Dear Guru,
I think I understand where you are coming from, and why you do not want "outside interference". However, I am afraid I see two serious flaws in your argument.
1. The first is that the Dalai Lama himself has both accepted help from western countries and has lobbied for it for many years. As one example, it is quite well-documented that the CIA helped train and arm Tibetan freedom fighters in the 1960s. If you wish, I am happy to provide some of the references on this, but you yourself are probably already aware of the help Tibet received.
So if the Dalai Lama himself has asked for help (and received it) from outside forces to help solve Tibet's political problems, then surely, in following the example of his leadership, it is also acceptable for other Tibetans to also accept help to solve spiritual problems.
2. The second flaw in your argument is your repeated statement that this is only a Tibetan issue which does not affect western practitioners. I wish that this were true. As others have also stated and know all too well, western Dorje Shugden practitioners also suffer as a result of the Dalai Lama's unfortunate actions -- just not so severely as our Tibetan counterparts. Right in my own Sangha community, this issue is very real, very alive, and, for some of us, very much affects our day-to-day lives. Just as in Tibet, where communities have been divided, so we western Buddhists have also been divided. Even in my own city, I am sad to say that it is "Gelugpa against Gelugpa"; we constantly hear word of the members of the other Gelugpa Buddhist community in town slandering us. Except it is not usually Asian people who are attacking us in this sad war of words; it is other westerners.
I respect your point of view, and I do wish protesting never had to start. But on the other hand, I also wish I had not taken another rebirth in samsara, and yet the karma for that has also ripened.
Now that my negative karma has ripened -- my wheel of sharp weapons has returned -- my first job is to practice accepting defeat. I accept the defeat that it is the fault of my own mind of self-cherishing that this horrific, polluted appearance is before me, and not the fault of any other being.
My second job is to purify the negative karma that is sustaining the negative appearance. Part of my purification practice is the virtuous opponent force of standing up for the current and future spiritual freedom for my own tradition and for the tradition of other practitioners.
I am not angry at the Dalai Lama. But nevertheless, at this time in history, without firmly opposing his actions, the Ganden Oral Lineage, protected by the Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden, will surely disappear. Probably not in our lifetimes, but if the Fourteenth Dalai Lama is allowed to continue his actions unchecked, there will be no more of Je Tsongkhapa's doctrine in this world.
That is unacceptable. It is unacceptable for Tibetan Buddhists, for North American Buddhists, for European Buddhists, for Russian Buddhists, for Latino Buddhists, for African Buddhists, for Australian Buddhists... in short, from the point of view of bodhichitta, it is unacceptable to allow the destruction of this lineage without at least making an effort to stop it.
That is why we are protesting. I am sorry that it is upsetting to you.
