Samdhong Rinpoche
Below is a letter written by Dorje Shugden practitioners living in the USA to Radio Free Asia in response to the article they published in which Prime Minister Samdhong is Encouraging Violence Against Shugden Practitioners.
Dear Sirs:
We are writing with regards to the recent news posting on December 24th 2010 on the website of Radio Free Asia in the Tibetan news section of the agency…The media clip that has been posted there broadcasted the speech of the Prime Minister of Tibetan Government-in-Exile, Samdong Rinpoche, regarding the issue of worshipping the Buddhist deity Shugden.
In this speech, Samdong Rinpoche calls Tibetans to fight with Shugden followers; he even labels these people as “traitors” and “terrorists”. According to him, Shugden devotees are not to be tolerated by other Tibetans, who should not mingle with the followers of the deity, and who should stop any relations with them. The Tibetan Service of RFA is well known and quite popular in the Tibetan community in Exile, especially among the Tibetan community outside of Tibet and India as an independent source of news and information regarding Tibetan affairs. The tensions that exist in Tibetan society due to the Dharamsala policy on the issue that results in physical, emotional, mental and economic suffering of Shugden devotees, should be accounted for by the Tibetan service of RFA as well, whose coverage contributes to such framing of the issue. The Tibetan service of RFA should bear its share of responsibility, being the Fourth Estate.
We, the group of the followers of Buddhist deity Dorje Shugden, are very much upset by the news release of Tibetan service of RFA for posting the audio clip of the speech of the representative of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile without giving any comment and critical evaluation of such a policy and the official viewpoint of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile that conducts the policy of intolerance towards a community of people that has different religious views than the head of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.
It is hard to believe that the Tibetan service of RFA is posting the news release without giving any comment as a media that operates in a free country and whose mission is to provide news to countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press. By giving the floor only to the official “Dharamsala” information on the issue of Shugden means supporting the policy of discrimination based on religion and the failure to adhere to its mission and principles of free press.
By submitting this message we truly believe that opinions other than those of official Dharamsala should be published on the website of the service as well.
Thank you for your attention.
Dorjee Shugden USA
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