I picked up this sharing from Neil Elliott who was present at the demonstration protest at Hamburg:
Neil Elliott with Dorje Shugdentruth
Pondering the emptiness of the eight extremes in Hamburg
The other day while we were waiting in a park to demonstrate against the Dalai Lama when he returned to his hotel I watched as a group of Tibetan families passed their time listening to the children singing traditional Tibetan songs and then forming a large circle, adults and children together, to perform traditional dances.
They all seemed so happy, as if lost in their revelry without a care in the world.
But the sad truth is that they had brought along their amplifier to drown out our protests when the Dalai Lama arrived.
These happy, carefree people had been poisoned by the Dalai Lama's venomous speech into thinking that fellow Buddhists are their enemy, to be opposed and vilified at every turn. And when the Dalai Lama arrived their happy faces melted into the aspect of anger as they tried to drown out our calls for religious freedom.
But as we discovered during those extraordinary days, the Tibetans are generally good natured people with kind hearts. Many of the protesters found themselves in the same hotels as Tibetans attending the Dalai Lama’s teachings, and the Tibetans would show them respect and cordiality. Some even told us that although they were followers of the Dalai Lama, they supported our right to protest and our wish to preserve our tradition.
Sometimes as they walked past the line of protesters on their way to and from the teachings they would smile kindly at us and even give a surreptitious thumbs up. The Dalai Lama might think his ban is effective but it doesn't look to me as if he is winning the hearts and minds of his people. He is simply bullying them into showing support for something they do not truly believe in.
So what of those Tibetans who during their counter demonstration reacted so aggressively to us? To my mind their behaviour was the direct result of the Dalai Lama’s actions. Without his divisive speech and destructive actions there would be no problem, and no Tibetan, nor anyone else, would think of Je Tsongkhapa’s followers as their enemies.
In truth, those who oppose us are our kind mothers who in their hearts wish for the same as we do - a life of peace and contentment. Only the Dalai Lama does not want this. Only he wants to foment division and discrimination.
I was reminded that day in the park of how easy it is to generalise and stereotype people out of ignorance, and how wisdom protects us against this mistaken way of thinking. I thought of Venerable Geshe-la’s teachings on the emptiness of the eight extremes in Modern Buddhism, and especially his teaching on the emptiness of singularity and plurality where he says:
‘We tend to project the faults or qualities of the few onto the many, and then develop hatred or attachment on the basis of, for example, race, religion or country. Contemplating the emptiness of singularity and plurality can be helpful in reducing such hatred and attachment.’
How wonderful it would be if all Dharma brothers and sisters could abide in this wisdom and live in peace and harmony with each other, free from division, discrimination and enmity.
This is exactly what we pray for every day when we make prayers to the Wisdom Protector Dorje Shugden.
