Dalai Lama Retires From Politics
BY YIQIAN ZHANG The Dalai Lama is retiring — not from his spiritual role — but from his political service in the Tibetan government in exile — saying the Tibetan people need a freely elected leader. The announcement comes on the 52nd anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. “The Tibetan government in…
Rejoicing Against Oppression
By Gregory Flannery Here’s a quick test: What comes to mind when you hear the word “Tibet”? The Chinese genocide against a small country; The Dalai Lama, apostle of nonviolence; An idiosyncratic Buddhist philosophy; or Momos, spicy Tibetan dumplings. All four are correct answers but momos are the most straightforward. Filled with beef or with…
Untouchables in Tibetan Buddhism
His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama is a symbol of love and compassion all over the world but a few in Tibetan Buddhism community questions this claim. They blame Dalai Lama of taking away their religious freedom. These are worshipers of a controversial deity named Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden is a protector deity in Tibetan Buddhism…
Letter sent to the Indian Government for Protection
The letter here is self-explanatory. What is sad are the Monasteries need protection from the Dalai Lama and entourage. What has happened to come to this? The Dalai Lama is a symbol of compassion and peace, within the Tibetan communities, it seems he is very much feared. The ban has turned one Tibetan against another….
Dalai Lama at Critical Crossroads
(Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7921862.stm) By Zoe Murphy BBC News Five decades in exile and years of denigration by Beijing have failed to weaken the Dalai Lama’s influence over Tibetans in his homeland and beyond. The Tibetan spiritual leader’s unwavering commitment to non-violence has also earned the world’s respect. But the long conflict over the status of…
Through the Eyes of Dorje Shugden Buddhists
In recent years, Dorje Shugden has become a controversial issue in which many Western Buddhists who follow the Dorje Shugden deity of Tibetan Buddhism have raised the issue of religious freedom under the Dalai Lama. CNN’s report on Dorje Shugden: Dalai Lama Greeted by Protesters in Manhattan http://cnn.com/US/9805/03/buddhist.dissension/index.html As I did my research on Tibet,…
Statement of Pomra Kamtsen
Statement of Pomra Kamtsen February 2008 This community of the Sera-Mey College has remained in peace and harmony, without ever having any conflict or schism, since the founding of the Sera monastery by Jamchen Choeche Shakya Yeshe in the year 1419 in Tibet, until now. After coming to India we have shared spiritual and material…
For Dorje Shugden, For Dalai Lama
Readers can see for themselves what the two sides believe in and are going through. This article gives a broad overview of what the controversy is about and how it has affected the Tibetan community. Though dePrisco had originally written the article with a certain target audience in mind, we at dorjeshugden.com feel that this…
A quick note on Dorje Shugden (rDo rje shugs ldan)
Paul Williams Centre for Buddhist Studies University of Bristol The following note is taken from an informal letter in response to a request for some further information on the current dispute over Dorje Shugden*. Dorje Shugden is a Dharma protector deity, and you can read one of the very few academic accounts of him in…
Conflict, hypocrisy, and miscommunication
What are some human tendencies in responding to conflict? While walking this morning along the streets of Oxford (to a conference I am presenting at the weekend), I saw a group of people gathering and asked what was happening. They said the Dalai Lama was coming. So, like any tourist, I wanted to see him and get…
A Controversial Tibetan Buddhist Deity
Dorje Shugden is generally believed to be a worldly protector deity that was likely practiced first in the Sakya Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. According to some accounts he was inducted into the pantheon of Sakya protectors by Sakya Trizin Sonam Rinchen (1705-1741). Later placed together with the two protector deities Dorje Setrab and Tsi’u Marpo, they were collectively known as the Three…
Does the Dorje Shugden ban affect Western Buddhists?
This article will focus on the real effects of the Dalai Lama’s ban of Dorje Shugden practice on Western practitioners. On web forums, supporters of the Dalai Lama are often non-plussed that Westerners are involving themselves in this issue at all. They say “this is a Tibetan issue that doesn’t affect you, so why are…
Sad, Relatively Unknown News of Tibetan Buddhists’ Infighting
Several of my friends have approached me with eagerness to say, “The Dalai Lama is coming to Cincinnati! Are you going?” I remained neutral and answered that H.H. the Dalai Lama has requested that anyone from my lineage not attend his teachings. “What! Why?” Because of a hundreds-of-years-old conflict concerning a certain Dharma Protector (protecting…
Critical report on the Dalai Lama (ARD-Panorama)
Part 1 View video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJRo_u_Mfqo This penetrating German documentary, Panorama, challenges the popular Western myth of Tibet as Shangri-La. Cutting through the myth making and Hollywood romanticism, this investigation provides a shocking insight into the reality of life in Tibet under the Dalai Lama’s rule. The first part of the video touches on…
A Letter from Tibetan Shugden Practitioners in the USA to Radio Free Asia
Below is a letter written by Dorje Shugden practitioners living in the USA to Radio Free Asia in response to the article they published in which Prime Minister Samdhong is Encouraging Violence Against Shugden Practitioners. Dear Sirs: We are writing with regards to the recent news posting on December 24th 2010 on the website of…
Samdong Rinpoche’s Speech
(Transcript of Radio Free Asia (Tibetan Section) on December 24, 2010) Kelsang Yugyal: On the 23rd, the Tibetan Welfare Association and Majnu-ka-Tilla Tibetan office organized a program at the hall of the Tibetan children’s village where the Tibetan deputy Yeshi Phuntsok, Chochong Wangchug, directors of local bodies, members of NGOs and public were present. Samdhong…
Nice art, troubled history
Issues around the worship of the Tibetan deity Dorje Shugden have been the source of much conflict ever since the deity and its associated practices were adopted by the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. But it was not the Gelugs who inducted the deity into the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. In fact, it was only in…
Dalai Lama messes with Tibetans’ minds
The Dalai Lama continues to spread pain throughout the Tibetan communities. Recently, a speech given to his followers during teachings in the Himalayan region of India were reported on the Tibetan radio station ‘Voice of Tibet’. Here is a transcript: Pachen Dorje (reporter): Today on the second day of his teaching in Varanasi, His Holiness…
China’s Involvement in the Dorje Shugden Controversy
Though the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) said at different times that China uses Shugden as a political means to split the Tibetan Community — e.g. by favouring monks practising Shugden or by supporting especially Tibetan monasteries in Tibet where Shugden is worshipped — it is rather hard to find written evidence on this. There…
A Tibetan tempest over deity
by John Zurbrzycki, Christian Science Monitor Vol. 90 No. 120 1998.05.18 Dateline: NEW DELHI In a makeshift monastery on the outskirts of the Indian capital, a brass gong summons a group of maroon-robed monks for midday prayers. The scene could be from any of the hundreds of Buddhist monasteries in India, except that this gathering…
The Dangers of Mixing Religion and Politics
Everyone raised in modern democratic nations realises the imperative of separating religion and politics. Painful history has shown the great dangers that arise when these two are intertwined. The spiritual path is profoundly damaged by being mixed with politics. Politicians make laws that citizens must abide by – but no laws can govern what someone…
Untouchables – Shocking Posters in Monastery
Sera Je monastery is situated at the Tibetan settlement at Bylakupee, five hours by bus from Bangalore City, Karnataka State, India. Until this year, it was a monastery that was used by Shugden and non-Shugden practitioners alike. Since the introduction of the ban on Shugden practice made by the Dalai Lama, such harmony has been…
Tibet Sun newspaper highlights Dalai Lama’s discrimination against Shugden Practitioners
The Tibet Sun newspaper has highlighted the Dalai Lama’s discrimination against Shugden practitioners and how he transgresses the Indian laws against Deity discrimination and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The article describes the Dalai Lama’s recent public teachings in Bodhgaya. People of all faiths – Christians, Hindus, Jews – were welcomed… with one…
Dorje Shugden
Overview Dorje Shugden (Wylie: rdo-rje shugs-ldan), “Powerful thunderbolt”; also known as Dhol-rgyal) is a relatively recent, but very controversial, deity within the complex pantheons of Himalayan Buddhism. There exist different accounts and claims on Dorje Shugden’s origin, nature and function. Origin, Nature and Functions According to researcher Kay: “Whilst there is a consensus that this…
The Dalai Lama and Guru Devotion
View the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMaP94D7CmU The heart of Buddhist Practice is to rely sincerely on the Holy Spiritual Guide who reveals the Path. These are the Dalai Lama’s own comments on his Guru devotion. Watch the complete version of the Dalai Lama’s interview in the video View the video on YouTube: http://youtu.be/WdyIJwVaqZ8
A ban by any other name
The Tibetan exile-government have recently been saying that the Dalai Lama has not issued a ban against the practice or worship of the Buddhist Deity Dorje Shugden, but merely advised against this. The word ‘ban’ means ‘to prohibit esp. by legal means or social pressure’ (Longmans Dictionary); ‘formally prohibit’ or ‘formal or authoritative prohibition’ (The…
Mountain Phoenix on Dorje Shugden
I’d like to draw your attention to a couple of blog posts by Tibetan Mountain Phoenix on her blog ‘Mountain Phoenix over Tibet’ which provides some interesting analyses of the Dorje Shugden issue from a less biased point of view than other Tibetan commentators: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2010/10/mountain-phoenix-on-dorje-shugden.html Even though the blog posts were a couple of years…
What would Thomas Jefferson think of the 14th Dalai Lama?
In 1779 Thomas Jefferson laid out his vision for religious freedom in a bill which would later be passed by the assembly of the state of Virginia in 1786. Two excerpts from this remarkable exposition will serve to highlight a line of reasoning that seems particularly prescient in light of recent events within the Tibetan…
The Segregation Wall at Ganden Monastery
The new wall at Ganden Shartse monastery in Southern India was built in March of this year. (Editor’s note: The wall segregates Ganden Shartse Monastery from Shar Ganden Monastery, which was founded by monastics who do not want to renounce the Dorje Shugden practice. Read more about Shar Ganden Monastery. Watch the video about this…
Schisms, murder, and hungry ghosts in Shangri-La
Millions of Buddhist monks have been killed, imprisoned, tortured, or driven into exile by the Communist Chinese since the 1950s in a deliberate, systematic destruction of a culture and a religion. The pacifist Buddhist monks are about as innocent and noble as victims can be; the Nobel Prize-winning Dalai Lama is perceived to be equally…
Message to the Dalai Lama
A series of short video messages speaking against the ban, It opens with a powerful message from a Tibetan monk (speaking in English) from Gaden Shartse monastery. He says the message is not just to the Dalai Lama but to the Tibetan government and anyone who is in the Gelugpa tradition. The rest of the…
Time Magazine – The Dalai Lama’s Buddhist Foes
Buddhist monks and nuns of the Shugden Society demonstrate against the Dalai Lama in front of New York’s Radio City Music Hall Thursday, July 17, 2008. It was not an object lesson in Buddhist dispassion. On Thursday afternoon, following a teaching by the Dalai Lama at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, a group…
A Contradiction or A Bigger Picture?
For the past two decades, the Dalai Lama has issued a controversial ban on the practice of the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden. However, the basis of this ban is rife with contradictions. The Dalai Lama emphasises the importance of keeping the teacher-disciple relationship pure and having sincere reliance on a spiritual guide. But now, he…
The Great Dilemma
Within the exiled community of Tibetan refugees in India, there is a sizeable group of Tibetans who are twice exiled and now living a life where “death threats, insults and ostracism are the order of the day.” This arose after the Dalai Lama banned the worship of the Protector Buddha Dorje Shugden, an action which…
The Dalai Lama: Religious Harmony or Hypocrisy
The Dalai Lama claims to be a champion of religious harmony, but harbours the kinds of prejudices that make such harmony an impossibility. Watch this video to find out more…
Dorje Shugden in 3,211 words or less
Should the worship of Dorje Shugden – by devotees who consider the practice a sacred commitment – be banned by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama? I chose this topic of research for a variety of reasons, not all of which may eventually become clear to the reader, but I do want to explain how…
Tibetan government-in-exile fears Chinese infiltrations
While Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama’s security remains the centre of concern, the Tibetan government-in-exile fears the “infiltration” of Chinese undercover agents in the hill-town that has been the nerve centre of the Tibetan movement. Fearing China could unleash its band of army-trained undercover agents in the town, the security wing of the…
Arguments For and Against
The Dalai Lama has said that: Shugden is a worldly spirit. Shugden practice has the potential to promote sectarianism. Shugden practice harms the health of the Dalai Lama and is contrary to the interests of Tibet and the Tibetan people. The Nechung State Oracle (bound by Padmasambhava) stated that it is harmful. Tibetan people using…
Radio Interview with Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche
H.H. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche has already given a good indication of how he will manifest. By looking at his website you will see he is going to be (and already is) a great teacher: http://www.tbiusa.org And before leaving for America he gave a very interesting interview with the Tibetan Radio in which he also makes…
Why Dorje Shugden practitioners are NOT CHINESE SPIES
Consider THIS most illogical and silly accusation: That Dorje Shugden practitioners are receiving money/bribes from the Chinese DS practitioners are Chinese spies DS practitioners don’t believe in the cause and independence of Tibet and support Chinese takeover DS practitioners support Chinese hatred of Dalai Lama Here’s a few points to contemplate as to why this…
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