Students United Movement of All Arunachal (SUMAA) have been protesting against the Government of Arunachal Pradesh’s adoption of the Tibetan Rehabilitation policy (TRP). They say Tibetans are infringing on the rights of the indigenous population.

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: Solaray Kusco

In 2014, the Indian government initiated a policy called the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy (TRP). Supporters say that the TRP was the Indian government’s attempt to boost the Tibetans’ standard of living; cynics say that the TRP was agreed to by many state governments, in order to woo Tibetan voters into voting favorably for them.

One such state that is now speaking up strongly is Arunachal Pradesh, in North India. In October 2017, hundreds of Indians in the state began passionate protests against their government, calling upon them to rollback their agreement to implement the TRP. In their protests, they willingly labelled themselves anti-Tibetan. The protests became so heated that Tibetan-owned businesses in Arunachal Pradesh state drew their shutters and required police protection from potential attacks.

The anti-Tibetan sentiment in Arunachal Pradesh joins an increasing number of vocal comments and remarks being made by Indians finally realizing how Tibetan so-called refugees have been taking advantage of the Indian nation’s kindness. Meanwhile the Tibetan leadership stays silent about the situation in Arunachal Pradesh while their people remain at risk of losing their entire livelihoods. It is clear that:

1. The current situation is not the fault of the Tibetan people but of their leadership known as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in Dharamsala, North India. The CTA do not implement good policies to expose their people to better education, world politics, current affairs, better job opportunities as well as life opportunities and instead they keep the Tibetan people downtrodden and poor for their own purposes. In doing so, the CTA hopes that the world remains sympathetic to them labelled as ‘refugees’ although it has been 60 years since leaving Tibet, and hence gives them more money and donations. In reality, Tibetans actually have many opportunities in India to better their own lives if they would go beyond their scopes. The CTA does not encourage this within their communities although to sponsors and foreign donors they show a different face.
2. Even their refugee status is being thrown into doubt and the citizens of their host country India is questioning why they are still refugees after 60 years of living freely. The tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh State in North India who are engaged in anti-Tibetan protests say that Tibetans are not genuine refugees according to the 1951 Geneva Convention which is the main international instrument of refugee law. There are many more genuine refugees in the world that fit the description much better. There are approximately 7,000 Tibetans in the North Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh alone. For example, real refugees do not live in nice houses, own farms, keep livestock, go on holidays abroad, send their children overseas for education, open up businesses, have big golden temples and get to enjoy all of the country’s facilities, while the indigenous population in India continues to suffer and does not receive adequate government aid. This indigenous population are speaking up now against this unfair practice of double standards. The double standards are those of the Tibetans claiming to be refugees and all the ‘perks’ that it accompanies this label, along with having passports of other countries such as Nepal, USA, England, Canada and so on. The head of the CTA or the so-called Prime Minister Mr. Lobsang Sangay has an American passport. If anything should happen in India, he can hop on a plane and fly to safety, quite contrary to the situation that his own countrymen face.
3. So for the Tibetan government to keep using the “refugee” card is a clear indication that they are cheating the local Indian and indigenous population. That is to say, the CTA has the ability to create an environment for their people to do well and thrive, without needing affirmative policies from the Indian government who should be allowed to focus their efforts on the Indian population. Yet, the CTA continue to rely on the Indian government for such policies because it is free and easy money, and this is why Indians in Arunachal Pradesh are so upset. The fact that anger is now being directed at all Tibetans is a very clear indicator that the CTA have not been good leaders in securing their people’s future and current status that now even their refugee status can be attacked. It clearly shows that the CTA and Tibetans have not made themselves welcomed in India even after 60 years. No country will ask an immigrant or refugee to leave if they have lived there for 60 years. So something is seriously upsetting the Indians against Tibetans. Why are they still refugees after 60 years of living in free India?

A banner posted by Students’ United Movement of all Arunachal (SUMAA) in Itanagar, India, on 6 October 2017 stating: “Anti Tibetan Refugee Movement” driving start from 10th October 2017 onwards. We strongly stand firm against the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy-2014. We seek every indigenous people to join in this rescue mission for the safeguards of indigenous community. Go back Tibetan…! Go back refugee…! Kaling Moyong, Vice Present (Pro) cum Issue Chairman; Tagri Tame, President; Akom Suraj Licu, General Secretary; Taki Longte Ta…, Education Sec’y cum Issue Vice Chairman.

4. The current anti-Tibetan sentiment shows that the CTA has not done much to give back to the people of India for being such a kind host and allowing them to live so freely, with all the additional perks even the locals do not get to enjoy. This shows how ungrateful the CTA is, and that they are all about taking and milking whoever they can manipulate into believing their ‘poor me’ stories. If the CTA had encouraged the Tibetan people to get involved with Indian society and assimilate, open charities, help the Indians and indigenous people, establish clinics, offer medical assistance and so on as the late Mother Teresa had done in India, Tibetans today would be viewed as Indians, and not as a separate community from the Indians. Being a separate community makes it easier for them to be identified as the opposition and enemy.
5. The level of anger we are currently witnessing in Arunachal Pradesh is not a spur-of-the-moment thing. It is not just because of the TRP that Indians are suddenly protesting against Tibetans. In fact, anti-Tibetan sentiments have been brewing for decades, and the TRP just happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Why are the Tibetans still asking to remain as refugees and not assimilate, and furthermore asking for special refugee privileges? Tibetans who migrate abroad to Canada, USA, Japan, Australia, Europe and so forth have to immediately assimilate, apply for permanent residency status or green cards, as well as passports and work. There are no special privileges. So why do they demand or expect this of their most kindest host, namely India? It has been 60 years already. “Assimilate or return to Tibet,” is what the Indians are logically demanding. Pay taxes, join the Indian armed services to protect the land, obey the rules of democracy and so on, and stop crying for help as you pretend to be a refugee.
6. SUMAA (Students United Movement of All Arunachal) are students, so they are not just random uneducated village people. They are educated and they can observe and think, and having analyzed the situation, they have grown to become very angry and are now protesting in the hundreds because Tibetans still want preferential treatment and ask for aid from the foreign countries. What the CTA need to realize is that SUMAA have vowed that this is just the beginning and will not stop until their state government of Arunachal Pradesh rolls back the TRP and rescinds the state’s support of this affirmative action. This type of anti-Tibetan sentiment is growing. It has been brewing in various parts of India for decades.
7. What the CTA also needs to understand is that once one group starts to get vocal and complain about the Tibetans, everyone else will join in too because finally, a group has taken the leap of being identified as anti-Tibetan and it is now no longer taboo to be considered as such. When that time comes, what can the CTA do to protect their people? After 60 years, Tibetans are still more likely to become sweater sellers than scientists, doctors, engineers and so forth. This is thanks to the CTA’s leadership and method of keeping their people uneducated, unexposed and unaware of the world at large for their own exploitative purposes. It is simple: the leadership keeps the population in poverty while they use this to receive aid and line their own coffers. It is well-known that the members of the Tibetan leadership in Dharamsala are wealthy, own houses abroad, send their kids to western countries for higher education, own cars, have foreign passports and can afford overseas holidays. While this method may have been initially intended to protect and preserve the Tibetan way of life, it has spectacularly backfired due to extreme corruption as Congressman Dana Rohrabacher stated. Now, the Tibetans cannot even earn a living safely and uninterruptedly, let alone think of preserving their culture in an atmosphere that is increasing hostile towards the so-called refugee Tibetans.
8. Why does the CTA not say something to placate the situation and make peace with the Indians in Arunachal Pradesh? It is most likely because they know they can do nothing to placate the protestors, as their anger has grown so great. Before it reached this stage, the CTA would have tried to say or do something to quell the anger and so now, it is too late. So how will the CTA help the Tibetans now? Can they speak up for Tibetan refugee rights without angering the local Indian population? What would stop Indians from saying that Tibetans should just leave, which they have every right to call for?
9. The CTA’s treatment of Dorje Shugden practitioners is coming back full circle. What’s happening now to all Tibetans and how they need police protection from the backlash from the Indians, is similar to how Dorje Shugden practitioners had to be protected by Indian police in the past when the CTA directed violence against them. Now the Tibetan community has to suffer because the CTA spent 60 years focused on making personal financial gains from their political positions. Thanks to the CTA’s actions against their own Tibetan people, the entire Tibetan community now has to suffer. Now the majority of Tibetans will know how it feels to live among self created hostility.

Locals have been seen protesting against the Tibetans in the hundreds.

What the CTA should be REALLY concerned about is that this is what is happening to Tibetans while Dalai Lama is still alive. While the Dalai Lama, who commands such massive respect in India, is still alive, there are already people in India calling for the Tibetans to leave. The request seems almost illogical; with nearly 90,000 Tibetans living in exile in India, it is impossible for all of them to leave. Where would they even go? It is becoming all the more obvious now that the CTA has to make friends with China so they have somewhere to go back to at that time, or to become Indian citizens now and be proud and serve the country. The Dalai Lama does not have a foreign passport but an Indian protectorate document for travel. But most of his government members do carry foreign passports but it is kept hush-hush. Ordinary Tibetans will find it prohibitively expensive to do the same.

This situation should be something of concern to all Tibetans, that once His Holiness the Dalai Lama passes away, there will be nothing to stem the wave of anti-Tibetan sentiment that is coming. They will not be able to rely on the CTA to handle it and certainly, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay has demonstrated he is incapable of doing so and will literally ‘fly the coop’ with his American passport. The funds for the whole of the CTA comes solely because of sympathies towards the charismatic Dalai Lama. Without him holding it together and being a magnet for monetary aid, all would collapse overnight. If Sikyong Lobsang Sangay had the ability to control the situation, the present situation in Arunachal Pradesh would not have boiled over into anti-Tibetan protests on the street. The fact there are protests now show that Lobsang Sangay was ineffective in dealing with this. The Tibetans did not make good impression on the Indians for the last 60 years.

After 60 years of living in India, Tibetans are still hoisting their flags throughout the communities in India. What an insult to India. They should be hoisting the flag of India which is the country that gives them safe refuge, education, opportunities, citizenship, free platform to campaign for a free Tibet, headquarters for the safety of the Dalai Lama, jobs and homes. But this shows how ungrateful Tibetans are. In every other country they migrate to, they must salute the flag of the respective countries. India is really kind and generous in all respects and now further is offering Tibetans citizenship which their CTA is refusing. To the public, they ‘encourage’ Tibetans for Indian citizenship but privately, they tell their people to not be a traitor and remain a refugee because the Tibetan cause will be lost, when in truth it is all about losing refugee aid money.

It is the CTA and their underhanded tricks all over again. By taking citizenship, Tibetans can no longer enjoy the free perks of foreign aid and have to fend for themselves. Indians are tired of being insulted and used as a stepping stone for Tibetans to get to another country. When they cannot get to another country, they want to remain as refugees forever, citing not losing the cause for Tibet, then only do they remain in India. Why is India the second choice? Why is India good enough to live as a refugee for 60 years but not good enough to become of citizen of? Tibetans are arrogant and are obviously using India. If getting an Indian citizenship is being a traitor to the Tibetan cause of freedom, then what about the thousands of Tibetans in Europe, Japan, Australia, North America who have already been naturalized as citizens of those respective countries? Are they all traitors also? Tibetans in India remain refugees because is easier to get aid than become a full citizen of a democratic country like India where they would have to fend for themselves like any other citizen.

As time passes, life gets better for most other refugee communities around the world. They are either repatriated as conflict in their homeland dies down, or they assimilate into their host nations and thrive there. Yet with the Tibetans, we are seeing the opposite, as more people become less enamored by the idea of a Shangri-la Tibet, and wake up to the reality that everyone knows is true – after 60 years, the CTA have given nothing back to India and will continue to give nothing back. Even as the Indians themselves speak up against them, with the Tibetan leadership it is truly a case of old habits die hard and at the end of the day, it will be left up to the Tibetan people to suffer. The precarious situation for Tibetans in India happening now is only the beginning of the end.

Indians (SUMAA) Protest Against Tibetans

Part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

Part Translation: “This is not a simple foot march, it is a protest rally and I want to say to the state government and the central government, whoever is behind this policy, to immediately roll it back. If not…this is just the beginning. I will say it one more time, this is just the beginning. And of our people who have come here today came along the road, if tomorrow the chief minister’s office asks, if necessary to save our prestige, we will, the SUMAA will go to any extent. Our demands are that the policy is rolled back.”

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Part 4

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SUMAA Leaders Speak

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Articles

Click to enlarge. (Source: http://arunachalobserver.org/2017/10/11/sumaa-holds-protest-march-demands-trp-2014-rollback/)

Click to enlarge. (Source: http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=39650)

Click to enlarge. (Source: https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2017/10/05/tibetans-in-arunachal-pradesh-face-wrath-of-locals)

I must say that I have always admired the way the Tibetans have found balance between religion and politics. Over the centuries, no wars have been carried out in the name of Buddhism. To me, this is proof that Buddhism is a good religion. Buddhism is good because it discourages greed, and because its practitioners cannot create pain and suffering using its name.

But recently the delicate balance of religion and politics has failed in Tibet, and that means only one thing – the people involved allowed their greed and thirst for power to get in the way of the greater good.

But why am I not surprised? After all it was only a matter of time that this would happen – history has already proven that mixing religion and politics eventually leads to disastrous consequences. Just look at the Crusades – Christian missionaries and mercenaries, fighting their Muslim counterparts over some dry desert land in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t even about religion; it was about power, might, ego and showing who is the best.

My point is this – the Crusades began hundreds of years ago, and it tore the world apart. It resulted in on-going suspicion between the two religions that has lasted up until today. Is this what you want for Buddhism? Do you want to use His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s website to sow the seeds of discord? For the next few decades, do you want people to view one another with suspicion? Do you want people to live in fear? Do you want to be the cause for children to disown their parents, or for students to look at their teachers with disgust? Do YOU want to be the cause of confusion, doubt and anger in people’s minds?

Everyone is against us. The Christians say we’re idol worshippers and ancestral worshippers, and go around converting our Dharma brothers and sisters. The Muslims bomb our statues, burn our temples, and destroy our heritage and precious teachings.

We’ve already got enough problems from the rest of the world!

So why do you want to create arguments from inside out? Why are you driving the wedge of discord between Buddhists, and forcing us to divide into different camps? The number of Buddhists is already so small compared to the traditional Judeo-Christian religions. Why are you trying to create even fewer Buddhists, instead of converting others into Buddhism? When new Buddhists go to the Dalai Lama’s website, don’t you think it’s confusing for them to read the Dalai Lama’s teachings on harmony, then see the Dalai Lama put down Dorje Shugden?

Why are you using His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s website to do all of this? Why are you using His Holiness’ website to make life difficult for YOUR OWN KIND??? Please please take down this section, and stop tarnishing the Dalai Lama’s name with this Dorje Shugden issue.

Sincerely,

(YOUR NAME)

Here is a transcript:

Pachen Dorje (reporter): Today on the second day of his teaching in Varanasi, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, public jewel and supreme leader of Tibetan religion and politics, was kind to deliver special advice to over six thousand devotees from Bhutan, Nepal and Indian Himalayan regions, who came to receive his teachings. On this occasion, His Holiness explained he knew that some people of Shugden society recruited children in the name of education in the Himalayan regions, and that if parents send their children with full awareness of the Dalai Lama’s ban on worship of Shugden, he does not question and oppose. However, he also explained that there would be problems in future if children are sent without any knowledge.

Dalai Lama: I heard that the so-called Geshe-la of Shugden society comes there, and they take children, saying that children would have good education. Similarly this is possible in Gashar; it is possible in Monpa; it is possible in Nepal. I do not oppose if the guardian parents send their children after knowing everything about Gyalpo Shugden; everything about the reasons of the ban imposed on it, and that the Shugden society is an opponent of the Dalai Lama. Do you understand? If you do not know, are deceived, and say that there are good facilities and education, later your children have no way to meet the Dalai Lama.

Here the great Prayer Festival is held. Many monks from Sera, Drepung and Gaden monasteries came here. Down there, the monks from Dhokhang Khamtsen of Gaden and Dholgyal worshippers of Pomra in Sera Mey have no way to come here. (slight laugh) When I went to the seats down there (South India), they have no way to come to my teachings, except that they stay performing puja separately. 

I clearly state that Guru and disciple require uncontaminated commitment. If someone with degenerated commitment receives a teaching, it rather harms Guru; it doesn’t help the disciple.

 Therefore it is unnecessary that you send your children to Dholgyal worshipping organizations, and you regret later when you come to realize. First you need to know. When Tibetan monks come and say you have a place to go, you must ask their affiliation.

The Dalai Lama spooks the Tibetan community with his heavy-handed language. For example: “later your children have no way to meet the Dalai Lama” and “if someone with degenerated commitment receives teaching, it rather harms Guru; it doesn’t help the disciple.”

When he first introduced the ban on Dorje Shugden, the Dalai Lama used similar rhetoric, claiming that the practice of Shugden harmed his health and shortened his lifespan. In this way, the Dalai Lama plays on the spiritual fears and superstitions of his audience.

The Dalai Lama, “supreme leader of Tibetan religion and politics”, is using this self-proclaimed status within Buddhism to enforce his own biased view. He demands compliance from an audience who may have a Guru-disciple relationship with him and/or who fear dire consequences if they do not fit in with the crowd.

 Such use of Buddhism for political aims is distasteful. The Dalai Lama’s bigoted views and oppressive actions are also contrary to the love and compassion with which Buddha originally gave his teachings.

Sadly, there is only one source of religious disharmony in the Tibetan community, and it is the Dalai Lama. He uses his position to split the Tibetan community by spreading his wrong views about Protector Dorje Shugden, bringing pain to his people who are torn between loyalty to the Dalai Lama and their heartfelt commitments to their other precious Gurus who gave them this practice.

 Many bravely continue to practise in secret, waiting and hoping, fearing the witchhunt should they reveal their true feelings.

 It is sad that someone who preaches love, compassion and religious tolerance should continue to be the source of division, disharmony, and fear. Particularly someone who wears the robes of a Buddhist monk.
 For more information, see A Great Deception.

Editor’s Note: While it is indisputable that many are suffering under the ban on Dorje Shugden due to the Dalai Lama’s ban, there is a way to be able to reconcile devotion to the Dalai Lama and devotion to Dorje Shugden, which is to neither criticize nor lose faith in either, as advised by the supreme Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang.

(Source: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2011/01/dalai-lama-messes-with-tibetans-minds.html)

H.H.Dalai Lama

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 has been declared illegal by Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The monks in this converted hostel are worshiping Dorje Shugden, a ferocious-looking, three-eyed “protector” deity who rides a lion wreathed in flames.

Dorje Shugden followers claim that by banning their deity’s worship, the Dalai Lama is persecuting them and denying them freedom of religion – a charge that the Tibetan leader denies.

The controversy has spread beyond the borders of Tibet and the 100,000-strong exile community in India. It also threatens to undermine the Dalai Lama’s authority as he presses demands that China end its 58-year occupation of Tibet.

Gleefully exploiting the schism for its own political ends is the Chinese government. China is rebuilding Shugden monasteries in Tibet and giving priority to sect members applying for exit permits.

Some of the Dalai Lama’s supporters hint that Beijing is secretly funding Dorje Shugden centers in India and abroad.

Today, the fearsome deity is worshipped by the fastest-growing Buddhist sect in the West, the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT). Its founder, Kelsang Gyatso, known as the “Third Buddha” to his followers, is a sworn enemy of the Dalai Lama. When the Dalai Lama arrived in New York for a two-week lecture tour earlier this month, more than 100 Shugden supporters demonstrated against his visit.

“This ban is forcing every Tibetan to choose between their conscience and political expediency,” says Chime Tsering, secretary of the Dorje Shugden Society in New Delhi. “It has created conflict at every level of Tibetan society.”

Unraveling the Shugden controversy involves delving into the intricate palace intrigues of 17th-century feudal Tibet and the complexities of medieval Tibetan Buddhism teeming with deities and demons. According to myth, Dorje Shugden is the spirit of a powerful abbot who was found dead in his palace in Tibet in 1655. Shugden worship was first banned some 350 years ago by the Fifth Dalai Lama, who declared him an evil spirit.

In 1978, the current Dalai Lama warned his followers not to worship Shugden because it was detrimental to his spiritual health and to the cause of the Tibetan people. Eight years later, when he instructed his government-in-exile to ban the deity’s worship in state-run monasteries and offices, Shugden followers began complaining of harassment, intimidation and discrimination.

The Dalai Lama denies allegations of a witch-hunt and says his move was driven by the greater good of Tibet. “I took this decision as a matter of principle in the larger interest. There is a danger that the great Tibetan tradition will degenerate into spirit worship,” he told the Monitor at his headquarters in Dharamsala before his US tour. “It is my responsibility to make people aware of the consequences of worshiping Dorje Shugden. But whether they listen or not is up to the individual. Right from the beginning that’s my position.”

For Shugden monk Tsering, however, the Dalai Lama’s injunction goes to the core of his faith. “When somebody attacks your faith as demonic, that really hurts,” he says. Tensions in the Tibetan community came to a head early last year when three monks, including one of the Dalai Lama’s advisers, were murdered in Dharamsala.

Indian police suspect the Shugden sect was behind the killings and several members were briefly detained for questioning. But the perpetrators are believed to have fled to Tibet. Tsering was one of those questioned by police and says he now has to be accompanied by six bodyguards when he ventures outside.

“There is extreme social pressure. Here in this house we are relaxed but when we go outside Tibetans don’t talk to us. We are completely segregated and excommunicated.”

Although Tsering denies China is supporting his group, he admits that his society has links with the NKT, which has been carrying out a smear campaign against the Tibetan leader. For its part, the Tibetan government-in-exile believes the Shugden controversy will lead to more violence as Beijing tries to exploit its potential for damaging the Dalai Lama’s image.

Source : http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-ADM/john.htm

1. Dorje Shugden practice is not “religion”, it is “spirit worship”

To say that Dorje Shugden practice is “not religion” but “spirit worship” is plainly insulting to many peoples’ beliefs on different levels – not only to Buddhist practitioners of Dorje Shugden (who are not spirit worshippers) but also to other practitioners of other religions worldwide that may include spirit worship, including the ancient Bon tradition of Tibet.

Most of the hundreds of thousands of people who rely upon Dorje Shugden are pure Buddhists in the tradition of Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Others are pure Buddhists in the Sakya and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

Dorje Shugden is considered by them to be a Dharma Protector, an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri, whose specific function is to protect the Buddhist or “Dharma” realizations or experiences in practitioners’ minds.

The Dalai Lama travels the world expounding religious tolerance but doesn’t recognize the contradiction in his words and intolerant actions against fellow Tibetans in banning an ancient religious practice dear to their hearts.

Many great Buddhist Teachers or Lamas, including the Dalai Lama’s own principal teacher Trijang Rinpoche, wrote long proofs showing how this Buddhist Deity was special and has a long history of protecting the Dharma, Buddha’s teachings. The fact that numerous past and current Lamas (including even the Fifth Dalai Lama!) have recognized Dorje Shugden as a Deity worthy of “worship” is enough recognition for their followers.

Indeed, determining whether Dorje Shugden is a Buddha or not is beyond the scope of public policy. Nevertheless, many have chosen to follow the beliefs expounded by many high Lamas pre-dating and contemporary with the Dalai Lama who claimed and continue to claim that he is a Buddha. To insult these beliefs and these great Masters is not religious tolerance.

[Also, on another level of irony, this accusation indeed appears a bit bizarre when one remembers that the only monastery/temple dedicated entirely to a spirit is Namgyal monastery. This is the Dalai Lama's personal monastery, where Nechung abides, who has been declared a worldly spirit by the Dalai Lama himself, the Dalai Lama having also clearly stated that Nechung's oracular advice is not always reliable. Nevertheless, Nechung is propitiated with big offerings and rituals daily at Namgyal monastery, and is invoked through various oracle mediums very often - some say more than ever. If we look at the completely and utterly contradictory statements Nechung has made about Dorje Shugden when advising the Dalai Lama to give up the practice, or the disastrously wrong prediction that Tibet would be free by the year 2000, one might indeed worry about spirit worship in seemingly unexpected places!]

2. Dorje Shugden practice causes the degeneration of the pure Nalanda tradition

The Dalai Lama claims that he follows the “Nalanda Tradition”, and this Deity somehow causes the degeneration of that, yet gives absolutely no reason or proof to back up this claim.

Ironically, does the Dalai Lama happen to know who was the last Abbot of Nalanda? It was Shakya Shri Bhadra, who was the previous incarnation of Buton, who was the previous incarnation of Dulzin Dragpa Gyaltsen, who later appeared as Dorje Shugden. There is no way around this.

The Dalai Lama is the one who is degenerating Buddhism by taking the view of the state oracles that Dorje Shugden is an evil spirit (see below) over the view of his own principal teacher or root Guru, Trijang Rinpoche. (In Buddhism, relying upon the spiritual guide is said to be “the root” of the Buddhist path to enlightenment.) Trijang Rinpoche always maintained that Dorje Shugden is an enlightened being and, according to close disciples, was “disappointed” when the Dalai Lama gave up the practice (the Dalai Lama waited for Trijang Rinpoche to die before he instigated the ban).

The major degeneration that is happening is the unprecedented conflict, which can easily be verified with accounts of the discrimination and disharmony in the Tibetan settlements and monasteries. The communists destroyed many monasteries, yet the tradition on the inside flourished quite well under the leadership of Trijang Rinpoche and Ling Rinpoche (the Dalai Lama’s teachers, both Dorje Shugden practitioners) and other great Lamas (many of them Dorje Shugden practitioners) in exile.

What is happening now, through the will to mislead and incite disharmony with heavy-handed political actions, discrimination, and wrong information, is ruining many thousands of people’s lives. It has caused unprecedented problems in the monasteries in South India and continues to torment practitioners in Tibet, India and all over the world.

3. The Fifth Dalai Lama considered Dorje Shugden to be an “evil spirit” (and the Thirteenth Dalai Lama banned the practice)

It actually does not matter what view people hold of Dorje Shugden. It is still against the Indian Constitution, the Tibetan Constitution and the UN Declaration of Human Rights to prevent freedom of worship of any Deity. Belief is personal and an unassailable human right. People are free to worship a tree, if they so choose.

But there are layers of irony in using the Fifth Dalai Lama as a reason for holding Dorje Shugden to be an evil spirit. In the interview, the Dalai Lama doesn’t even provide half of the story – namely that the Fifth Dalai Lama wrote in his own autobiography that the so called “evil spirit” arose from a highly respected Lama, Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, who was murdered by the Fifth Dalai Lama’s administration; and that later in the Fifth Dalai Lama’s life he changed his mind about the nature of Dorje Shugden and wrote a prayer to him as an enlightened Protector. He also offered a temple in Lhasa to him called Trode Khangsar that is still there today, and created a statue with his own hands and placed it at a monastery called Phelgyeling (in Nepal, which is now in the process of being destroyed by the Dalai Lama’s followers).

Elsewhere, the Dalai Lama claims that he is also following the tradition of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in banning the practice. However, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama never banned the practice. After condemning Dorje Shugden, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama is said to have changed his mind on the issue and taken up the practice himself (Exploring New Religions, page 239).

The biography of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama does not mention any ban of Dorje Shugden or his oracle. On the contrary, it mentions advice given by Dorje Shugden through the oracle at Tromo Dungkar Gonpa, which the Thirteenth Dalai Lama appreciated and followed, compiled by Phurchog Yongzin Thubten Jampa Tsultim Tenzin, Dharamsala, 1984, pp. 621, 630 and 648). Moreover, at no time did the Thirteenth Dalai Lama close Trode Khangsar in Lhasa, a residence of Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen that the 5th Dalai Lama had authorized to be turned into a special Protector temple for Dorje Shugden.

The Thirteenth Dalai Lama had great faith in Tomo Geshe Rinpoche, a well-known Dorje Shugden practitioner, whom he called “a manifestation of Je Tsongkhapa.” According to page 620 and 649 of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s autobiography, Dorje Shugden came spontaneously through the Tromo Dungkar Gonpa Oracle in trance in front of Tomo Geshe Rinpoche and informed him that there was danger from foreign aggression toward Tibet. Dorje Shugden advised renovating two stupas, “the eastern and western one”. Upon receiving the message, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama immediately renovated the great golden stupa at Ganden and the Potala in Lhasa. The Potala is huge, so this was no small feat! In his autobiography, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama praised Tomo Geshe Rinpoche for having helped to avert a possible national crisis.

In any event, even if the Dalai Lama were right on this (which he is not), the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Dalai Lamas did not ban the practice, so the preponderance of precedent is towards allowing the practice.

4. Many past Lamas have considered Dorje Shugden to be an evil spirit

The Dalai Lama makes a brief mention in this interview that reflects a number of claims suggesting that important Lamas over the last 370 years have warned against Dorje Shugden. These claims are all unsubstantiated and the evidence he has provided does not even circumstantially make this case against Dorje Shugden. The Fifth Dalai Lama’s example is given above. Phurchok Ngawang Jampa doesn’t say anything about Shugden or “Dholgyal” in his history of the four great monasteries. Trichen Ngawang Chokden never mentions Dholgyal specifically. All Yongzin Yeshi Gyaltsen mentions is a “new protector”; there is nothing about Shugden or “Dholgyal” in his work. Far from saying harm comes from Dorje Shugden, in his collected works Ngulchu Dharmabhadra answers a question about Dholgyal and Ganden Lha Gyema in which he confirms that Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen is Dorje Shugden, appearing as a wrathful Manjushri (a Wisdom Buddha). And so on.

5. This has remained “very controversial worship” for more than 370 years

The Dalai Lama has failed to provide anything to substantiate this claim. The controversy has only unfolded in the past 30 years after the Dalai Lama spoke out publicly against the practice of Dorje Shugden, even though it is a private practice. Instead of trying to resolve any dispute about this privately in any discussion with any person, including his own teachers, he took it into the public sector as a divisive issue.

Dorje Shugden was even practiced by Nyingma adherents (who he supposedly attacks) for many generations in Gyasumdo, Nepal with no conflict of sects. This was described in anthropologist Stanley Mumford’s work “Himalayan Dialogue” in which he also observed the controversy unfolding in the late 1970′s: “Recently the Dalai Lama, as leader of the Tibetan people, has made a historic judgment. He has determined that the guardian deity called Shugs-ldan is not only too dangerous, but he also has promoted a vicious factional rivalry between the Gelugpa and Nyingmapa religious orders.” (pages 134-135. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989).

6. It “is not true” that the Dalai Lama banned Dorje Shugden practice

These words in the Interview can only be described as lies: “So then it is my duty or moral responsibility to make clear, but whether listen or not, up to them. So some people criticize me, I banned that sort of spirit worship, that is not true.”

It has not been “up to” anyone to listen or not – everyone has been forced to listen and to act, thousands and thousands of them against their wishes. And the Dalai Lama has very clearly banned the practice. See his own words on the subject over the past 30 years.

Some examples:

March 10th, 1996, during annual teachings at the Thekchen Choeling Temple in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama imposes a ban on worshipping Dorje Shugden: “Whether outside of Tibet or within Tibet, this deity is discordant with our government and all our deities; this is serious in the context of the common cause of Tibet. It will be good if you comply (with what we are saying) without our having to resort to this last step. It will be the last resort if we have to knock on your doors if you do not follow this advice.”

November 19th-21st, 1996, the Dalai Lama travels to South India to visit Tibetan monasteries at Mundgod, without the traditional request, which is unprecedented for a Dalai Lama. The Dorje Shugden Society holds off a peaceful demonstration in the hope of reconciliation with the Dalai Lama. They petition the Dalai Lama, but they are denied an audience. The Dalai Lama speaks in even harsher terms about the ban, and threatens, “You might feel that by publishing letters, pamphlets, etc. against this ban, the Dalai Lama will revoke the ban. This will never be the case. If you take a hard stand, I will tighten this ban still further.”

The Tibetan Government in Exile and all exiled groups made policies to enforce his wishes. Petitions were sent to all Tibetan settlements requiring them to renounce Dorje Shugden in 1996.

January 13th, 1999, to monks at Trijang Labrang (the home of his teacher, now deceased) in India who questioned the ban: “There will be no change in my stand. I will never revoke the ban. You are right. It will be like the Cultural Revolution. If those who do not accept the ban do not listen to my words, the situation will grow worse for them. You sit and watch. It will grow only worse for them.”

In January 2008 he precipitated a vote through demagoguery to castigate anyone who did not sign a petition renouncing any loyalty to Dorje Shugden. As a result, many monks have been removed from the monasteries. Also a major hostel, Do Khangtsen, belonging to the monastic college of Ganden Shartse, has completely removed itself from the monastic establishment. This is unprecedented in the history of the Gelug tradition.

There has been a great deal of segregation and persecution as a result of this ban and it will continue every day until the Dalai Lama stops his hypocrisy and practices what he preaches, namely freedom of worship.

7. Dorje Shugden practice is sectarian

Since the purpose of praying to Dorje Shugden is to increase love, compassion, and wisdom and to overcome our negative minds including hatred, attachment and ignorance, there can be no link with Dorje Shugden and religious discrimination. Tolerance and respect for all other traditions is highly promoted by Je Tsongkhapa and his emanation Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden.

Sectarianism arises when one tradition imposes its views on other traditions. Shugden practitioners respect the freedom of others to practice according to their wishes. It is the Dalai Lama who is acting in a sectarian way by using the instruments of state power to enforce others to practice according to his view.

Sectarianism can also be seen in the exclusive attitude of the Dalai Lama who allows anyone in the world, Buddhist or non-Buddhist, to attend his teachings except those who pray to Dorje Shugden.

Gelugpa followers rely upon Dorje Shugden as a Dharma Protector of the Gelug sect or tradition of Je Tsongkhapa, but that doesn’t mean it is a sectarian practice. Dorje Shugden practitioners only wish for the freedom to follow their tradition in peace and there is no evidence that they have been intolerant to any other tradition. To say the practice is sectarian is again to slander many of the greatest upholders of the Buddhist teachings in the past three centuries, including the Dalai Lama’s own teacher Trijang Rinpoche.

Numerous statements have been made by current Dorje Shugden practitioners to say that they welcome and respect all traditions and the Dalai Lama has not provided any evidence to indicate that this is not the case. According to the Dalai Lama’s translator in the 1990s, Helmut Gassner: “When during an Anti-Dorje Shugden information meeting in Switzerland the Dalai Lama’s Private Secretary sketched the picture of three hundred years of trouble with these Dorje Shugden people, someone asked him to mention some of the incidents that had occurred during that time. He was unable to come up with even one.”

Also, the ritual aspects of Dorje Shugden practice are even taken from the Sakya tradition, where it was practiced widely until the 20th century. The Dalai Lama says that Dorje Shugden is against the Nyingma tradition, yet as mentioned above Dorje Shugden practice was also practiced by some Nyingma followers, who were also put under the pressure of the ban to give up the practice, as mentioned in Mumford’s book.

The accusation that this practice is sectarian is certainly now inciting vastly more sectarian division and disharmony than any privately recited requests to Dorje Shugden to simply protect the tradition of Je Tsonghapa. The Dalai Lama’s ban and subsequent persecution have brought about the greatest schism within Tibetan Buddhist history – monasteries, communities and families are divided in a way that Mao’s Red Guards from the outside could never achieve.

Being non-sectarian does not mean that you have to receive teachings from all other lineages – it means respecting all other lineages (without the sectarian actions of criticizing or discriminating against them) whilst being content with one’s own. In this respect, it is the Dalai Lama who is being sectarian and Dorje Shugden practitioners who are being non-sectarian.

8. Dorje Shugden is hostile to the Dalai Lama’s government

Another common reason not given in the Nottingham interview appears on a “Brief abstract concerning His Holiness’s the Dalai Lama’s advice regarding the practice of Dolgyal (Shugden)”, issued by the Office of Tibet, Tibet House, 1 Culworth Street, London NW8 7AF, May 2008

“History shows, and His Holiness’s investigations have confirmed, that this spirit is hostile to the Dalai Lama’s government and has been since it was founded by the 5th Dalai Lama. Especially now that Tibetans are facing a struggle for survival, it is a mistake to worship something that is hostile to the Dalai Lama’s government. Therefore, it is in the interest of Tibetans as a whole to refrain from propitiating this hostile spirit.”

That institution, i.e. the Ganden Podrang government, is defunct. It lacks any legal basis or official recognition at this point. It exists today only in the person of the Dalai Lama (and arguably his government in exile, which includes a large number of his own relatives). How can Dorje Shugden then harm that institution? The future of the Dalai Lama’s personal religious lineage is put in question only by the Dalai Lama himself, not Dorje Shugden.

No explanation is given as to how Dorje Shugden harms the institution of the Dalai Lama, there is just the claim.

If the Dalai Lama is supposed to be the political leader of all Tibetans, then his persecution of many thousands of his own people surely harms the institution more than the private prayers of individuals.

Also, for the Dalai Lama’s demand for religious freedom to have greater credibility in the eyes of the Chinese, the Dalai Lama should himself protect religious freedom, not undermine it.

The Dalai Lama’s “investigations” involve invoking Nechung through the human State Oracle, who has had the following things to say (perhaps some of these were given in a false trance? It is difficult to know.):

1st answer of the State Oracle: “Dorje Shugden a powerful deity, only to be worshipped by beings with high realizations. However worshipping this deity would upset Goddess Palden Lhamo (a superior protecting deity, who does not have an oracle)”

2nd answer of the State Oracle: “the deity is appropriate to be worshipped by an individual, but not by a group”

3rd answer of the State Oracle: “Dorje Shugden is a deity, suitable to the others, but not to the successor of the 5th Dalai Lama and those working for the Gaden Phodrang Government established by the 5th Dalai Lama.”

4th answer of the State Oracle: “Dorje Shugden is a spirit born out of a Kagyupa-monk who hated the Tibetan government, and not the incarnation of Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen”

5th answer of the State Oracle: “Dorje Shugden is the spirit of Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, whose Samaya bond to the 5th Dalai Lama was not good, thus it is harmful for this government.”

6th answer of the State Oracle: “Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen was a good lama, whose works of composition are praiseworthy, therefore Dorje Shugden cannot be the spirit of such a master.”

7th answer of the State Oracle: “Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen himself was a false Tulku, who came to be among the candidates for the 5th Dalai Lama and failed to be chosen, but through clever tactics of his mother on the first Panchen Lama Chokyi Gyaltsen, he was recognized as the fourth reincarnation of Panchen Sonam Dragpa (the teacher of 3rd Dalai Lama), but was then born as an evil, trouble-making spirit to harm the Tibetan government.”

All in all, it is hard to see how the Dalai Lama is talking “frankly, straightforwardly and honestly”, let alone how he is being “sincere”. Once again we request him to lift the ban on this Buddhist tradition and allow everyone freedom of worship.

Moreover, even if the Dalai Lama had said “they are free to choose” (which he has not, except to Western journalists), human rights legal scholars have said when assessing religious freedom that it is not enough for somebody to be ‘free to choose’ if they cannot exercise that choice freely without fear of political, social or economic penalities. Dorje Shugden practitioners face serious penalties for their choice, thus they cannot choose freely.

(Source: http://www.wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.org/dorjeshugden061.php)

(Editor’s Note: This link appears to have been removed from the mentioned website)

(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)

Repeating a lie over and over again does not make it the truth. We will not repeat the defamations here: you can check the Dalai Lama’s literature for the ghastly pictures of poor Lobsang Gyatso and the false accusations. We do however need to address the false accusations here, as they are parrotted over and over again by supporters of the ban against Dorje Shugden practice. This is even though they have already been proven unfounded by the Indian police years ago due to no evidence, and it is a lie to say that any “arrest warrants remain pending” as there are no actual suspects.

Any number of possible suspects

In reality, there are any number of possible suspects for the murders but the true culprits have never been found as the Dalai Lama prefers conveniently for his political objectives to keep the blame on Dorje Shugden practitioners. Why? To try and convince the world that they are evil and so his ban on their religious practice is reasonable. The fact is, these practitioners have never committed any violent actions. They are peace-loving Buddhists who follow the non-violence, love and compassion taught to them by Trijang Rinpoche — the Dalai Lama’s own teacher — and other great Buddhist Lamas of Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition.

According to a disciple of Geshe Lobsang Gyatso, as reported in the Austrian Buddhist magazine “Ursache und Wirkung”, July 2006, page 73, before he was killed, Lobsang Gyatso had to face many death threats, but refused any personal security.

Lobsang Gyatso was very outspoken and had many targets, all of them those who disagreed with the Dalai Lama. For example, the Dalai Lama’s own brother had a problem with his renouncing the cause of a Free Tibet. Also, in 1962 the Dalai Lama tried to unite all schools of Tibetan Buddhism under his authority, but this autocratic move was opposed by the Thirteen Tibetan Settlements and the 16th Karmapa. The Dalai Lama has many enemies, and Lobsang Gyatso goaded them all.

Helmut Gassner, an Austrian Buddhist monk who was a translator for the Dalai Lama for seventeen years around this period, spoke about the murders in a talk he gave to the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation Hamburg, on March 26th 1999 (http://www.wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.org/speechnaumannfoundation.pdf):

“The Director of the Dialectics School was well known for his slanderous writings in which he would drag through the mud anything that veered even slightly from the course established by the government-in-exile: famous masters, the big monastic universities and even the Tibetan guerillas were his targets. In one of his last articles he wrote, “…these people will not cease to criticize the Dalai Lama until blood flows from their bodies…”

Given the character of the assassination and the humiliations the Tibetan guerilla movement had been subjected to in earlier years, one could have assumed that the search for the murderer would eventually also lead to them. But that obviously did not occur; already the next day, Dharamsala’s local newspaper claimed that the murderer would certainly be found among the Dorje Shugden Society in Delhi. Aside from who committed the murders, this gruesome act was exploited to the hilt by the government-in-exile with only one aim in mind: Resorting to all possible means they tried to incriminate the Dorje Shugden Society in Delhi in order to put its leading monks behind Indian bars. For the benefit of the press, the image of a Dorje Shugden sect with bloodthirsty, cultish, terrorist and fundamentalist attributes was successfully established linking it effectively with the traditionally depicted wrathful appearance of the deity while cleverly neglecting to mention that many wrathful Buddhist deities are represented in considerably more terrifying ways.”

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso also made reference to other suspects for the murders in his reply to a 1997 article in Newsweek, where Robert Thurman offensively and ignorantly described Dorje Shugden practitioners as the “Taliban of Buddhism”:

“Robert Thurman is quoted as saying: “I think there’s no doubt that Shugden was behind the killings.” Of course, killing people is very bad, and I utterly condemn these appalling murders, but by reading the letter addressed to HH the Dalai Lama known as the ‘Mongoose Canine Letter’, we can clearly understand that HH the Dalai Lama has many enemies, so why are only Shugden supporters suspected? It is a great pity that Lobsang Gyatso who was a 70-year old Geshe died in the most horrible of circumstances, seemingly because HH the Dalai Lama has many enemies.”

The Shugden Society in New Delhi has always denied any involvement in the murders or threats and after an investigation by the Indian police were found to have no involvement in the murders. [Mike Wilson, 1999, Schisms, murder, and hungry ghosts in Shangra-La - internal conflicts in Tibetan Buddhist sect.] This fact has been ignored by the Tibetan government in Exile, which continues to make the false accusation on its website.

There are therefore many people who might have wanted Lobsang Gyatso dead — all enemies of the Dalai Lama, in fact. The Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) have exploited his death to cause problems for Shugden practitioners.

Shred of evidence?

There was only one possible shred of evidence, a supposed “threatening letter” found in Lobsang Gyatso’s office.

According to the Indian police in 1996, there was a “threatening letter to the monk Lobsang Gyatso, and it proves the direct connection of murderers with Shugden”. He also said: “The six murderers have fled to Tibet where they live under protection from China.” The investigation stopped there.

On a Swiss TV program discussing the subject, the TGIE minister Tashi Wangdu exhibited the “evidence” in front of the camera. According to the commentator, this was the death threat letter sent by Dorje Shugden followers to the murder victim as mentioned by the police.

Later, the Tibetan text on the letter was copied and translated by various Tibetan speakers. It contained absolutely no death threat at all. It was simply an impertinent letter containing a challenge to debate the issue so as to settle the differences.

As to where and how the Chinese are supposedly sheltering six murderers in Tibet, there has not been any evidence of this either in ten years. The Dorje Shugden Devotees Charitable and Religious Society, whom apparently supplied the murderers, continue their peaceful work in India to oppose the ban and none of their members have fled anywhere.

See also the Dorje Shugden Devotees Charitable and Religious Society account.

See also Did Dorje Shugden practitioners issue death threats? (including the misinformation spread by Tashi Wangdi) (Editor’s Note: This link appears to have been removed from the mentioned website).

This repeated defamation, with blatantly political objectives, is one of the many reasons Western Shugden Society members everywhere are following the Dalai Lama to ask him to “Stop Lying!”

(Source: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2008/06/defamatory-accusations-of-murder.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)

Legal References to support why the ban is unconstitutional

TIBETAN GOVERNMENT IN EXILE CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE 17. Every Tibetan shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The right includes freedom to openly believe, practise, worship and observe any religion either alone or in community with others.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA CONSTITUTION

Adopted on: 26 Jan 1950

Preamble

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

Article 15 Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth

(1) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

Article 25 Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion

(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.

UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Article 1

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have a religion or whatever belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have a religion or belief of his choice.
3. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.

Article 2

1. No one shall be subject to discrimination by any State, institution, group of persons, or person on the grounds of religion or other belief.
2. For the purposes of the present Declaration, the expression “intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief” means any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on religion or belief and having as its purpose or as its effect nullification or impairment of the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis.

Article 3

Discrimination between human being on the grounds of religion or belief constitutes an affront to human dignity and a disavowal of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and shall be condemned as a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enunciated in detail in the International Covenants on Human Rights, and as an obstacle to friendly and peaceful relations between nations.

From Geshe Kelsang Gyatso’s Open Letter to H.H. the Dalai Lama, 9 December 1997:

“Your ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden is a direct attack on religious freedom. This is against the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and also against the law in democratic countries such as the United States. You are also engaging in Deity discrimination, which breaks the constitutional law of India.”

Source: Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden website http://www.wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.org/dorjeshugden08.php