Declaration concerning the demonstrations against His Holiness the Dalai Lama

[DharmaSpace]

We, the undersigned, as former members of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT), and ex-practitioners of Dorje Shugden, are appalled and saddened that those who were once our NKT sangha demonstrate against and defame His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Inaccuracies and distortions of what we know to be the truth have been published as fact. The New Kadampa Tradition currently operates as the ‘International Shugden Community’ (ISC) and also as the ‘Western Shugden Society’ (WSS). Many allegations and insults are made against His Holiness which are completely unwarranted.

At demonstrations and on numerous web sites and Facebook pages, the NKT/ISC viciously attacks the reputation of His Holiness. We have tried to address inaccuracies with the group, but without success. We believe it is time to speak out with one voice.

Here we highlight a few of the issues created by the New Kadampa Tradition, their leader Kelsang Gyatso, and his followers:

1) The ‘NKT/WSS/ISC’ say that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a ‘liar’. A difference of opinion does not equate to lying. His Holiness holds a different opinion from Kelsang Gyatso and the NKT about the nature and history of Dolgyal Shugden and the effects of this practice upon the well-being of His Holiness, the Tibetan people and their cause. To call His Holiness a ‘liar’ because of this difference of opinion makes no sense.

2) The ‘NKT/WSS/ISC’ claim that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has gone against all his teachers, broken his samaya and destroyed the lineage of Je Tsongkhapa by rejecting the practice of Dolgyal Shugden. His Holiness states that after conducting extensive research into the history and problems of Shugden practice, he consulted with his Junior Tutor Trijang Rinpoche and explained the reasons why it was his duty to reject this practice. The historical record shows that Shugden practice is often contentiously associated with sectarian views and ‘distorted aspiration’ and was viewed as problematic by His Holiness’ Senior Tutor, Ling Rinpoche. In fact, in this action His Holiness was actually following a course which, according to Buddhist scriptures and past masters, as Kelsang Gyatso himself states, is absolutely correct and appropriate.

In his book Clear Light of Bliss Kelsang Gyatso states: “When deciding which doctrine to rely upon, we should not be satisfied with the fame or reputation of a particular teacher, but instead should examine what he or she teaches. If, upon investigation, we find the teachings reasonable and faultless, we should accept them, but if they lack these qualities we should reject them, no matter how famous or charismatic their expounder might be.”

Kelsang Gyatso therefore contradicts his own advice when he asserts that His Holiness has broken his samaya with Trijang Rinpoche.

3) Kelsang Gyatso also claims that by rejecting one particular protector practice, this means that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is rejecting all Gelug teachings, the lineage of Je Tsongkhapa. His Holiness has not rejected all Gelug teachings and still holds his lineage gurus in the highest esteem. Kelsang Gyatso, however, is never seen in public with any teachers connected to the lineage he claims to represent. He is alone, without the influence of either peers or superiors. He created the NKT in 1992 after a schism with another Tibetan Buddhist group which invited him to the UK to teach in 1977 and whose property he then kept as the ‘mother centre’ of the NKT.  In 1996 he was unanimously expelled from Sera Je Tibetan Buddhist monastery, where he trained, for being a ‘holder of broken commitments and wrong view’. As he is the only Tibetan teacher in his own tradition of ‘Modern Buddhism’, with his own ‘new’ ordination and no study of the traditional Vinaya teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni, he also effectively isolates his own students from the wider Buddhist world.

4) In 1998 Kelsang Gyatso stated that the NKT would no longer be involved in any further demonstrations against His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He admitted that the Shugden issue was, in reality, an issue of Tibetan politics and promised that the NKT would not take part in any further inappropriate actions. Since then Kelsang Gyatso and the NKT have organised two further rounds of protests, one beginning in 2008, and the latest round currently being staged.

5)  In 2008 Kelsang Gyatso wrote to all his dharma centres stating that he was personally organising the NKT’s participation in the protests. He also said the protests were being organised by a group called the Western Shugden Society (WSS). A simple check reveals that all the Directors of WSS were and are members of the New Kadampa Tradition. Yet the NKT often denies that they have any connection to the WSS. Kelsang Pema, Gyatso’s former assistant, informed journalists that the WSS had no leader.

6) Even if the NKT say that it is only an ‘individual decision’ for a student to support the protests, we know that at present the ISC directly and actively recruits protestors and fundraises for demonstrations against His Holiness the Dalai Lama inside NKT centres.

7) The 2014 NKT campaign is delivered by its latest front group, the International Shugden Community. Currently, the ISC has two registered groups. In Norway ISC records show the Executive Director and Chairman to be NKT teachers. The ISC US based non-profit company in California shares an address with a large health food company of which Len Foley, an ex NKT teacher, is CEO. His wife, Rebecca Gauthier, an NKT Resident Teacher, is also spokesperson for the ISC in the US.

The ISC front-man is a senior NKT monk named Kelsang Rabten. In his YouTube “News Broadcasts” Kelsang Rabten does not wear his monk’s robes and appears to be a professional journalist. He hides his status and biased position. One ISC video uses footage of young Burmese monks conducting traditional alms-rounds to fraudulently misrepresent the situation in India regarding the supposed ‘ostracism’ of Shugden followers. Techniques such as these are deceitful, designed only to exaggerate their claims against His Holiness.

The allegation that the Dalai Lama is engaging in repression of Freedom of Religion is, in fact, more relevant to the way the NKT itself operates. NKT Centres are dedicated to the exclusive devotion of Kelsang Gyatso. NKT centres and teachers are only permitted to teach from books written by Kelsang Gyatso. Teachers other than those trained by the NKT and appointed by Kelsang Gyatso are not allowed. Ordained NKT people and others are told they will be reborn in the hell realms and may not get enlightened if they leave the NKT.

9) There are many documented cases where the NKT threatened to sue using libel law and thus silenced other Buddhist organisations, umbrella groups, internet discussion forums and academics, authors and publishers. People inside the group can realistically fear social exclusion, illegal eviction or police arrest if they criticise policies. In our experience, the NKT generally prioritises the expansion of the group over the welfare of individuals. The NKT Survivors internet group numbers over 1,200 subscribers. There is no Dalai Lama Survivor’s group.

10) With the backdrop of continued Human Rights abuses against the Tibetan people, who number little more than 6 million in total, and the mass slaughter of an unknown number of Tibetans due to the Chinese occupation and colonisation often quoted as being more than one million, claims made by the ISC such as that ‘4 million Dorje Shugden practitioners are suffering’ are obviously lies.

No established Human Rights group or court has ever confirmed any of the NKT/WSS or ISC’s claims of intentional Human Rights abuses by His Holiness the Dalai Lama or the Central Tibetan Administration. In 2010 the Indian High Court rejected a law suit by Shugden followers because of ‘vague averments’ and ‘absence of any specific instances of any such attacks’.

We offer our support to the Tibetan people in their struggle to preserve their lives and their culture and question the intentions of those who use this culture but appear not to support this struggle.

Both in 1996-7 and in 2008 the demonstrations against His Holiness the Dalai Lama coincided with the public exposure on the internet of the alleged sexual misconduct of the Deputy Spiritual Directors of the NKT.

In view of the consistently unkind behaviour of his own organisation, we feel that Kelsang Gyatso and his students can have no moral right for making such attempts to discredit and defame His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Those of us who once belonged to the New Kadampa Tradition are resolved to bring these inaccuracies, disinformation, and outright lies to light. Who better to reveal the truth than we who were once inside the organisation?

19th August 2014

Carol McQuire

Jamie Kostek

Lynne Cracknell

Ani Tsultrim

Graham Smetham

Linda Ciardiello

Ian Thomas

David Cutshaw

Robert Helms

Steve Maxwell

Michael Brown

Charles Wesley

Andrew Durling

Andrew Cheadle

Kevan Webb

Tenzin Peljor

James Tregaskis

Tim Ford

Karma Yonten

Amanda Zinski

Stuart Everard

Andrea Ballance

Richard Litchfield

David Silver

Supporters

Lyn G Farrell

Charlie Worthington

Tony Allen

Cynthia von Hendricks

Ashoka von Hendricks

Dan Ballance

Joanne Clark

This is quite silly, the Dorje Shugden issue has never been NKT versus the ban/Dalai Lama. They are barking up the wrong tree here.

There are many other Gelug based organisations and teachers who are working to overcome the ban.

In the lamrim and this is not from my mouth, even a teacher who gives us one word of Dharma we should be grateful, being grateful is the key to spiritual growth. So now after they leave NKT who have been kind to them they start to criticise the teacher and organisation. It is quite hilarious imagine Naropa criticises Tilopa and Milarepa condemning Marpa.  Milarepa and Naropa would not be the spiritual greats, by not having gratitude.

[Blueupali]

Yes, these guys have so many lies it's hard to know where to begin.  I never heard anybody would go to hell if they didn't do what Geshe-la said or gave back their robes in the NKT.
  And just because Pema or Rabten are in the NKT doesn't mean they can't also be in the ISC.
  And just because someone is an NKT teacher or ex teacher doesn't mean they were with us from the beginning--- sorry the panel discussion with Carol-- does anybody buy that?  I mean she really "fell" for the "cult?" Really?  Because Geshe-la is really open-minded, and authentic, he really gives a LOT of choice to people, even to let the DL followers come trampling around in his centers.  I suppose he does this because he wants them to show their true colors.
  I have heard these sorts of staged conversations by what I see as infiltrating Dalai Lama people, like at the Portugal festival, I heard these two women talking about how one was a newbie, the other a little more experienced, and the newbie suffered from mental health issues; the more long term person kept saying "Geshe-la is a Buddha.  He SAID so."  Uh, no.  That's not what he said--- but I guess that's two future survivors for you.... pretend Geshe-la said something else, one of them has a mental illness, which made her join the "cult" etc. etc..  We get misrepresented a LOT by people posing as members of our organization.  I am mentioning this so our Tibetan friends will be aware that we have a big issue, even though I think most people are too polite to say.... yeah, not all westerners are honest okay--- and the apple doesn't far from the DL tree when they are not. 
  So what do I think of survivors?  I think they are mostly if not all people who wanted to come and make the NKT people look like a cult.... if they are in a cult it is not Geshe-la's cult but perhaps if anyone is reading this who likes to go to NKT Centers, join up (anyone is welcome, no requirements are even made to do the Shugden practice if we show up at the empowerment--  that is our internal decision--- that is how much freedom Geshe-la gives--- okay--- complete freedom, and a willingness to have people hear the Dharma regardless of their background)-- so if somebody who reads this is a person who joins up with the NKT to pretend to be us and then go be a survivor or otherwise make us look bad, let me tell you, I think it's pretty obvious what you are doing, and it is making the Dalai Lama look like a TERRIBLE teacher with followers willing to stop at nothing to get people to stop openly defying THEIR guru.  Just know, that before I met people who I discovered were up to this sort of thing, that I only found the Dalai Lama best avoided.  Now my opinion of him is that he is beyond terrible, because of the things his students do.  This is not about anyone pretending to agree or disagree: this is a message for the infiltrating sub-group of the NKT out there--- you are making the Dalai Lama look TERRIBLE and everything you are doing is backfiring.
 

[icy]

Oh it is that Carol McQuire again. I find she and her groupie have some disturbing issues they cannot come to term with.  Day in day out they will sing along the same tune of NKT this and Geshe la that all in the negative light.   Their joining in the Dalai Lama's camp on anti-Shugden is really to get vengeance on NKT and Geshe la and they are highly strung on this issue.  They believe they can destroy NKT and Geshe la by doing what they are doing now. 

Are they really dharma practitioners?  I pray they will calm down into their insight of wisdom and move on without destructing themselves.

[Blueupali]

It baffles me that people (who like I'm saying) don't SEEM to ever embrace the NKT but just pretend to so they can run around and act like it is a cult later, still don't have anything better to do.  I have seen these sort of people, they come in and disrupt stuff and pretend they think we are a cult they are falling for, then they make a loud obnoxious bunch of nonsense about how the NKT does all these things that we don't do, or that Geshe-la says he's a Buddha, which he didn't say, etc.
  So, for me, when I see all these people who all turn out to be um "converting" to a Dalai Lama affilated group later and that yell and scream for years afterwards about the NKT--- well I just wonder do they like have anyone who taught them dharma after they left?  They don't seem to have much time for anything except trying to bring down the NKT, both while they seem to just pretend to join up, or afterwards--- I think it's clear that Carol from the panel discussion didn't have a clue about Dorje Shugden or Geshe-la, because if she'd been paying attention she would have known that what she is saying is not really true according to Geshe-la.  She obviously never really connected with Dorje Shugden's practice, like not REALLY.... but it is sad that she would go to such lengths to undermine Ven. Geshe-la. 
  In general I have noticed that a lot of people who end up in the Dalai Lama camp have a lot of extra time for destroying other people's traditions rather than working toward enlightenment themselves.

[Shugden Library]

I read the letter with dismay. Whatever issues these individuals may or may not have had whilst connected with Kadampa Buddhism (the "NKT"), one would assume it was with a few individuals, and surely not the tens of thousands of people that regularly attend Kadmapa Centres throughout the world? The Dorje Shugden ban affects over 4 million Buddhists, so in reality, Kadampa Buddhism reflects a very small part of this huge religious persecution.
I suspect they have no interest in the Dorje Shugden ban, but the Ban came at a time when they wanted something else to grasp at. Now by aligning themselves to the CTA, a political organization, they have lost all credibility they may have had. Their issue is no longer religious, it is political.

[Blueupali]

My theory is that their issue never was religious, but political, as the Dalai Lama's ban on Shugden isn't religious, but political, as it comes from the government (thus is interfering religion with state officially) and is politically motivated in the BUddhist sense of the word--- which is wanting something for someone's own power rather than something that actually helps all living beings.
  So, these survivor types claim like 1000s of people as survivors, but I don't really buy that--- because first of all if you are from the NKT and want to see what lies are being told (so you could be aware of them) then you have to "sign up" as a survivor to get on their webpage.  Also, there is no way to tell, just as with most internet stuff, who is really who.  One guy could have 10 email addresses, or 100 or something.  Who really knows.... especially if people aren't honest about identity, and one thing the survivors are not, is honest.
  They are not honest when they come and pretend actual sincere religious interest in the NKT, to pretend that we are a cult later, nor are they honest afterwards, having all "converted" to the Dalai Lama's school, which is really where the cult is.... if there would ever be a cult in the NKT it would not be Ven. Geshe-la's doing but rather there are tons of people who are running around thinking they have to do the Dalai's every bidding, who seem to think destroying another school is the only pratice they can really do.  (If the DL were a better teacher, perhaps they would go and meditate and learn dharma--- but since he isn't they just run around trying to destroy others--- the DL's work).