to become Indian citizens. They are triggered by the pathetic state of affairs associated with issuing of Identity Certificates, where delays in most cases are anything between six months to one year. Early streamlining of the process will drastically reduce their desire to hold Indian passport. It will also remove the wrongly perceived notion among some educated Tibetan youth, that the cumbersome process was a ploy by India to confine them in this country. While India should not shy from requesting the Dalai Lama to use his good offices to end all differences within the community in the interest of India’s internal security, it will also be necessary to ensure that young Tibetans do not nurse a silent grudge against the very country they called their second home.
    https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/opinion/tibetan-disunity-not-indias-interest

  32. Although the Dalai Lama has offered an apology, the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) still expressed their disappointment over his controversial comment on Nehru, the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC). Dalai Lama called Nehru self-centred.

    The Congress said Dalai Lama being a foreigner should shun and refrain from interfering in the internal as well as external affairs of India.

    Dalai Lama should abstain from imparting controversial information to students: Arunachal Congress
    Dalai Lama should know that a spiritual leader like him is shouldering great expectation: APCC
    | DAMIEN LEPCHA | ITANAGAR | August 12, 2018 9:58 pm
    disappointment over the recent statement made by Tibetan Spiritual Leader the 14th Dalai Lama in which he called Jawaharlal Nehru, the former Prime Minister of India as “self-centered” and the one responsible for parting India and Pakistan.
    “Although Dalai Lama expressed regret over his controversial comment, the APCC is extremely thwarted by it. A Tibetan spiritual leader calling names to an Indian leader who sweated most to keep him and his followers safe from Chinese aggression is simply not acceptable. Today, India is home to lakhs of Tibetan refugees who are living in 37 settlements and 70 scattered communities across different states of India,” APCC vice-president Minkir Lollen said in a statement on Sunday.
    “Dalai Lama may have forgotten that India provided a beam of light and hope to Tibetans remaining in Chinese-dominated Tibet and in the neighbouring Chinese provinces politically cut off from the Tibetan heart land. All these happened only because India has great leaders like Gandhi and Nehru who took the responsibility of social burden to shelter thousands of persecuted Tibetans then in 1959,” Lollen added.
    Minkir said Dalai Lama should know that a spiritual leader like him is shouldering great expectation, hope and trust of millions on record and the same are watching his contribution towards the mankind.
    “In such circumstances, Dalai Lama should abstain from imparting partial and controversial information to the students who are the torch bearer of the nation,” the Congress said.
    Further stating that the statement of the spiritual leader could be a politically motivated one and made with an effort to approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi for survival of his continuation in the country, the Congress said Dalai Lama being a foreigner should shun and refrain from interfering in the internal as well as external affairs of India.
    https://nenow.in/north-east-news/dalai-lama-should-abstain-from-imparting-controversial-information.html

  33. The Dalai Lama has acknowledged that China is better in managing Tibet and can give more to Tibetans. The quality of life of the Tibetans in Tibet are better than those in India. They have more opportunities to explore in the area they are interested in. They also have the opportunity to receive good education. After 60 years of struggling, the free Tibet movement is still not giving any result, people should just move on and not to waste more time. China is definitely a better government than the corrupted CTA.

  34. The CTA will do all they can to stop the Tibetans from going back to China. They want the Tibetans to continue to live in India as refugees so that the CTA can use the refugee status to ask for financial support from people. Without refugees, the CTA will not have a solid case to get financial aids. When Indian government offered to give citizenships to the Tibetans, the CTA made it so difficult for the Tibetans to get the documents needed to apply for the citizenship. After 60 years of struggling, it is unfair for the CTA to hold the Tibetans back for their own interest. The CTA cannot be trusted, Tibetans have to understand that.

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.…Instead of turning away people who practise Dorje Shugden, we should be kind to them. Give them logic and wisdom without fear, then in time they give up the ‘wrong’ practice. Actually Shugden practitioners are not doing anything wrong. But hypothetically, if they are, wouldn’t it be more Buddhistic to be accepting? So those who have views against Dorje Shugden should contemplate this. Those practicing Dorje Shugden should forbear with extreme patience, fortitude and keep your commitments. The time will come as predicted that Dorje Shugden’s practice and it’s terrific quick benefits will be embraced by the world and it will be a practice of many beings.

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