Sikyong Lobsang Sangay launched a CTA-sponsored book that glorifies Tibetan suicide by self-immolation.

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 has been 60 years since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet to set up an exile government in Dharamsala, North India. As a third generation of Tibetan refugees drift with uncertain futures in exile, most of them today have not seen, let alone lived in, their homeland. And yet a deep ultranationalism accompanied by animosity towards China persists due to very effective indoctrination that has been championed by the Dalai Lama’s exile Tibetan leadership, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

Faced with a powerful nemesis and finding itself with no military or economic might, the CTA has instead co-opted two very powerful weapons in its assault against China – the Dalai Lama and the Buddhist religion. In the name of the Dalai Lama, the CTA commandeered Buddhism as a political tool and with that, created pockets of anti-China agitators in every place in the world where the Tibetan Buddhist faith is being practiced.

According to the CTA’s narrative, the proper practice of the Buddha’s teachings compels unquestioning compliance with all of the Dalai Lama’s thoughts, which by extension, translates into the CTA’s policies and its political aspirations. The Dalai Lama is presented as a Buddha and hence all Buddhist adherents owe him a duty of obedience. In doing this, the CTA places the Dalai Lama at risk of being compared to the infamous Pope Boniface VIII, the megalomaniacal pontiff who decreed that salvation was not possible unless the people subjected themselves to him completely. Similarly, one is not a proper Buddhist unless one supports the Dalai Lama ergo, the CTA. This is notwithstanding the fact that the Dalai Lama is not even the absolute spiritual head of his own lineage, the Gelug school, let alone of Buddhism overall.

The CTA has subtly encouraged Tibetan self-immolation as a means to create sympathy for its political agenda. Over 150 Tibetans have perished unnecessarily over the years. When will the CTA finally speak up strongly to discourage the Tibetans from self-harm?

Being in exile accorded the Dalai Lama more power than any of his predecessors or any other Tibetan Buddhist figure, as the world became intoxicated with the Shangrila myth. It is upon this privilege and power that the CTA draws its legitimacy. In the decades since the Dalai Lama escaped Tibet, the Tibetan leader has commanded immense vogue and created a significant global space within which the CTA has increasingly worked its mischief, often undermining the Dalai Lama’s efforts.

The Sabotage

A number of incidences bear testimony to this. For instance, in July 2017 amid a tense standoff between India and China, the President of the CTA Lobsang Sangay decided it was an opportune time to assert Tibetan independence, and to raise the Tibetan flag at Pangong Tso (Pangong Lake), which lies between India and China. Sangay’s taunt of China was all the more provocative given it was done within eyeshot of Tibet. That injudicious act infuriated China, a result at odds with India’s seeking of a peaceful solution to its border woes. To redress the injury, the Indian Foreign Secretary subsequently instructed all Indian government officials to refrain from participating in Tibetan events organized to mark the 60^th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s exile in India. In essence, the CTA significantly diminished almost 60 years of goodwill the Dalai Lama had built with the CTA’s generous host.

More recently, the Dalai Lama’s efforts to close the gap between Dharamsala and Beijing with accord on spiritual matters has been brazenly thwarted by his own Tibetan government-in-exile. In April 2018, the Dalai Lama acknowledged that the China-enthroned Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu is in fact the “official Panchen Lama”, a statement that effectively endorses China’s legitimacy in recognizing and enthroning high lamas. This represents a complete reversal of the Tibetan leadership’s past stance, which asserted that Gyancain Norbu is merely a political stooge and a false incarnation of the popular 10^th Panchen Lama. Given the importance of the Panchen Lama, deemed to be the highest-ranking Tibetan lama in China, the Dalai Lama’s acceptance of the Chinese Panchen Lama was clearly designed to thaw relations with Beijing and draw parties back to the negotiation table. The head of the CTA, Lobsang Sangay was with the Dalai Lama when his proclamation on Gyancain Norbu was made and so there cannot have been a miscommunication.

His Holiness the 11th Panchen Lama, Gyaincain Norbu.

Nevertheless, just two days later, the CTA saw it fit to publish on its official website an article critical of the Chinese Panchen Lama and demanded the release of their authorized Panchen Lama candidate, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima whom they claim had been kidnapped by China in 1995. To ensure that their point was not lost, another two stories were published on the CTA website in May 2018, both critical of the Chinese Panchen Lama. In essence, these stories demolished whatever foundations of friendship the Dalai Lama was constructing with Beijing.

Co-opting Buddhism

Not content with undermining the Dalai Lama’s diplomacy on the domestic front, the CTA has gone international with its attempts. In his recent speeches made during world tours, Lobsang Sangay has framed the Sino-Tibetan conflict as the struggle between Communism and Buddhism, masquerading the fact that it is more accurately a quarrel over who has dominion over the Tibetan nation – a communist regime or a feudal theocracy to whom the Tibetan people were regarded as mere chattel prior to 1959.

The CTA’s misuse of Buddhism is subtle but delivers devastating effect. An example is the Tibetan leadership’s 1996 ban on the worship of a popular Tibetan Buddhist deity, Dorje Shugden. The 2004 Human Rights Watch Report on Tibet dedicates an entire section to Dorje Shugden, articulating how the CTA’s diktat on the Shugden practice created deep divisions amongst Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and worldwide. Banning the worship of Dorje Shugden was a calculated and deft strategy. Dorje Shugden, an ancient deity worshipped by many Tibetan Buddhist schools, was carefully chosen from amongst the thousands of deities in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon due to the popularity of his practice.

The International Shugden Community, whose members comprise of Shugden practitioners from all over the world, have suffered discrimination

The CTA conceived the idea of Dorje Shugden being an instrument of the Chinese, constructed with the aim of destabilizing the reign of the Dalai Lama. In this way, Tibetans were pitted against one another. Dorje Shugden practitioners on the one hand were summarily painted as anti-Tibet, anti-Dalai Lama and pro-Chinese traitors while non-Dorje Shugden practitioners were pro-Tibet and pro-Dalai Lama. The result of all this was unrest within the TAR, precisely what the Chinese government fears most due to the tendency for unrest to escalate into uprisings in China’s frontier regions. It was a clever ruse on the part of the CTA, turning Tibetan Buddhists worldwide into de facto Tibet activists, intent on suppressing Dorje Shugden practitioners with the TAR and across the globe, all for the sake of the so-called ‘Tibet cause’.

A Noxious Assault on Freedom

Whilst effective, this strategy exacts a very high attrition on communities dragged into supporting the CTA’s agenda, namely discord and disharmony in erstwhile peaceful societies not involved in Sino-Tibetan aggressions. Still, it is a cost the CTA seems prepared to inflict as we see in its recent interference in Taiwanese spiritual affairs. Since 1949 Taiwan and China have had fraught relations. As tensions renewed between the two nations under Taiwan’s new President, Tsai Ing-wen, the CTA waded in to introduce further enmity and mistrust between the small island nation and the juggernaut China.

In August 2018, CTA representative Dawa Tsering proudly launched a new anti-Shugden book in Taiwan, titled “Tibetan Dharma Protectors, Deities and Demons”

In August 2018, the CTA via its agency Snowland Publications in Taiwan published Tibetan Dharma Protectors, Deities and Demons. The book was written in Chinese with a foreword by Dawa Tsering, the CTA’s representative in Taiwan. At first glance, the publication of an educational book on Tibetan Buddhism seems benign enough. However, on closer inspection, it bears all the hallmarks of good propaganda material created with one intention – to use the Dorje Shugden issue to divide the community and blame China.

With chapter titles like “How did Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen [who arose as the said divinity Dorje Shugden] become an evil spirit”; and “The Poison of Dolgyal [a derogatory name for the deity]” and “The Consequences of Propitiating Shugden” there is no doubt what the objective of the book is. Not a single page acknowledges the fact that the highest lamas of the Gelug and the Sakya, including the 14^th Dalai Lama, had worshipped the deity.

Dawa Tsering said in an interview with Radio Free Asia that Dorje Shugden “violates Buddhism” while sidestepping the fact that the very idea of a book that disparages a religion and seeks to create disharmony in a foreign state violates the simplest concept of freedom and decency. This is the CTA once again undermining the Dalai Lama’s work to portray the Tibetans as harmless and soulful citizens of a heavenly Himalayan nation.

Not only is it suspicious that an official of the supposedly democratic CTA is again conflating religion and politics, but now the CTA is stirring trouble in another country whose religious affairs are of no concern to any foreign government, let alone an exiled and stateless administration whose primary preoccupation should be the welfare of its refugee populace and the fulfilment of the Dalai Lama’s wish to return to Tibet.

Prior to the new Taiwanese publication, Lobsang Sangay had launched yet another anti-Shugden book in 2016, written with the purpose of segregating and creating further divisions within the Tibetan community.

The CTA’s latest anti-Shugden book purports to expose Taiwanese Buddhist groups that it claims have been infiltrated by the Chinese government. The basis of this allegation is purely on account of the groups’ worship of Dorje Shugden, the deity that the CTA had pre-emptively outlawed despite claiming to be a democracy. According to the book’s line of thought, the evil government of China has corrupted Buddhism in Taiwan and therefore, even if a Buddhist practitioner has no interest in Sino-Tibetan politics, he should still oppose China as a means of defending the integrity of his faith. That makes him a supporter of the Dalai Lama and CTA by default.

The CTA’s act has far-reaching consequences:

• To begin with, it trespasses on Taiwan’s spiritual affairs, rightly an internal issue that the CTA should have no say over.
• It specifically targets certain Taiwanese Buddhist groups. Thus, the CTA is implying that all good Taiwanese Buddhists should disregard Taiwan’s laws that provide for freedom of religion, and instead obey the CTA’s decrees.
• It attempts to criminalize Taiwanese citizens who choose not to abide by the CTA’s diktats regarding Dorje Shugden.
• It conflates spirituality with politics, implying that a Taiwanese citizen’s personal choice of worship is somehow a reflection of their private political beliefs.
• It brings to Taiwan the same unrest it created within the TAR and in other Tibetan Buddhist communities worldwide.
• It is an external administration passing judgement on Taiwanese citizens, thereby disregarding the sovereignty that Taiwan claims for itself and its people. How is that any different from, say, Germany passing a decree about Greek citizens? Or from China making decisions on Taiwan’s behalf, to put it into a context a Taiwanese citizen can relate to?

The CTA’s own treatment of Shugden Buddhists is nothing short of draconian. For instance, it publishes on its official website a series of notices and parliamentary resolutions that criminalizes Shugden worship and compels the Tibetan populace to apply pressure on Shugden Buddhists to give up their faith. Now the CTA wants the people of Taiwan to similarly turn on their own countrymen and splinter the Taiwanese Buddhist community. The deeply divided Tibetan community worldwide and the unrest in the TAR such as that reported by the Human Rights Watch in 2004 bear witness to the damage suffered by those who have listened to the CTA.

The official website of the Central Tibetan Administration carries material that undemocratically accuses Dorje Shugden practitioners worldwide to be “Chinese spies” and “criminals in history”. Click to enlarge.

What the CTA aims to do – constrain the people’s choice of belief while planting dissension and bringing strife upon Taiwan’s Buddhist community – contravenes the most fundamental international laws that prohibit a State from interfering with the internal affairs of another State thereby compromising its sovereignty. This is notwithstanding the fact that the CTA is not legally a State by the definition of established International Law, although it behaves and demands to be accorded the privileges and status of one. In fact, for 60 years, the CTA has acted outside the ambit of every global regulatory body and the reach of international law, a convenience they have exploited fully. Next, and given prevailing tensions between Taiwan and China, the CTA’s book that accuses Shugden Buddhists of being Chinese agents serves to induce further sentiments detrimental to the development of peaceful reunification between Taiwan and China. Stirring anti-China sentiments can only damage cross-strait ties at a time when they are already frail.

A Simple Business Decision

It may perplex some to see how a government that claims to base its policies on Buddhist values such as ahimsa (non-violence or non-injury) engage in such treachery to serve its political agenda. This is especially so when the Dalai Lama became famous off the back of touting messages of peace all over the world, even being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. But there is a simple explanation – the CTA is after all an exile government and as such, its reason for existing holds only as long as the 150,000 or so Tibetans who followed the Dalai Lama into exile continue to be refugees.

The CTA’s locus standi ends the moment the Dalai Lama’s spiritual and political plans are accomplished, symbolized by his return to China-controlled Tibet. The success of the Dalai Lama’s work comes at the demise of the CTA, which will simply have no role in the TAR. It is highly unlikely China will consider, let alone allow, for a separate administration to operate autonomously with its own set of rules, especially one that has spent six decades actively seizing every opportunity to destabilize the region.

The CTA will have to dissolve its core and supporting structures including the countless Office of Tibet premises around the world that have drawn, according to conservative estimates, an annual average of USD50 million into the CTA’s coffers for the past 60 years. This money is supposed to be applied towards improving the standard of living of the Tibetan refugees but, given the string of global propaganda campaigns that keep resentment towards China at a peak, critics cannot help but wonder if the donations and grants have been used to bankroll the CTA’s schemes instead.

Should the Dalai Lama manage to draw the Chinese government into a settlement, this gravy train would come to an abrupt halt and career politicians like Lobsang Sangay would lose all prestige accorded him. He will instead have to return to his position as an assistant lecturer, given the lack of demand in the otherwise lucrative lecture circuit for a failed President who has no achievements to call his own. Which politician-businessman would seek such an end? There are such incongruities between what the CTA portrays and its actions that lend credence to China’s labelling of the CTA as a “separatist government”. The Dalai Lama has called for a cessation of CTA hostilities towards China saying that it is foolish to regard China as the enemy and that the past is past. Clearly, the CTA disagrees. It cannot afford not to.

中国染指“凶天”渗透分化海外藏人

Source: https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/hx1-08202018101135.html. Click to enlarge.

As a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal and holder of multiple honorary doctorates for law and international relations, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has worked tirelessly for decades to promote peace and harmony in the world. Thus he is rightly celebrated as a proponent of human rights, and has become renowned for his compassion for all who suffer.

Unlike most other world leaders, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is unique in the way that, for millions of people, he is not just a secular leader but their spiritual guide too. United by their belief in his wisdom, the Dalai Lama’s devotees work together to promote their teacher’s message. It is therefore only reasonable and logical to expect His Holiness’s followers to represent his teachings well.

As a spiritual guide to millions, the Dalai Lama should be patient, wise, and practice loving-kindness and indeed, he is all of that. These students therefore may find that it benefits them to listen to His Holiness’ advice again, from a different perspective. Disturbingly however, there have been reports that some students have failed to reflect their teacher’s true teachings and compassionate motivation.

A certain video has come to our attention, which shows some nuns from a monastery in Dharamsala, North India, acting in the most unsightly ways. They are reported to have dragged a Buddha statue out from a monastery and then desecrated it with the utmost disrespect – by stepping, smashing, burning and spitting on the statue. This kind of action is terrible for anyone who calls themselves a spiritual practitioner, least of all a nun who has taken vows.

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This video is in relations to the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden, which the Dalai Lama has banned in recent years. So much suffering has arisen out of this ban. People who have continued this practice suffer this kind of terrible abuse – where their personal items of worship are forcibly removed and destroyed. Families are now separated; the sacred bond between Buddhist teachers and their students are severed. Shugden practitioners are even denied the most basic welfare of education and medical aid from the government. Is any of this reflective of the qualities of kindness and compassion that the Dalai Lama has promoted for so many decades? Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be so.

It is one thing to think Dorje Shugden is negative and to destroy his statue, but we must remember what was inside the statue. Tibetans normally fill their statues with mantras, relics, Mani pills, tsatsas, scriptures, hair or nails of high lamas, pieces of robes belonging to high lamas, and many other holy items. When the nuns destroyed and pounced on the Dorje Shugden statue, they also stepped on all the holy items contained within the statue. How can fully ordained Buddhist nuns be so violent and also step on scriptures, mantras, relics, robes and precious items contained within this statue, which were given by high lamas and the Sangha.

These acts are desecration and very negative deeds. So much negative karma would have been accumulated. In their fanaticism to please the then Tibetan Government-in-exile, they went too far. What kind of Government would encourage and thank their people for desecrating objects of people’s religious faith and symbols of their divine? This is wrong. Freedom of worship should protect from desecration and such brutal displays of disrespect of another person’s symbol of the holy and divine.

This letter is not intended to provoke nor antagonise, but to prompt contemplation from a different point of view – as followers of the Dalai Lama, are these students showing patience when attacking the monastery of another school of thought? Is it showing wisdom to accuse Lamas from other traditions of sectarianism? Is it a practice of kindness to destroy the statue of a deity others revere?

These actions do not match His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s message of acceptance and harmony, nor serves to unite the Tibetan people towards other collective causes such as their fight for independence. Instead, such behavior drives the wedge of disharmony in the population, weakening an already diluted community which is struggling to survive in a foreign land. That is precisely what we do not wish to happen, because losing the ancient Tibetan traditions of respect, religion and acceptance would be a loss for the world.

As global citizens, we each have the right to choose our spiritual beliefs. Whether one chooses to engage in the practice of Shugden is the individual’s choice and dependent upon the individual relationship that one has with his Buddhist community and teachers. However, what we most strongly wish for people to consider is how they are treating others when they make their choices. Just because you decide not to pray to this Dharma Protector, it does not mean you need to act in such cruel, unkindly ways to people who do. In doing so, you reflect badly upon your own practice, your teachers and the religion as a whole. Do we really want the world to look upon us and wonder why Buddhists behave in such unkindly, intolerant ways, so opposite to what the Dalai Lama teaches?

We invite you to watch this video and read the many discussions on this issue on our websites listed below. Then make a difference to the lives of thousands by carrying a positive and beneficial image of Buddhism within your own actions. The wave of change can start with you.

Thank you,
DorjeShugden.com
DorjeShugden.net
XiongDeng.net

Background

From Ron Cook: Below was an email sent to Tenzin Paljor, the most vehement critic of Shugden practitioners and of the NKT. He will not post it. He will not answer these questions nor other important ones. He is very selective about what he chooses to respond to. These are some of the most important questions concerning the Dalai Lama and yet they remain completely ignored. If you (Tenzin Paljor) are so confident in your beliefs, why are you afraid to answer these questions?

Dear Tenzin,
Since you have taken it upon yourself or been asked to represent the views of the Dalai Lama, I wish to submit six important questions that hopefully you can provide clear replies to. Since you have gone to great lengths to accommodate the questions of a concerned citizen in Brighton, then in fairness please show the same willingness to address the questions below – they too come from a concerned citizen. If you are as fair and open minded as the people visiting your blogs indicate, demonstrate these qualities by providing the appropriate answers. There is no valid reason not to post these questions and let your readers draw their own conclusions.
Sincerely,
Ron Cook

Six Important Questions for the Dalai Lama or His Supporters to Answer

1. If it is appropriate for the Dalai Lama to decide what spiritual practices are appropriate, and seeing clearly that such a decision causes divisiveness, why are the reasons he cites for the ban on Dorje Shugden not being supported by the teachings of Buddha? What Sutras specifically dictate the need for invoking spiritual bans? If the ban is not politically motivated there must be an authentic spiritual basis for this action. The teachings of Buddha address all possible delusions that sentient beings are capable of generating, therefore, please cite the Sutras that necessitate imposing the ban on Dorje Shugden.
2. Why is the Dalai Lama consistently patient, apologetic, and conciliatory toward the Chinese and not Dorje Shugden practitioners? The Dalai Lama has never acknowledged any email, petition, fax, phone call, telegram, or verbal request, nor has he ever granted an audience to anyone wishing to try and solve the Shugden controversy. However, he makes effort to engage the Chinese at virtually every opportunity. Please explain this double standard of engagement.
3. The Dalai Lama says that Dorje Shugden practitioners are free to ignore his ‘advice’ and continue to practice their faith. How is this possible when his government, his siblings, his personal friends, and representatives of Buddhist traditions that he controls, at every opportunity, disparage and attack Dorje Shugden practitioners? What basis is there to believe that Shugden practitioners have freedom? The Dalai Lama has said:
   

   “Everyone who is affiliated with the Tibetan society of the Ganden Phodrang government, should relinquish ties with Dhogyal. This is necessary since it poses danger to the religious and temporal situation of Tibet. As for foreigners, it makes no difference to us if they walk with their feet up and their head down. We have taught Dharma to them, not they to us…‘Until now you have a very good job on this issue. Hereafter also, continue this policy in a clever way. We should do it in such a way to ensure that in future generations not even the name of Dhogyal is remembered.”

   (From a speech delivered July 14th 1996, in Caux Switzerland) Since the Dalai Lama has expressed an intention to utterly destroy the practice of Dorje Shugden, please explain the nature and type of freedom such practitioners shall enjoy.

4. Johan Candelin, director of the World Evangelical Fellowship’s (WEF) Religious Liberty Commission, invited the Dalai Lama to meeting in Helsinki on June 20, 1998. One of the topics discussed was the persecution of Christians in Sri Lanka by Buddhists. The Dalai Lama said that any Buddhist who persecutes Christians “misunderstands the true nature of Buddhism.” Persecution is defined in the Random House College Dictionary (def. 3) to mean:
   

   “A program or campaign to exterminate, drive away, or subjugate a people because of their religious or moral beliefs or practices.”

   If persecution of Christians is inappropriate and contrary to the true nature of Buddhism, why is the persecution of Shugden practitioners been not only acceptable, but advocated by the Dalai Lama? How can any reasonable person not consider the Dalai Lama’s words and actions to be hypocrisy in the extreme? Please clarify that persecuting Shugden practitioners is not hypocrisy.

5. The Dalai Lama freely admits that previous to his ban he was a practitioner of Dorje Shugden. He also composed a prayer to the deity entitled, Melody of the Unceasing Vajra, which is subtitled: ‘A Propitiation of Mighty Gyalchen Dorje Shugden, Protector of Conqueror Manjushri Tsongkhapa’s Teachings, by the Supreme Victor, the Great 14th Dalai Lama.’ Since the Dalai Lama is considered to be infallible and a fully enlightened being, how can these completely opposite beliefs be reconciled? Should we understand that the Dalai Lama was a faulty being when he practiced this deity in the past? If so, how is it that he can be considered to be faultless now? Enlightened beings cannot become more enlightened with time, nor can their perfect state degenerate. Moreover, such a pure being is omniscient, and would know indubitably that such a reversal of belief would cause tremendous confusion and problems. A flawless being should be able to provide a coherent, logical, and plausible explanation for this contradiction. The Dalai Lama has yet to provide such an explanation. Please explain how the Dalai Lama’s reversal on Dorje Shugden can be considered anything other than the confused and mistaken action of an ordinary being.
6. For nearly four centuries the deity Dorje Shugden has supposedly caused harm to many people. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama claims that since the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Dorje Shugden has caused not only a consistent degeneration of Buddhism, but many other serious problems. If this is true, why is it not possible for any of the reincarnations of the Dalai Lama to subdue this being? It is claimed that each of the Dalai Lamas are successive manifestations of the Buddha of Compassion (Chenrezig). There are many accounts of high Lamas subduing malevolent spirits in Tibet, yet the succession of ten Dalai Lamas cannot accomplish a similar feat. Practitioners of Dorje Shugden claim that he is an enlightened being, and therefore impossible to subdue. Please explain the failure of these ten Dalai Lamas to subdue Dorje Shugden. Please explain the failure of thousands of high Lamas to do the same.

Posted courtesy of Ron Cook.

(Source: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2008/09/six-important-questions-for-dalai-lama.html)

(Read Part 1)
Recently, France 24 sent journalists to India to investigate the claims of religious persecution by Dorje Shugden practitioners at the hands of the Dalai Lama and his supporters. This is what they found. Here we continue with Part Two of comments on this report. Part One can be found here.

Clarification of Inaccuracies Within the Report

While, generally speaking, the report documents well the persecution against Dorje Shugden practitioners, there are nonetheless a few points that require clarification.

• Dorje Shugden practitioners are Chinese collaborators. The inferences from the report range from Dorje Shugden practitioners are appreciative of the Chinese contribution to Tibet, through to they are receiving funding from the Chinese, through to they are outright collaborators with the Chinese. This can be clarified as follows:

1. There is no evidence whatsoever linking Dorje Shugden practitioners with the Chinese. This is just a baseless allegation repeated again and again. A lie repeated frequently does not become an actual truth, but it can become popular assumption, or at least enough of a rumour that people begin to doubt. A good example is the often-repeated accusation that Barack Obama is a Muslim.
2. The only evidence that has been produced to ‘prove’ that Dorje Shugden practitioners are working for the Chinese is a couple of pictures of Dorje Shugden supporters meeting with Chinese officials. Although there are far more pictures of the Dalai Lama with Chinese officials, nobody makes the absurd suggestion that such photos are a basis for saying he is working for the Chinese. Anybody who has dealings in Tibet will need to have interaction with Chinese officials. If there is ‘no doubt’ that Dorje Shugden practitioners are Chinese collaborators infiltrating the Tibetan community, then surely there must be more evidence than the picture of the back of somebody’s head! Surely this picture alone cannot be the basis of a systematic, 30 year campaign to completely eliminate ‘even the memory of the name of Dorje Shugden’ (the Dalai Lama’s self-declared goal).
3. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao would frequently declare that somebody was a Nationalist Spy or a Revisionist, and use this accusation as a means of discrediting any opposition. It seems the Dalai Lama is holding himself true to his words that his persecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners will be like the Cultural Revolution.
4. Any time that Tibetan officials or defenders are pressed to provide evidence substantiating their claims, all they can do is say ‘everybody knows this to be so’. Everybody may believe this to be so due to 30 years of propaganda and slander by the Dalai Lama, but history is replete with examples of everybody in a population believing what the propaganda says (Nazi Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s China, Kim’s North Korea, Castro’s Cuba, etc.). It is a fair question to ask ‘what is the basis of this belief?’ ‘What is the evidence substantiating this claim?’ If this is to be the basis of widespread religious persecution, a betrayal of the very principles that the Tibetan community is supposed to stand for (Religious Freedom) then surely it is fair to ask for proof whether the accusation is true or not.
5. Any independent investigation would reveal that Dorje Shugden practitioners are receiving no financial support whatsoever from the Chinese. Any independent investigation would reveal that these accusations are nothing other than convenient government lies designed to demonize and discredit any opposition.

• Objection: But what about the pro-Chinese comments of Kundaling Rinpoche. Surely this shows that Dorje Shugden practitioners are Chinese sympathizers.

1. It is possible that a few Dorje Shugden practitioners, such as the individual shown in the interview, may feel that Tibet is better off under the Chinese than under the leadership of the Dalai Lama. But this is an extreme minority view. Any independent investigation would reveal that the overwhelming majority of Dorje Shugden practitioners are just as committed to the Tibetan cause as any other Tibetan or Buddhist practitioner.
2. This statement confuses cause and effect. The Dalai Lama supporters say that Dorje Shugden practitioners are Chinese supporters (cause), therefore they need to be restricted (effect). But the causality is actually reversed. The Dalai Lama is persecuting Dorje Shugden practitioners (cause), which then may cause a small minority of them to prefer the Chinese (effect). Absent the persecution, there would be no basis for this preference. It is the ban itself that is creating sympathy for the Chinese cause; therefore, to remove such sympathy from Tibetan society, a more appropriate solution would be to lift the ban.
3. To be unambiguously clear, the pro-Chinese sentiments expressed by Kundaling Rinpoche are in no way reflective of the views of the Western Shugden Society or the overwhelming majority of Dorje Shugden practitioners. The Western Shugden Society has no political opinions whatsoever. Its only objective is the restoration of religious freedom for Dorje Shugden practitioners. It takes no position whatsoever on Tibetan politics, other than how it impacts religious freedom.
4. Besides, feeling that China has brought some benefit to Tibet does not make somebody a Chinese agent or infiltrator. This is a political opinion. Oppositional political opinions are illegal only in authoritarian regimes. The life blood of democracy is free opposition. Either the Dalai Lama wishes to make Tibetan society democratic, at which point he should embrace opposition; or he declares that any opposition is national treason, at which point he forfeits any claim at being a democrat.
5. Even if there do exist a few Dorje Shugden practitioners who are Chinese agents, this is in no way a justification for the ‘collective punishment’ of all Dorje Shugden practitioners. Why should innocent people be punished for the views of some? If action needs to be taken against some individuals, then it should be targeted against those individuals, not against an entire spiritual population.

• Dorje Shugden practitioners engage in violence, commit murder and instigate arson. Therefore, they need to be stopped.

1. This is another incidence of a lie repeated often enough becoming publicly held myth. With such a serious accusation, it is fair to ask the question: what is the evidence? Once again, when pressed, Tibetan leaders will reply ‘everybody knows this.’ This is not evidence — this is simply proof that the Dalai Lama’s smear campaign has been effective.
2. When the Indian police investigated the accused Dorje Shugden practitioners, no evidence whatsoever was found against them, and they were cleared of all charges against them. This has not stopped the Tibetan Government in Exile to continue to repeat and publish the accusation at every possible juncture. Read a detailed account of the police investigation.
3. Showing pictures of murdered people and saying it was Dorje Shugden practitioners who did it does not prove that Dorje Shugden practitioners committed such awful crimes, it merely proves that some people were murdered. It says nothing at all about who did it.
4. Such murders are tragic, and anybody who committed such actions is not Buddhist. Such violence must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, and all genuine Buddhists, Dorje Shugden practitioners included, share the moral outrage that such crimes are committed.
5. The crimes of a few misguided extremists cannot be a justification for punishing and demonizing an entire spiritual population. Even if it was some extremist Dorje Shugden practitioners who committed these crimes (something we completely deny, this response is being made as a hypothetical), then it is those individuals who should be tracked down and punished, not the entire community of Dorje Shugden practitioners. Surely any thinking person would not say all Muslims are murderers and should be punished just because some extremists engage in acts of terrorism. The vast majority of Muslims are peace-loving, honourable people, and so should be treated with dignity, freedom and respect. The whole world shares the moral outrage at the collective punishment of all Palestinians due to the actions of a few suicide bombers. These are innocent people who should not be punished for crimes they did not commit. In the same way, even if some extremist Dorje Shugden practitioners did commit such awful crimes (which, again, we deny), this is not a justification for punishing and persecuting innocent people.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we thank the producers and reporters of France 24 for having the courage and journalistic integrity to investigate the simple question of whether the Dalai Lama practices at home what he preaches abroad. This documentary demonstrates clearly that there are serious violations of religious freedom and other human rights taking place against Dorje Shugden practitioners and the source of such persecution is none other than the Dalai Lama himself. As the report accurately described: there is ‘spiritual apartheid’ taking place and it is ‘taboo’ to question the Dalai Lama.

We invite France 24 to investigate further the points clarified in this response. Baseless rumour and often-repeated allegation is not evidence. If an investigation were to take place, it would clearly show that these allegations have no foundation in reality and are nothing other than a government-orchestrated effort to silence and discredit any opposition. The truth can never be defeated.

Posted courtesy of Dspak.

(Read Part 1)

(Source: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2008/09/part-two-tv-documentary-by-france-24.html)

(Read Part 2)

Recently, France 24 sent journalists to India to investigate the claims of religious persecution by Dorje Shugden practitioners at the hands of the Dalai Lama and his supporters. This is what they found. Please read on for comments to this TV documentary.

Introduction

First of all, it is wonderful that France 24 has taken the time to investigate what is actually going on within the Tibetan community in exile. In public, the Dalai Lama is the global champion of religious freedom, yet at home in secret he is persecuting his own people. It is almost unthinkable that the Dalai Lama would blatantly betray that which is he most known for. It would be like finding out that Santa Clause abuses children, so people just think ‘it can’t be.’ But as this documentary shows, there is truly spiritual apartheid.

Our fear is that such hypocrisy will destroy the Dalai Lama’s moral authority much in the same way that the US engaging in torture has destroyed any remaining US moral authority. In the end, all Dorje Shugden practitioners are asking for is for the Dalai Lama to practice at home what he preaches abroad.
These comments will first indicate what the documentary got right, and then in Part Two it will clarify some issues that were misleading.

What the Documentary Got Right

In general, except for the clarifications mentioned below, this documentary demonstrates beyond any doubt the types of things taking place within the Tibetan community against Dorje Shugden practitioners.
In particular, the report shows clear evidence of ‘spiritual apartheid’. Widespread persecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners includes:

1. Dorje Shugden practitioners are denied entry into stores, shops and even hospitals. So they cannot get access to food, basic social services or medical care in their own community due solely to their religion.
2. The Tibetan people have taken an oath to the Dalai Lama swearing that they will deny material or spiritual support to any Dorje Shugden practitioner. And the Tibetan people are carrying out this oath.
3. Dorje Shugden practitioners are treated as outlaws. Their portraits are posted on the walls, like they are criminals.
4. Dorje Shugden practitioners have been shunned from their community, essentially being driven into exile from the exile community. They live in fear of people harassing them, threatening them, etc. Many Dorje Shugden practitioners have been forced to flee their community and live in exile.
5. Dorje Shugden practitioners are accused of being against the Dalai Lama, traitors, rebels and Chinese spies and collaborators.
6. The report shows that the persecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners is politically motivated. The report correctly calls it a witch hunt motivated by fear of Chinese infiltration within the Tibetan community. It shows that opposition to Dorje Shugden practitioners is taking place at the highest political levels within the Tibetan community, including the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Prime Minister, Samdhong Rinpoche.
7. It shows that people are forced to choose between Dorje Shugden and the Dalai Lama, and if they choose to maintain their religion, then they are expelled from their monasteries and community.
8. The report shows it is extremely taboo to criticise the Dalai Lama. Since he is supposed to be a God, anything he says automatically becomes the rule of law. If somebody criticises the Dalai Lama, then it is taken as automatic ‘proof’ that they are a Chinese spy or collaborator who is against the cause of Tibet.
9. The report shows that Dalai Lama is a hypocrite – preaching tolerance and religious freedom around the world, but at home practicing persecution.
10. It shows that any reporting of what is going on receives a hostile response. Cameras are smashed, those speaking out against the ban are harrassed, etc. If this takes place with the cameras rolling, imagine what takes place when nobody is looking…
11. The report shows clearly how all of this comes from the Dalai Lama himself. The Dalai Lama is the one who is the origin of all of this persecution, and it is he who ordered that all Dorje Shugden practitioners be expelled from their monasteries and the Tibetan community at once.
12. The report shows the number of people who have been affected by this ban – more than 4 million Tibetans.

• Some argue that this number is exaggerated, saying that there is currently only a small minority of people practicing Dorje Shugden. However, it is historically undeniable that prior to the Dalai Lama beginning his crusade against Dorje Shugden practitioners 30 years ago, upwards of 60% of the 8 million total population of Tibet relied upon Dorje Shugden. So 4 million is actually a conservative estimate of the number of people affected by this ban.
• To say that this number is exaggerated and that there is only a small number of people who are (currently) affected by this ban is very misleading. The reason why there is only a small minority currently affected by the Dalai Lama’s actions is precisely because the Dalai Lama has been so successful over the last 30 years in systematically destroying the practice. The very fact that there are currently so few Dorje Shugden practitioners left today is itself the proof of the effect of the Dalai Lama’s actions. There are currently very few Jews left in Eastern Europe because Hitler almost succeeded in wiping them out, but this does not mean that the holocaust did not affect many people.
• There are two possibilities. Either there is a large number of Dorje Shugden practitioners, at which point the persecution being committed by the Dalai Lama is widespread; or it is a small number, at which point Dorje Shugden practitioners are not a threat, so they should be left alone to practice in freedom.

Posted courtesy of Dspak.

(Read Part 2)

(Source: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2008/09/tv-documentary-by-france-24-dalai-lamas.html)

(Read Part 1 and Part 2)

Q: What prevents anyone from practising it anyway in his/her privacy?

A: In theory there is nothing to stop people practising ‘in secret’, but as part of his campaign to remove the practice from Tibetan society, each person either has been forced to swear an oath to Palden Lhamo (another powerful Dharma protector) or be ostracised from Tibetan society and be denied travel, food, family relationships and basic human conditions. In effect the Dalai Lama is forcing Tibetans to make a vow to break their previous commitment to their Spiritual Guides to practise Dorje Shugden, or to suffer ostracism if they refuse. The oath is as follows:

I swear on the name of the Dalai Lama and glorious Maxor Gyalmo (Protectress Palden Lhamo) to never venerate and worship Dorje Shugden and to never have any relation on material and other levels with those who worship Dorje Shugden.

The Dalai Lama is seeking to publicly denounce the practice of Dorje Shugden with a view to removing the practice and its adherents from Buddhism; and to oppose this requires public action such as demonstrations. He has already banned the practice in the Tibetan Community in India and moves are afoot to try to force Tibetans living in the West to sign a similar oath to abandon the practice. For example, The Dalai Lama’s sister Pema was recently in Paris starting the forced signature campaign of Tibetans in France, Tibetans in Australia told the demonstrators that they had already signed the oath, and the forced signature campaign is being arranged for Madison, US, next month (July 2008).
The discrimination against Dorje Shugden is already affecting Buddhist traditions in the West. For example, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, which was founded by Lama Yeshe (a very devout Dorje Shugden practitioner, now perhaps turning in his grave), no longer allows any officer, Teacher or Administrator of the organization to be a Shugden practitioner. Also, one of the pre-requisites for requesting ordination in the FPMT is not to be a Shugden practitioner. The irrational ban is spreading like poison through the bloodstream of all Tibetan Buddhist institutions loyal to the Dalai Lama, even Western ones. The aim is the complete eradication of Dorje Shugden practice and the authentic Gelugpa lineage.
The Dalai Lama travels throughout the world talking about tolerance, religious harmony and the need for dialogue with one’s enemies. He speaks sweet words taken from his Teachers, but at the same time he is seeking to humiliate and destroy the reputation of Dorje Shugden practitioners throughout the world such that they will no longer be regarded as Buddhists but as sectarian spirit worshippers. He is destroying the very lineage he is teaching from!
A lot of people think that religion and religious figures are hypocritical. Sadly, the Dalai Lama is busy proving them right. If the Dalai Lama cared anything for Buddhism and its reputation he would not act in such a hypocritical way because in the long term it will destroy the reputation of a religion that many people are increasingly turning to for solving their problems. For the sake of power and influence he is showing a callous disregard for the spiritual lives of others.

Q: What do protesters hope to achieve by going public, and by all accounts, sow, what appears gratuitous discord, amongst the Tibetan community? And apparently undermine the moral and representative authority of the Dalai Lama at a very, very crucial time for him and Tibetans. To the public at large it has all the appearance of a rather self-centred opportunity for these practitioners to embarrass the Dalai Lama, and to gain maximum leverage for their cause, whatever the merits of it may be.

A: What the Western Shugden Society hopes to achieve is dialogue with the Dalai Lama so that the destruction of a pure lineage of Buddhism can be averted. Our wish is for the pure spiritual practice of Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition to remain for many aeons for the benefit of all living beings. We want to persuade the Dalai Lama to reconsider, give religious freedom to Dorje Shugden practitioners in his own community and to stop slandering the practice and practitioners throughout the world.
In short, we want him to stop causing disharmony and gratuitous discord in the Buddhist community by lying about the practice, and for him to give religious freedom. When something as precious as the Buddhist teachings is threatened, something has to be done, which is why the Western Shugden Society is organizing demonstrations against the Dalai Lama. As soon as he agrees to listen, the demonstrations will stop.
Some people have said “why are Westerners protesting when it’s only a problem for Tibetans in India? You’re free to practice, the Dalai Lama isn’t stopping you” Firstly, it’s not just Westerners who are protesting. If you look at the videos and pictures of the protest at Colgate University in New York State, for example, you will see many Tibetans, and many more will be at future demonstrations. Secondly, this is a problem for ALL Shugden practitioners worldwide and is increasingly coming to affect Western practitioners in terms of unchecked slander against Dorje Shugden practitioners. Just as a forest fire may begin in one part of the forest but will eventually spread and destroy everything if it is unchecked, the Dalai Lama is trying to stop all of us from practising Dorje Shugden by using his charisma and good reputation, first in his own community but later worldwide. We must oppose this.
Those of us who are in the New Kadampa Tradition have already suffered from ten years of the Dalai Lama labelling us as a ‘cult’, even mainstream news magazines like Newsweek in April 1997 repeated the misinformation spread by the Dalai Lama: “Nobody would pray to Buddha for better business, but they go to Shugden for such favours – and this is where it has become like spirit worship,” the Dalai Lama told NEWSWEEK. “This is a great pity-a tragedy.”
There are now hundreds of stories throughout the world of people strongly deterred by Tibetan Buddhist groups from coming to or returning to NKT Centers because they are cultists and evil spirit worshippers, and all other sorts of hurtful nonsense. NKT publicity is torn down or defaced, teachers are heckled during their teachings, NKT people have been shouted and spat at in the street, some other Tibetan practitioners wear protective ribbons and make mudras (hand gestures) upon encountering any Kadampas, there is a lot of negative talk about us on the internet, and faith is destroyed.
Yet what has the NKT done wrong except for trying to keep the Gelugpa tradition intact and give Dharma teachings unmixed with politics? What have they done wrong except to stand up to the Dalai Lama for their own and others’ spiritual lives? And it is clear that the source of this bias, disinformation and hostility is none other than the Dalai Lama himself. Tibetan Buddhists who are following the Dalai Lama’s view are practising sectarian discrimination against the NKT in particular and against Dorje Shugden practitioners in general, just as their teacher is.
For example, on the popular E-sangha Buddhist discussion forum it is not permissible to post about Shugden practice or the NKT except to criticise. We are all ‘banned’ from this supposedly Buddhist forum, just as the Dalai Lama would like to ostracise all Shugden practitioners from Buddhism. The Dalai Lama has created all these problems through his sectarianism. This kind of discrimination is not Buddhist and is against the Bodhisattva vows. Therefore, it’s incorrect to say that Western Shugden practitioners are unaffected by the Dalai Lama’s slander of our tradition.
It is not our wish to sow discord amongst the Tibetan community but to heal it by allowing everyone to practice freely. The Dalai Lama is the one sowing discord with his campaign against Dorje Shugden. He is driving a wedge between practitioners and their families and denying basic human conditions unless you renounce the practice. The Dalai Lama is abusing human rights and breaking Indian Law by engaging in Deity discrimination. His actions are clearly uncompassionate and unlawful.
In February 2008, 900 monks were expelled from their monasteries for bravely refusing to give up their practice.
As Geshe Sopa said recently when he travelled from America to join the demonstration in Oxford, what the Dalai Lama is doing is worse than what the Chinese did – the Chinese destroyed the monasteries but they could not divide the monks. The Dalai Lama has succeeded in creating a schism in the monastic community by enforcing a ban that has stirred up disharmony and bitterness.
The protest against the Dalai Lama is not self-centered but is an attempt to draw media attention to this problem. The Western Shugden Society has no choice because the Dalai Lama refuses to discuss this issue even though many attempts have been made to have a meaningful dialogue with him. The WSS is trying to prevent the destruction of Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition and to re-establish the rights of Tibetan practitioners of this Deity who are being oppressed, to allow them to carry out their practice without political interference. Is that really so much to ask?
Posted courtesy of Lineageholder.
(Read Part 1 and Part 2)
(Source: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2008/06/frequently-asked-questions-about-dorje_9205.html)

(Read Part 1 and Part 3)

Q: What are the politics behind the ban by the Dalai Lama and what may have prompted him to issue such a ban?

In 1961 the Dalai Lama tried to become the supreme head of Tibetan Buddhism by merging all the schools of Buddhism into one (a position never held by any previous Dalai Lama). This move was opposed by many. From the Western Shugden Society booklet: “The Tibetan Situation Today, Surprising Hidden News”:

As soon as you arrived to India as a refugee you made a plan to transform the four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism—Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelug—into one single tradition called Rigme (Non Lineage) tradition. This was your method to destroy the pure lineages of the Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelug and make you alone the head of all of them by establishing a new tradition. In this way you now have complete power and control of everything at a spiritual, political and material level.

At that time, the Tso Kha Chusum (“Thirteen Groups of Tibetans”) were against your plan and because of this for many years the Tibetan community lost their harmony and peace. Finally, the leader of the Tso Kha Chusum, Gungthang Tsultrim, was murdered by a shotgun. Tibetan people believe that Gungthang Tsultrim was killed by people working for you. Later, some other important members of the Tso Kha Chusum suddenly died, and people believed your organizations created the conditions for their death.

At that time he had so much opposition that he had to abandon his ambition, but it seems he did not give it up. For example, he later meddled with the internal spiritual affairs of the Kagyus, going against their tradition and choosing his own Karmapa, which has led to a well-documented schism, conflict and opposition to him amongst those who follow the Sharmapa and want to preserve the autonomy of the Kagyu lineage. The most likely reason for his issuing a ban on the Protector of Tsongkhapa’s tradition is to weaken the Gelugpas, thus bringing them under his power as well.

There is no doubt that he is trying to destroy the autonomy of the four different schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The only school he has not directly meddled with is the Sakyas, probably as there are too few of them to oppose him.

He is getting away with this by appealing to a liberal West, calling his approach “ecumenical” or “inclusive” whereas those who want to keep to their own tradition are “sectarian” or “exclusive”. The reality is that he is dispensing with centuries of authentic time-honored tradition and starting his own tradition so that he can be the head of it, stomping over people’s freedom of worship to do so.

In other words, it is likely that he is banning Dorje Shugden out of a political motivation to increase his power and influence. This could be the only justification for saying that his own Teachers (who were universally beloved in Tibetan society just 30 years ago) were wrong and banning the practice. How sad!

The reasons he gives to convince people to support him are that relying upon Dorje Shugden amounts to spirit worship. This then leads to many paradoxes (explained in detail on this website and elsewhere); not least of which is that, if it were true, his own Teachers would be non-Buddhists for taking refuge in a spirit! It would invalidate the whole Gelugpa lineage and what could be said, then, for his own Buddhist education? However, the greatness of the deeds and teachings of these Lamas attests to their state of realization, which would not be possible if they were non-Buddhists relying on a spirit. The only conclusion we can come to is that the Dalai Lama is definitely wrong!

Trijang Rinpoche also gives many valid reasons why Dorje Shugden is a Buddha which can be read here. In summary, Dorje Shugden is a Buddha because he is the incarnation of Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen who himself is from a long line of enlightened Masters including Manjushri. Since all these incarnations practised pure moral discipline for centuries, how would it be possible for Dragpa Gyaltsen to be reborn as a spirit? This would contradict the law of karma and imply that ethical conduct can lead to lower rebirth. Either that, or it would mean that an enlightened being could degenerate from the state of enlightenment and become a hungry ghost! All of these are the absurd consequences of holding Dorje Shugden to be a spirit.

The Dalai Lama has also repeatedly claimed that Dorje Shugden harms his health and the cause of Tibetan independence. He seems to be playing this down more recently because, again, it is ludicrous. If Dorje Shugden is harming his health, how is he a healthy-looking 72-year old? Also, one of the benefits of Buddhist refuge is that one is not harmed by demons or other evil influences. If the Dalai Lama is being harmed, he must be a non-Buddhist. Furthermore he abandoned the cause of Tibetan independence a long time ago, so how can Dorje Shugden harm it more than the Dalai Lama has by completely letting it go?
Posted courtesy of Lineageholder.

(Read Part 1 and Part 3)

(Source: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2008/06/frequently-asked-questions-about-dorje_21.html)

• The Dalai Lama claims that Buddhism is degenerating into spirit worship by relying on Dorje Shugden, yet he propitiates (and has a whole temple for) a spirit claiming to be Nechung whom he relies on for advice.
• The Dalai Lama accuses the Chinese of abusing the human rights of Tibetans, yet he is abusing the human rights of Dorje Shugden practitioners worldwide.
• The Dalai Lama is accusing Dorje Shugden practice of being ‘sectarian’, even though he is being sectarian by banning the practice that was done by his holy Teachers whom he says are ‘wrong’.
• He says that Dorje Shugden practice is causing problems in Tibetan society, but all such problems exist only because of the Dalai Lama’s actions of demonizing practitioners of this Deity, stiring up disharmony and causing divisions where no such divisions existed before by exploiting the issues of his health and the cause of Tibetan independence, which he has no intention of achieving anyway.
• He says that Dorje Shugden practice is divisive, but he has divided the Sangha, something that has never happened before in the history of Buddhism on this scale. Geshe Sopa said recently when he attended the demonstration in Oxford that what the Dalai Lama has done is worse than what the Chinese did, because the Chinese could not divide the monks, but the Dalai Lama has managed to do so.
• He is trying to enforce his ban of Dorje Shugden in Tibetan society, and in Buddhist society in general, saying that people are not listening to him; when he has refused for over ten years to listen to the petitions of Western Shugden practitioners who simply want religious freedom for all.

There can surely be no greater example of the ugly results of mixing religion and politics than the Dalai Lama’s present actions of destroying a pure spiritual tradition.

Posted courtesy of Lineageholder

(Source: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2008/06/double-standards-apply.html)

About the Dalai Lama’s Advice Concerning the Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden

The Dalai Lama has given three main reasons for banning the practice of Dorje Shugden. Before we reply to those, we should point out that although he says he “strongly discourages” it, there is an increasing body of evidence to show he has banned it. Witness the ID card – Tibetans are forced to swear that they will never venerate Dorje Shugden nor have any spiritual or material relationship with those who do or they will not be given an ID card (effectively making them refugees amongst refugees). The resulting ostracism and denial of basic human rights such as food, shelter and companionship has created great suffering in the Tibetan community and is clearly documented.

Even if the Dalai Lama’s views on the practice were reasonable or true, which they are not, it would still be unacceptable to force these views on others in this way, using his political power to impose his religious will. Imagine if any other leader forced this signature campaign on Muslims, or Jews, or Shamans? There would be a huge outcry and people would be reminded of Germany in the 1930s.

As for his reasons, they are refuted in detail by the words and experiences of thousands and thousands of practitioners past and present – for example, see www.WesternShugdenSociety.org and www.WisdomBuddhaDorjeShugden.org. In particular, look at the article Replies to the three reasons for the Dalai Lama’s ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden.

Here, we answer them briefly.

• “The danger of Tibetan Buddhism degenerating into a form of spirit worship”. The practice of Dorje Shugden is not spirit worship because Dorje Shugden is viewed as the embodiment of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom, arisen in this form to protect Buddha’s teachings. All Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden practitioners, including the Dalai Lama’s teachers and millions of Gelugpa Lamas and practitioners of past generations, are actual Buddhists who practice the complete Dharma of Buddha Shakyamuni. It is untrue, patronizing and insulting to say that they are not. It would also mean that the teachings that the Dalai Lama himself is giving are non-Buddhist as these come from his teachers who were Dorje Shugden practitioners
• “Obstacles to the emergence of genuine non-sectarianism”. The Dalai Lama allegedly promotes interreligious understanding and harmony, just so long as Dorje Shugden practitioners can be the exception to the rule. Even today, for example, everyone can attend the “formal religious teachings” by the Dalai Lama – come along if you are a Muslim, a Catholic, or an actual spirit worshipper, everyone is welcome! But a Buddhist Dorje Shugden practitioner? You will be asked to leave. That the Dalai Lama says he is a man of peace and tolerance makes this Buddhist apartheid even more intolerable. There is absolutely no evidence to support the claim that it is Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden practitioners who promote sectarianism; they are simply asking for the freedom to practice their ancient tradition without being persecuted and shunned. The Dalai Lama hides behind his celebrity status and blames the victim for the crime.
• “Especially inappropriate in relation to the well-being of Tibetan society”. Imagine if President Bush were to declare that someone’s spiritual practice was affecting his life and ability to govern and so it should be stopped? He would be considered dictatorial and idiotic. The idea that those who do their peaceful prayers to Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden for the protection of positive minds of compassion and wisdom is somehow detrimental to the government headed by the Dalai Lama and therefore should be stopped is likewise dictatorial and embarrassingly superstitious. The Dalai Lama is now 73 years old, in fine health, and he gave up the idea of Tibetan independence years ago. Scapegoating Dorje Shugden practitioners for the failure to win a free Tibet is a political ploy and, if it were not the popular charismatic Dalai Lama who was saying these things, this would have been laughed out of court a long time ago. It is not Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden practitioners who are destroying Tibetan unity, it is the Dalai Lama’s controversial and divisive actions of splitting families and communities down the middle.

The Dalai Lama has urged people to consider this and “to act accordingly”. We are confident that if you do take the time to critically examine his reasons and do some research, you will agree that they make no sense and that, even if they did, he has no right to impose these religious views on others through political processes such as the ID card.

Why would so many Tibetan and Western practitioners take all this time and expense to travel to demonstrate against one of the world’s most famous religious leaders if there were not some very urgent and compelling reason for doing so? We are here because there is a major problem in Tibetan exile society and it is just going to get worse if we do not have the courage to point it out.

For 30 years, Lamas and practitioners have tried to communicate with the Dalai Lama on this subject, and for 30 years he has either ignored or insulted us.

To say we are demonstrating because we are being paid by the Chinese is a lazy and laughable excuse – firstly because there is not a shred of evidence for this because it is not remotely true; and secondly because why would employed, educated and free citizens need Chinese money to make their voices heard?

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

(Source : http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2008/08/dalai-lamas-reasons-for-ban-of-dorje.html)

As you can see, the Dalai Lama’s political ban on a 350-year-old spiritual practice and attempt to discredit and outlaw the lineage of his teachers is a harsh and ongoing attempt to stamp out diversity and bring all Buddhist traditions (and hence all Tibetan Buddhists) under his authority. (It is not unlike the treatment of early Gnostic and other Christians at the hands of the authorized Church.)

These actions are not just bigoted and autocratic, they are also illegal and unconstitutional. Which begs the question, why does he think he can get away with it? And what is his motivation?

It may be easy to assume in the West, due to his reputation, that his motivation for doing this must surely be compassion even if his actual reasons are hard to understand. But is it not possible that, having being venerated since the age of four as both a god and as a political leader/feudal king, he may sometimes act like a political leader, motivated by the wish for control or power? In this instance, perhaps, power over all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism i.e. all Tibetans.

His own words in the section In the Dalai Lama’s words to the Tibetan people, exhorting them to seek out those who still worship Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden and “encourage” them to stop, have a very different tone and style to the words he uses for his Western audiences. So do his reasons for “discouraging” the practice. And his words and reasons to the Tibetans have had an incendiary effect, resulting in violence toward Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden practitioners, tension and disharmony which he has done nothing to quell – quite the opposite to his recent denunciation of the violence amongst Tibetans protesting in India and Tibet.

Is it so hard to believe that he could EVER make a mistake? Is he the first political (or spiritual) leader in history to have never made a single mistake? Indeed, he has made a number of mistakes that have been swept under the carpet, such as accepting money from the CIA (for his government in exile and $139,000 per year for himself) to sponsor an armed resistance, and accepting 2 million dollars from Shoko Asahara — see below. Why does the Western world want to believe that he is infallible and completely pure? Would it be so terrible if the Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden practitioners were correct in this instance? Or if he admitted to his mistake?

Those who dare speak up about their wish to continue with their practice of Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden freely and without harassment, both in the East and the West, sometimes feel like David pitted against Goliath due to the formidable reputation of the person who is leading the charge against them. But in truth we have the Declaration of Human Rights, the Indian Constitution, the Tibetan constitution, and Buddhist principles on our side.

(Source : http://www.wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.org/dorjeshugden09.php)