At the request of Gelong Lobsang Thardoe from Nepal, and many other Lamas and monks within the lineage from around the world, the abbot emeritus of Shar Gaden, Kyabje Kensur Rinpoche Lobsang Phende has compassionately accepted the request to confer the initiation and commentary of Chakrasamvara (Tib: Heruka) in the tradition of Ghantapa (Tib: Drilbupa), consists of both a five-deity practice and a body-mandala practice, to an assembly of Lamas and monks from India and Nepal primarily, starting on April 21st 2023, which falls on the first day of the third month of the Tibetan calendar.

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Kyabje Kensur Rinpoche Lobsang Phende received the powerful practice of Chakrasamvara from the junior tutor of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang decades ago, and Kensur Rinpoche has been keeping his commitments, vows and practice pure since then. In Kensur Rinpoche’s own words, he said:

“I am very honoured and happy to pass down the precious lineage to the younger generation. There is no other greater merit (that could be accumulated) than passing down the unbroken and pure lineage.”

Kensur Labrang is hereby announcing this wonderful event for many to rejoice, and at the same time opening up the opportunity for devotees from around the world to make offerings to the initiation and teaching which will last for months. Your monetary offering will go to the ceremony and teaching itself, and to the food and tea for the assembly of Lamas and monks who are going to participate in the initiation and the teaching. It is extremely meritorious to make this offering because by doing so, you are indirectly preserving the lineage by supporting the event and these Lamas and monks who are going to receive the practice, for they are the people who are going to keep the lineage alive by practicing it and passing it down to future generations.

For more information or to make an offering, please contact Kensur Labrang’s assistant Gen Tserab-la by:

• Whatsapp: +91 7676512849
• Email: tserab04@gmail.com

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Back when the Dorje Shugden ban was first enforced in 1996, few thought that they would live to see the day when the ban was lifted. There have however, been many signs in recent years that the ban may soon be coming to an end.

These began as far back as 2016, when His Holiness the Dalai Lama said Dorje Shugden does no harm. It has continued into 2020, with His Holiness saying that it would be permissible to rely on Dorje Shugden as a land deity. As recently as June 2021, His Holiness has said that he was wrong to have banned Dorje Shugden.

For those familiar with the ban, the shift in His Holiness’s stance is undeniably clear.

In the early years of the ban, the persecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners was horrific. Families were split, marriages were broken up, children were bullied in school, people were denied medical treatment and monks were expelled from monasteries, but to name a few examples of discrimination against Shugden worshippers.

And in those early days of the ban, as the persecution of Shugden practitioners began to pick up steam, a few brave people grouped to form the first resistance against the ban. They called themselves the Dorjee Shugden Devotees’ Charitable and Religious Society, otherwise known as the Delhi Society.

Not only did the Delhi Society preserve important works and rituals on Dorje Shugden, but they also launched legal appeals against the ban, and worked hard to raise awareness of its illegality. In doing so, they risked their safety, their personal opportunities and their own welfare to protect the lineage. Their courageous actions proved to people that it was possible to resist and stand up against the public relations behemoth that is the Tibetan leadership, because there is strength and power in standing up for the truth.

And the truth is that Dorje Shugden is an enlightened being, that everyone deserves religious freedom and no one should be persecuted on the basis of their faith.

The 25^th anniversary of the Delhi Society

2021 marks the 25^th anniversary of the Delhi Society. In light of this, various pujas have been advised by the highest lamas of our tradition to celebrate this auspicious occasion, and to dedicate the vast amount of merits that have been accumulated over the years in the struggle to speak up for the truth.

His Holiness the 101^st Gaden Tripa Jetsun Lungrik Namgyal Rinpoche, His Holiness Kyabje Pabongka Chocktrul Rinpoche and His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche have each recommended pujas to be done. The four main aims of these pujas are:

1. To dedicate everyone’s efforts in bringing our lineage this far, where a light can finally be seen at the end of a 25-year struggle
2. To generate and dedicate merits towards the swift return of the lamas and practitioners who we have lost in recent years
3. To dedicate merits towards the long lives of our lamas who remain with us, and to create the causes for their works to grow
4. To generate and dedicate merits for all practitioners’ wishes to be fulfilled, for their obstacles to be pacified, and for them to find happiness

Pujas from H.H. the 101^st Gaden Tripa

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• To follow the advice of H.H. Kyabje Pabongka Chocktrul Rinpoche and H.H. Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche
• To carry out a Great Prayer Festival (Monlam Chenmo) for a minimum of one day, in the tradition established by the great master Je Tsongkapa

Pujas from H.H. Kyabje Pabongka Chocktrul Rinpoche

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• Sixteen Arhats puja, 1,000 times
• Reciting the Manjushri-nama-samgiti, 10,000 times
• Reciting the sungbum (collected works) of Je Tsongkhapa and his two spiritual sons
• Guru Puja with 1,000 Ganachakra Tsog offerings
• General Dharmapala Puja
• Dharmapala Dorje Shugden puja with 1,000 Ganachakra Tsog offerings
• Smoke offerings
• Hang prayer flags, as many as possible

Pujas from H.H. Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche

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• Reciting the sungbum (collected works) of Je Tsongkhapa and his two spiritual sons
• Reciting the 8000-verse Prajnaparamita Sutra, 20 times
• Reciting the Suvarnaprabhasottama Sutra
• Peaceful fire puja of Solitary Hero Yamantaka, 10 times
• Sixteen Arhats puja
• Guru Puja with Ganachakra Tsog offerings
• Gyabshi ritual
• Dharmapala Dorje Shugden puja

Grand Prayer Festival on International Dorje Shugden Day

This grand prayer festival will begin on August 24, 2021 which is the International Dorje Shugden Day that is celebrated annually all over the world. It is expected that it will take a few days for the pujas to be completed, and they will be conducted by our precious sangha who have dedicated their lives to upholding the Dorje Shugden lineage, in spite of the obstacles they have been met with.

These important rituals will be held at major Dorje Shugden monasteries around the world, including:

• Shar Gaden Monastery (India)
• Serpom Monastery (India)
• Phelgyeling Monastery (Nepal)
• Segyu Monastery (Nepal)
• Samten Choeling Monastery (India)
• Kundeling Monastery (India)

Over 40 Dorje Shugden organisations around the world have come together in service of the lineage to contribute towards the fulfilment of our high lamas’ instructions. This means that no matter where you are in the world, you can still contribute and take part in this momentous celebration.

It has been a quarter of a century since the Dorje Shugden ban was first enforced, marking the start of two decades of suffering for Shugden worshippers everywhere. It has been 25 years of fighting, hoping, praying and begging for things to change. Now, as the tide seems to turn, it is finally time for us to rejoice and celebrate.

Official Announcement

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Official Announcements in Other Languages

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Advice from Lineage Lamas

བོད་ཡིག (Tibetan)

中文 (Chinese)

монгол хэл (Mongolian)

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

By: Shashi Kei

It is now 25 years since religious persecution of Dorje Shugden believers began, spearheaded by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). The fallout of the Dalai Lama and CTA’s religious ban significantly shaped Tibetan lives and forcibly altered the Tibetan Buddhist terrain globally over the last quarter of a century. Millions of lives were placed in jeopardy, the sanctity of Lama Tsongkhapa’s lineage was hurled into confusion and countless spiritual paths were derailed. And that is not counting the impact this rift has made on the collective Tibetan cause.

But now His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama has admitted that he was wrong and made it clear that this mistreatment of Shugden Buddhists is to stop.

After the flop, now the flip

The CTA’s religious persecution of Shugden Buddhists started in 1996 and intensified in 2008. Dorje Shugden practitioners were classified as “enemies of the State”; “anti-Dalai Lama”; “anti-Dharma”; “Chinese spies/sympathizers; “demon worshippers” and other similar characterizations.

Yet, the CTA’s propaganda and persecutions failed to completely root out the practice of Dorje Shugden. It was after all, a well-regarded practice, central to the Gelug lineage. Even the 14^th Dalai Lama had revered this deity, as did his past incarnations, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, the 11^th Dalai Lama and the most respected teachers of the 20^th century.

A period of relative quiet followed as Shugden Buddhists were driven underground and out of the CTA’s reach. And then the Dalai Lama did a turnaround.

The Dalai Lama addressed tens of thousands in his live teaching, during which he announced that mistreatment of Shugden Buddhists is to stop.

During the Dalai Lama’s Saka Dawa teaching on May 26 this year, he unexpectedly drew attention to the Dorje Shugden issue, a highly sensitive subject that has been a major fault line for violent conflicts. But this time, the Dalai Lama’s message was a contradiction of a stance that he and the CTA had mandated.

Quoting passages from the Bodhisattvacharyavatara (The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) the Dalai Lama said that regardless of how anyone felt about Dorje Shugden and his practice, any animosity towards the deity was patently wrong. The Tibetan god-king inferred that it is against the code of a Bodhisattva to feel any anger towards the Protector. And in addition, he said it is our own anger and mental defilements that we should examine instead of directing our resentment towards others.

VIDEO: Dalai Lama says Dorje Shugden is an object of compassion (May 26, 2021)

But that wasn’t all.

One week later on June 2, 2021, during another teaching on Je Tsongkhapa’s Destiny Fulfilled (Tog jö dün leg ma), the Dalai Lama, for the first time since he imposed a ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden, admitted that it was a mistake to have discriminated against Dorje Shugden.

This is a very different language and tone to that which the Tibetan leadership employed when they wilfully acted to incite hatred against Dorje Shugden and adherents of his practice. As a result, it was regarded as ‘un-Tibetan’ and ‘un-Buddhist’ if you were not hostile to Shugden Buddhists. So government officials and ambitious monks made it a point to grandstand their contempt of this sacred practice as hating Dorje Shugden became a rapid career path in Tibetan political and monastic quarters.

VIDEO: Dalai Lama says its wrong to reject Dorje Shugden (June 2, 2021)

Skilfully undoing a mistake

The Dalai Lama’s reversal of attitude towards Dorje Shugden is not entirely new. In January 2020, after almost 24 years of labelling Dorje Shugden as an enemy of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama signalled a softening of heart towards the Protector. While in the past the Dalai Lama had categorically forbidden the practice of Dorje Shugden under any circumstances, on that occasion, he actually endorsed the worship of Dorje Shugden but only as a birth deity or a land deity.

It was terminology but in effect, what the Dalai Lama said destroyed the CTA’s justification for denying Shugden Buddhists their constitutional right to freedom of religion. The old justification was that the practice of Dorje Shugden [in any form] threatened the Dalai Lama’s life and caused the failure of Tibetan efforts to regain their country.

Dorje Shugden lamas and monks were treated as criminals to be hunted down and harassed.

Still, the ban on Dorje Shugden practice persisted on its very dangerous and damaging course.

Damaging because it undermined the Tibetan Constitution that guaranteed, amongst other things, religious freedom. Damaging because it undermined the sanctity of Tibetan Buddhism by making a mockery of four centuries of old masters and sages who had upheld the Dorje Shugden practice, including H.H. Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo and H.H. Trijang Dorje Chang. Damaging because it splintered an already small and weak community of people at a time when they should be harmonized in focused efforts to regain their country. Damaging because it created an irreparable schism within the Tibetan monastic community, a split which played out globally wherever there were Tibetan Buddhist adherents. Damaging because it went against the most basic Buddhist principles.

Buddha or demon?

For the last 25 years, debates raged between Shugden Buddhists who regard Dorje Shugden as an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri and those who oppose the practice. Detractors argued that the deity was a demon who arose from the death of a monk with broken vows.

Many were caught up in an intriguing web of arguments haphazardly weaved by pseudo-intellectuals, self-proclaimed Tibetan Buddhist experts and sycophants failing to see a real or complete picture.

In fact, it is simple enough a subject.

From the perspective of a constitutional democracy which the CTA claims to be, its persecution of Shugden Buddhists is unlawful and a breach of human rights. Simply put, it is not the business of a democratic government to decide which religion is legitimate and which is not. It is the business of the government to guarantee the freedom of religion which the CTA failed to do.

All Shugden worshippers were denied livelihood. Even the monks were not spared. Pictured here is the infamous ‘yellow stick’ incident where monks were forced to break with their practice of Dorje Shugden or be expelled.

And now, from the perspective of the Buddhist religion, the Dalai Lama has made it clear that whoever Dorje Shugden is, should not be of concern if you are a true practitioner of the Buddhadharma. In fact as the Dalai Lama pointed out, in the practice of Bodhicitta, there is even an obligation to regard all beings as ‘important guests’.

The argument is even simpler when approached from the perspective of common sense. If one does not believe in the sacredness of Dorje Shugden, then one can simply choose not to pray to the deity. It is this simple logic that has kept the world with its myriad religions and beliefs in a relatively peaceful state.

There has never been any proper justification to persecute Shugden Buddhists at all. So, those who took up arms against Dorje Shugden on the basis of ‘because the Dalai Lama said so’, should now stop their bullying of Shugden Buddhists, because the Dalai Lama has indeed said so.

Is this the end of the Shugden ban?

Sadly, it is unlikely to be the case.

Even today after the Dalai Lama has clearly said that it is wrong to discriminate against Dorje Shugden, the CTA’s official website still carries a section dedicated to stoking hatred against Dorje Shugden people. Click to enlarge.

The CTA’s absurd reasoning and conduct in support of an unlawful religious ban has made it a laughing stock amongst educated Tibetans and global political observers. They see that behind the CTA’s democratic and progressive facade is an out-of-date administration that still resorts to fables and superstitions instead of applying common sense when it comes to governance.

While it was the Dalai Lama who initiated the ban on the Dorje Shugden practice, the unrest served the CTA officials well. It has been far easier to keep fanning hatred against Dorje Shugden than to attend to urgent business such as providing adequately for a depleting Tibetan exile population or seeking to engage China in meaningful dialogue. That would have been a wiser strategy than for the CTA to avail themselves as pawns in attempts to curb China’s rise. Unfortunately, provoking anti-Shugden sentiment, antagonizing China and engaging in political skulduggery with Penpa Tsering were Lobsang Sangay’s predominant duties during his tenure as President of the CTA.

The CTA made it a policy to promote animosity towards Dorje Shugden and it was given equal if not more weight than the Tibetan Cause. However, when the Dalai Lama endorsed the practice of Dorje Shugden as a birth deity or land deity, the CTA felt pressured to remove this prominent link. Click to enlarge.

However, when the Dalai Lama endorsed the practice of Dorje Shugden as a birth deity or land deity, the CTA came under pressure to remove a prominent banner on their official website. That banner led to a page dedicated to encouraging the Tibetan people, government offices, local businesses and supporters of the Tibetan cause to keep up the witch hunt against Shugden Buddhists. That page is still present today although not as conspicuous now. And bullying of Shugden Buddhists continues to persist globally with supporters thinking that such behavior is sanctioned by the Dalai Lama.

Whether the CTA removes that toxic anti-Shugden page altogether is now an important barometer of how much they truly revere the Dalai Lama. It would be a contradiction for the Dalai Lama to counsel compassion towards Dorje Shugden followers while the CTA surreptitiously continues to encourage ongoing persecution.

How well will the CTA and the Tibetan people take to this new directive on Dorje Shugden by the Dalai Lama? It’s difficult to tell. A worrying hint is in the way the Tibetan translator completely omitted the part of the Dalai Lama’s teaching when he said:

I have enforced a ban concerning Shugden. But when I reflect on [Shantideva's first verse] now, he is simply someone to be loved, someone with whom we should unconditionally practice loving kindness and compassion. If I distance myself from him giving some tiny reasons like “he is someone who harms the teachings”; most likely this is a mistake.

It is a serious omission because non-Tibetan speakers would have missed the part where the Dalai Lama clearly alluded that the ban on Dorje Shugden was a mistake. 
The question is, was it a wilful omission?



VIDEO: The English translator omitted the Dalai Lama’s advice on Dorje Shugden (June 2, 2021)

With the Tibetan leadership and their coterie, anything is possible and we have seen time and time again how crafty and manipulative they can be. One apt example of this is taking place right now.

Even as the Dalai Lama preaches compassion for all sentient beings including Dorje Shugden followers, the CTA has refused assistance to Shugden monasteries to procure badly-needed COVID vaccines for the monks. So, behind all the compassion rhetoric, nothing much has changed at all. The CTA just got better and more subtle in their persecution of those they label to be enemies. And this is happening at a time when world governments have seen the necessity to put all differences aside to tackle a pandemic that threatens all humanity. But not the CTA.

So what now?

The Dalai Lama’s intention to end the Shugden conflict is clear. He chose Saka Dawa to state his new stance on the Shugden issue. It was an occasion where the Dalai Lama knew he would be speaking to the very people who could put into effect an end to this poisoned chapter of modern Tibetan Buddhist history — the Gaden Tripa, the Sharpa Choje and other senior monks and government officials. And to be sure his message was clearly received, the Dalai Lama repeated his intention to end Shugden persecutions in his June 2, 2021 teachings, this time acknowledging that it was wrong to have discriminated against Dorje Shugden.

During the teachings, the Dalai Lama addressed eminent masters including (from top left, clockwise): His Holiness Gaden Tri Rinpoche Lobsang Tenzin, H.E. Sharpa Choje Rinpoche Lobsang Dorje, H.E. Gyuto Khenpo Gangkar Rinpoche and H.E. Jampa Choje Gosog Rinpoche Ngawang Sungrab Gelek

Understandably it is difficult for the Tibetan leadership to abruptly reverse a religious ban that they cannot afford to openly acknowledge. And it would require some time to turn a collective psyche that has been cultivated over a quarter of a century. But clearly the Dalai Lama’s advice is exactly to do just that. And all Tibetans, Shugden and non-Shugden people alike, have always held the Dalai Lama close to their hearts.

So perhaps the wisest thing for everyone to do, regardless of which side of the now-defunct divide they stand on, is to move forward. Those who have been victims of this dark period in Tibetan exile history need not keep reliving the past, and those who have felt obliged to carry the heavy burden of hating fellow Tibetan Buddhists because of “tiny reasons” (as the Dalai Lama put it) can finally drop this taxing load.

The new CTA President Penpa Tsering now has a golden opportunity to formally wipe out an ugly mistake and bring the people together again. It would be a serious misstep for Penpa Tsering to follow his predecessor’s fatal legacy of human rights breaches. After all, the dark period of CTA politics when one’s political survival necessitated toeing the line on the Shugden issue is now over.

We hope, for the sake of all Tibetan people and all Tibetan Buddhists, that the Dalai Lama’s words are heeded. In remembering the Dalai Lama’s recent teachings, may all beings be invited as precious guests to Sugatahood and may we act to ensure temporal happiness for all sentient beings.

Videos in Chinese [中文视频]

达赖喇嘛《三主要道》的开示

达赖喇嘛《证道歌》的开示

Video with Mongolian subtitle

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

By: Shashi Kei

The Dorje Shugden conflict remains one of the most polarizing issues in Tibetan Buddhism today. The Tibetan leadership has claimed that Shugden practice is an instrument of the Communist government of China, that the Dorje Shugden lineage is devoid of spiritual legitimacy, and indeed nothing more than the work of extreme and exclusivist quarters within the Gelugpa sect.

Throughout the world, Tibetan Buddhist communities have been coerced to pick a side in the Shugden divide. But a fair and educated choice is rarely possible. To disagree with the 14^th Dalai Lama is to be regarded instantly as being anti-Dalai Lama, anti-Buddhism, anti-democracy and therefore pro-Communist China.

As has become standard operating procedure, the Tibetan leadership relies on Dalai Lama sycophants who operate within targeted Buddhist communities to push the Central Tibetan Administration’s (CTA) political agenda. These agendas are often disguised as examination of certain Buddhist beliefs and doctrines.

Within Mongolian communities today, there is again renewed agitations to support the Dalai Lama’s narrative on the Shugden issue. This time, the provocations come from a Mongolian man by the name of Tsend-Ayush Batmunkh who runs a Facebook account under the nickname ‘Hunnu Mongol’. There is in fact nothing fresh in Hunnu Mongol’s charges against Dorje Shugden except to regurgitate the Tibetan leadership’s vitriol, aimed at dislodging the people from their faith in Dorje Shugden, and incite hatred against Shugden followers and China.

The Hunnu Mongol Facebook account is run by a Mongolian man named Tsend-Ayush Batmunkh. Click to enlarge

For the Mongolian people, the stakes are high. To begin with, it is vital for the Mongolian nation to maintain good relations with a powerful China. The last time Mongolia fell into Dharamsala’s trap, it took some repairing to normalize ties with a powerful ally. But looking beyond political common sense, the Mongolian people also have established historic ties with the lineage of Dorje Shugden that if ruptured, would undermine Mongolia’s Buddhist heritage.

Simply put, Hunnu Mongol wants the Mongolian people to believe that there is no legitimacy to the Dorje Shugden lineage. In this, Hunnu Mongol is being mischievous because Mongolian archives brim with evidence of the close relationship between the Dorje Shugden lineage, the spread of Buddhism in Mongolia and the social development of the people.

One doesn’t have to be a Buddhist scholar to recognize this close relationship.

Letter from the International Tibetan Shugden Community (English)

The incendiary antics of Hunnu Mongol has caught the attention of Shugden Buddhists who continue to suffer this CTA-sponsored religious persecution. The irony is that the Tibetan exile government that claims to be fighting for democracy should be stifling religious freedom. Click to enlarge.

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Letter from the International Tibetan Shugden Community (Mongolian)

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The Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Khutuktus

The Jetsun Dhampa Khutuktus are the highest and most esteemed lamas in Mongolia. They are regarded as Bogd Gegeen or supreme spiritual authorities. There is no question of the Jetsun Dhampas’ enlightened nature which is no less than that of the Dalai Lamas.

The first Jetsun Dhampa Khutuktu, Zanabazar who was the spiritual mentor of Emperor Kangxi, a reincarnation of Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, based on an old prophesy by Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen.

1. The 1^st Jetsun Dhampa, Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar, was recognized as the reincarnation of the great Jonang Jetsun Taranatha. Zanabazar advanced Gelug Buddhism within Mongolia for over 60 years and was well known to have sought close ties with the Qing Emperor Kangxi. So close was the relationship between the first Jetsun Dhampa with Emperor Kangxi that when he heard of the passing of Kangxi, he immediately travelled to Beijing to conduct the customary Buddhist rites for the great emperor.
    
   According to an old prophecy by Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen, Emperor Kangxi was the reincarnation of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen who arose as Dorje Shugden. This record is contained in the works of the Mongolian scholar, the most esteemed master, Lobsang Tamdin who gained the reputation of being extremely fastidious in tracing transmissions of Buddhist lineages in order to validate their authenticity.
    
   It was with Kangxi’s support that the first Jetsun Dhampa brought an end to vicious fighting between Dzungar-Qirat Mongols and Khalkha Mongols. The tension between the Dzungar-Qirat and the Khalkha Mongols started because the Qirat warlord Galdan Khan was offended that Zanabazar’s throne was placed at the same height as the throne of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s representative during a religious ceremony. (Mongolia and the Mongols, A M Pozdneev, 1971)
Even then, there were already attempts to reduce Mongolian spiritual authority and render it lesser than that of the Dalai Lamas.
2. The 4^th Jetsun Dhampa Luvsantüvdenvanchug’s era coincided with the spread of Dorje Shugden practice amongst Mongolian Gelugpas. He was recorded as being the first Mongolian to compose propitiation texts to Dorje Shugden. These include a torma offering prayer which supplicates the Dharma Protector to assist in the spread of the Dharma.
   

   OM! Magnificent Buddha of Shambhala,
   Ruler of the three worlds with a brilliant red face,
   Protectors of the most scholarly beings of Loseling,
   Including Dorje Shugden, please come here!

   I offer to you pleasing samaya substances which create harmony,
   Huge palaces, red tormas and white tormas,
   A mountain of flesh and an ocean-wide pile of bones
   And all the objects of desires.


   As you pleasingly and happily partake in these offerings,
   May it cause the increase of study, listening, contemplation and all virtues of theory and practice.
   I request you: Please increase conducive conditions and remove hostile circumstances,
   Guide us as we walk this path of wisdom and compassion.
   Please grant auspiciousness for all Sangha who uphold the three trainings!

   The 4^th Jetsun Dhampa was also a great master of the Kalachakra Tantra and it was he who first alluded to Shambhala being an abode of Dorje Shugden. Shambhala of course is central to the Kalachakra Tantra. It would be absurd to suggest that the Chakravartins or Enlightened Kings of Shambhala would share their abode with a minor demon. And yet that would be the only conclusion to arrive at if one were to believe the accounts served by anti-Dorje Shugden agitators such as Hunnu Mongol.

   Like the 1^st Jetsun Dhampa Zanabazar, the 4^th Jetsun Dhampa’s holy body was enshrined in an important Mongolian monastery, Amarbayasgalant, after his parinirvana. It is not surprising given Dorje Shugden’s historic stature that this deity is also one of the Dharma Protectors of this important Mongolian monastery.

3. The relationship between the Jetsun Dhampa Khutuktus and Dorje Shugden continued with the 8th Jetsun Dhampa Agvaanluvsanchoyjindanzanvaanchigbalsambuu. He would frequently consult the State Oracle, Choijin Lama Luvsankhaidav, who was also his brother. For divine proclamations and guidance, Choijin Lama would take trance of either Nechung, Tsiu Marpo or Dorje Shugden. This itself is evidence that Dorje Shugden was worshipped and well trusted by Mongolian Buddhist authorities. Furthermore, the 9^th Jetsun Dhampa Jambalnamdolchoyjijantsan was a devout student of H.H the 10^th Panchen Lama, H.H. Trijang Dorje Chang and H.H. Ling Dorje Chang, all of whom were the greatest masters of their time who worshipped Dorje Shugden.

Amarbayasgalant, one of Mongolia’s most important temples. Dorje Shugden is the main Dharma Protectors of this temple together with Setew, and Lkham.

Zaya Pandita

Zaya (Jaya) Pandita, who is without question a foundation of Mongolian Buddhism. Zaya Pandita saw the importance of preserving the legacy of his teacher, Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen and his arisal as Dorje Shugden.

It is through the eyes of the renowned Mongolian scholar Zaya Pandita Luvsanprinlei that we see how the Mongolian people historically regarded Dorje Shugden before Dharamsala poisoned the well. Zaya Pandita was a descendant of the great Genghis Khan and commanded a well-respected position amongst Mongolians.

A contemporary of the 1^st Jetsun Dhampa Khutuktu, Zaya Pandita was a disciple of the most prominent Tibetan Buddhist lamas of the time — the 4^th Panchen lama, the 5^th Dalai Lama and Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen. This accorded Zaya Pandita with first-hand opportunity to personally witness the events surrounding the murder of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen and the fierce efforts to strike his name from the annals of Tibetan Buddhist history.

Zaya Pandita recognized the great importance of preserving the life story and spiritual heritage of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen whom he regarded to be the holiest of beings. And towards that end, he composed Clear Mirror: A Records of Teachings Received (thob yig gsal ba’i me long).

Zaya Pandita’s writings are key to a recent dissertation by Dr Matthew W. King, Associate Professor of Transnational Buddhism and Chair of Asian Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, UCal. In his paper, Binding Buddhas and Demons to Text: The Mongol Invention of the Dorjé Shukden and Trülku Drakpa Gyeltsen Literary Corpus (1913 – 1919), Dr. King concludes that Mongolian spiritual history does not in fact support anti-Dorje Shugden narratives.

Excerpt from the paper “Binding Buddhas and Demons to Text: The Mongol Invention of the Dorjé Shukden and Trülku Drakpa Gyeltsen Literary Corpus (1913 – 1919)” by Dr Matthew W. King, Associate Professor of Transnational Buddhism and Chair of Asian Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, UCal. Click to enlarge or click here to download the complete PDF.

On the contrary, the Dorje Shugden practice was thriving in Mongolia about a hundred years before H.H. Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo was accused of roguishly sparking the propagation of the Shugden practice, which Dharamsala today views to be fundamentalist and violent.

Dr. King observed that Dorje Shugden was regarded as:
…the wellspring of abundances of [Mongolian] scholastic and political life.

And in addition, that Shugden was:
…very much included within [the] ranks of enlightened beings who helped fashion the Qing-Geluk world.

Other Great Mongolian Masters

Besides Zaya Pandita, the same paper by Dr King evinces historic Mongolian worship of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen as an enlightened monk and later in his form as the Protector Dorje Shugden. This worship was not of a casual kind by ordinary Mongolian Buddhists but by the spiritual heavyweights of the time.

Dr King cites the great Mongolian mahasiddha Zava Lam Damdin, who compiled Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s collected works and assembled the Dorje Shugden be-bum. Zava Lam Damdin was a master of such high caliber that he had very close ties with the 13^th Dalai Lama, and his writings including the Ninj Chimbiin Dodv and Khorchoenjun are regarded by the 14^th Dalai Lama to be important reference texts.

Zava Lam Damdin, a Mongolian Mahasiddha whose birthday is celebrated annually as an Mongolian Buddhist event, and was a key proponent of the Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen and Dorje Shugden lineage.

In the Collected Writings of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, Discovered in the Innermost Recesses of Dzaya Pandita’s Library and Newly Complied Under the Title Flower Earrings, Zava Lam Damdin composed a praise to Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen beseeching him to act on behalf of the Buddha’s teachings and sentient beings in his current form as Dorje Shugden.

Zava Lam Damdin was not alone in his zest to preserve Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s legacy.

Another Lama, Darva Pandita Agwangchoijurdondubbalsang facilitated Zava Lam Damdin’s Dorje Shugden related works by financing it, urged on by Zava Lam Damdin’s lama, Minjüürdorj.

In the meantime, Zava Lam Damdin sought transmission of Dorje Shugden rituals from Nyongne Tulku as a Khalkha narrative of Dorje Shugden as an enlightened being evolved beyond Tibetan control.

Dharamsala has claimed that the Dorje Shugden practice is the invention of an extreme and fanatical faction of the Gelug lineage. However, based on historical facts, it is clear that if there had been any invention, then that invention lies with the Tibetan leadership who has usurped a holy and legitimate Mongolian practice and turned it into an ideological weapon to serve a political objective.

Will Mongolians deny their own spiritual heritage?

While incitements such as that by Hunnu Mongol are based on absurdities, they nevertheless have the potential to undermine the foundations of Mongolian Buddhism. To believe Hunnu Mongol, the Mongolian people would essentially have to disown their own rich history.

1. The Mongolian people would have to denounce both the great saint Sakya Pandita and their own Godan Khan. Mongolian texts speak of how Godan Khan invited the founder of the Sakya lineage, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo to spread the Dharma in Mongolia but he was unable to fulfil that request.
    
   It was Sachen’s nephew, Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen who agreed to journey to Mongolia. There, he created the first Mongolian alphabet which allowed many precious Buddhist texts to be translated into Mongolian and paved the way for Buddhism to spread in the Mongolian steppes.
    
   Sakya Pandita was of course one of the past incarnations of the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden.
2. The Mongolian people would have to denounce Panchen Sonam Drakpa, another past incarnation of Dorje Shugden. It was the great Panchen Sonam Drakpa who recognized the first Mongolian, the great grandson of Altan Khan, to be the rightful 4^th Dalai Lama. That, without doubt bestowed tremendous prestige upon the institution of Mongolian Buddhism.
3. The Mongolian people would have to denounce the Jetsun Dhampa Khutuktu line of incarnations because the first, fourth and eighth Jetsun Dhampas were so closely connected with Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s lineage.
4. The Mongolian people would have to wipe out the legacy of Zaya Pandita, an undoubted fountainhead of Mongolian Buddhist scholasticism. It was Zaya Pandita after all who kept Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s legacy from disappearing from the face of the earth.
5. The Mongolian people would have to turn their backs on the Zava Lam Damdin line, both the past incarnation and the present Zava Damdin Rinpoche who are pillars of Mongolian Buddhism in the past and today.

Sogphu Rinpoche who is also known as Guru Deva Rinpoche, was vital in the reconstruction of the institution Tibetan Buddhism in India and Mongolia. He was a devout practitioner of Dorje Shugden.

6. The Mongolian people would have to deny Lama Lobsang Tamdin’s great works and his tremendous contribution to Mongolian Buddhism. Lobsang Tamdin authored key texts for the propitiation of Dorje Shugden and perpetuated the belief that Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s line of incarnations are emanations of Manjushri.
7. Lastly, the Mongolian people would have to turn their backs on Guru Deva Rinpoche, also known as Sogpu Rinpoche. Sogpu Rinpoche was recognized as an incarnation of one of the 84 Mahasiddhas and was extremely significant in the rebuilding of the Dalai Lama’s palace in India, the reconstruction of the three great Gelugpa monasteries of Ganden, Sera and Drepung in India, and also the restoration of temples and monk quarters in Mongolia after Buddhism was revived in the early 1990s.

All these great saints, enlightened beings and living pillars of Buddhism are precisely what the Mongolian people will need to rely on as they rebuild their nation and place it on strong grounds. And yet these pillars are precisely what Hunnu Mongol is indirectly asking the people to disown. Hunnu Mongol has very little at stake. He lives in Chicago, a very safe distance from the hostilities and tensions he is inciting. Therefore the Mongolian people owe it to themselves and to future generations to look beyond rhetoric and propaganda, and see the truth with clear eyes.

Since Lobsang Sangay is retiring, there will be a new Sikyong election in 2021, and one of the candidates is Kaydor Aukatsang. Kaydor Aukatsang is the former Dalai Lama’s representative to North America. It is exactly under his tenure that US$1.5 million disappeared from the Tibet Fund, allegedly used to purchase an unnecessary building. As the candidate backed by Lobsang Sangay, Kaydor Aukatsang stands a higher chance to be elected as the next Sikyong of CTA, and with his already tainted record in the office, the future of the exiled Tibetans is destined to spiral downwards with acceleration.

Kaydor Aukatsang, the former Dalai Lama’s representative to North America. Under his tenure, US$1.5mil disappeared from the Tibet Fund, allegedly used to purchase an unnecessary building.

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

 Tibetans are protesting their own exile government regime again!

By: Solaray Kusco

Tibetans are once again protesting against their corrupt government. The target of the current protests is Kaydor Aukatsang, the Dalai Lama’s former representative of North America. It was during Mr Aukatsang’s tenure that US$1.5mil was siphoned from the Tibet Fund in 2015.

The money was allegedly used to purchase a building that was deemed unnecessary by some longstanding and prominent supporters of the Tibetan cause. The transfer was also done in a manner that raised a lot of suspicions – from the Tibet Funds accounts, it was recorded as a “loans receivable” but it was never recorded in the accounts of the Tibetan Community Development Fund, who was supposed to have received the funds.

Later, Lobsang Sangay tried to doctor the accounts to change this amount’s status as a loan (which would need to be repaid) into a gift, going against proper accounting practices. This transaction and the attempted changes were uncovered by Aukatsang’s successor, Penpa Tsering, who was summarily dismissed from his post as a result of going public with this information.

Knowing that Aukatsang has been in cahoots with Lobsang Sangay all of this time to swindle US$1.5mil from the Tibetan people has led to a huge amount of anger towards the leadership. Wherever they have gone, they have been dogged by protests from people who were formerly in support of them.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Or watch on server | download video (right click & save file)

So while it can be disheartening for some to know that Tibetans protest over US$1.5mil, a comparatively paltry sum when other countries are dealing with amounts of much more, for others it is an encouraging sign to see a sustained campaign of speaking up against their own leadership. In the years gone past, it would have been unthinkable for any Tibetan to protest against the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), who are the Tibetan exiled leadership based in Dharamsala, North India. The CTA have always been known to be heavily suppressive of freedom of speech, and mete out harsh repercussions for those who dare raise issues against them. Now, it goes without saying that the anger of the people is not going away. It seems the Tibetans have been pushed too far, and are sick and tired of being lied to, used and tricked by their leadership; of being kept in an undignified, submissive refugee position to be exploited for contributions from unsuspecting donors; of being forced to exist on grants and donations given out of pity.

The sooner the Tibetan leadership recognizes that they may have gone too far with their people, the sooner they will be able to make amends for the latest mess they have created. As yet, the CTA has shown no interest in this, preferring instead to think of their people as gullible and so blindly devoted to His Holiness the Dalai Lama that they are unable to think for themselves. When you look at any videos of how Tibetan officials speak to their people, the arrogance is palpable.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Or watch on server | download video (right click & save file)

The entire debacle that has been created over the dismissal of just one government official also reflects poorly on the overall management and operations of the CTA. If they cannot handle something this small without it turning into a fiasco, how will they ever be able to manage anything higher? Meanwhile, the Chinese leadership deal with trillions in trade, keep the peace amongst hundreds of ethnic groups, and send their representatives around the world to present the new and modern face of China.

It has always been said that the CTA’s greatest foible is the fact it is staffed by self-serving individuals but perhaps it is time to consider an alternative scenario – the Tibetan leadership are staffed by people who are just plain incapable. From Losar (Tibetan New Year) gaffes, to making fun of the most powerful leader on earth and thereafter alienating him, perhaps this is not self-gain that we are witnessing but plain incapability to lead their people, or to do anything without turning it into a badly-handled, international embarrassment.

So the protests are an encouraging sign that the Tibetan community are finally waking up to the reality of their existence under an authoritarian regime. This is is a reality that Dorje Shugden practitioners have known only too well; 20 years ago, when an illegal ban was imposed on their practice in 1996, Shugden practitioners have since that time suffered from the CTA’s diktats and violent discrimination against them. But only time will tell if the leadership themselves also wake up to their own reality – that a dictatorship under which only they prospered is long gone – before it is too late.

Images of Tibetans Protesting
Against Their Leadership

Press Release from the protesting groups, detailing their position and specific grievances. Click to enlarge.

Press Release from the protesting groups, detailing their position and specific grievances. Click to enlarge.

Press Release from the protesting groups, detailing their position and specific grievances. Click to enlarge.

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

By: Shashi Kei

Earlier this year in September, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) celebrated its “60th anniversary of the birth of Tibetan democracy”. As expected, the Sikyong Lobsang Sangay delivered his typically high-sounding speech claiming, amongst other things, that the task is upon the shoulders of all Tibetans to “further strengthen our robust democracy”. Lobsang Sangay went on to say that “citizens are at the heart of democracy”.

Sangay claimed that every action of the Chinese government “mocks the values and principles of democracy”. This is a well-worn script that has drawn considerable support for the Tibetan cause and deflected attention to China’s perceived wrongs. 
But how has the CTA itself fared in terms of respecting democratic values and upholding the rights of its people?

When we scratch even lightly beneath the CTA’s veneer, we find disappointingly that even after 60 years of a so-called democratic governance, the Tibetan people under the CTA are still denied the most basic of freedoms; that is, the freedom of opinion and the freedom of speech.

The Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal controversy is the most recent exhibition of a bogus Tibetan democracy. Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal is a Tibetan lama of the Sakya tradition who has contributed significantly to the preservation of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He has also served as a member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile twice between 1994 and 2006.

In May this year, Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal voiced his disagreement and concerns over the Dalai Lama’s decision to give online religious empowerments and tantric teachings. It is worth noting that Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal was not alone on this matter. The CTA’s Religion and Culture Minister, Yuthok Karma Gelek, also issued a statement affirming that empowerments cannot be conferred online.

It is well established within the Tibetan Buddhist system that religious empowerments should only take place within a spiritually intimate environment, when the teacher and the students are physically present before each other and only after a master has assessed the recipient to be qualified.

Therefore, Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal’s opinion was not contrary to Tibetan Buddhist customs that have been upheld for centuries. The Dalai Lama himself has previously confirmed this view to be correct, for example, in this 1993 recording.

[VIDEO] The Dalai Lama proves
Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal is right

Or to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HroK14K1Q4E

Factually, Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal was correct and constitutionally, as a ‘citizen’ of the democratic Tibetan nation, he was also well within his rights to voice an opinion. This is provided for by Article 12 of the Tibetan Charter, the same constitutional document which is promulgated by the Tibetan leadership as the prime factor that sets the ‘democratic’ CTA apart from the communist regime of China.

However, as we have seen time and again, Tibetan democracy falls apart when tested. And today as it has been since feudal Tibet, it is not the Constitution that governs the people but the diktat of one person, the Dalai Lama. Whatever the Dalai Lama decides becomes law and it becomes a crime to disagree with the Dalai Lama.

Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal had but voiced his opinion over a spiritual matter, which happened to be correct. He had not broken any laws nor had he incited any unrest against the Tibetan government. Neither had he acted against the Tibetan people’s interest in any way. His only ‘crime’ was to disagree with the Dalai Lama about online empowerments.

In response to this, instead of being a responsible leadership which would aim to quell the people’s fury, the Tibetan Kashag (Cabinet) under Lobsang Sangay instead moved to fan the flames of public anger against their colleague. The Kashag issued a public statement condemning Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal, and pronounced his statements to be “derogatory” and “immensely regrettable…and wrong”. In issuing such a statement, the Kashag unleashed a torrent of ill-will against Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal and incited a chorus of vitriolic, violent condemnations of Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal by various Tibetan groups and associations. Tibetans around the world went into a frenzy, enraged that someone had dared to differ in opinion with the Dalai Lama. On various social media platforms, countless death threats and fatwas were issued against Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal.

Yuthok Karma Gelek, the CTA’s Religion and Culture Minister, also faced considerable hostility for his attempts to diffuse the situation.

Yuthok Karma Gelek, the CTA’s Religion and Culture Minister, also faced considerable hostility. The Minister had attempted to diffuse the dispute by explaining that Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal was merely being outspoken and that his statement was without any ill-intent. Clearly, it is also a serious violation to be sympathetic towards someone who disagrees with the Dalai Lama.

A few days later, in the face of such attacks, Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal issued an apology to the Dalai Lama. In his statement, Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal revealed that he received “scoldings” for his opinion, and was made to promise to never again criticize online teachings and empowerments.

In other words, Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal was bullied into submission. So whilst Lobsang Sangay spoke about a “robust democracy”, how can there be a democracy, let alone a robust one, if no Tibetan is allowed to have any views other than that which the Tibetan leadership permits? And how can true Tibetan democracy be established if the CTA treats its own Constitution as nothing more than a bait to dupe the global community into supporting its political agenda?

The Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal controversy exposes a number of facts about the Tibetan leadership:

1. ‘Tibetan democracy’ is a complete swindle. Real democracies aspire to empower the voices of its people, not seek to muzzle them with intimidation and incitement of hatred against anyone who dares to have a different opinion to the governing elite. And yet, this is precisely how the Tibetan leadership has been operating.
2. The rule of law remains whatever the Dalai Lama decides, or whatever the CTA decides in the name of the Dalai Lama. It becomes a crime to disagree with the Tibetan establishment. And while there are no laws that the Tibetan leadership can invoke to punish a man for having dissenting opinions, the same Tibetan leadership has long mastered the art of whipping the Tibetan populace into becoming a lynch mob and unleashing them against those the leadership declare to be enemies of the people. It is a tactic the Tibetan leadership has used successfully especially in exile, especially against the practice of the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden. So, while there is no doubt that China has politicized religion, in essence, there is no difference between a communist regime using religion as a tool and a feudal theocracy doing the same. In both cases, the Tibetan people and the Buddhist religion become victims.
3. The Dalai Lama can do as he pleases including overriding centuries-old traditions. As seen in the 1993 video footage above, the Dalai Lama says that empowerments are only for those qualified, and that there has to be a period of time when the teacher assesses if the recipient of the empowerment is suitable. And yet, the Dalai Lama can casually dismiss such important and sacred religious principles. It is clear that there are no safeguards to protect against the spontaneous and unilateral disruption of long-standing traditions that have preserved Tibetan Buddhism over time. We see this habit in the way the Dalai Lama became involved with the recognition and enthronement of the 17th Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu lineage, and in the way the Dalai Lama unilaterally declared the practice of Dorje Shugden to be illegal. In both cases, the Dalai Lama’s actions ruptured the Tibetan community both in exile and in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and till this day, the Tibetan nation of people remains divided.

The sad reality is that the Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal controversy is not unique. It is merely the most recent witness to the Tibetan leadership’s intolerance of anything that does not toe its line. While Lobsang Sangay globe-trots giving eloquent speeches about how the Tibetan people are fighting for freedom, it is the Tibetan leadership that is suppressing freedom. The Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal incident also reveals how fragmented the Tibetan nation is, and how easily and quickly the Tibetan people turn on each other. This too is the work of the CTA that has cultivated a culture of division and suspicion amongst its own people. As long as this culture persists, the Tibetan cause will continue to slip into oblivion, and with it, the purity of Tibetan Buddhism.

[TIBET SUN] Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal criticises
Dalai Lama for online teachings

Click to enlarge (Source: https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2020/05/28/tulku-orgyen-topgyal-criticises-dalai-lama-for-online-teachings)

[TIBET SUN] Tulku Orgyen Tobgyal apologises to
Dalai Lama for criticising online teachings

Click to enlarge (Source: https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2020/05/31/tulku-orgyen-tobgyal-apologises-to-dalai-lama-for-criticising-online-teachings)

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

Hate Crimes

When we consider how the earth’s resources are dwindling quickly, how wars have plagued mankind for centuries, how incurable diseases have become more virulent and how melting Arctic ice threatens to destroy vast habitable lands, we may begin to understand that there is more that binds human beings together than separates them. Humankind is fragile and increasingly so in such a dangerous climate, and there is now a desperate need for the people of the world to come together and try to turn things around. However, before we can even hope to fix the problems looming before us, there is one thing we must get command of – our mentality.

Everything we do is determined by our minds and thoughts, and therefore what shapes our thinking is something we must all watch, to ensure that it is the kind of thinking that leads to solving problems not creating new ones. There has never been a more important time in history to foster thoughts that promote solidarity and peace and the creation of an environment where reasoning, logic and rationality pervades. And the bedrock for this culture of reasoning and logic leading to peaceful coexistence, is ‘tolerance’.

Unfortunately, as progressive nations of the world gather to take steps that foster peaceful, inclusive societies, there are those who have chosen instead to cultivate extremism. One example of this is how the Russian people seem to have become more intolerant towards gays and lesbians. A recent news piece published by an online site for the LBGTI community reported that nearly half of Russians polled said that the Russian authorities should take steps to ‘exterminate the phenomenon’ of gay people in the community, meaning to say that the Russian authorities should persecute people with ‘untraditional’ sexual orientations. The same news report revealed that the percentage of people who did not care about other people’s sexual orientation has dropped from 10 years ago; and at the same time there is an increase in the percentage of those who regard members of the LBGTI community dangerous and should be isolated and dealt with.

An anti-gay activist disrupts a gay event in St. Petersburg

Corresponding to this report, there has been an increase in incidences of gay people being assaulted, beaten and even murdered at record rates. If anyone wonders how this ill-will towards the gay community has come about, the answer is very simple – it is state-sponsored. In 2013, Russian lawmakers proposed an anti-gay law that essentially strips same-sex couples of their parental rights in conjunction with a myriad of other draconian laws that essentially rob a gay person of his legal rights.

This is essentially a reversal of the decriminalization of homosexual relationships in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union, which saw Russia taking small but assured steps towards liberalization. That is, until the openly homophobic Vladimir Putin assumed the Russian presidency in 2000. It is no coincidence that in the 15 years that Putin has been in power, negative sentiments and hate-crimes against the LBGTI community have risen. Clearly a government does effectively shape the mentality of the community and can effectively influence it towards a culture of tolerance or intolerance.

But Putin is not the only perpetrator of hate crimes against people based on their sexual orientation, race, color, nationality or religion. We see the same vicious intolerance being practiced, ironically, by the government of a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the 14th Dalai Lama.

In 1996, for reasons that have never been adequately explained, the Dalai Lama all but outlawed the practice of Dorje Shugden, a Tibetan Buddhist deity held sacred by the majority of the Yellow Hat sect, the Gelugpas, to which the Dalai Lama is also an adherent. Following the Dalai Lama’s pronouncement, monks and laypeople who had kept up the monastic and familial tradition of propitiating Dorje Shugden for over three centuries, were forced to make the unenviable choice of either denouncing the deity as a demon or face expulsion from the monasteries and ostracization from the community. Neither was a palatable choice. To denounce a deity and abandon the practice bestowed onto the practitioner by his spiritual teacher is to commit karmic suicide. Neither can they as refugees live away from the settlements allocated them.

Soon after the Dalai Lama’s diktat, his ‘government’ the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) declared a jihad against Shugden Buddhists, stating amongst other things:

“…that the departments, their branches and subsidiaries, monasteries and their branches that are functioning under the administrative control of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile should be strictly instructed, in accordance with the rules and regulations, not to indulge in the propitiation of Shugden. We would like to clarify that if individual citizens propitiate Shugden, it will harm the common interest of Tibet, the life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and strengthen the spirits that are against the religion.”

At the same time, the Cabinet of the CTA declared,

“…The inclination of this spirit is to harm, rather than benefit, the cause of Tibet. However, some people have continued to propitiate Dolgyal [derogatory name given to Dorje Shugden, meaning spirit], either because they failed to appreciate the threat it poses to the Tibetan cause or because they have decided to disregard it. There are yet others who not only propitiate Dolgyal themselves, but also actively encouraged others to follow suit. This has impaired the sacred relationship between the people of Tibet and their protector-deities. Today, this is one of the greatest dangers to the cause of Tibet and the life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama…”

In essence, the CTA had declared practitioners of a benign and compassionate deity to be enemies of the Tibetan people wishing their beloved Dalai Lama an early death. Both Putin and the Dalai Lama have clearly imposed their personal prejudices onto the people and forced their compliance. The difference is, the Dalai Lama’s CTA, as a beneficiary of asylum, is not regarded as a proper government and therefore does not possess the legal and administrative tools that it can bend to serve its will. The CTA does not have law enforcement forces nor penal facilities that it could use against Shugden worshipers. And so, it leveraged instead on the unquestioned authority of the Dalai Lama as the Tibetan people’s God-King to turn the people against the population of Shugden Buddhists that it had declared to be the enemy.

While Vladimir Putin persecutes Russians based on their sexual orientation, the 14th Dalai Lama attacks Shugden Buddhists for their beliefs

This strategy proved more effective than Putin’s in a few ways:

• First, it turned the populace of the Tibetan settlements into mobs that are free to do as they wish without having to remain within the confines of legality.
• Second, the CTA, by not having and therefore not using state-owned facilities to violently punish its victims, found itself outside the ambit of Amnesty International and other international human rights bodies who, by their governing charter, could only act on governments and regimes.

Hence, eventually when the Shugden community organized itself and filed a complaint to Amnesty International, AI responded by stating that whilst it had received large amounts of complaints, it could not act as the material it received did not “fall within AI’s mandate for action — such as grave violations of fundamental human rights including torture, the death penalty, extra-judicial executions, arbitrary detention or imprisonment, or unfair trials”. Clearly, for AI to intervene, state vehicles and systems need to have been involved but in the case of Shugden practitioners, the violence and persecutions took place in the streets and in homes, inflicted by Tibetans against their own, spurred on by their government. However, there is no question that it is the Dalai Lama’s war executed by his government declared on a segment of the Tibetan people because he dislikes of their choice of deity.

The sufferings of these victims cannot be underestimated as vigilante groups formed to conduct door-to-door searches for Shugden practitioners, smashing statues of the deity as they found them and punishing his worshippers. During the early days of the ban, a Tibetan parliamentarian who questioned the credibility of the reasons given for the ban was stabbed outside his home. Homes belonging to worshippers of this deity were padlocked from the outside, stoned and then set on fire. An octogenarian monk who served in the household of a prominent Dorje Shugden lama was attacked.

More recently, it was reported that a Tibetan man was attacked just for wearing a pendant with the image of Dorje Shugden. Private businesses denied service to those suspected to be Shugden worshippers and government hospitals forbade Shugden practitioners from entering to receive medical treatment. The CTA casually amended its constitution to block the appointment of Shugden practitioners into governmental positions. Anyone with Shugden practitioners in the family would similarly be denied employment in anything the CTA controlled.

This 84 year old monk was attacked for being a Dorje Shugden practitioner. These hate crimes follow the anti-Shugden sentiments promoted by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA)

Just as Putin’s government likened homosexuality to alcoholism and drug addiction, CTA officials compared being a Shugden worshipper to disease.

When privately owned restaurants and stores carry signs that say the Dholgyal worshippers are not welcome, then that is the freedom of the owners. That is their Fundamental Human Rights. […] Let alone that, in the hospitals, people infected with contagious diseases are quarantined and not allowed to meet with other people.- Samdhong Rinpoche, former Prime Minister of the Central Tibetan Administration, 26 July 2014, India.

Soon, it was a crime even to have Shugden practitioners as friends. Later on, fearing that anti-Shugden hatred might lose traction, especially after the Dalai Lama was seen to be celebrating one birthday after another despite the “Dalai Lama-killing-Shugden-practice” prevailing, the CTA changed tack and claimed that Shugden practitioners were in fact paid ‘agents’ of the enemy Chinese government. That riled the Tibetan people even more and enrolled all those who had sympathized with the Tibetan people’s loss into anti-Shugden campaigns. How exactly a religious practice that preceded the Sino-Tibetan conflict by some three centuries can be equated to political activism has never been explained.

There are many similarities between Putin’s scorn of homosexuals and the Dalai Lama’s despise of Dorje Shugden practitioners. However, in many ways, the Dalai Lama’s campaign is far more sinister. Whilst it cannot be said that Putin introduced hatred against gay people into the Russian people’s minds, it CAN be said that the CTA planted the seeds of malignance towards Dorje Shugden worshippers in the minds of the Tibetan people, when there was none to begin with. This is, after all, a religion that had been practiced peacefully for 360 years without incident until the Dalai Lama decided that Dorje Shugden was a viable target for persecution. And worst of all, whilst it is clear that there are willful acts of violence and discrimination against worshippers of this deity, the language of the CTA’s official resolutions justify such criminality as acts of loyalty in defense of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan cause.

Both the Dalai Lama and CTA attempt to deny that Dorje Shugden practitioners are being systemically persecuted. Although the CTA has acknowledged that Shugden people are being harassed and discriminated against, the CTA contends that these are acts of individuals and not the policy of the government. If this is true, then it is surprising that the Dalai Lama, who has cultivated an image of peace and tolerance and has travelled the world advocating dialogue and acceptance of different religions, has not once spoken against the abuse and aggression directed at Shugden practitioners as a result of his government’s proclamations. On the contrary, he was heard congratulating monasteries that had wrongfully expelled monks simply because they were practitioners of the deity.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Neither has the CTA intervened to mollify anti-Dorje Shugden sentiments. Instead they remain the only government in the world that has purposefully allocated space on their official website to publish anti-Dorje Shugden propaganda material.

There is yet another aspect to the Shugden persecutions. The Dalai Lama represents a valuable asset to both India and Western nations who are eager to curb the rising influence of China as a world economic power. So, whilst global human rights groups have voiced their concerns over the plight of the gay population in Russia, those who could have intervened to alleviate the suffering of Tibetan Shugden people have stayed mum over the tragedy. As the old adage goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The interests of these nations in such a high-stakes geopolitical play demands their complicity, and the misery of Dorje Shugden practitioners is dismissed as acceptable attrition. So it looks like we have to wait a while yet before we can (to paraphrase Martin Luther King) judge a person not by the color of his skin, or his race, nationality, sexual orientation or religion, but by the content of his character.

Meanwhile we continue to live in a world suffocated with farcicality, prejudice, bias, distortions, lies, deceptions, manipulations, short-sightedness, close-mindedness, righteousness and superficiality. So, what is it like to be a gay person living in Russia? Well, just like a Shugden Buddhist living under the Dalai Lama, it means to be silent, to be afraid, and to not expect the same rights that world wars have been fought to protect.

Disclaimer: This article was submitted by a third party author and does not necessarily reflect the official opinion of DorjeShugden.com. We accept submissions from the public, please send in your articles to ds@dorjeshugden.com.

How much has Sikyong Lobsang Sangay received over the years that is undeclared, unaccounted for, and untracked? Has all of the financial contributions reached their intended recipients i.e. the Tibetan people? Who really knows?

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

By: Kay Beswick

Although it attempts to function as a democratic governing body, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA; the Tibetan leadership based in Dharamsala) is in actuality a privately-funded administration that derives most, if not all, of its income from government grants and private donors all over the world. A large portion of these funds is received and channelled through non-governmental organisations (NGO). One such NGO is the Tibet Fund, whose stated mission is to “preserve the distinct cultural and national identity of the Tibetan people”.

Since 1981, and under the patronage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibet Fund has been a primary funding organization for programs which are touted to benefit the Tibetan refugees living in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Not only does the Tibet Fund receive the bulk of its income from US federal grants, but as a 501(c)(3) organisation, this non-profit organisation is also exempt from some federal income taxes.

While it all sounds very impressive from the outside, over the years, the Tibetan leadership has in fact faced many accusations of financial misappropriation and mismanagement. More often than not, these accusations involve the “power players” at the many institutions built around the Dalai Lama and the “Free Tibet” movement. Most recently for example, The Guardian reported that the Dalai Lama’s “personal emissary” Tenzin Dhonden had been suspended over corruption claims. This follows news last year that one of the Dalai Lama’s closest allies, Lodi Gyari and his son-in-law Phakchok Rinpoche were implicated in a money laundering scandal. They had even had their accounts frozen.

Penpa Tsering, the former donjo (Dalai Lama’s representative) of North America who was dismissed from his post for asking too many questions about the US$1.5 million loan, and for trying to hold the Sikyong accountable for the expenditure.

Evidently news of these financial discrepancies have reached the American leadership. It may be one of the reasons why the United States shocked the Tibetan leadership in March this year, proposing a 2018 budget which saw a substantial cut in American government’s aid to Tibet. It is a situation that appears to be irreversible considering US President Donald Trump’s total lack of interest in meeting with any Tibetan representatives. Why does the Tibetan leaders still depend on free money handouts from US and other governments? Why can’t they produce their own money and stop being so parasitic after being independent for 60 years in democratic India? Why talk so big when they have no money of their own? How many more years does the governments of the free world need to still donate in the millions to the Tibetan leadership? What does the Tibetan leadership give back in return for the generous billions they have siphoned from various governments, private organizations and donations? Why does any government in the free world even need to donate to the Tibetan leadership?

To make things worse, in the past week, political rivalry between two Tibetan leaders exploded into the public eye. Sikyong (Prime Minister) Lobsang Sangay and Penpa Tsering have been bickering since the 2016 Sikyong campaign. When Penpa Tsering lost and, as a consolation prize, was assigned to be the donjo (Dalai Lama’s representative) in North America, everyone thought this new cushy diplomatic post signalled an end to their rivalry. At least, until this week when their spat blew up again, leading to Penpa Tsering being summarily dismissed from his post on 7th November. It came not long after Penpa Tsering alleged financial discrepancy at The Office of Tibet in Washington D.C. which Phayul (see attached article) calls “loan-gate”.

This begs the following questions:

• If Lobsang Sangay and Penpa Tsering can fight tooth and nail over the status of a “mere” US$1.5 million loan, what else are they fighting about?
• For most governments around the world who earn in the billions, US$1.5 million is an insignificant amount. Yet the Tibetan leaders make such a huge fuss over it, which reflects the narrow-mindedness and low level of governance. And if the government cannot keep track of such an amount, how will they ever be able to govern or administer anything bigger? What else has the CTA lost track of, if they can bicker and argue over this amount?
• US$1.5 million is the amount audited by external auditors as a loan, which Lobsang Sangay insists is an amount that the Tibet Fund contributed and did not expect to be paid back. The fact Lobsang Sangay is trying to change the status of this money from a loan to contribution should concern all Tibetans, especially since Lobsang Sangay moved to dismiss Penpa Tsering once he began asking questions about the CTA’s finances. If “only” US$1.5 million led to Penpa Tsering’s dismissal, what else is being hidden that no one else knows about? How much other funds have been conveniently shuffled around and reassigned in the last few decades, that no one has asked questions about, audited or been held accountable for? The US$1.5 million must be only the tip of a financial scandal iceberg which is much, much, much larger.

The moral of this story for the US government and the many charity trusts and individuals who contribute to the “Tibet cause” is to be wary and hold back contributions until everything is properly investigated and explained, not leaving any stone unturned. The Tibetan public and the concerned donors who gave their financial support to the Tibetans deserve nothing less than this.

PHAYUL: Case No. 20 sees its first witness on the $1.5 million “loan” issue

Click to enlarge (Source: http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=41650)

PHAYUL: NA rep. row depends with ‘loan-gate’ while Kashag cites trust, performance deficit

Click to enlarge (Source: http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=39815)

TIBETAN JOURNAL: Does Kashag Ousting Representative Penpa Tsering Land Upon $1.5 Million?

Click to enlarge (Source: http://www.tibetanjournal.com/index.php/2017/11/16/kashag-ousting-north-america-representative/)

The audited accounts of the Tibet Fund shows a loan of US$1.5 million. This has appeared in their accounts since the year end 2015 as a “loans receivable”. Why is the Sikyong Lobsang Sangay trying to get this changed to a gift or contribution? As per US government laws, these documents are available in the public domain for download.

The Tibet Fund’s audited accounts notes confirms that the said US$ 1.5 million loan was provided to the Tibetan Community Development Fund. There is no denying that the US$1.5 million was a loan and yet Sikyong Lobsang Sangay’s instruction to treat it as a gift goes against proper accounting practice. As per US government laws, these documents are available in the public domain for download.

As recently as last year, the Tibet Fund’s accounts still reflect the said US$ 1.5 million loan. As per US government laws, these documents are available in the public domain for download.

Tenzin Peljor, also known as Tenpel, was recently expelled from an event celebrating the Dalai Lama’s birthday. It was being held at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK) where Tenpel was hiding out to escape lawsuits in Germany. ILTK is a branch of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) which, in spite of its founder’s reliance on Dorje Shugden, has in the last two decades been vitriolic and vehement in its attack and suppression of Dorje Shugden practitioners. Tenpel, who was paid by the Tibetan leadership to do similar things, was hiding out with them until recently.

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

By: Shashi Kei

Anyone who is familiar with the sufferings of Dorje Shugden Buddhists due to the Tibetan leadership’s unlawful and immoral religious ban, will be aware of the name Tenzin Peljor, otherwise more commonly known as Tenpel. Tenpel is known by a few other names such as Michael Jäckel and Mick Jackman, and this is not taking into consideration his many fake and anonymous social media names such as Newqinni (Newqn) which he uses to make bogus and disparaging comments on various online sites, set up to specifically attack Dorje Shugden practitioners. Tenpel also uses these fake accounts to create dialogue in the comment section of his own blog posts, to give the impression that there is interest in what he has to say and to steer public discussion in a particular way.

Snake in the grass

While genuine and sincere Buddhist monks occupy themselves with studies, debates, meditation, contemplation and practices, serving their teachers and monasteries, teaching, writing, working the fields and in kitchens, up-keeping their teachers’ households, and finding means and sponsorship to pay the monastery expenses, Tenpel has gained notoriety for operating a blog that targets Buddhist teachers and centers with harsh and disparaging remarks aimed at discrediting them and undermining their works. Tenpel himself has no Dharma center nor does he teach or publish books or undertake anything that uplifts the Dharma.

That a Buddhist monk should focus on such a destructive vocation speaks volumes of Tenpel’s character and calls into question the authenticity of his monkhood. Tenpel dedicates himself to being a character assassin, engaging in agitprop which he learned when he was in the now defunct East German Communist army. Over time Tenpel honed his skills in disinformation campaigns and offensive propaganda. While this is not considered right livelihood or proper conduct for a monk, after a while it became clear even to Tenpel that this would be his only way of getting recognition, some semblance of respect, and how he would stand out. Given the high calibre of scholarship that the Gelugpa is known for, Tenpel must have been painfully aware that he doesn’t stand a chance to shine even remotely. After all, with the opinion of many people Tenpel’s sole motivation in blogging, being a paid informant of the CTA, being pro-Dalai Lama, and creating many blogs was in order to be recognized as some sort of Buddhist teacher-scholar and basically to bring attention to someone whose life has amounted to nothing. Sadly, Tenpel has not accomplished much in his life and has hopscotched from one lama and tradition to another finding fault in them where there were none. This shows his unstable character and his demoralizing hard-work towards fame and recognition. True that Tenpel’s aspirations are not very monkly at all, hence he has lost much support at least in the internet domain. Still, his unsavory trade is useful to the politically-motivated segments within Tibetan Buddhism who seek ways to advance their personal agendas.

Tenpel was hired to engage in a campaign of fear and intimidation against Dorje Shugden practitioners. At one point, he was caught photographing Dorje Shugden protestors. These photographs later ended up on the CTA’s hit list of protestors so that Tibetans knew who to violently target as revenge for these individuals protesting against the ban. This was a clear violation of the protestors’ rights to privacy, and to freedom of thought, expression, assembly and religious practice.

And so when the Dalai Lama’s Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) launched its persecution of Dorje Shugden Buddhists, Tenpel readily availed himself to Lobsang Sangay and Dhardon Sharling, the then-Secretary of the CTA’s Department of Information and International Relations which is charged with delivering their propaganda. Acting as a CTA operative, Tenpel was engaged to destroy the reputation of Dorje Shugden lamas and practitioners. This move was vital to the CTA since there was never any basis for the ancient practice of Dorje Shugden to be banned. Hence the CTA needed Tenpel to create a propaganda campaign similar to that which allowed the US to invade Iraq, depose Saddam Hussein and take over the country. The plot Tenpel executed to demonize Dorje Shugden by accusing Shugden Buddhists to be anti-Buddhist Chinese agents, is akin to the US campaign that misled the world into believing that Iraq was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This in turn legitimized American aggression against another sovereign nation. By the time the truth became known, Saddam Hussein was already dead and Iraq lay in ruins, under the control of its annexer, the United States of America.

As part of his tactic, Tenpel recruited ex-members of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) who were disgruntled for one reason or another with their previous teachers and Dharma centers. A host of social media sites were formed, under the cloak of anonymity to spread false information about Dorje Shugden. Tenpel was partially successful in his endeavors, aided by the CTA that paved the way for him to form a casual connection with the Dalai Lama’s Office, sufficient as an incentive for Tenpel to recruit a crew and teams of social media trolls to ignore laws governing religious freedom, and defame and demonize members of another faith.

Tenpel is particularly interested in leveraging those with deep-seated resentment due to unresolved personal issues and harnessing that resentment against Dorje Shugden. But clearly, Tenpel does not feel that he owes these minions even the most basic ounce of allegiance and has been known to expose them voluntarily in order to save himself. One clear example was when he very quickly gave up one of his recruits, a Lobsang Nyima, when the forensic trail got too close to him.

An unholy alliance

Lama Olé Nydahl with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje. Lama Olé launched defamations suit against Tenzin Peljor, who fled to Italy instead of remaining in Germany to defend the statements he had made about Lama Olé. Hardly the actions of an innocent man.

Tenpel has not limited his slandering of Buddhist lamas to Dorje Shugden practitioners. In 2018, Tenpel pushed his luck too far when he defamed a Kagyu lama, Lama Olé Nydahl. Tenpel was slapped with defamation suits but instead of staying to defend himself (as one would if they believed their criticisms of another person had basis), he fled to Italy instead. Tenpel was offered sanctuary by the Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (ILTK), which is a branch of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) headed by Lama Zopa.

The FPMT is one of the main protagonists of the Dalai Lama and CTA’s persecutions of Dorje Shugden Buddhists. It is also the base of Dagri Rinpoche, an FPMT figurehead who has recently been arrested and charged for a sex offense, and is currently being prosecuted by the Indian government. He is also the subject of multiple accusations for having sexually molested ordained nuns against their will. Dagri Rinpoche is also attached to the Dalai Lama’s Office and is a useful link between the FPMT and the Dalai Lama.

Like Tenpel, FPMT carries out the CTA’s attacks on Dorje Shugden followers. Therefore it is not surprising that FPMT would harbor Tenpel when he is avoiding the reach of the law and justice. Quite ironically, Lama Yeshe, one of the most steadfast Dorje Shugden monks in modern history, founded FPMT. However, after Lama Yeshe’s passing, FPMT quickly abandoned its own spiritual roots to become the main apologist for the Dalai Lama’s religious politics. In Tibetan Buddhist circles, it is well-known that willingness to become an instrument of the Dalai Lama’s political objectives is the fastest way to achieve acclaim for those who regard Buddhism as a trade.

However, hiding out in the ILTK did not help Tenpel in the end. Lama Olé Nydahl’s lawyers managed to secure court injunctions compelling Tenpel to respond to the legal suits at which point, Tenpel swiftly instructed his lawyers to negotiate a settlement. Surely, this is not indicative of someone who believes in what he writes and the allegations he makes in his blog posts against innocent victims of his character assassinations. Tenpel’s cowardice in running away to Italy and then quickly seeking a settlement with Lama Olé raises questions about the legitimacy of the many claims he makes on his blog.

It was recently discovered that FPMT has been involved in the cover-up of Dagri’s sexual offenses for a decade. Now, FPMT’s treatment of Tenpel has pushed observers to comment that FPMT is like a cult, expelling members who dare question what is happening within the organization. Click to enlarge.

Then there is FPMT that has demonstrated its lack of hesitation in shielding and protecting the corrupt and the immoral. Instead of making sure that a confirmed sex offender like Dagri Rinpoche is exposed so that innocent people are not harmed, FPMT defends his sexual abuses and justifies them as the actions of a high being. In fact, FPMT have known about his abuse for as long as a decade but rather than ban him from their organization, they have instead promoted him all over the world, encouraging FPMT branches to invite him to their centers, thereby exposing him to more potential victims. In addition, FPMT has shamelessly gagged any discussions about Dagri and calls for him to be investigated.

Showing true colors

Instead of making sure that justice is done for those who have been harmed by Tenpel’s malicious lies, FPMT offers him shelter. While this may be shocking, it should not be – if FPMT can promote a recognized sex offender like Dagri, is their protection of Tenpel all that surprising? Similarly, it is not shocking given how FPMT has had no qualms dishonoring their own spiritual father, Lama Yeshe, by disowning his practice of Dorje Shugden. However, with such an unholy alliance, it was only a matter of time before such depraved collusion unraveled and it happened when Tenpel was forced to take a stance on the Dagri issue.

Not even his employer Lobsang Sangay’s presence at ILTK’s celebrations for the Dalai Lama’s birthday was enough to save Tenpel from being publicly expelled from the event.

Tenpel has portrayed himself as a self-appointed Buddhist police. As such it would be incongruous with the image he has created of himself if he had remained silent on Dagri’s sexual abuses, especially when there are such vibrant discussions on the social media. On the other hand, to take a stance against Dagri is tantamount to biting the hand that has been feeding him, which is FPMT. Remaining true to his disloyal nature and choosing to protect the image he has shaped over the years over his supposed “spiritual home”, Tenpel hosted a petition calling for Dagri to be investigated on his infamous blog. Over and over again, he has contacted and rallied various Buddhist teachers and personalities to sign and support the petition against FPMT, which he then gleefully announces.

A senior FPMT member Fabrizio Pallotti has been one of Dagri Rinpoche’s most staunch defenders, claiming that news of Dagri Rinpoche’s sexual abuse has been fabricated (although Dagri Rinpoche has already been arrested and charged by Indian police). It has been claimed that it was Pallotti who masterminded the humiliation and expulsion of Tenpel.

The Dagri episode proved to be the point of polarity between Tenpel’s egocentricity and FPMT’s self-interest, and so FPMT decided to punish him. During recent celebrations of the Dalai Lama’s 84th birthday held at the ILTK, Tenpel was already seated when he was unceremoniously ejected from the assembly, causing him great embarrassment especially given the fact that among the VIPs was Lobsang Sangay whom Tenpel had gone to great lengths to impress. In the words of an FPMT old guard, the episode was intended to be a public humiliation of Tenpel and to send a message that he was no longer welcome at the ILTK. A letter from the manager of Takden Shedrub Dargye Ling, the residence for monks attending courses at ILTK, has surfaced confirming that he has not met the requirements of ILTK’s Masters program he was enrolled into. The same letter also reveals that Tenpel used his supposed studies as a front for his subterfuge work and justification to claim free board and lodging from the ILTK. The fact his expulsion came at the hands of FPMT’s senior members makes it difficult for Tenpel to ever be welcomed back in FPMT again. Unless FPMT finds his skills in vice activities to be useful again, then he will be invited back which could be soon! Basically he’s been humiliated and it shows FPMT’s true feelings towards Tenpel. 

Letter addressed to Tenzin Peljor, asking him to leave the facility as he has failed to meet the requirements of the ILTK Masters program and has been taking advantage of their institution for more than a year and a half. It also mentions that his blog and online activities have created disharmony in the community.

It has been said that Tenpel’s humiliation was masterminded by the disrobed former monk Fabrizio Pallotti. Pallotti plotted and planned with another senior FPMT member, Massimo Corona who now claims to be regretful of his actions and places responsibility for the incident squarely on Pallotti’s shoulders. So much for loyalty. Regardless of Corona’s excuses and apologies, the fact remains that he still participated in the very public expulsion of Tenpel. Interestingly, Pallotti has been one of Dagri Rinpoche’s more vocal defenders online; despite Dagri Rinpoche already in appearing in court, Pallotti continues to claim that he is innocent and all of the charges against him are made up. That is to say, Pallotti is complicit in and involved with the cover-up of Dagri’s abuse of FPMT members, and therein lies the source of his conflict with Tenpel and his petition.

Tenpel’s treatment by the old guards of FPMT is a slap to his face. It is confirmation that the Tibetan Buddhist establishment does not hold him in high regard nor does he have very much power or standing anywhere. It is also an attestation to the fact that Tenpel does not even remotely come close to being in the shadows of the CTA or the Dalai Lama’s inner circles despite having carried out the most vicious attacks on Shugden lamas at the behest of the Tibetan leaders. To them, he was simply a paid mercenary who is now isolated and abandoned; even the presence of his employer, Lobsang Sangay, was not enough to prevent his humiliating expulsion.

Sean Jones refers to the current FPMT leadership as “Buddhist Taliban”, saying they suppress anyone who dares to think, act, do or say differently from the organization’s leaders. Many years ago, the same label was directed at Dorje Shugden practitioners in an unfounded attempt to paint them as violent and archaic. How ironic that FPMT, whose members were very vocal in supporting the suppression of Shugden practitioners, is now being accused of similar behavior. Click to enlarge.

Ironically, this is the same situation he has forced many innocent Dorje Shugden followers into when he falsely charged them to be anti-Dharma, anti-Dalai Lama, anti-Tibetan cause and, on top of that, paid Chinese agents. As for FPMT, they have shown their true colors. That they would rather expel someone calling for an investigation into Dagri, rather than initiate it to protect Dagri’s victims, clearly indicates the distinct lack of spirituality, compassion or wisdom at the highest levels. Nor is the FPMT known for its gratitude; they have been known to cold shoulder generous sponsors such as Sean Jones Esq who not only aided the organization financially when it needed help but was also an effective member of the Directorship who pushed for the FPMT to be run professionally and ethically. Their actions have prompted members of the public to comment that FPMT is an intolerant cult, with an ex-FPMT director even referring to it as being the Buddhist Taliban, the exact label forced upon Dorje Shugden worshipers by the sycophants of the Tibetan leadership.

And so after decades of collaborating to harangue, harass, berate, discriminate and persecute other people on the basis of their faith, it seems karma is finally catching up, seeing an end to the unholy love affair that is Tenpel and FPMT.

MEDIA

It was announced on Facebook by Sean Jones, a senior member of FPMT, that Tenzin Peljor had been expelled from the pujas celebrating His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday.

Sean Jones, a senior student at FPMT, writes that a monk was expelled from the Masters program at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy. Click to enlarge.

Senior FPMT member Sean Jones calls the current FPMT leadership “the Buddhist Taliban”. In this screenshot, more details are also given about the public humiliation of Tenzin Peljor, including who was involved in enforcing the expulsion. Click to enlarge.

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

By: Shashi Kei

Background

In 2014, the Dalai Lama’s supporters published a book entitled Opening the Eye of Discernment: A Golden Key (The Golden Key) as part of the campaign to discredit Dorje Shugden. The Golden Key is an attempt to rewrite Tibetan Buddhist history because Dorje Shugden has been hailed as a Buddha in the Sakya and the Gelug lineages, and also attracted worshippers from the Nyingma and sub-sects of the Kagyu, but this book tries to portray a different picture.

In 2019, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), which has been at the forefront of anti-Dorje Shugden activities, published an English translation of The Golden Key. The translation was written by Gavin Kilty, a senior member of the FPMT and the book was printed by FPMT-owned Wisdom Publications. Lama Zopa, the head of the organization, wrote the Foreword.

Understanding the Case against Shukden. Click to enlarge.

Ironically, the FPMT was founded by one of the most famous Dorje Shugden masters, Lama Yeshe Rinpoche. It is widely known that Lama Yeshe consulted Dorje Shugden before making important decisions. It is no coincidence that the Tibetan Buddhist lamas who have done the most to spread the dharma – Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, Trijang Dorje Chang, Geshe Rabten Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso – all relied on Dorje Shugden.

Lama Zopa, who was Lama Yeshe’s heart student, inherited the FPMT and was also a Dorje Shugden practitioner until it became politically efficacious to abandon the deity and support the Dalai Lama’s persecution of Shugden Buddhists. As a student of teachers who trusted Dorje Shugden and yet seeing a need to support the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa was pulled in two diametrically opposed directions.

Due to the FPMT’s deep roots in the Dorje Shugden practice, Lama Zopa’s refutation of Dorje Shugden often takes awkward twists and turns, with some of his arguments against the Shugden practice amounting to nothing more than gross distortions of facts. His Foreword in Understanding the Case against Shukden is a good illustration of this awkwardness.

Inconsistencies in Lama Zopa’s Foreword

The Foreword is a litany of contradictions. Lama Zopa could not defend the Dalai Lama’s anti-Dorje Shugden stance without also undermining the integrity of Lama Yeshe, his own credibility and the FPMT’s claim of being the source of an authentic lineage.

1. Naming names

Lama Zopa started by citing high lamas whom he claimed opposed the practice of Dorje Shugden. The lamas named were Yongzin Yeshe Gyaltsen (tutor to the 8^th Dalai Lama), Thuken Chokyi Nyima, Purchok Ngawang Jampa, Changkya Rolpai Dorje (who, interestingly, returned as Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, probably the greatest advocate of Dorje Shugden of this era) and Ngulchu Dhamabhadra. In addition, Lama Zopa insisted that the Dalai Lama’s teacher, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche and his own guru, Geshe Sopa were not Dorje Shugden practitioners.

In naming these high lamas, Lama Zopa intended to give the impression that Dorje Shugden was never an accepted Gelugpa practice and that the reputable lamas mentioned shunned the deity. However, it should not have mattered what anyone else said about Dorje Shugden. Lama Zopa lists as his teachers Gelugpa greats like Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, and of course Lama Yeshe. They were emanations of Buddhas who were also the greatest advocates of Dorje Shugden. Trijang Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe took Dorje Shugden to be their personal Dharma Protector and so why would Lama Zopa regard these great lamas to be his teachers and ignore their opinion about Dorje Shugden and instead listen to someone else? Anyone who regards himself to be a worthy student of a Vajrayana teacher knows to follow only the teacher’s instructions.

Left to right: Venerable Lama Yeshe, His Holiness Zong Rinpoche and Lama Zopa.

In any case, Lama Zopa’s point is easily rebutted for two main reasons:

Firstly, it would be impossible to find any Tibetan Buddhist who has engaged in the practice of all yidams, protectors and divinities. This cannot be taken to mean that the deities a lama does not practice are demonic and should be banned.

If the legitimacy of attacks on Dorje Shugden is to be found in the masters who (supposedly) opposed it, then great masters and enlightened luminaries who have championed Dorje Shugden over the centuries must be taken as reliable sources of its legitimacy. If this is a good benchmark of a Buddhist ritual, then Dorje Shugden passes easily as one of the most authentic and sanctioned practices in the Gelug and Sakya lineages.

The worship of Dorje Shugden was started by the Great 5^th Dalai Lama himself. It was he who made the first Dorje Shugden statue with his own hands, built Trode Kangsar (the first Dorje Shugden chapel) and wrote the maiden prayer to propitiate the Protector. Why would one of the greatest Dalai Lamas, himself an emanation of a Buddha, pave the way for a demonic practice to come about? It is common for anti-Shugden exponents to cite the Great 5^th Dalai Lama as an authority for their negative view of the deity, but they conveniently forget that the Great 5^th initiated the Dorje Shugden practice.

There are many other sources that lend authenticity to the Dorje Shugden practice:

• Dorje Shugden was enthroned by the 11^th Dalai Lama Kedrup Gyatso as the Dharma Protector of the Yellow Hat (Gelug) Teachings;
• At a time when the Great 13^th Dalai Lama Thubten Gyatso cautioned against an over-reliance on oracles, he willingly accepted the advice of Dorje Shugden who took spontaneous trance to warn of an impending threat to Tibet at the time;
• The 14^th Dalai Lama worshipped Dorje Shugden for 40 years and wrote a praise to the Protector;
• The Great 10^th Panchen Lama, who is none other than Amitabha, wrote prayers to Dorje Shugden;
• The Mahasiddha Tagphu Pemavajra who is the source of the holy Cittamani Tara practice is also the source of the Dorje Shugden practice as it exists within the Gelug tradition,
• The greatest Gelug lamas of the modern era, Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, Trijang Dorje Chang, and Zong Dorje Chang who were regarded as enlightened beings, and Domo Geshe Rinpoche who was an extraordinary lama, all took Dorje Shugden to be their personal Dharma Protector and wrote extensively about propagating the practice.
• In the Sakya lineage, at least 6 Sakya Trizins (Sakya throne-holders), who were regarded as emanations of Manjushri, worshipped Dorje Shugden. They were the 30^th Sakya Trizin Sonam Rinchen, the 31^st Sakya Trizin Kunga Lodro, the 33^rd Sakya Trizin Pema Dudul Wangchuk, the 35^th Sakya Trizin Tashi Rinchen, the 37^th Sakya Trizin Kunga Nyingpo and the 39^th Sakya Trizin Drakshul Thinley Rinchen. These lamas are the historical pillars of the Sakya lineage and if they were all mistaken about Dorje Shugden, then the Sakya lineage today should be invalidated.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

For every lama whom Lama Zopa claims were opposed to Dorje Shugden, there are many more who have regarded Dorje Shugden as a Buddha. Therefore, merely naming a few lamas who supposedly did not worship Dorje Shugden cannot in any way invalidate the Dorje Shugden lineage.

For that matter, neither can the pronouncement of the Dalai Lama. While the Dalai Lama may command greater prominence and worldly status than other lamas, he is not spiritually supreme nor more learned and attained by virtue of his title.

If the 14^th Dalai Lama is Avalokiteshvara, then so was the 11^th Dalai Lama Khedrup Gyatso. Pabongka Rinpoche was regarded to be one with Heruka and Trijang Rinpoche was commonly regarded to be Vajrayogini. The 10^th Panchen Lama was recognized to be Amitabha Buddha. There is no scriptural authority or any Tibetan Buddhist tradition that claims Avalokiteshvara is superior to Heruka, Vajrayogini, Amitabha or indeed any other Buddha.

So why are we obliged to follow only one Buddha emanation and oppose and reject all the others?

Furthermore, it was misleading for Lama Zopa to state that Kyabje Ling Rinpoche did not practice Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden may not have been Ling Rinpoche’s personal protector but it is an irrefutable fact that Kyabje Ling Rinpoche wrote prayers to Dorje Shugden. Both Kyabje Ling Rinpoche and Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, who were chosen to be the 14^th Dalai Lama’s tutors because of their high attainments and remarkable erudition of the Dharma regarded Dorje Shugden positively. If both the Dalai Lama’s tutors failed to discern the fundamental difference between a Buddha and a demon, then the foundation of the 14^th Dalai Lama’s learning is seriously compromised.

Geshe Sopa, the great master regarded as the teacher of renowned scholars and Lama Zopa’s own teacher, made his opinion about the Dorje Shugden issue very clear in his autobiography, Like a Waking Dream. He wrote, “The idea of these ritual texts of Shukden is to spread and strengthen the pure teachings and destroy wrong views and practices, so their language and imagery tend to seem rather sectarian and aggressive”.

Geshe Sopa made it very clear that Pabongka Rinpoche recommended Dorje Shugden to stop the deterioration of the Gelug lineage. Far from agreeing with the Dalai Lama’s view that Dorje Shugden is a dark and malicious force seeking the destruction of the Dharma, the Protector practice was described by this learned Geshe to be a measure taken to keep the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa pure.

In other words, there is nothing wrong with the practice. However, the Dalai Lama made the decision to ban the practice to appease parties that were unhappy about their position vis-à-vis the supremacy of the Gelug lineage.

It is somewhat strange that Lama Zopa was silent on Lama Yeshe in writing the Foreword. However, this is understandable because no matter how Lama Zopa tries to manoeuvre, he cannot escape the fact that his root teacher practised Dorje Shugden his entire holy life. The FPMT was built on a foundation of trust and reliance on a deity that Lama Zopa is now helping the Dalai Lama to destroy.

2. Renouncing the Guru is bad…or is it good?

It is here that Lama Zopa is most confusing and self-contradictory. He has said:

If you have received tantric initiations from a guru, it is essential that you protect your pure vision and do not see the guru as an enemy… It is a great loss if you take someone as your guru and later err in your devotion to that guru… Belittling your guru is the same as belittling all the buddhas of the past, present and future… The risk (of erring in our devotion to the guru) is not only to the happiness of one’s future rebirths; it also makes it incredibly difficult to meet a guru or the Buddhadharma for eons to come.

To be accurate, once a practitioner has entered the Vajrayana path, he must regard the spiritual bond between the teacher and student to be sacred. To break this bond, also known as ‘samaya’ with the Vajrayana teacher results in taking rebirth in Vajra Hell. Lama Zopa gave a hint of that when he wrote, “…renouncing one’s guru is the worst of all negatives and the source of great suffering”.

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On the other hand, Lama Zopa and the FPMT are prominent supporters of the Dalai Lama’s Dorje Shugden prohibition. This prohibition requires practitioners to denounce their guru on account of that guru’s practice of Dorje Shugden. In the Dalai Lama’s many anti-Shugden speeches and in various statements by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), Dorje Shugden was portrayed as an enemy of the Tibetan people and a dark force antagonistic to the Dharma. It is also inferred that anyone, including teachers, who engage in this “harmful” practice wish ill to befall the Dalai Lama, the Dharma and the Tibetan cause, and should be regarded as an enemy.

The Dalai Lama’s Dorje Shugden ban compels students to break samaya with any teacher who practises Dorje Shugden and to sever ties with those who do not support this religious persecution. To refuse, it is said, is to be anti-dharma and anti-Dalai Lama.

So, how are we to reconcile Lama Zopa’s advice on the importance of not breaking samaya with the teacher and his advocacy of the Dalai Lama’s religious ban which obligates one to do so?

Hasn’t Lama Zopa broken his samaya with Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, Trijang Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe by supporting the persecution of his gurus’ personal protector and by implying that his teachers were mistaken? If so, then what is Lama Zopa’s spiritual authority based on now? What is the foundation of his spiritual attainments? Can it be said that one’s political allegiance to the Dalai Lama is sufficient to replace the spiritual bonds Lama Zopa has broken with his other teachers?

Clearly, Lama Zopa recognized the absurdity of this situation when he wrote, “Whichever side (of the Shugden conflict) we take on this issue, we face grave risk”. If this is so, why would the FPMT publish a book that seeks to entice even more people to fall into this “grave risk”? The entire book for which Lama Zopa wrote the Foreword serves to encourage students to break samaya with their Shugden-worshipping teachers. Yet, Lama Zopa tells us that breaking samaya with the teacher is patently wrong.

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3. Biased view

Further in the Foreword, Lama Zopa writes, “If one guru says not to practice Dölgyal (a derogatory name for Dorje Shugden) and another guru seems to be practising, both are correct. The appearance of contradictions comes from our own mistaken mind”. On this point, Lama Zopa is correct.

However, if both Dorje Shugden and non-Dorje Shugden gurus are not in error, then why is it that only Dorje Shugden gurus and worshippers are persecuted, discriminated against and marginalized? And why is Lama Zopa fostering this prejudice even though he recognizes that Dorje Shugden gurus are not wrong, and practitioners similarly not in error when they follow in their teachers’ footsteps?

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If the Dorje Shugden guru is correct, and keeping samaya with the Shugden guru is correct, then how can following the advice of the unmistaken guru lead to the creation of heavy negative karma that ends in great suffering?

This is the kind of incoherence that characterizes Lama Zopa’s Foreword to ‘Understanding the Case against Shukden’. Lama Zopa and the FPMT could have chosen to remain silent and neutral on the Dorje Shugden conflict. That they chose one side and decided to agitate this unholy row further would indicate that there is a hidden agenda.

4. The Buddhas were mistaken but Lama Zopa is not

Perhaps the greatest inconvenience to Lama Zopa, the FPMT and opponents of the Dorje Shugden practice is the fact that the greatest lamas of our time, Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo and Trijang Dorje Chang both trusted Dorje Shugden and were strong advocates of his practice.

So highly acclaimed was Pabongka Rinpoche that he was referred to as ‘Dechen Nyingpo’ which means ‘The King of Bliss from the Palace of Bliss’ or a master who is already one with Heruka. He wrote the Vajrayogini Sadhana, Dechen Nyur Lam (Short Path to Great Bliss) and combined various techniques for practitioners to attain the state of Vajrayogini. Pabongka Rinpoche is also well known for his absolute mastery of the Lamrim and stories abound of his spiritual accomplishments.

Trijang Dorje Chang was widely recognized as an emanation of Vajrayogini, whose reincarnation can be traced to Chandra, Lord Buddha’s charioteer. The name Trijang Dorje Chang has become synonymous with the perfect practice of the Dharma by an enlightened master. To this day, no one can find a single fault in Trijang Rinpoche.

Lama Zopa acknowledged that both these masters are Buddhas but went on to say that these Buddhas were showing “ordinary aspect” in their practice of Dorje Shugden. This is a subtle way of saying that these two Buddhas were wrong. However, since it is accepted that Buddhas are omnipotent and omniscient and therefore cannot make mistakes, Lama Zopa phrases it in such a way that these Buddhas merely manifested having made mistakes. In other words, it is still wrong for them to have worshipped Dorje Shugden.

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Again, this raises more questions than it answers. How could two enlightened masters who were flawless in all aspects of their Dharma practice and teachings, who demonstrated perfect understanding of the sutras and highest tantras, and who were flawless in their elucidation of even the most subtle aspects of the Buddha’s teachings, be so mistaken about Dorje Shugden? In fact, before the Dalai Lama’s campaign against Dorje Shugden started in 1996, most Gelugpa lamas worshipped Dorje Shugden. So if we are to accept Lama Zopa’s skewed reasoning, then we must conclude that for hundreds of years, the majority of Gelugpa lamas and geshes displayed flaws because worshipping Dorje Shugden was prevalent.

Lama Zopa also fails to explain why it is a flaw only when one prays to a deity that the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa object but not a flaw to abandon the holy teacher, break vows to uphold practices given by the guru, participate in schisms that divide the Dharma community, and then publish and endorse books to encourage students to break their spiritual bond with their teachers. Should it not be the other way around?

Also, it should be noted that worshipping Dorje Shugden only became a ‘flaw’ after the Dalai Lama’s anti-Dorje Shugden proclamation in 1996. Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, Trijang Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe worshipped Dorje Shugden long before 1996. So is it truly a flaw or is it a case that worshipping Shugden had to be regarded as one because it stood in the way of one single lama who has the political power to enforce this view?

Conclusion: Ramblings of a confused mind or act of a Mahasiddha?

The main thrust of Lama Zopa’s message seems to be pure devotion to the guru. His advice is that students should hold on to a “pure vision” of the guru and not see the teacher as anything but perfect even when the guru manifests an error.

But this advice contradicts the behavior of the 14^th Dalai Lama and that of Lama Zopa Rinpoche himself. The Dalai Lama has directly accused his teacher Trijang Dorje Chang of being wrong about Dorje Shugden. Lama Zopa’s attempts to undermine the reputation of Dorje Shugden lamas suggests that Lama Yeshe and Zong Rinpoche were both mistaken.

Where was the Dalai Lama’s pure vision if indeed Trijang Rinpoche made a mistake? Where is Lama Zopa’s?

It does not make sense for Lama Zopa to stress the great importance of guru devotion and to proclaim that the guru is never mistaken, and then proceed to encourage students to see errors in their teachers, and to break their spiritual bond with them over the Dorje Shugden issue.

There can only be two possible reasons for Lama Zopa’s muddled explanations.

The first is that Lama Zopa is a hypocrite and has chosen political correctness over true guru devotion. He cannot be an apologist for the Dalai Lama’s anti-Shugden stance without sounding absurd because the reasons for the ban are absurd.

The second is to read between the lines and see that Lama Zopa’s allusion to the appearance of flaws in the guru’s actions is not directed at Pabongka Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche but in fact a reference to the Dalai Lama’s ban on Dorje Shugden and his denouncement of the greatest Gelug lamas.

Could Lama Zopa be saying that in conflicts such as the Dorje Shugden ban, one must have faith in the guru and maintain one’s devotion to the teacher regardless of whether he/she is a Dorje Shugden practitioner or not, since “…devotion is the cause that allows us to achieve full enlightenment”? In other words, was Lama Zopa advising readers to ignore the Dalai Lama’s ban?

Lama Zopa and Lama Osel (the current incarnation of Lama Yeshe)

This seems to be a logical conclusion at which Lama Zopa intends for readers to arrive. It suggests that he does not spell it out because it would undermine the Dalai Lama’s position on the issue.

The reason for the cryptic manner in which Lama Zopa has delivered this message is a matter of speculation. The inconsistency is indicative of the groundless nature of the opposition to Dorje Shugden, especially given Tibetan Buddhism’s foundations of logic and reason which have been articulated eloquently by enlightened masters for centuries.

Lama Zopa’s Foreword in ‘Understanding the Case against Shukden’ is another unfortunate development in Tibetan Buddhism. In essence, it says that lineage masters such as Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, Trijang Dorje Chang and Kyabje Zong Rinpoche – who were the teachers of teachers – were flawed in their practice and understanding of the Dharma. This itself would bring everything they have ever taught into question. Such books only serve to damage the reputation of great masters and holders of Lama Tsongkhapa’s lineage.

It seems, though, that Lama Zopa has inflicted the most harm on the FPMT – he has revealed its claim to be an upholder of the Mahayana tradition to be truly hollow. Perhaps that is why the FPMT lacks the merits to hold on to the reincarnation of the founder, Lama Osel who has disrobed and chosen to live the life of an ordinary person.