Dorje Shugden puja being done at Tashilunpo Monastery

There are many types of protection one can have, dependent on the spirit or malady, but one of the most powerful is relying on the benevolent protector DORJE SHUGDEN.

Dorje Shugden’s rites, rituals, prayers, meditations and protective mantras are hailed as one of the best. This practice is excellent to do daily to bless our premises as it is very effective. One can download a picture, keep in one’s home and ask for sacred protection. Many can attest that Tibetan protection is ancient and powerful.

Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan High Lamas are the world’s experts for exorcism and casting out of spirits. In the east, where magic is prevalent even in today’s times, it is considered the best.

Many people who are afflicted with the Chinese mountain magic, Thai magic or Indonesian magic are very hard to cure. Spirits follow them and many disasters happen.

They always seek Tibetan Lamas for healing and getting rid of evil spirits, black magic or purifying unclean places. In the Tibetan tradition, people are very familiar with protection against negative forces, spirits, spells, and bad energy.

There is a wonderful practice that any layman can do, which is invoking upon a very powerful yet benevolent Protector – Dorje Shugden. We can do his prayer followed by mantra daily. This can be done in one’s home, before travels or during crisis situations.

Daily prayers to Dorje Shugden would be good also. Reciting prayers to Dorje Shugden, offering one’s fears and reciting the mantra daily is very powerful for protection against the most ferocious spirits or demons. This ancient protective practice from the High Tibetan lamas is the best.

Daily prayers and invocation to Dorje Shugden also bless the environment and give peace. When we do prayers to invite Dorje Shugden to our place and to bless and protect our abode, Dorje Shugden comes from holy power places throughout this planet, other realms and different Buddha Fields.

One of the power places that Dorje Shugden resides in is Shambala, a mystical land filled with spiritual practice and spiritual beings. So it is a very holy and sacred practice of Tibet.

Dorje Shugden’s sacred mantra is: OM BENZA WIKI BITANA SOHA

Recite this daily for blessings. This can be recited as much as possible. The pronunciation is not a worry.

Update

Black magic and spirit infestations are common occurrences in many parts of the world. Vajrayana Buddhism provides a number of effective solutions for such problems yet many have limited access to a qualified teacher who is able to grant the necessary teachings and initiations.

Fortunately, within the lineage and teachings related to Dorje Shugden, a practice to prevent and assist with such problems exists, and can be done safely by anyone who is afflicted by these negative energies without receiving initiation. This practice is that of the wrathful emanation of Dorje Shugden, known as Trakze or Karma Shugden.

May all who are afflicted by these negative energies be free from such sufferings quickly.

Trakze Practice for Protection Against Spirits or Black Magic

• Trakze Teachings (English) by H.E. Kyabje Tsem Rinpoche
• Trakze Prayer Text

TRANSLATION

LE DALAI LAMA IMPOSE L’INTERDICTION SUR SHUGDEN (SHOUGDEN)

THE DALAI LAMA IMPOSES A BAN ON SHUGDEN

Extracts of speeches on the ban of the Gelugpa Protector Dorje Shugden by Tibetan leaders. This film contains remarks from the Dalai Lama and the now ex-Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile, Samdong Rinpoche. Their words are proof of what the ban on Dorje Shugden’s practice really is.

They reveal the importance given to the segregation, as well as to the division in the monasteries of the Tibetan community in exile. They also demonstrate how the Dalai Lama disrupts the harmony of the Tibetans in exile.

These words show that the ban was created by the Dalai Lama himself and not by the monasteries. They prove that it is the Dalai Lama and his Government who impose this ban and control the decisions made by the monasteries in India… which has also a negative effect on other communities in Tibet and elsewhere in the world.

Speech 1

Today, in the presence of the Government employees and our people, I will talk about the Protector. This is not a meeting about our political struggle for freedom.

I think we are the only ones gathered here to talk about this subject. I think that in the world, other people do not meet to talk about this subject. I have already talked about this, when we met during the last Kalachakra festival.

We are gathered here: Lamas, Geshes and friends in the Dharma. I repeat that this subject is very important and you should respect what I say. If however you think “something like this is the responsibility of the Dalai Lama, not mine”, your way of thinking is therefore wrong. Do you understand? And in the same way, you can explain this situation to those who live in Tibet, if you still have relatives there.

For example, in regions like Dakyap, Markham, Tchamdo and Denma-Khampa……in all these regions, you should inform them well. It is your responsibility to explain to those who live in Tibet. Do you understand?

If not, I’m telling you this here. You display a very respectful attitude but in reality you do not make any effort to explain this ban to others. This is very disappointing for me, understand?

Speech 2

Most of you have understood the reasons for abandoning the practice, and you have done so, but some of you seem not to have listened to my advice and pretend not to know about the subject.

And you think perhaps that it is not a serious subject and that later, things will be fine. You can also think that, in exile The Dalai Lama cannot do much about the matter. Some of you think like that.

Speech 3

I started this ban in memory of the Fifth Dalai Lama. I started it myself and I will finish it. Do you understand?

Some of you do not take this seriously. But they are wrong. You, members of staff, you pretend not to have heard and you let the time pass.

You think that it is better if we do not take any action against the population. When we met each other, you displayed a nice attitude and you said to me, “I’m clean and I’m not practicing.” But in fact these words are deceitful. This will probably continue to happen.

In the Monastery of Sera Jey, some students voluntarily assumed the responsibility and they strove to impose the ban. You should follow this example and support each other. It is very important.

Speech 4

I’ve talked about the ban at Drepung, when I was giving a teaching on the Lamrim of the Great Scope. At that time, many abbots from all the monasteries attended the teachings. Kelsang Yeshi, you were there, do you remember?

The abbots of the monasteries of Sera, Drepung, Gaden and also the monastic colleges of Gyuto and Gyume were there. Altogether, there were about 15 heads present. They came to see me, crying and promising vigorously to act according to my request. But in reality, they have done nothing, and now the final result is not very good.

Speech 5

The position of Dholgyal (Dorje Shugden) has become very special in the Gelug school. This is why the Gelugpas must pay a lot of attention to it. Even if His Holiness was not very clear in his speech. He has already spoken about the subject many times with great clarity, recently and in previous years, in the manner of a father advising his son.

On this point, we must thus make a clear decision. If not, we will not act because we think that this ban will create a lot of different problems in our society, and we are afraid of the segregation within our society.

I think this is bad. Here, what is important is that if we do not put this ban in place as we have been advised and we let ourselves be invaded by doubts about our ability and our judgments, then we will not be able to fulfil and sustain our wishes.

So I think that it will be very sad for us. Therefore, I don’t have any doubts, you will not forget this request, but will keep it in mind.

Speech 6

The abbots, the chief disciplinarians and the administrators of the monasteries, they have continued patiently to impose the ban and I know that each one of us work hard to enforce the ban and I appreciate it very much.

I am pleased with your voluntary support and your actions. It is very good. Some of you try to be tactful on the subject of putting this ban into operation and you may think that these actions will disrupt the harmony of the society.

Some of you may have reasons to remain quiet and discreet. On my part, I have no comment. But we always rejoice in the actions of those who act seriously and clearly. Whatever it may be that you need from our Government in Exile, we are ready to provide all types of support.

This is what I wanted to explain to you.

Statue of the 33rd Tibetan King, Songtsen Gampo (617-650 AD)

Millions of Buddhist monks have been killed, imprisoned, tortured, or driven into exile by the Communist Chinese since the 1950s in a deliberate, systematic destruction of a culture and a religion. The pacifist Buddhist monks are about as innocent and noble as victims can be; the Nobel Prize-winning Dalai Lama is perceived to be equally wonderful, kind, and heroic. Few are unfamiliar with the boy-king’s narrow escape in 1959 from the Chinese into India, where he still governs in exile and continues to preach non-violence. He is one of the most universally respected religious figures in the second half of the twentieth century.

This peace-loving image of Tibetan Buddhism sometimes may not be matched by reality, however. In fact, some observers suspect that internal conflicts – called by some a feud – resulted in the recent assassination of Tibetan leaders in India by Buddhists holding a different point of view*. Understanding these conflicts and how they might have led to assassination requires some history of Tibetan Buddhism.

History behind the Conflict: Gods and Tantra

A fundamental Buddhist principle is that all phenomena, including people, lack an inherent “self”. We are possessive, greedy, hateful, angry, worried, and frightened because we think we have a self with needs, desires, and rights that must be honored and satisfied. Buddhists say we are deluded about this self. Our clinging to the idea is the cause of all of our problems and the reason we are reincarnated to lives of suffering over and over again. When we stop clinging to the notion of self, we can advance spiritually and eventually attain nirvana, an extinction of all craving that affords blissful release.

Such a principle should, it seems, preclude belief in any kind of deity, since belief would imply that a deity has independent existence and a self. As Buddhism came into contact with indigenous religions, however, it found ways to incorporate local pantheons of gods into, and subordinate to, Buddhism. This is especially true in Tibet, where the form of Buddhism over which the Dalai Lama presides draws heavily upon the customs and beliefs of Tibet’s native animistic and shamanistic Bon religion.

The Bon religion divides the world into three realms: Heaven, consisting of gods and demigods; Earth, consisting of Humans and Animals; and the Underworld, consisting of Hungry Ghosts and Demons. Bon shamans invited possession by these spirits in order to access their powers. Buddhism brought the tantric doctrines to Tibet from north India. Buddhist tantric practices involve the development of subtle powers of energy and mind to accelerate spiritual development. These practices were as attractive to Bon shamans as they were to Buddhists.

State-sponsored Buddhism began in the seventh century C.E., when warlord and Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo married a Nepalese princess, promising her father that he would become a Buddhist. He also married a Buddhist Chinese princess. When an outbreak of smallpox occurred, the Bon interpreted it as a sign from the gods that Buddhism was bad for Tibet and forced the King to expel all Indian teachers and many of their Tibetan followers from the country. In the eighth century, an attempt was made to reintroduce Buddhism with the aid of Shantarakshita, a great Indian teacher.

The Potala Palace in Red Hill, Lhasa

Shantarakshita came and taught at a palace on the Red Hill in Lhasa. When lightning struck the palace during a violent storm, the Bon again declared that the Tibetan gods had been angered and demanded the expulsion of Shantarakshita. Shantarakshita later was asked to come back but is said to have replied that the forces of evil in Tibet were too strong and had to be exorcized. He recommended that Tibet solicit the services of a famous tantric monk Padmasambhava, known in Tibet as Lopon Rinpoche (Norbu, 148-49).

Lopon Rinpoche traveled throughout Tibet for fifty years, exorcizing demons and, it is said, forcing them to work for Tibet, incorporating much of the native pantheon of gods and beliefs into a Buddhist framework. Many of the deities were brought into the Buddhist fold as different aspects of the same deity. Thus, the Buddha or gods may manifest in a variety of forms, in a way roughly similar to Christianity’s god manifesting as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

135 Feet tall statue of Padmasambhava in Namchi, Sikkim, India.

How is this behavior reconciled with the Buddhist doctrine that nothing has an inherent self? Since the world as we experience it is a product of our minds, under Buddhist theory, the gods and hungry ghosts can be thought of in the same way – not having a self, but existing as phenomena of the mind. They are therefore no less real than anything else we experience; and in the Buddhist framework, they are subordinate to Buddha whatever their nature. Tibetan Buddhists to the present day pray to gods and utilize oracles, just like the Bon, and believe the unseen world is populated with all sorts of powers and forces that must be reckoned with, even though they are phenomena of mind without an inherent self. In a way, this view could be compared with Christian belief in devils, angels, intervention of saints, and god as a Trinity. This is the first fact necessary to understand the background of the current conflict.

The second fact is that the practice of tantra has been a recurring issue in Tibetan Buddhism. As described above, it was the tantric monk Padmasambhava who exorcized Tibet of its demons and paved the way for the establishment of Buddhism. The form of Buddhism that took hold popularly was heavily influenced by tantra and the native Tibetan deities. In the eleventh century C.E., another Indian teacher, Atisha, came to Tibet and taught Buddhist doctrine free of tantric elements, reinterpreting tantra in a symbolic and philosophical manner, and advising that only two of the four tantric initiations be utilized. It is said by Thubten Jigme Norbu, a former Tibetan monk and brother of the current Dalai Lama, that Atisha tried to strike a balance between Buddhist scripture and popular tantric practices. The resulting resistance caused Tibetan Buddhism to break into separate schools – the Kadampa, which followed Atisha’s views; the Kagyupa and Sakyapa, which wanted to retain more of the traditional Tibetan deities; and the Nyingmapa, or Old Sect, which did not care at all for Atisha’s reforms and followed tantric-influenced practices associated with Padmasambhava. Norbu says that the Bon of today in Tibet consider themselves closer to the Nyingmapa than to any other Buddhist sect.

Lama Tsongkhapa

In the fifteenth century, the monastic reformer, Tsongkhapa, continued the reforms begun by Atisha – establishing the Gelugpa school, founding the important monasteries of Ganden, Sera, and Drepung, emphasizing pure Buddhist teachings and the practice of virtue – but did not attempt to subvert or reform the older Tibetan Buddhist sects, all of whom coexisted with the Gelugpa and the native Bon.

The heads of the Gelugpa school were known as Dalai Lama and were believed each to be the reincarnation of his predecessor. Upon the death of a Dalai Lama, a search is made among children in Tibet for his reincarnation. Oracles and prophecies suggest areas to search and candidates to be tested and screened, often with reference to their ability to recognize acquaintances or belongings of the previous Dalai Lama. In this way, the head of the Gelugpa school reincarnates repeatedly to serve as Dalai Lama. The present Dalai Lama is the fourteenth in succession.

Editor’s note: The Dalai Lama is the temporal and spiritual head of all Tibet but not the head of any particular school. However, he is a Gelugpa practitioner. The head of the Gelugpa school is known as the Gaden Tripa, also known as the throne holder of Tsongkhapa. The Gaden Tri position is earned, not identified via incarnations. Thus even the humblest monk can rise to become head of the Gelugpa school. The Gaden Tripa is the supreme head of the Gelugpa tradition and it is interesting to note that earlier in 2010, the 101st Gaden Tripa, who has recently retired, publicly acknowledged that he practices Dorje Shugden and has moved his ladrang to Shar Gaden.

Gelugpa Ascendance and Death of the Great Fifth’s Rival

Keeping the foregoing in mind, we turn our attention to events in seventeenth-century Tibet. In 1642 C.E., the Dalai Lama, head of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, acquired authority over a politically divided Tibet. The “Great Fifth,” as he is known in Tibet, was shrewd in his dealings with the Chinese, the Mongols, and with his Tibetans. He consolidated power through an alliance with Mongol leader Gushri Khan, who defeated the strongest secular leader in Tibet, the King of Tsang, who was a member of the Nyingmapa order. At the time the Great Fifth gained power, there were both secular and sectarian rivalries. In addition to various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the old Bon religion was reviving its bid for supremacy in Tibet. Rather than use his power to crush the Nyingma sect, which he easily could have done through his alliance with the Mongols, the Great Fifth deliberately incorporated Nyingmapa teachings and practices into his ecclesiastical court (Norbu, 248-49). Some Gelugpa purists objected.

As the secular and spiritual leader of all of Tibet, a Dalai Lama would have to maintain good relations with all sects. Yet, given that the Nyingma sect was closer to the Tantra, whose excessive influence Gelugpa’s founder thought was detrimental to Buddhism, allegiance to Nyingma could have been a basis for legitimate concern or a rallying point for political opponents of the Great Fifth. Furthermore, his attraction to Nyingma may have been more than political expediency, as it is said that Padmasambhava, the Indian tantric master who had exorcized the demons from Tibet, appeared to the Great Fifth in dreams and visions (Batchelor, 62).

In any event, it is alleged that the conflict between the Great Fifth and the Gelugpa purists led to the suicide or murder of the Great Fifth’s rival, Drakpa Gyaltsen. Gyaltsen had been one of the candidates considered for selection as the Fifth Dalai Lama, so in a sense this rivalry had existed since childhood. One story says that Drakpa Gyaltsen defeated the Dalai Lama in debate and was found dead the next day with a ceremonial scarf stuffed down his throat. The spirit of Gyaltsen was said to have returned and brought with it calamities upon the Tibetan state. After magicians and lamas failed to exorcise the wrathful spirit, the leaders of the Gelug sect asked the spirit to become a protector. It “agreed.” Those who had opposed the Dalai Lama’s involvement with the Nyingma sect recognized the spirit, called Dorje Shugden, as the reincarnation of Gyaltsen (Lopez, 68).

Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen

One of Dorje Shugden’s functions is said to be to protect the purity of the Gelugpa teachings from pollution by Nyingma doctrines. However, the following statement also is attributed to the Fifth Dalai Lama: “The so-called Drakpa Gyaltsen pretends to be a sublime being. But since this interfering spirit and creature of distorted prayers is harming everything, both dharma and sentient beings, do not support, protect or give him shelter, but grind him to dust.”

The practice of propitiating Shugden and regarding him as a manifestation of the bodhisattva Manjushri (i.e., a Buddha) continues among some Tibetan Buddhist monks and laypersons to the present day. For some of these practitioners, Dorje Shugden is the primary focus of their practice and, through the thirty-two deities of his mandala (different manifestations of the same deity), is said to embody various qualities and provide all kinds of help to those who take refuge in him. According to information appearing on a pro-Shugden website referenced at the end of this article, Dorje Shugden manifests in many different aspects – peaceful, wrathful, layperson, monk, even nonhuman. Dorje Shugden also is said to have manifested prior to the seventeenth century dispute with the Fifth Dalai Lama, incarnating in the person of certain great monks and lamas extending all the way back to the time of Buddha. However, Dorje Shugden first made his appearance in Tibet’s history as the reincarnated spirit of Drakpa Gyaltsen.

Dorje Shugden practices have been the subject of controversy in the past. At the beginning of this century, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama had to forbid Pabongka Rinpoche, the most influential Gelugpa lama of the time, to invoke the deity on the grounds that it was destroying Buddhism (Batchelor, 63)

Editor’s note: see this article on the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s stance

The ban was ineffective and the practice was passed on to Pabongka’s disciples. Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism without Beliefs (Tricycle/Riverhead), points out that the Dorje Shugden dispute has erupted throughout Tibetan history every time a politically effective Dalai Lama has held office.

Dorje Shugden Returns

Dorje Shugden

The conflict began to resurface this century when, in 1973, a lama published an account of various illnesses, tortures, and deaths allegedly inflicted as punishment by Dorje Shugden upon Gelugpas who practiced Nyingma teachings. This account was alleged to have been received orally from Trijang Rinpoche, one of the Dalai Lama’s tutors and a former disciple of Pabongka, the lama whom the Thirteenth Dalai Lama had forbidden to propitiate Dorje Shugden (Batchelor, 63).

The present Dalai Lama, who himself has engaged in some Nyingma practices, condemned the publication and in 1976, upon advice of the Nechung oracle, began discouraging the practice of propitiating Dorje Shugden – although he himself had, up to that point, been in the habit of offering daily prayers to Dorje Shugden. Of the six categories of beings in Tibetan Buddhism, the current Dalai Lama’s brother, Thubten Jigme Norbu, places Shugden in the “hungry ghost” category, a status comparable to Western notions of evil spirits that haunt or possess people. By 1996, the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying: “It has become fairly clear that (Shugden) is a spirit of the dark forces.” He announced that he would give no tantric initiations to those who had not renounced Shugden. It also is alleged by the Shugden camp that supporters of the Dalai Lama’s position destroyed statues of individual Shugden worshippers.

This is a big deal because some Tibetans have entrusted their lives to Dorje Shugden through initiation ceremonies, believing him to be a bodhisattva, or manifestation of Buddha. Imagine the uproar in the Catholic Church if the pope were to declare prayers to Mary a form of Satan worship to have a sense of how disturbed some Tibetans might be by these pronouncements. According to Shugden supporters, there were protests by Tibetan monks in India following the Dalai Lama’s statements. In the West, the Dalai Lama was picketed in London in 1996 and accused of suppressing freedom of religion. A few days later, a statement was issued by the Tibetan government-in-exile strictly forbidding departments and monasteries under government control from propitiating Shugden. In February of 1997, three anti-Shugden Tibetan Buddhist monks, including the Dalai Lama’s close friend and confidante, seventy-year-old Lobsang Gyatso (the principal of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics), were brutally murdered in Dharamsala, India, the Tibetan capital in exile. It is alleged that monks loyal to Dorje Shugden did the killing.

The Murder

The killing is said to have been ritualistic. Newsweek reported that the three members of the Dalai Lama’s inner circle were stabbed fifteen to twenty times each in a bedroom just a few hundred yards from the Dalai Lama’s residence. Robbery was eliminated as a motive because cash and gilded Buddhist statues had been left at the blood-splattered scene. Robert Thurman, a Buddhist scholar and author of Inner Revolution (Riverhead Books, 1998) and an old friend of the Dalai Lama’s, has been quoted as saying that he believes Shugden activists are behind the murders. No one has been arrested and the suspects are believed to be in Tibet.

Shugden organizations deny any involvement; however, a report appearing in the Indian press claims that Indian police traced a call the escaped killers made to a pro-Shugden organization in New Delhi. Seven months prior to the killing, a threatening letter, the full text of which can be viewed on the official web site of the Tibetan government-in-exile, allegedly was sent under the seal of the Dorje Shugden Charitable and Religious Society to “… the morally degenerated Lobsang Gyatso, who is a disgrace to the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics….[We] came to Dharamsala three times. In which nunnery were you hiding then?… Instead of writing warped compositions, you should come down to Delhi (the locale of Shugden sect headquarters) with courage and meet us like the louse meets the thumbnails. However, if your guilty conscience does not afford you the courage to come down, give us a date and we will come to you. Make your decisions” (The Official Web Site of the Tibetan Government-in-exile: http://tibet.net/). Subsequent to the killing, fourteen persons in the Dalai Lama’s entourage also claim to have received death threats.

The Shugden organization denies any involvement in the murders or threats. They also claim that the letter quoted above does not constitute a threat and that the phrase about lice and thumbnails is a common Tibetan idiom for determining the truth or falsity of a matter.

Editor’s note: See here for Geshe Helmut Gassner’s statement on this.

On a pro-Shugden website it is alleged that threats have been made against Shugden activists by anti-Shugden groups. They also suggest that the murders could have been committed by people within the Dharamsala compound, alleging reports that evidence was tampered with and that a sack filled with several hundred thousand dollars in cash was “missing.” The detention of various Shugden personnel for questioning and attempts to extradite the suspects through Interpol indicate that the police have focused upon Shugden activists.

Buddhist Fundamentalists?

The Shugden sect is popular with Tibetans obsessed with doctrinal purity. Robert Thurman has compared them to the Taliban, Muslim fighters in Afghanistan.

Editor’s note: Yet Thurman requested twice for the Shugden Empowerment but was rejected

The press in the West has seized upon the occult, wrathful aspect of Dorje Shugden, describing the deity as a sword-wielding god sometimes wearing necklaces of human heads. The heads are supposed, however, to be symbols of conquered vices and transgressions.

The deity is said to ride a snow lion, symbolizing the four fearlessnesses of Buddha. The mongoose on his arm indicates his power to grant wealth on those who rely upon him. He has a third eye in his forehead, symbolizing omniscience, and his wrathfulness shows his power to destroy ignorance and obstacles (Dorje Shugden Coalition website).

The Shugden movement is organized around Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a Gelugpa monk who founded The New Kadampa Tradition in 1991 and set himself up as head of it in London. (As described earlier, Kadampa was the order founded by eleventh-century reformer Atisha.) Kelsang’s uncle is the medium for Dorje Shugden. Kelsang describes the NKT as “pure Gelugpas,” and the organization appears to have targeted Westerners for recruitment. The NKT (or one of its associated organizations) led demonstrations against the Dalai Lama in London and then later in New York. Kelsang is challenging the Dalai Lama’s moral authority on the international stage.

Spokespeople for the Dalai Lama say that the tradition of Shugden is notoriously sectarian, disruptive of harmony in the Tibetan community, and on many occasions during the past 360 years has denigrated other authentic Tibetan traditions. “It has been an active force of fundamentalist antagonism, intolerance and fear. Shugden advocates taught that any practitioner who engaged in practices from other Buddhist traditions would face misfortune or even death.” (The Official Website of the Tibetan Government-in-exile: http://www.tibet.com/).

The Dalai Lama said on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday that he was in a dangerous period in his life. He reportedly declared that Dorje Shugden is a threat to his own life and to the cause of Tibet. That he has made statements that Shugden is aligned with dark forces and refused to initiate Shugden followers into tantric practices suggests that the Dalai Lama fears assassination as well as occult harm from the Shugden sect.** Although he has not said so, his followers reportedly believe that, on an occult level, the hungry ghost Dorje Shugden is seeking revenge for his own brutal murder back in the seventeenth century (Max, 1997).

The NKT present themselves as attempting to exercise religious freedom in the face of oppression by the Dalai Lama. People in the West, especially America, are likely to be receptive to such claims, whether true or not, because of Western values and history that emphasize religious diversity. On the other hand, the followers of the Dalai Lama would argue that he has a duty to discourage spirit-worshipping practices contrary to the fundamentals of Buddhism. In an interview in Tricycle, Kelsang has challenged the Dalai Lama to state publicly what evidence he has that Dorje Shugden is an evil spirit who is harming Tibetan independence and threatening his life. He argues that what Shugden followers choose to believe harms no one else. Kelsang even denies that Dorje Shugden harms Nyingma practitioners and calls such beliefs superstitions (Donald S. Lopez, Jr., “Two Sides of the Same God,” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review 7, no. 3 [Spring 1998]: 76). Nevertheless, a text entitled “Praise to Dorje-Shugden” (quoted by the lama whose 1973 account of calamities and punishments befalling Nyingma practitioners provoked condemnation from the Dalai Lama) suggests some animus.

“Praise to you, violent god of the Yellow Hat teachings, Who reduces to particles of dust Great beings, high officials, and ordinary people Who pollute and corrupt the Gelugpa doctrine” [excerpted from "Praise to Dorje Shugden," quoted by Stephen Batchelor in "Letting Daylight into Magic: The Life and Times of Dorje Shugden," Tricycle: The Buddhist Review 7, no. 3 [Spring 1998]: 60).

The Dalai Lama’s people call NKT a “cult,” and the British press has described it as Britain’s biggest, richest, and fastest growing religious sect. Since 1991, it has grown to over two hundred centers in England and about fifty in Australia, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, and elsewhere in Europe. NKT’s goal is to be the biggest umbrella Buddhist organization in the West. There is said to be a lot of pressure for members to give money. According to British press reports, supporters are told that donations will “create enormous merits” in future lives. Interest-free “loans” from members are also being used to fund expansion. There appear to be associated organizations, such as the Shugden Supporters Community and the Dorje Shugden Coalition, controlled or peopled by NKT members, through which many of the denunciations of the Dalai Lama are issued.

Kelsang has a reputation as a brilliant teacher of Buddhism and had built up a following prior to setting up NKT. Sixteen of his books on Buddhism have been published in English, two of them bestsellers in England. An article in the British press says that Kelsang tells his followers he believes Buddhism in Tibet is dead because of the Chinese occupation and that it has already died in India. If he is right, that leaves the West as the future of Tibetan Buddhism.

Is Kelsang personally ambitious? The British press reports that some of his former students who are disillusioned with NKT insist that he is an honest, well-intentioned person of integrity. Some speculate that his followers may be using him, or that he fails to appreciate the geopolitical consequences of some of what he says and does.

Some former followers suggest that those around him create an atmosphere that promotes Kelsang as “the Third Buddha,” come to establish Buddhism in the West, the first and second Buddhas having been respectively Buddha himself and Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. A story in the British press reports that followers are told that Kelsang is all-knowing and all-powerful, answers prayers, does not need to sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom, and has to put rocks in the pockets of his robe to keep from levitating during meditation. Kelsang, in response to such stories, describes himself as “nobody special.” It is not uncommon for Western devotees of eastern gurus to make extraordinary, exaggerated claims with or without a nod and a wink from the teacher.

Communist Chinese-Connection or Exploitation?

An Indian newspaper published reports that the murderers immediately crossed over to Tibet after the murders and were safely escorted to their villages by the Chinese army. The Chinese, who destroyed so many temples and killed so many monks, reportedly are restoring Shugden temples in occupied Tibet. A report allegedly appearing in the Chinese official journal, China’s Tibet, no. 6, 1996, which can be viewed at the website of the Tibetan government-in-exile, repeatedly refers to Dorje Shugden as the holy spirit and guardian of Tibetan Buddhism and denounces the Dalai Lama as a religious hypocrite. Whether the Chinese Communists are behind the murders or are simply taking advantage of a situation to undermine the Dalai Lama is hard to say.

Shugden activists deny opponents’ claims that they receive funds from the Chinese government and claim they support an independent Tibet. Nevertheless, NKT’s apparently systematic campaign against the Dalai Lama is considered by some to be an attempt to damage the whole sustainability of the exile community. The Dorje Shugden Coalition website refers to a story, attributed to The Indian Express in Chandigarh, reporting allegations that the Tibetan government-in-exile hides the known previous records of many Tibetan refugees and manipulates facts about Tibetan refugees involved in crimes to conceal their guilt. Is the point of including the article to show the murders could likely have been committed by one of these “hidden” criminals, or simply to malign the Tibetan government-in-exile? Similarly, included in the Shugden Coalition website is a quote from an interview with the Dalai Lama which appeared in Mother Jones, December 1997, stating that to save a person whose death would cause the whole of Tibet to lose hope of keeping its Buddhist way of life, “it might be justified for one or 10 enemies to be eliminated.”

Presumably, this quote is to suggest to the website reader that the Dalai Lama, feeling himself endangered, could justify ordering the murder of his enemies or at least is not the pacifist we think he is. If one looks up the article and reads the quote in context, the Dalai Lama is talking about a hypothetical saving of the last person on earth having knowledge of Buddhism – not himself – and asserts that he left Tibet in 1959 [Editor: So that Tibetans would not kill to protect him. Since Tibetans in exile are guests of the Indian government, information suggesting that they or Tibetan government-in-exile is potentially dangerous or disruptive threatens that guest relationship. If the Tibetan exile community were no longer welcome in India, Communist China's interests would be well-served, but that does not prove that the Shugden Coalition intends that result.

What's So Bad about Nyingma?

Since Dorje Shugden is supposed to prevent Nyingma teachings from polluting the Gelugpa order, why is Nyingma so "bad"? Nyingma represents the oldest Buddhist system in Tibet, tracing its origin back to the Royal Dynastic Period (617-845 C.E.) and to Padmasambhava, the legendary Indian tantric master who exorcized Tibet's demons at the end of the eighth century.

Padmasambhava is said to have brought "Distant Lineage of the Transmitted Precepts" - the doctrines, rituals, and meditative practices transmitted from master to disciple since the eighth century - and the "Close Lineage of the Treasures." The latter are supposed to be revelations buried by Padmasambhava, either physically in the Tibetan earth or psychically in the minds of his reincarnating disciples (Davidson, 102). As described previously, many of the major reforms in Tibetan Buddhism, including those of the founder of the Gelugpa school, attempted to redact or purify the tantric and animistic aspects of early Tibetan Buddhism to make them more consistent with the underlying principles of Buddhism. Nyingma remains closer to the original, unreformed version of Tibetan Buddhism.

According to Stephen Batchelor, director of the New Sharpham College in Devon, England, and author of Buddhism without Beliefs (Tricycle/Riverhead), Nyingma teaches Dzogchen, the direct and sudden pointing out by a realized teacher of the experience of the natural or authentic state of mind beyond conceptions. This state of mind is an innate, self-cognizant, self-existing awareness underlying both samsara (illusion) and nirvana. The idea of a self-existing awareness, of course, raises the thorny question of "self."

Hindu Vedantists, similar to what is implied by Dzogchen, teach that there is a real self, what Westerners might call God, that is self-existing, though everything else, including our separate lives until we attain self-realization, is illusory. Buddha broke from Hindu thought by teaching that neither the gods nor any phenomena have an inherent self. The Gelugpa purists' view (the purity of which Dorje Shugden is bound to protect) considers Dzogchen a delusive clinging to a type of self-existence and a backsliding to Hindu ideas that Buddhism was supposed to refute. Nyingmas might reply by characterizing Gelugpa purists as nihilists. Batchelor says the dispute is not academic hair-splitting to those involved but the struggle for truth in which the salvation of sentient beings hangs in the balance. Thus, different views on esoteric philosophical questions with important, they believe, practical consequences fortify each side's position.

Precedent exists in otherwise heterodox Tibetan Buddhism for suppressing wrong views regarding the existence of a self. The Fifth Dalai Lama, after consolidating his power in the seventeenth century, proscribed teachings of the Jonangpa school, which taught that emptiness, an idea important to understanding that all phenomena are without a self, implied the existence of a transcendent absolute reality (Batchelor, 65). Jonangpa monasteries were taken over by Gelugpa monks. If the Great Fifth had done the same to the Nyingmas, perhaps the Dorje Shugden schism never would have arisen.

[Editor’s note: There is no proof of animosity of the Gelugpa to the Nyingmapas. Lineage Lamas like H.H. Pabongka Rinpoche and H.H. Trijang Rinpoche were often invited to teach at Nyingmpa monasteries and were well-received. In addition, HH Penor Rinpoche, a renowned Nyingma master, sheltered Shugden practitioners in his own ladrang when the ban created much hardship for the Shugdenpas. Dorje Shugden is not a sectarian practice.]

Why Is Dorje Shugden So Important?

If Shugden purists object to Nyingma tendencies toward acknowledging a self-existing reality, why do they cling so strongly to Dorje Shugden? Does that change Buddhism to Shugdenism and make Shugden a self-existing reality and those who take refuge in Shugden part of a sectarian cult? As Buddhism syncretized with the native Bon religion, an important distinction between Buddhists and Bon practitioners was that Buddhists supposedly understood that the gods, although real in the sense that anything is real, were just mind, without inherent existence. To what degree can one become attached to or take refuge in deity protectors without in fact attributing to that deity an inherently existing self? Even worse, in the view of the Dalai Lama, would be to take refuge in a “hungry ghost.”

How does any of this deity worshipping, or the factors of emotion, politics, and tradition underlying it, really square with the tenets of Buddhism? The two sides would give different answers to those questions. Both sides see Dorje Shugden as a “real” entity, whether an aspect of the Buddha or a hungry ghost, and as real as any one of us – not just a form of worship or technique of meditation.

* See David Van Biema, “Monks vs. Monks; Devotees of a Ferocious Buddhist Deity Are Seeking to Put a Dent in the Dalai Lama’s Aura of Sainthood,” Time, May 11, 1998, 70 (1); The Christian Science Monitor; John Zubrzycki, special to The Christian Science Monitor, May 18, 1998. These articles, as well as a series appearing in the spring 1998 issue of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, describe what Tricycle calls “Tibet’s ‘unmentionable’ Feud.”

** In a statement appearing on the Tibetan government-in-exile’s website, however, it is explained that the danger to His Holiness is not that he will be attacked by an evil spirit but that the bond between the Dalai Lama and his people will be broken.

Sources

Batchelor, Stephen. “Letting Daylight into Magic: The Life and Times of Dorje Shugden.” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review 7, no. 3 (Spring 1998).

Bunting, Madeleine. “Shadow Boxing on the Path to Nirvana.” The Guardian, London, July 6, 1996.

Clifton, Tony. “Did an Obscure Tibetan Sect Murder Three Monks Close to the Dalai Lama?” Newsweek, April 28, 1997.

Dorje Shugden Coalition Website, URL http://www.shugden.com/indxnofr.htm.

Lopez, Donald S., Jr. “Two Sides of the Same God.” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review 7, no. 3 (Spring 1998).

Max, Arthur. “Dalai Lama Fighting Ghost in Religious Dispute.” Seattle Times, August 21, 1997.

Norbu, Thubten Jigme, and Colin M. Turnbull. Tibet. London: Chatto & Windus, 1969.

Davidson, Ronald M. Review of The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History. Parabola 18, no. 1 (Spring 1993): 102(3).

Official Website of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, URL http://www.tibet.com/.

Simms, Laura. “Compassion’s Flower: An Interview with Orgyen Kusum Lingpa.” Parabola 22, no. 4 (Winter 1997): 20(8).

“Two More Shugden Activists Identified as Murderers.” The Tribune, Indian English-language daily, Chandigarh edition, November 29, 1997.

Van Biema, David. “Monks vs. Monks; Devotees of a Ferocious Buddhist Deity Are Seeking to Put a Dent in the Dalai Lama’s Aura of Sainthood.” Time, May 11, 1998.

MIKE WILSON, a member of the Society for Utopian Studies, is a lawyer and long-time student of religion and spiritual disciplines.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Association for Religion and Intellectual Life
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning

Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2096/is_1_49/ai_54482231/

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

And before leaving for America he gave a very interesting interview with the Tibetan Radio in which he also makes clear his position in relation to DS:

“I could not decide against him [the Dalai Lama] but nor could I stop propitiating Shugden with whom my relationship dates back to previous incarnations. I find myself in an immensely difficult situation. The followers of the Protector would not have listened to me…and no one seems to care about the difficulties I am facing…

I also don’t want the people of Chatreng, who have great expectations of me, to be disheartened. But if I continue to propitiate the Protector publicly, I would be compelled to become a sort of head of his worshippers, and this would be an offence to the Dalai Lama from whom I received my Bhikshu ordination, and has always treated me with extraordinary benevolence.

I cannot even hope to keep a low profile as they [the Shugdenpas*] would not let me.

I have reason to believe that my return to India may possibly result in internal chaos, attempts on lives and other immoral activities bringing disgrace to His Holiness…

I cannot sleep and I have had health problems. I am worried about thinking what will happen next. It is quite terrifying to think that I might be a cause of disgrace instead of serving the Tibetan people and His Holiness…

Some have told me, ‘If you abandon the Protector [Shugden], there is no knowing what will happen. We will not consider you a lama [as guru]. The people of Chatreng are strange, very wild and unruly. We do not know what they may do.’

It is very clear my life might be in danger. So I have decided to leave my Labrang and disrobe, so that none of the Shugden worshippers can ask me to be their leader. I hope that this way I can respect the wishes of the Dalai Lama and still revere the protector, practicing in private and far from everyone. I intend to follow a middle way, neither for nor against Shugden. I appeal to both parties not to contact me.

In my own Labrang I have recently witnessed a kind of factionalism and I have discovered that one person in particular was planning an evil conspiracy. This plan was to murder my assistant, Tharchin, and to implicate His Holiness’s government in exile with this odious crime. The conspirator aimed to become chakzoe [manager] of my estate. Tharchin has been very kind to me, more so than my own parents, and has taken care of me since I was three years old. As well as managing the affairs of my Labrang.

With my own ears I heard this person discussing on the telephone a plan to assassinate Tharchin. It is really a matter of great sadness and surprise, especially since the person involved in this ploy has been very close to me as well. If he succeeds in his plan, it would be a cause of great trouble for the Labrang, as well as a cause of disgrace to the Tibetan government and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

These are not lies, but true facts which I want everyone to know. That is why I made this statement.”

Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche concluded his message urging Shugden followers to stop seeking him, “I do not wish to be in touch with you.”

*Shugdenpas are people who are devotees of Shugden.

Signed dedication by H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama

Translation of dedication on photo:

This object of veneration is offered to Trijang Buddhist Institute with the prayer that the Buddha’s teaching flourish, that all sentient beings may obtain the treasure of the Dharma, and that they may live in happiness and virtue.

Signed,

Dalai Lama, Buddhist Monk

May 9, 2007

The Western Shugden Society demonstrations have met with objections from Tibetans who believe that criticism of the Dalai Lama has an adverse effect on the cause of Tibetan independence and unity. They complain that it tarnishes the reputation of Tibetans worldwide as the Dalai Lama is their leader in the eyes of the world and their most recognizable symbol.

At the same time, some Western Buddhists and supporters of Tibetan independence have objected to the demonstrations on the grounds that these damage the reputation of Tibet or of Buddhism. It seems that we are spoiling their fantasy of Shangri-la.

These people say that we are wrong to protest publicly, to challenge the Dalai Lama’s perceived authority, to “rock the boat”, as it were. Some say we are wrong even to question the Dalai Lama and to oppose his edicts. Some say simply that, even if we disagree, we should do so privately, without bringing such shame down upon our house. They say that it is horrible to see monks and nuns on the streets shouting — that this is un-Buddhist, that we appear angry, and that we should stop.

The critics are correct insofar as, without doubt, the current schism is having an adverse effect on the reputation of Buddhism worldwide, but they are wrong to say that we should be silent for the sake of temporary harmony and to save face. To do so would be like the family of an abusive father staying silent about the abuse for the sake of the family name. Effectively, we would enable and allow the Dalai Lama to continue to commit whatever abuses and atrocities he chose, unchecked.

Our house is not in order. All is not well. We cannot pretend that it is.

When the scandal of abusive priests within the Catholic church broke recently, the greatest shame and pain came from the cover-up that had occurred. What outraged people the most was that no-one within the church had spoken out to expose the abuse and stop it. It was this that was perceived to be the greatest deception and the most horrible betrayal of trust.

If we make ourselves accomplices to the Dalai Lama’s present abuse of human rights by staying silent, then how will the world react when, as will definitely happen, the abuse finally comes to light? How will it affect the reputation of Buddhism and Buddhists throughout the world if no-one among us had dared stand up and blown the whistle: “Our house is not in order. This is not right.”?

As sincere Buddhists, all Dorje Shugden practitioners must stand up and be counted. We have the responsibility to expose this decay in the highest levels of our community and to oppose it. If we do not do this, where is our honesty and our integrity – our decency? Who will trust us when the Dalai Lama’s mask falls? If we say nothing, then we will be morally bankrupt, accomplices, and the Dharma will truly have been destroyed from within, as the Buddha predicted.

It is completely wrong to say that the Dalai Lama is beyond reproach because he is the Dalai Lama. Buddha Shakyamuni himself taught us that we must question and clarify the meaning of the Dharma that we hear and never blindly accept what any teacher says, however famous or charismatic they may be. Blind acceptance is not Buddhism: it is creating the conditions for dictatorship and fanaticism.

It is completely wrong to hide the faults within our house from the world, pretending that all is well while thousands, even millions, suffer as a result of one man’s delusion. That is not loyalty; it is cowardice and deception.

We must fight this, however painful and embarrassing it may be for us: that is our responsibility as Bodhisattvas. No Buddhist wants to protest, or would choose to be seen waving their fists and shouting; but we have, literally, no choice. We did not create this situation; that responsibility lies solely with the Dalai Lama and his government in exile. He and he alone is responsible for this unprecedented schism in the Sangha. As Buddhists, the responsibility we do have is to bring this shame to light and to do what we can to control the damage. If we don’t do this now then we make of ourselves cowards and accomplices.

Of course we feel deeply sorry for the Tibetan people and for all the Dalai Lama’s faithful disciples: he is betraying them all. As sincere practitioners of Dorje Shugden we must not also betray them by staying silent. Keeping a patient mind within, we must fight this with truth and wisdom, with compassion and love. If we do so, we will definitely prevail and Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition will remain for the benefit of future generations.

Now is not the time for Buddhists to sit there — now is the time for them to stand up for what is right. Now is the time to dispel false accusations against the innocent. Now is the time to protect the pitiful and the protectorless.

If we do not take this challenging and brave step at this point in history, then an immensely profound and compassionate lineage of Buddhadharma is lost in our very lifetimes. This must not happen.

Published courtesy of Atisha’s Cook

(Source: http://wisdombuddhadorjeshugden.blogspot.com/2008/06/now-is-time.html)

Delhi, 17.9.2000
PRESS RELEASE

Sera Mey Monastery in Bylakuppe

On Sep. 10, there was an hour-long clash between Tibetan protesters and monks in the Tibetan settlement in Mundgod, Karnataka. The ‘protesters’ numbered about 3000, including nuns, lay people and inmates of the local old peoples’ home. They came at the behest of the local Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA) and the local Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) who made it mandatory for every Tibetan above school-going age to join in the protest against Shugden worshippers – or be fined a public penalty.

They targeted a two-day prayer conference attended by about 70 delegates of Shugden worshippers from all over India and Nepal. The ‘protesters’ attacked not only the monks participating in the prayer-conference, but also vented their ire at the local policemen and other officers. Many on both sides, and the police, had received serious injuries. The police imposed a 24-hour curfew from 6pm to the evening of the next day. Forseeing more unrest, they extended it for another 24 hours on Sep. 12.

A four-man representative of the Tibetan exile election commission, who had arrived in the settlement on official duty, visited those of the protesters who were in the local Tibetan hospital. They did not call or visit any of the monks who had also received serious injuries and were bed-ridden in their monastery hostel.

On Sep. 12, there was another clash among Tibetans. This took place at the Bylakuppe Tibetan settlement, the largest Tibetan enclave outside of Tibet. Delegates from various local Tibetan monasteries and camps in the settlement had objected to the presence of the United Cholsum Organisation (UCL) from Dharamsala to pitch for elections. Though both the police and the settlement Chairmen ordered them to be out of the settlement by 8am, they evaded the order and stayed on. The entire delegation of the Dorje Shugden devotees from all over India and Nepal, who had a brief reception at the local Pomra Khangtsen monastery on their return from Mundgod, left the place after a brief prayer, as requested by the police.

About 600 Tibetans awaited them at Camp 1. They missed the delegation’s motorcade which left by another route. However, about 20 monks of Pomra Khangtsen, who saw off the delegates up to Priyapatna, were not so fortunate. While returning, they fell into the waiting arms of the mob. In complete defiance of the police intervention, they attacked the monks. There was no compassion. None of the monks was spared. They were beaten without mercy by their fellow Tibetans. All of them received massive injuries. The police imposed section 144 within the Sera Monastic University.

Although the 20 monks were the victims, the police took them into judicial custody. The UCO leaders, who responsible for the clash, and were contravening their expulsion order from the police, were left untouched.

THE ORIGIN

The origin of these two clashes among ordinary Tibetans is the ban imposed by the Dalai Lama on the worship of Dorje Shugden, a Tibetan protector deity worshipped by thousands of prominent Tibetans including Trijang Rinpoche (1901-1982), the Dalai Lama’s junior tutor.

THE POLITICAL COMPULSION BEHIND THE RELIGIOUS BAN

As the ‘well-being of the Dalai Lama and independence of Tibet’ were given as the pretext for imposing it, it got all the major Tibetan organisations (who had till then openly opposed any concession by anyone to China on Tibetan independence) totally involved in enforcing it in every Tibetan community in India, Nepal, Switzerland, and even in Tibet where Tibetans are under Chinese subjugation. Four months later, when the confusion created by this policy completely involved the entire Tibetan exile community, the Dalai Lama announced (July 17, 1996), at a joint address to the British parliament, that he was seeking autonomy under China, as opposed to complete independence from China (which had been the notion given to the Tibetan public till then).

THE DALAI LAMA’S ROLE

Both the religious ban and the method adopted to enforce it have created results tantamount to religious persecution in exile. These are all documented. Throughout the exile Tibetan enclaves, there have been grievous injuries, daily harassment and discrimination against those Tibetans who refuse to give up their faith in Shugden, or poor Tibetan families who receive scholarship for their children’s education from Tibetan Lamas in Europe who revere the deity.

These actions contravene more than one section of the Constitution of India, in which the Dalai Lama is a refugee and resident. They contravene more than one clause of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, which is his main source of support where the Tibetan people are concerned. To date, neither the Dalai Lama nor his Private Office have deplored these incidents. Why?

THE TWO INCIDENTS

The two recent incidents mentioned at the beginning have left about 70-100 Tibetans wounded. These Tibetans do not know each other. Nor do they know why they attacked each other. None of the assailants had any enmity towards each other. This is perhaps the real tragedy. Those who attacked did so believing that they were carrying out the ‘wishes of the Dalai Lama’. Those who resisted the onslaught and retaliated in self-defence, did so to defend their right to freedom of religion, for a life consistent with human rights and dignity.

IMPORTANCE OF THESE INCIDENTS

The Tibetan establishment routinely informs the Union and state Govt. of India that Shugden worshippers are ‘Chinese spies’. On the other hand, all the monks who were attacked at Mundgod on the 10th, all the 20 monks who were beaten without mercy by a 600-strong Tibetan mob at Bylakuppe on the 12th, are Tibetans who had recently escaped from Chinese rule. None of them have any connection with the Chinese government. Each of them has escaped Tibet, given up their family and relatives in Tibet, to live in freedom, to live a life with human dignity, in exile.

This incident has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that even though Shugden devotees are loyal Tibetans, the Private Office of the Dalai Lama, and some of its lobbyists, is bent upon destroying any Tibetan or Tibetan monastery or Tibetan individual who disagrees with him – at any cost, under any pretext, even if this means misrepresenting facts to governments and Tibetan supporters abroad.

IN THE AFTERMATH

On the 14th, the Dorje Shugden Society called on the Union Home Minister to apprise the Government of the situation and to seek a full inquiry into the incidents and their origin. The Government is concerned for unity among Tibetans.

The Tibetan exile administration is completely dominated by the Private Office of the Dalai Lama and its lobbyists. More than four decades have passed since the exile Tibetan administration came into existence. But the Tibetan exile community has no independent Judiciary, no independent press and no opposition party.

OUR DECISION

Tibetans who worship Lord Shugden, share in the grief of all those Tibetans who suffered in these two incidents. They deplore this violence. Knowingly or unknowingly, the Dalai Lama is creating permanent division among his own people based on religious faith and ideological convictions. The price for this divisive policy will be exacted from future Tibetans yet to be born. The Dalai Lama’s so-called ‘supporters’ are seeking to rule even the conscience of each and every one who is born a Tibetan. The respected leader, bearing the entire weight of his exiled people and his international commitments, is too distracted to notice this dangerous trend.

The two recent incidents in Mundgod and Bylakuppe are just the tip of this dangerous iceberg.

The Private Office of the Dalai Lama is the whole cause of these two incidents. The local Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA) and Tibetan Youth Congress, who masterminded the incident in Mundgod, are staffed with educated Tibetans. Their mandate does not permit infringement of anyone’s religious and human rights. Hence, unless insisted in the name of the Dalai Lama, they would not commission such a step on their own. Furthermore, the Private Office has created, for political purposes, the present religious controversy. It has consistently sustained this controversy by giving inducements of favors, high offices, titles, immigration or postings in Western countries, and money to any abbot, Tibetan petty official, or monastery or Buddhist centre who helps to support this controversial religious policy.

Till these questionable methods stop, those close to the sun may enjoy a sunny life but the average common Tibetan will continue to suffer in anguish and remain torn between their native Tibetan values of honesty and political deception being continuously espoused in their leader’s name. We would like to clarify that except for this religious ban, Shugden devotees have no quarrel or any political objectives against either the Dalai Lama or his Private Office. But till such time as the Dalai Lama clarifies his stand on these two incidents, and starts working for uniting the Tibetans on the basis of truth, honesty, and Buddhist and ancient Indian values of religious diversity and tolerance, till that time, with all due respect for him as a great spiritual master, we will not accept him as our religious leader any more.

Dalai Lama, believed to be the human manifestation of the Buddha of Compassion

Dalai Lama’s Reliance on State Oracle for Tibetans

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Monk Fugitives in Burma

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Persecuted Monks from Burma Flee to Thailand

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Tibetans in Exile Demanding for Independence not Autonomy

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Yearly Marches Challenges China and Dalai Lama

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Videos by CNN not to be missed.

There is dissension even in the Dalai Lama’s group, the Dalai Lama already mentioned that there will be no freedom for Tibet, still there are people not listening and go ahead with the protests. It only creates further factions among the Tibetan community.

Eventually the Tibetan Govt in exile will have to RETRACT their statements re the ban on shugden or keep more and more quiet and just silently watch it grow.

See the picture I have attached. People from all around the world are ordering more and more Dorje Shugden statues to be intalled in their respective centres and temples.

Within the Buddhist communities ppl may be ‘stepping’ on Dorje Shugden, but there ARE SO MANY NEW PPL OUT THERE LITERALLY MILLIONS WHO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE BAN AND CAN CARE LESS if they hear. If we get to them first, introduce to them the holy and swift pratice of Dorje Shugden, they will be loyal to Dorje Shugden just like so many of us. It is hard to not remember the kindness of Shugden once we have experienced his enlightened wisdom and swift assistance.

So the Tibetan govt and Dalai Lama’s ban is SO VERY BENEFICIAL FOR DORJE SHUGDEN’S PRACTICE TO GROW IN THE FUTURE. Everyone shall see this come true as predicted by Dorje Shugden when he took trance of Choyang Dulzin Kuten over a decade back.

Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures of the sacred statue of Dorje Shugden near completion. Every centre in the world should invite a large statue of Dorje Shugden and have a special place on their alter and introduce more and more people to his sacred practice.

~ mountains

Relics Expo organizer “Gelugpa Buddhist Association Singapore” not recognized by HH Dalai Lama

Singapore — The office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama has expressed its concern about the so-named “The Buddha and His Principal Disciples’ Relics Grand Cultural World Exhibition”, from December 9 to 17, 2006 at the Singapore Expo, hosted by the “Gelugpa Buddhist Association Singapore”.

A statement from H.H.’s office also states that the organizing party of the expo – although branding itself as a Gelugpa centre, is not recognized as such by H.H. the Dalai Lama nor H.H. the Ganden Trisur Rinpoche (the Official Head Emeritus of the Gelugpa Tradition). Therefore, labelling itself as a “Gelugpa” centre is inaccurate and misleading.

The Dalai Lama’s office further clarifies that its position is clear and consistent with regard to the worship of “dolgyal-shugden” which it strongly considers as “worship of the unenlightened evil spirit”.

The statement further elaborates that students of the Dharma who continue to rely upon a worldly spirit such as dolgyal-shugden actually contradicts the Buddha’s own advice against taking refuge in samsaric spirits.

By participating in events related to the practice of this worldly spirit, one effectively “breaks” one’s Refuge Vows and will effectively become a Non-Buddhist, negating the source and root of all Dharmic practices, the statement continues.

In a separate announcement, the Charitable Assistance Society (CAS) of Thousand-Arm Chenrezig have, on behalf of the Tibetan Buddhist community in Singapore, urged all to adhere to the H.H. Dalai Lama’s office advisory.

The CAS statement further urged Tibetan Buddhist practitioners to ….inform all other unknowing Buddhists, that, according to the Buddha’s holy Teachings as preserved in every tradition and lineage as well as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advice, taking refuge in worldly-spirit, in this context, this programme’s uncompromising stand of practising and taking refuge in dolgyal-shugden, effectively contravenes one’s Refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

The CAS also said the organizing party have failed to clarify or justify the authenticity of the source of their claimed “relics”, most of which were presented as plasticine-looking coloured balls. “The organization too claimed many of their “relics” as being originated from Lord Buddha’s blood, bones, saliva and other bodily parts,” the statement concluded.

The Dalai Lama is no Pope
by Visakha Kawasaki, Kandy, Sri Lanka, The Buddhist Channel, Dec 6, 2006

I write with regards to the article, “Dalai Lama’s office disapproves Singapore Expo on ‘Buddha Relics’”

Aside from the fact that the Dalai Lama seems to have some problems with discipline within his own sect, with the expo’s organizers claiming to be Gelugpa, it needs saying that the Dalai Lama is not in a position to declare that all Buddhists who revere relics of the Teacher or his chief Disciples are somehow worshipping “the unenlightened evil spirit!”

He is certainly mistaken too when he claims that by showing reverence for the relics of the Buddha and other Arhats, a Buddhist “effectively ‘breaks’ one’s Refuge Vows and will effectively become a Non-Buddhist, negating the source and root of all Dharmic practices.”

The Dalai Lama’s followers have been urged to ….inform all other unknowing Buddhists, that, according to the Buddha’s holy Teachings as preserved in every tradition and lineage as well as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advice, taking refuge in worldly (sic) -spirit, in this context, this programme’s uncompromising stand of practising and taking refuge in dulgyal-shugden, effectively contravenes one’s Refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Although the Dalai Lama may deserve respect as the head of his sect, he is not a Buddhist Pope, and might do well to educate himself about other Buddhist traditions, and avoid pronouncements of such a “catholic” nature.