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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The 25^th anniversary of the Delhi Society

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

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

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

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

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

Pujas from H.H. Kyabje Pabongka Chocktrul Rinpoche

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

Pujas from H.H. Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche

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

Grand Prayer Festival on International Dorje Shugden Day

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

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

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

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

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

Official Announcement

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Official Announcements in Other Languages

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Advice from Lineage Lamas

བོད་ཡིག (Tibetan)

中文 (Chinese)

монгол хэл (Mongolian)

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

By: Shashi Kei

Vor 25 Jahren begann die religiöse Verfolgung von Dorje Shugden-Gläubigen, angeführt von der Zentralen Tibetischen Verwaltung (CTA). Die Folgen dieses religiösen Verbotes des Dalai Lamas und der CTA haben das tibetische Leben maßgeblich geprägt und das tibetisch-buddhistische Terrain im letzten Vierteljahrhundert weltweit gewaltsam verändert. Millionen von Leben wurden in Gefahr gebracht, die Heiligkeit der Linie von Lama Tsongkhapa geriet in Verwirrung und unzählige spirituelle Pfade wurden entgleist. Und das beinhaltet noch nicht die Auswirkungen, die diese Spaltung auf die kollektive tibetische Sache hatte.

Jetzt hat aber Seine Heiligkeit der 14. Dalai Lama zugegeben, dass er sich geirrt hat und er hat klar gemacht, dass diese Misshandlung von Shugden-Buddhisten aufhören soll.

Nach dem Flop, jetzt die Wende

Die religiöse Verfolgung der Shugden-Buddhisten durch den CTA begann 1996 und verschärfte sich 2008. Dorje Shugden-Praktizierende wurden als „Staatsfeinde“; „Anti-Dalai Lama“; „Anti-Dharma“; „Chinesische Spione/Sympathisanten; „Dämonenanbeter“ und andere ähnliche Beschreibungen eingestuft.

Doch die Propaganda und die Verfolgungen des CTAs konnten die Praxis von Dorje Shugden nicht vollständig ausmerzen. Es war immerhin eine angesehene Praxis, die von zentraler Bedeutung für die Gelug-Linie war. Sogar der 14. Dalai Lama hatte diese Gottheit verehrt, ebenso wie seine früheren Inkarnationen, der Große Fünfte Dalai Lama, der 11. Dalai Lama und die angesehensten Lehrer des 20. Jahrhunderts.

Es folgte eine Zeit vergleichsweiser Stille, als Shugden-Buddhisten in den Untergrund und ausserhalb der Reichweite des CTAs vertrieben wurden. Und dann machte der Dalai Lama eine Kehrtwende.

Der Dalai Lama sprach in seiner Live-Unterweisung Zehntausende Menschen an und kündigte an, dass die Misshandlungen von Shugden-Buddhisten beendet werden sollen.

Während der Saka Dawa-Lehre des Dalai Lamas am 26. Mai dieses Jahres machte er unerwartet auf das Thema Dorje Shugden aufmerksam, ein hochsensibles Thema, das ein wichtiges Zerwürfnis für gewaltsame Konflikte darstellt. Aber dieses Mal war die Botschaft des Dalai Lamas ein Widerspruch zu einer Haltung, die er und die CTA vorgeschrieben hatten.

Der Dalai Lama zitierte Passagen aus dem Bodhisattvacharyavatara (Die Lebensweise eines Bodhisattvas) und sagte, dass jede Feindseligkeit gegenüber der Gottheit offenkundig falsch sei, egal wie jemand über Dorje Shugden und seine Praxis denkt. Der tibetische Gottkönig folgerte, dass es gegen den Kodex eines Bodhisattva verstoße, Ärger gegenüber dem Beschützer zu empfinden. Außerdem sagte er, es seien unsere eigene Wut und unsere geistigen Verunreinigungen, die wir untersuchen sollten, anstatt unseren Ärger auf andere zu richten.

VIDEO:Dalai Lama sagt, Dorje Shugden ist ein Gegenstand des Mitgefühls (26. Mai 2021)

Doch das war noch nicht alles.

Eine Woche später, am 2. Juni 2021, gab der Dalai Lama während einer weiteren Belehrung über Je Tsongkhapas Erfülltes Schicksal (Tog jö dün leg ma) zum ersten Mal seit er ein Verbot der Praxis von Dorje Shugden verhängt hatte, zu, dass es ein Fehler war, Dorje Shugden diskriminiert zu haben.

Dies ist eine ganz andere Sprache und Tonlage als die der tibetische Führung, die vorsätzlich Hass gegen Dorje Shugden und Anhänger seiner Praxis schürten. Infolgedessen wurde es als „untibetisch“ und „unbuddhistisch“ angesehen, wenn Sie Shugden-Buddhisten nicht feindselig gegenüberstanden. Daher legten Regierungsbeamte und ehrgeizige Mönche Wert darauf, ihre Verachtung für diese heilige Praxis zum Ausdruck zu bringen, da der Hass auf Dorje Shugden zu einem schnellen Aufstieg in den tibetischen politischen sowie klösterlichen Vierteln verhalf.

VIDEO: Dalai Lama sagt, es ist falsch, Dorje Shugden abzulehnen (2. Juni 2021)

Fehler geschickt rückgängig machen

Das Wandel in der Haltung des Dalai Lama gegenüber Dorje Shugden ist nicht ganz neu. Im Januar 2020, nachdem er Dorje Shugden fast 24 Jahre lang als Feind des tibetischen Volkes bezeichnet hatte, deutete der Dalai Lama eine Umstimmung des Herzens gegenüber dem Beschützer an. Während der Dalai Lama in der Vergangenheit die Praxis von Dorje Shugden unter allen Umständen kategorisch verboten hatte, befürwortete er bei dieser Gelegenheit tatsächlich die Verehrung von Dorje Shugden, aber nur als Geburtsgottheit oder Landgottheit.

Es war ein Fachausdruck, aber in Wirklichkeit zerstörte das, was der Dalai Lama sagte, die Rechtfertigung des CTAs, Shugden-Buddhisten ihr verfassungsmäßiges Recht auf Religionsfreiheit zu verweigern. Die alte Rechtfertigung war, dass die Praxis von Dorje Shugden [in jeglicher Form] das Leben des Dalai Lamas bedroht sowie das Scheitern der tibetischen Bemühungen, ihr Land zurückzugewinnen, verursacht habe.

Dorje Shugden Lamas und Mönche wurden wie Kriminelle behandelt, wurden gejagt und tyrannisiert.

Dennoch dauerte das Verbot der Praxis von Dorje Shugden auf seinem sehr gefährlichen und schädlichen Verlauf weiter an.

Schädlich, weil sie die tibetische Verfassung untergrub, die unter anderem Religionsfreiheit garantierte. Schädlich, weil es die Heiligkeit des tibetischen Buddhismus untergräbt, indem es vier Jahrhunderte von alten Meistern und Weisen verspottet, die die Dorje Shugden-Praxis aufrechterhalten haben, darunter S. H. Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo und S. H. Trijang Dorje Chang. Schädlich, weil es eine ohnehin kleine und schwache Gemeinschaft von Menschen zu einer Zeit zersplitterte, in der sie in Eintracht mit gezielten Bemühungen um die Wiedererlangung ihres Landes zusammenarbeiten sollten. Schädlich, weil es eine irreparable Spaltung innerhalb der tibetischen Klostergemeinschaft geschaffen hat, eine Spaltung, die sich weltweit überall dort auswirkte, wo es Anhänger des tibetischen Buddhismus gab. Schädlich, weil es gegen die grundlegendsten buddhistischen Prinzipien verstößt.

Buddha oder Dämon?

In den letzten 25 Jahren tobten Debatten zwischen Shugden-Buddhisten, die Dorje Shugden als eine Emanation des Weisheits-Buddhas Manjushri betrachten, und denen, die sich dieser Praxis widersetzen. Kritiker argumentierten, dass die Gottheit ein Dämon war, der aus dem Tod eines Mönchs mit gebrochenen Gelübden entstand.

Viele waren gefangen in einem erstaunlichen Netz von Argumenten, die willkürlich von Pseudo-Intellektuellen, selbsternannten Experten des tibetischen Buddhismus und Schmeichlern gesponnen wurden, die das wirkliche oder vollständige Bild nicht sehen konnten.

Tatsächlich ist es ein einfaches Thema.

Aus der Perspektive einer konstitutionellen Demokratie, die der CTA vorgibt zu sein, ist die Verfolgung der Shugden-Buddhisten rechtswidrig und eine Verletzung der Menschenrechte. Einfach ausgedrückt ist es nicht die Aufgabe einer demokratischen Regierung zu entscheiden, welche Religion legitim ist und welche nicht. Es ist die Aufgabe der Regierung, die Religionsfreiheit zu garantieren, was der CTA unterlassen hat.

Allen Shugden-Anbetern wurde der Lebensunterhalt verweigert. Sogar die Mönche wurden nicht verschont. Hier wird der berüchtigte Vorfall mit dem „gelben Stock“ gezeigt, bei dem Mönche gezwungen wurden, ihre Praxis von Dorje Shugden aufzugeben oder aus dem Kloster ausgewiesen zu werden.

Und nun hat der Dalai Lama aus der Perspektive der buddhistischen Religion klargestellt, dass wer auch immer Dorje Shugden ist, nicht von Belang sein sollte, wenn Sie ein wahrer Praktizierender des Buddhadharma sind. Tatsächlich betonte der Dalai Lama dass es in der Bodhicitta-Praxis sogar die Verpflichtung gibt, alle Wesen als “wichtige Gäste” zu betrachten.

Das Argument ist noch einfacher, wenn man es aus der Perspektive des gesunden Menschenverstandes betrachtet. Wenn man nicht an die Heiligkeit von Dorje Shugden glaubt, kann man sich einfach dafür entscheiden, nicht zu dieser Gottheit zu beten. Mit dieser einfachen Logik ist die Welt mit ihren unzähligen Religionen und Glaubensrichtungen in einem relativ friedlichen Zustand geblieben.

Es gab nie eine angemessene Rechtfertigung Shugden-Buddhisten überhaupt zu verfolgen. Diejenigen, die auf der Grundlage von „weil der Dalai Lama es gesagt hat“ gegen Dorje Shugden zu den Waffen gegriffen haben, sollten jetzt damit aufhören, Shugden-Buddhisten zu tyrannisieren, weil der Dalai Lama dies tatsächlich gesagt hat.

Ist das das Ende des Shugden-Verbots?

Leider ist es unwahrscheinlich, dass dies der Fall ist.

Selbst heute, nachdem der Dalai Lama ganz klar gesagt hat, dass es falsch ist, Dorje Shugden zu diskriminieren, gibt es auf der offiziellen Webseite des CTAs immer noch einen Bereich, der Hass gegen die Dorje Shugden Menschen schürt. Klicken um zu vergrößern.

Die absurde Argumentation und das Verhalten des CTAs zur Unterstützung eines rechtswidrigen religiösen Verbots haben den CTA unter gebildeten Tibetern und globalen politischen Beobachtern zum Gespött gemacht. Sie sehen, dass sich hinter der demokratischen und progressiven Fassade des CTAs eine veraltete Verwaltung verbirgt, die immer noch auf Fabeln und Aberglauben zurückgreift, anstatt bei der Regierungsführung gesunden Menschenverstand anzuwenden.

Während es der Dalai Lama war, der das Verbot der Praxis von Dorje Shugden initiierte, dienten die Unruhen den CTA-Beamten gut. Es war viel einfacher, weiterhin Hass gegen Dorje Shugden zu schüren, als sich um dringende Angelegenheiten zu kümmern, wie etwa die adäquate Versorgung einer schwindenden tibetischen Exilbevölkerung oder den Versuch, China in einen sinnvollen Dialog zu verwickeln. Das wäre eine klügere Strategie gewesen, als sich die CTA als Schachfiguren zu missbrauchen, um Chinas Aufstieg einzudämmen. Leider waren es Lobsang Sangays vorherrschende Aufgaben während seiner Amtszeit als Präsident der CTA, Anti-Shugden-Stimmung zu provozieren, China zu verärgern und sich mit Penpa Tsering an politischer Hinterlist zu beteiligen.

Die CTA machte es zu einer Strategie, Feindseligkeit gegenüber Dorje Shugden zu fördern, und ihr wurde das gleiche, wenn nicht sogar mehr Gewicht beigemessen als der tibetischen Sache. Als jedoch der Dalai Lama die Praxis von Dorje Shugden als Geburts-Gottheit oder Land-Gottheit befürwortete, fühlte sich die CTA unter Druck gesetzt, diesen bedeutenden Zusammenhang zu entfernen. Klicken um zu vergrößern.

Als jedoch der Dalai Lama die Praxis von Dorje Shugden als eine Geburts-Gottheit oder Land-Gottheit befürwortete, geriet die CTA unter Druck ein prominentes Banner von ihrer offiziellen Webseite zu entfernen. Dieses Banner führte zu einer Seite, die das tibetische Volk, Regierungsbüros, lokale Unternehmen und Unterstützer der tibetischen Sache ermutigen sollte, die Hexenjagd gegen Shugden-Buddhisten fortzusetzen. Diese Seite ist heute noch vorhanden, wenn auch nicht mehr so auffällig. Und das Mobbing von Shugden-Buddhisten hält weltweit an, wobei die Unterstützer denken, dass ein solches Verhalten vom Dalai Lama sanktioniert wird.

Ob die CTA diese giftige Anti-Shugden-Seite insgesamt entfernt, ist jetzt ein wichtiges Barometer dafür, wie sehr sie den Dalai Lama wirklich verehren. Es wäre ein Widerspruch für den Dalai Lama, Mitgefühl für die Dorje Shugden Anhänger zu empfehlen, während die CTA heimlich weiterhin die anhaltende Verfolgung fördert.

Wie gut werden die CTA und das tibetische Volk diese neue Richtlinie des Dalai Lamas zu Dorje Shugden aufnehmen? Es ist schwer zu sagen. Ein besorgniserregender Hinweis liegt in der Art und Weise, wie der tibetische Übersetzer den Teil der Lehre des Dalai Lama komplett weggelassen hat, als er sagte:

„Ich habe ein Shugden-Verbot durchgesetzt. Aber wenn ich jetzt über [Shantidevas erste Strophe] nachdenke, ist er einfach jemand, den wir lieben müssen, jemand, mit dem wir bedingungslos liebevolle Güte und Mitgefühl praktizieren sollten. Wenn ich mich von ihm distanziere und einige winzige Gründe anführe wie „er ist jemand, der die Lehren verletzt“; dies ist höchstwahrscheinlich ein Fehler.

Es ist ein schwerwiegendes Versäumnis, weil nicht-tibetisch sprechende Personen haben den Teil übersehen, in dem der Dalai Lama klar anspielte, dass das Verbot von Dorje Shugden ein Fehler war. Die Frage ist, war es eine bewusste Unterlassung?

VIDEO: Der englische Übersetzer hat den Rat des Dalai Lamas zu Dorje Shugden ausgelassen (2. Juni 2021)

Mit der tibetischen Führung und ihrer Clique ist alles möglich und wir haben immer wieder gesehen, wie geschickt und manipulativ sie sein können. Ein treffendes Beispiel dafür findet gerade statt.

Während der Dalai Lama Mitgefühl für alle fühlenden Wesen, einschließlich der Dorje Shugden-Anhänger, predigt, hat die CTA den Shugden-Klöstern die Unterstützung bei der Beschaffung dringend benötigter COVID-Impfstoffe für die Mönche verweigert. Hinter all der Mitgefühlsrhetorik hat sich also nicht viel geändert. Die CTA ist in ihrer Verfolgung derer, die sie als Feinde bezeichnen, nur noch besser und subtiler geworden. Und dies geschieht zu einer Zeit, in der die Regierungen der Welt die Notwendigkeit erkannt haben, alle Differenzen beiseite zu legen, um eine Pandemie zu bekämpfen, die die gesamte Menschheit bedroht. Aber nicht die CTA.

Und was nun?

Die Absicht des Dalai Lamas, den Shugden-Konflikt zu beenden, ist deutlich. Er wählte Saka Dawa aus, um seine neue Haltung zum Thema Shugden zu erörtern. Es war eine Gelegenheit, bei der der Dalai Lama wusste, dass er zu genau den Leuten sprechen würde, die diesem vergifteten Kapitel der modernen tibetisch-buddhistischen Geschichte ein Ende setzen könnten – dem Gaden Tripa, dem Sharpa Choje und anderen hochrangigen Mönchen und Regierungsbeamten. Und um sicherzugehen, dass seine Botschaft eindeutig ankam, wiederholte der Dalai Lama in seinen Lehren vom 2. Juni 2021 seine Absicht, die Shugden-Verfolgung zu beenden, und er räumte diesmal ein, dass es falsch war, Dorje Shugden diskriminiert zu haben.

Während der Belehrungen wandte sich der Dalai Lama an bedeutende Meister, darunter (von links oben im Uhrzeigersinn): Seine Heiligkeit Gaden Tri Rinpoche Lobsang Tenzin, S.E. Sharpa Choje Rinpoche Lobsang Dorje, S.E. Gyuto Khenpo Gangkar Rinpoche und S.E. Jampa Choje Gosog Rinpoche Ngawang Sungrab Gelek.

Verständlicherweise ist es für die tibetische Führung schwierig, ein religiöses Verbot, das sie nicht offen anerkennen können, abrupt aufzuheben. Und es würde einige Zeit dauern, um eine über ein Viertel-Jahrhundert kultivierte kollektive Psyche zu ändern. Aber der Rat des Dalai Lamas lautet eindeutig, genau das zu tun. Und alle Tibeter, Shugden- und Nicht-Shugden-Leute, haben den Dalai Lama immer in ihrem Herzen getragen.

Daher ist es vielleicht für jedermann das klügste, unabhängig davon, auf welcher Seite der jetzt nicht mehr existierenden Kluft sie stehen, vorwärts zu gehen. Diejenigen, die Opfer dieser dunklen Zeit in der tibetischen Exilgeschichte wurden, müssen die Vergangenheit nicht noch einmal durchleben, und diejenigen, die sich aus „winzigen Gründen“ (wie der Dalai Lama es ausdrückte) gezwungen sahen, die schwere Last zu tragen andere tibetische Buddhisten zu hassen, können diese bedrückende Last endlich fallen lassen.

Der neue CTA-Präsident Penpa Tsering hat nun die einmalige Gelegenheit, einen hässlichen Fehler formell auszulöschen und die Menschen wieder zusammenzubringen. Es wäre ein schwerer Fehltritt für Penpa Tsering, dem fatalen Vermächtnis seines Vorgängers von Menschenrechtsverletzungen zu folgen. Schließlich ist die dunkle Phase der CTA-Politik, in der das politische Überleben es erforderte, in der Shugden-Frage zu spuren, jetzt vorbei.

Wir hoffen im Interesse aller Tibeter und aller tibetischen Buddhisten, dass die Worte des Dalai Lamas beachtet werden. In Erinnerung an die jüngsten Lehren des Dalai Lamas, mögen alle Wesen als kostbare Gäste zur Sugataschaft eingeladen werden und mögen wir für das Glück aller Lebewesen handeln.

Videos in Chinesischer Sprache [中文视频]

达赖喇嘛《三主要道》的开示

达赖喇嘛《证道歌》的开示

Video mit Mongolischen Untertiteln

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

By: Shashi Kei

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

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

After the flop, now the flip

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But that wasn’t all.

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

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

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

Skilfully undoing a mistake

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

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

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

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

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

Buddha or demon?

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

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

In fact, it is simple enough a subject.

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

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

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

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

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

Is this the end of the Shugden ban?

Sadly, it is unlikely to be the case.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

So what now?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Videos in Chinese [中文视频]

达赖喇嘛《三主要道》的开示

达赖喇嘛《证道歌》的开示

Video with Mongolian subtitle

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

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

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

 Tibetans are protesting their own exile government regime again!

By: Solaray Kusco

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Images of Tibetans Protesting
Against Their Leadership

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

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

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

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

By: Shashi Kei

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By: Kay Beswick

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

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

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

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

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

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

This begs the following questions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Declassified US Dept Cables showing that the Dalai Lama was ready to embrace Communism had the US failed to meet his conditions for financial aid. Click to enlarge.

There are clear signs that world leaders are losing interest in the Tibetan struggle. For over half a century, it captured the world’s imagination and presented itself as an opportunity for the global community to make a stand for what is right and noble. In any public dialogue, both the Dalai Lama and the Sikyong (President) of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA, based in Dharamsala, India) refer to themselves as guardians of the Buddha’s teachings and portray the Chinese Government as a force that seeks to destroy the Buddhadharma. When asked how the Tibetan leadership intends to deal with China’s rising power, the CTA Sikyong Lobsang Sangay likes to say that Communism is only 100 years old whereas Buddhism is 2500 years old. The inference is clear: the Tibetan leadership has claimed to be synonymic with the religion of Buddhism. And yet, recently declassified US State Department documents reveal that the Dalai Lama is not beholden to any particular ideology apart from what serves him personally, and will lean towards any system or power base that could help him regain his fiefdom.

The Dalai Lama it seems was just as open to his government becoming a part of the Communist bloc had the Americans not agreed to his demands for funding. This came through clearly in a 1969 US Department of State communiqué, which reported a discussion between a US official and Lodi Gyari, who represented the Dalai Lama. The Tibetans were negotiating with the US for financial assistance but at the same time, they were entertaining overtures made by the Soviet Union.

The communiqué read:

“It will be recalled that during a public lecture at the Indian School of International Studies given in October, the Dalai Lama emphasized that he did not oppose communism, or for that matter ‘isms’ in particular. He [Lodi Gyari on behalf of the Dalai Lama] declared that an independent Tibet could have a communist government or any other form supported by the majority of the people”.

In short, the Dalai Lama was making it clear that if the US did not acquiesce to the Tibetan leadership’s demands, he would not hesitate to turn to Moscow for help and willingly embrace Communist principles.

Indeed, the Dalai Lama has never denied his admiration for Marxist and Communist thoughts and codes of governance. On a number of occasions, he has openly criticized Capitalism, which lies at the heart of democratic systems.

In a 2009 interview, the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying, “Communists care most about equality and the rights of the destitute” ⁱ.

At a lecture in Kolkata entitled ‘A Human Approach to World Peace’, the Dalai Lama clearly stated his preference for Marxist theories, claiming that Capitalism creates socio-economic inequality. He said, “As far as socioeconomic theory, I am Marxist”. The Tibetan spiritual leader partly blamed Capitalism for inequality and said he regarded Marxism as the answer: “In capitalist countries, there is an increasing gap between the rich and the poor. In Marxism, there is emphasis on equal distribution.” ⁱⁱ

Ironically, one of the crudest displays of social and economic inequality was the feudal system that characterized the reign of the Tibetan spiritual monarchs before Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1959, forcing the 14^th Dalai Lama to flee. It is suspicious that the Tibetan leaders only began to display concern for the emancipation of subjugated groups after the ruling class lost its feudalistic control over the people and had to turn to Western liberal nations for support. Their embrace of liberal and democratic values might perhaps be merely a means to an end.

The Tibetan leaders’ campaign would not have gotten far had the Sino-Tibetan conflict been framed correctly as a tussle between a feudal theocracy and a Communist regime over who has authority to oppress the Tibetan people. Sikyong Lobsang Sangay was right about one thing – if Communism is a repressive system, then its draconian laws have been felt for only 100 years. The tyranny of the Tibetan ruling elite that the Dalai Lama belongs to on the other hand has trodden on the Tibetan people for centuries.

However, it was not only Communist and Marxist principles to which the Dalai Lama was drawn. The Tibetan leader also personally admired Mao Zedong. In 1954, the Dalai Lama authored a poem to the Communist leader referring to him as a “cakravarti (universal monarch) born out of boundless fine merits” ⁱⁱⁱ. In essence, the Dalai Lama regarded Mao as the secular counterpart of a Buddha, which is extremely high praise indeed.

The Dalai Lama’s poem to Mao Zedong praising him for ‘liberating’ Tibet.
Click to enlarge.

In sharp contrast, Western nations on which the Dalai Lama has depended for the survival of the Tibetan cause for the past 60 years and whom the Dalai Lama today refers to as friends and allies, were adjudged in the same poem as, “Our foe, the blood-thirsty imperialists, are poisonous snakes, and messengers of the devil furtively crawling”. Some observers may insist that the Dalai Lama was under duress when he wrote the poem praising Mao. However, this places the Dalai Lama at risk of being accused of having no particular loyalties, and as someone that would bend whichever way suits his purpose.

While there is no question that Buddhism has been an inextricable part of Tibetan culture, it is also indisputable that religion has been leveraged for centuries as a tool to keep the ruling elite in power. Before the 1959 Chinese invasion of Tibet that led to the Dalai Lama’s escape to India, Tibet was a feudal theocracy where the majority of its people languished in serfdom and slavery. The tool of that oppression was none other than Buddhism or, more accurately, Buddhism as wielded by the Tibetan ruling class, at the top of which was the Dalai Lama himself. The political author Michael Parenti wrote in his 2003 essay “Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth” that:

“The theocracy’s religious teachings buttressed its class order. The poor and afflicted were taught that they had brought their troubles upon themselves because of their wicked ways in previous lives. Hence they had to accept the misery of their present existence as a karmic atonement and in anticipation that their lot would improve in their next lifetime. The rich and powerful treated their good fortune as a reward for, and tangible evidence of, virtue in past and present lives.

The Tibetan serfs were something more than superstitious victims, blind to their own oppression. As we have seen, some ran away; others openly resisted, sometimes suffering dire consequences. In feudal Tibet, torture and mutilation — including eye gouging, the pulling out of tongues, hamstringing, and amputation — were favored punishments inflicted upon thieves, and runaway or resistant serfs.”

The Dalai Lama admired Mao Zedong and regarded the architect of the disastrous Cultural Revolution, as a father.

The Dalai Lama’s Tibet was surely not the Shangrila that the West has fantasized.

Convincing the world that the Sino-Tibetan conflict is a battle between Buddhism represented by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people, and Communism, as represented by the Chinese government, has been a supremely deft maneuver by the Tibetan leadership. It glosses over the Tibetan people’s brutally forced servitude under the country’s leadership; it sidesteps the fact that there is not a single true liberal element in the CTA’s governance behind its façade of democracy (the CTA remains a single-party government that does not tolerate opposition and the Dalai Lama’s word is still arbitrary law that overrides even the Tibetan Constitution); and it ignores the fact that the Tibetan leadership uses Buddhism as a weapon much the same way that medieval Popes wielded Christianity to enforce the supremacy of spiritual authority over temporal power and even the law. The religious apartheid that the Dalai Lama and CTA imposed on Dorje Shugden Buddhists is one apt example.

In truth, the Dalai Lama and his government are neither duty nor honor-bound to Buddhism, neither to Capitalism nor indeed to Democracy, Marxism and Socialism. Neither are they loyal to the principles of Communism or any other “ism”. The only thing that steers the Tibetan leadership is whatever opportunity they can muster to keep mesmerizing the world populace and keep the Dalai Lama and Lobsang Sangay in power. And herein lies the paradox and one of the biggest miscalculations by the people of the Western liberal world. In their zest to oppose Communism, they have provided all the necessary means and justifications for the latest ruler from a line of theocrats to remain in power.

In fact, in the modern-day scenario, there is little significant difference between a Marxist-Communist regime and a Capitalist-Democratic government that justifies the condemnation of China. The Communist government is shaped by Party ideology while the interests of big corporates steer policies of the so-called Democratic government. In both cases, it is not the interests of the people that are served primarily.

Nevertheless, both Communism and Democracy have certain built-in checks and balances. The Communist leader is accountable to his Party. The head of the Democratic nation has to be watchful of Opposition parties who act as watchdogs making sure that the government does not stray too much out of line.

The Dalai Lama, on the other hand, has no such encumbrances. No other leader of State today comes close to wielding the same amount of whimsical power over his people as the Dalai Lama does. Yet the lord of what was a very brutal regime has somehow bewitched the world into regarding him as the personification of peace and morality. Since 1959 when the Dalai Lama burst into the world scene, there have been 12 different US Presidents, 5 changes of guard in the now-defunct Soviet Union followed by 2 different Russian Presidents, 15 Indian Prime Ministers and even China has seen 6 changes to its ‘absolute leadership’ in that period. And all that time, the Dalai Lama has remained in power unelected, unchallenged and unaccountable. Having successfully sold the world the idea that he is the merely a “simple Buddhist monk” who is the supreme sentinel of Shangrila, he continues to rule with an iron fist of an autocrat. Publicly, this immense and hard power is cloaked by the soft image of Buddhism. The reality is somewhat different.

Tibetan Buddhism lies severely fractured today courtesy of a series of conflicts instigated by the Dalai Lama to keep the Tibetan people divided and throw their attention away from the failure of his governance. The Two Karmapa Controversy and the Dorje Shugden Conflict are two that continue to ravage the fabric of Tibetan Buddhist communities worldwide. The Dalai Lama likes to quote the Buddha’s teachings that state among other things that nothing is permanent. This sadly is true, especially of his allegiance and steadfastness to any political ideology, system, philosophy and movement apart from his own.

• i. https://journeyonline.com.au/queensland-synod-news/dalai-lama-praises-aspects-of-communism-and-marxism
• ii. https://www.newsweek.com/i-am-marxist-says-dalai-lama-299598
• iii. https://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/the-controversy/my-friend-mao/

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

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

By: Shashi Kei

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

Snake in the grass

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

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

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

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

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

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

An unholy alliance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Showing true colors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MEDIA

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

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

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

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

By: Shashi Kei

Background

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

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

Understanding the Case against Shukden. Click to enlarge.

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

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

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

Inconsistencies in Lama Zopa’s Foreword

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

1. Naming names

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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3. Biased view

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

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

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

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

4. The Buddhas were mistaken but Lama Zopa is not

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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