Please copy, paste and send. Families in danger.

[a friend]

The Honourable
Thiru Anandrao Vishnu Patil  (IAS)
   District Collector
   Collectorate, The Nilgiris District
   Udhagamandalam (Ooty) - 643001
[email protected], [email protected]

Dear Sir,

   Again we come to you to implore protection for innocent Tibetan families who are being shun and ostracized in their own community by direct orders of the Dalai Lama and his government.
 
   We are Buddhist practitioners and it's a great shame to have to say that the leader that promotes himself as the highest Buddhist priest is a mere political leader that preaches peace to the celebrities of the world and persecutes his own people in his backyard of India.
 
   Yes, the Dalai Lama is abusing the extraordinary generosity of Barat, the blessed land that gave him shelter. That is why we come to the local authorities that are close to the people and can protect them, imploring: please do not allow these Tibetans to create outcasts in your own society, in their own colonies! 
 
   In Ooty of Tamil Nadu State there is a Tibetan Market near the Botanical Garden.
Seventy four families sell sweaters there.
Among these families, there are four families who worship the deity Dorje Shugden who are being threatened by their fellow Tibetans because of their religious beliefs.
 
   Since 1996 the Dalai Lama has staged a campaign against the sacred deity Buddha Dorje Shugden and his practitioners. In India it's forbidden to forbid a Deity, nevertheless that is what the Dalai Lama did.
 
   This year, the Dalai Lama said that he wants to "cleanse" all Tibetan monasteries and colonies from Deity Dorje Shugden practitioners. Thus, he has forced a campaign among Tibetans, making people swear two things: that they do not worship the deity Dorje Shugden and that they do not have any relationship with the practitioners.
 
   This is the creation of a group of religious outcasts.

   Our Charitable Society alerted some days ago that the lives of those four families in Ooty (as many others in other places of India) have become unbearably miserable because of the unlawful actions of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Associations under his law.
 
    After we informed you of this situation, two journalists went to Ooty to interview the families about their plight. After listening to them they talked to the Tibetan agent at the market's office and as usual he said that nothing was wrong. So the journalists brought to the office one of the victims of the discrimination, and the Tibetans got so angry that they surrounded the office, tried to snatch the camera from the news men, who felt so threatened that they ended up going to the Police for help.
 
   So these families live under threats and violence. Who is going to protect them? We are imploring you to do it.

   Violence comes in waves. This last wave originated like this: from May 6 through 8, Mr. Thupten Lungrik, the minister for Education (Tibetan government in exile) went to the Tibetan settlements in South India, to stir public sentiment against the innocent practitioners, slandering them as enemies of their country and agents of the Chinese. The Minister's visit was a success in inciting people to violence against the Dorje Shugden practitioners.
 
   We, devotees of the holy Buddha Dorje Shugden, out of compassion for these innocent people, we beg you to please use your good office to stop this illegal and immoral activities against these four law-abiding families.
 
   
Respectfully yours,

[prodorjeshugden]

I really wonder what other people are thinking about Buddhism. Our religion is supposed to promote peace amongst everyone, but yet there is a huge dispute inside our own religion. What's more the dispute isn't even based on true facts, or more accurately it is based on rumours which sprung out of nowhere.

The dispute has torn apart families and turned friends into deadly enemies, besides that people who practice Dorje Shugden face a lot of inconvenience everyday. Most of the Time Shugdenners are banned from using public facilities and certain shops don't allow people who practice Dorje Shugden to shop there. As a result Shugdenners have to walk to faraway towns where they can get their daily needs.
Shugdenners constantly get death threats and violence almost everyday.

I really hope that the CTA and the Dalai Lama will end the ban soon before too much damage is inflicted.

[grandmapele]

This was in 2008. Now, in 2016 the situation has not changed very much. In fact, it has gotten worse in a more subtle way. Over the years the local community has decided to put up posters to not serve these Dorje Shugden practitioners. This is in an article in 2014 as per the link below:-

http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/features/tibetan-leadership-organizes-violence/

Here, the CTA has instigated violence against the Shugdenpas. And shop are not selling basic supplies to them. How are these Shugdenpas going to survive. It is now 2016, situation has not changed but hopefully with the change in the attitude of the new Indian government, things may improve.

The religion itself is all about peace and self improvement on a Dharma light level - be a good human. To take it to another level, one has to have faith and follow the Guru especially in Tibetan Buddhism. It is the interpretation or rather the misinterpretation of the some which is causing the problem. The CTA has vested interest in keeping this misinformation. Therefore, the continuation and violent enforcement of the ban.

But then again, it is only my opinion, which hold no water as I am not attained. I have struggled with trying to make the 'twain meet' as the saying goes. How does one reconcile the temporal/secular objectives and actions with the spiritual?

Though the Dalai Lama is supposedly the emanation of Chenrezig and enlightened, he is also the political head or rather ex-political head of the Tibetan government in exile.  In this kali yuga age, it is even harder for the followers, and especially so for beginners to even comprehend what is being 'played out' here.

So, to keep my peace of mind and sanity, I guess, i just have to quietly sit and do my practice as given by my Guru, in a way creating the karma for more teachings to be made available for me in this life and beyond. May I then be able to reconnect with my Guru, hopefully early in my next life so that I can continue my practice in a better conditions to progress.

[Tenzin Malgyur]

This is year 2016 now as I write this comment. I pray that the four families who are Dorje Shugden believers are safe and secure. May they be free of the needless sufferings brought to them due to the instigation by their own governing leaders. It is just so tough for them, after losing their homeland in Tibet, they have now lost their religious freedom.

I plead to His Holiness the Dalai Lama to help put an end to the sufferings of these people by releasing the ban on Dorje Shugden. May there be harmony among the people regardless of the deity they choose to worship.

[SabS]

It is now 2nd August 2016 and reading the cry for help still gets to me. I will never understand the karma that allowed some to inflict so much sufferings on others, especially by the supposedly "Practitioners of Peace". Being born into a family conducive to receiving the Dharma does not guarantee practicing the precious teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni. The Dalai Lama teaches about care and compassion at all his events and yet with the ban on enlightened Protector Dorje Shugden, he exposes the ignorance rife amongst his followers/students, even the very closed ones who were supposedly practitioners. CTA, the governing body of Tibetans-in-exile instigated and still instigating to much hardships and threats on the Shugden practitioners, just to cover their failure at reclaiming Tibet from China. Politics that only benefit the elite with no concern for deplorable state of their people in refugee camps while the Dalai Lama and CTA officials travel and live in luxury. What happened to the values taught by Buddha Shakyamuni who left his princely throne to live on alms to obtain enlightenment. May the Dalai Lama swiftly manifest his true nature of Avalokitesvara and lift the ban on Dorje Shugden to stop the sufferings of his people and all true practitioners.

[Rowntree]

 

We talk about compassion, kindness, universal love etc. for everyone equally. Whether you are a Buddhist or not you understand these qualities will lead us a good life. Contradictory to this, to create a contradiction, schism, segregation etc. for whatever reason goes against our true nature. If we claim ourselves to be a Buddhist, we should definitely show our true nature. Banning an effective and proven practice on the other hand shows no care, kindness or love because these people do not fit into my perception and idea of love and care. No matter how one try to reason out their act of discrimination, it is against our true nature and absolutely unacceptable. 

[pgdharma]

This was eight years ago and since then the situation remains somewhat the same. Shugdenpas are still being victimized, abused, threatened and deprived of human rights and religious freedom.

The Dalai Lama travels all over the world preaching on compassion and humanity yet towards Dorje Shugden practitioners he has not practiced what he preached. I hope the Dalai Lama will end the persecution of Shugdenpas soon and to please respect everyone’s freedom to practice as wished.