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Further information: Dorje Shugden
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Dorje Shugden (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན, Wylie: rdo-rje shugs-ldan), "Vajra Possessing Strength", or in his regional appellation Dolgyal Shugden (Tibetan: དོལ་རྒྱལ་ཤུགས་ལྡན, Wylie: dol rgyal shugs ldan), "Shugden, King of Dhol" is a deity in Tibetan Buddhism, especially its Gelug school. Dorje Shugden's precise nature — an emanation of Buddha Manjushri, either a transcendent or a worldly Dharma Protector, or a malevolent spirit — has been the subject of controversy among some adherents of Tibetan Buddhism since the 1970s when the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (who himself once engaged in the practice) started to speak out against the practice and its adherents. The Dalai Lama and his supporters call Dorje Shugden a "harmful spirit." According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Dalai Lama sometimes refers to him as a "pro-Chinese demon". Followers of the Deity however believe him to be an enlightened being and emanation of Buddha Manjushri. For more about his nature and function, see Dorje Shugden.

Overview

The practice of Dorje Shugden began at the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso (1617–1682 AD). Those who have followed the practice of Dorje Shugden most recently in the 20th and 21st centuries include the majority of the most famous Gelug teachers, including Pabongka Rinpoche, Ling Rinpoche (senior tutor to the Dalai Lama), Trijang Rinpoche (junior tutor of the Dalai Lama), Zong Rinpoche, Gangchen Rinpoche, Gonsar Rinpoche, Dagom Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa, Kundeling Rinpoche, Tomo Geshe Rinpoche, and Trijang Choktrul.

Trijang Rinpoche, the "root Guru" of the 14th Dalai Lama, introduced the Dorje Shugden practice to the Dalai Lama in 1959. Some twenty years later the 14th Dalai Lama stated that the practice is in conflict with the state protector Pehar and with the main protective goddess of the Gelug tradition and the Tibetan people, Palden Lhamo. In the West, he also stated that the practice was in conflict with his eclectic religious approach as well as his political responsibilities.

After the publication of Zemey Rinpoche's supposedly sectarian text The Yellow Book on Shugden, in 1978, the Dalai Lama began to speak out against the use of the deity as an institutional protector. He stated that individual should decide for themselves if the want to practice it privately. From Spring 1996 onwards the Dalai Lama decided to move more forcefully on this issue. By doing this he responded "to growing pressure - particularly from other schools of Tibetan Buddhism such as the Nyingmapa, who threatened withdrawal of their support in the Exiled Government project". The Dalai Lama stated during Buddhist Tantric initiation that Shugden would be 'an evil spirit' whose actions were detrimental to the 'cause of Tibet'. The Dalai Lama concluded that henceforth he won't give Tantric initiation to worshippers of Shugden, because since "the unbridgeable divergence of their respective positions would inevitably undermine the sacred guru-student relationship, and thus compromise his role as a teacher (and by extension his health)." On the other hand, as Von Bruck explains:

"Many of the present Lamas of the Gelukpa tradition have received their teachings from Trijang Rinpoche or Zong Rinpoche. In those cases where he is the 'root Lama' (rtsa ba'i bla ma) who has handed down all three aspects of the tradition (oral transmission of texts, commentaries, the empowerments), the relationship to him is absolutely binding. This is an essential part of Vajrayana practice. Otherwise, according to Tantric tradition he might be regarded as a person who has broken the Tantric vow (dam-nyams) and this would concern the Dalai Lama himself as having been initiated by Shugden practice."

According to news reports by Al Jazeera and France 24, the words and actions of the Dalai Lama constitute a ban on the practice. Others allege that such "deity discrimination" is illegal according to both the Constitution of Tibet and the Constitution of India, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, who has been helping to defend the rights of Tibetans in India affected by the ban, the controversy has arisen only due to politics. There is a spiritual view of Dorje Shugden held by those who do the practice and a political view held by those who do not. In a talk in 2006, he said:

We know that it is quite common nowadays, people are used to saying, “Dorje Shugdän’s problem”. Dorje Shugdän has no problem at all! He is an enlightened being who is completely free from samsara’s problems. The problem is a human problem created by political people. These people created a problem to fulfil their own wishes.

Nature and function

There are differing views regarding Dorje Shugden's origin, nature and function that have been debated increasingly vigorously since the 1970s. According to David Kay, there are two main opposing conceptions:

  • a Dharma Protector, an enlightened being who is a deity that has been worshipped as a Buddha ever since the seventeenth century as the chief Protector of the Gelug Tradition
  • a worldly protector whose relatively short existence over only a few centuries and inauspicious circumstances of origin make him an inappropriate object of veneration and Buddhist refuge.

According to Kay: "the position which defines Dorje Shugden as an enlightened being is both a marginal viewpoint and one of recent provenance... The likelihood is that it emerged gradually as the Dharma-protector grew in prominence. This belief seems to have been in place by the time the young Fourteenth Dalai Larna was introduced to the practice by Trijang Rinpoche prior to the exile of the Tibetan Buddhist community in 1959." Also Nebesky-Wojkowitz defines Dorje Shugden as a worldly protector. However, according to followers of Dorje Shugden, he has been considered as an enlightened being since the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama.

According to Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (a proponent of Dorje Shugden, following the view of Trijang Rinpoche) and many other Gelugpa Lamas who rely upon Dorje Shugden, it is correct to consider Dorje Shugden as an emanation of Manjushri but not one who shows the aspect of a worldly being. He says that the form of Dorje Shugden reveals the complete stages of the path of Sutra and Tantra, and such qualities are not possessed by the forms of worldly beings. He goes on to say that Dorje Shugden appears as a fully ordained monk to show that the practice of pure moral discipline is essential for those who wish to attain enlightenment.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's view is also held by other Gelug Lamas past and present who are or were considered great masters, including: Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche (root Guru of many highly regarded Gelug Lamas of the early 20th century), Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (junior tutor of the 14th Dalai Lama). Among those who practised Shugden in the Gelug school were not only the Dalai Lama but also Geshe Rabten, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe (founder of the FPMT), and Tomo Geshe Rinpoche. Is is also said that some of the Panchen Lamas (e.g. the 9th and 10th) practised Shugden. Trijang Rinpoche claims that the view that Dorje Shugden is an emanation of Manjushri has also been held by the Fifth Dalai Lama and the Eleventh Dalai Lama. According to Trijang Rinpoche, the Eleventh Dalai Lama "enthroned Dorje Shugden as the principal Dharma Protector of the Gelug tradition".

According to Von Bruck, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, after examining Dorje Shugden based on three methodological devices (1) historical evidence, (2) political reason, (3) spiritual insight, changed his view and now considers Dorje Shugden to be a worldly spirit. Von Bruck concludes: "It is clear that by historical evidence the authenticity of that tradition on Shugden cannot be decided." According to Sara Chamberlain in the New Internationalist, in 1996 the Dalai Lama announced that worship of Dorje Shugden was banned and explained that the Tibetan state oracle, Nechung, had advised him that the deity was a threat to his personal safety and the future of Tibet.. The Dalai Lama stated in 1996:

"All final decisions have been concluded only through divination."

According to the TGIE's Dolgyal Research Committee, a government organization involved in this religious dispute, prominent opponents to the practice have included not only the 5th, 13th and current Dalai Lamas but also the 5th and 8th Panchen Lamas, Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, the 14th and 16th Karmapas among others. However, these claims are denied by the followers of Dorje Shugden. For example, in 1921 the 13th Dalai Lama’s biography refers to Dorje Shugden as an enlightened Protector (jam mgon bstan srung pa) and explains that the 13th Dalai Lama subsequently restored the Potala and Ganden stupas as an offering to him. There is also no evidence given for the claims that the Panchen Lamas were in opposition to the practice. The Fifth Dalai Lama started off in opposition but then changed his mind. Phelgye Ling monastery (now in Kathmandu) was transformed to a Gelug monastery by the 5th Dalai Lama, who gave the monastery a statue (about 20cm high) of Dorje Shugden riding on a black horse. The statue still exists in the monastery in Kathmandu.

Trijang Rinpoche, one of the teachers of the 14th Dalai Lama (one of his junior tutors), and, according to one account by the Dalai Lama, his "root Guru" seen by some as "ne of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist masters of our time," anticipating this kind of debate, refuted this point of view in his text on Dorje Shugden, Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors:

Furthermore, from the definitive point of view, that these holy beings were already fully enlightened innumerable ages ago, is clear if one examines the accounts of their lives, and if one were to say that a fully enlightened being could take birth as an ordinary gyalpo or tsen spirit, then one would be asserting that degeneration is possible from the state of full enlightenment or that someone could be both fully enlightened and an ordinary preta at the same time. Or else, one would have to say that the accounts of those great beings lives are worthless. A mountain of absurd consequences, previously non-existent distorted ideas, would have to be accepted.

Current-day Dorje Shugden practitioners give ten reasons why Dorje Shugden can be considered to be a fully enlightened Buddha.

Protector of Gelugpa school

Kay and Dreyfus attribute the popularisation of the practice to Pabongka Rinpoche. According to Dreyfus, Pabongka Rinpoche "replaced the protectors appointed by Je Tsongkhapa himself..." and that through Pabongkha Rinpoche's changes and claims, Dorje Shugden "has become the main Gelug protector replacing the traditional supra-mundane protectors of the Gelug tradition." This is denied by followers of Dorje Shugden. For example, in the entire volume of rituals collected by the Mongolian Lobsang Tamdin (1867-1937AD), he documents the dissemination of the practice in Mongolia and Amdo, and describes Dorje Shugden as the Protector of Tsongkhapa without any mention of any of Pabongkha’s rituals, therefore he was not influenced by him. He also writes about the Shugden initiation that started from the Eighth Kirti reincarnation of Amdo Rongchen Kirti Lobsang Trinley (1849-1904AD), who describes Shugden as the Protector of Tsongkhapa.

According to adherents, Dorje Shugden is an enlightened Dharmapala or Dharma Protector, which means that he protects the realizations of wisdom and compassion within the minds of practitioners. According to Nebresky-Wojkowitz Shugden is a mundane protector whose followers proclaim that he will succeed Pehar (Nechung) as the head of all ‘jig rten pa’i srung ma (worldly protectors) once the latter god advances into the rank of those guardian-deities who stand already outside the worldly spheres”. According to Kay, followers of Dorje Shugden maintained "that the Tibetan government should turn its allegiance away from Pehar, the State protector, to Dorje Shugden." According to Stephen Batchelor, such a shift would have given supporters of Dorje Shugden more political influence. According to Nebesky-Wojkowitz in the 1960 members of the Gelug sect "regard(ed) him as dutiful guardian of their temples and particularly the Ganden (dGa' ldan) monastery. In most temples of the Dge lugs pa one finds paintings and images of this dharmapala in the mgon khang, the room reserved for the worship of protectors of religion."

According to von Brück and Dreyfus the 13th Dalai Lama stopped Pabongkha Rinpoche from disseminating the practice since the Tibetan government argued that Shugden was in competition with Nechung and people should not take refuge in him. According to Pabongkha Rinpoche's biographer, Pabongkha promised the 13th Dalai Lama not to propitiate Shugden any more.

According to Lama Zopa of the FPMT, his root guru Trijang Rinpoche, Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo (the Dalai Lama’s own guru’s root guru), Zong Rinpoche (from whom many FPMT students received the initiation of Shugden), and Gomo Rinpoche all promoted the practice of Dorje Shugden as a Dharma Protector, functioning to overcome obstacles. Lama Yeshe always did a Dorje Shugden puja to eliminate hindrances before giving courses.

According to some sources, previous Gelugpa Lamas who relied upon Dorje Shugden before the time of Je Phabongkhapa include the 5th Dalai Lama, Kelsang Thubten Jigme Gyatso 1743-1811 (a tutor to the 9th Dalai Lama), Losang Thubten Wangchuk Jigme Gyatso 1775 – 1813 (head of the Gelugpa in Mongolia), Ngulchu Dharmabadra, the Indian master Shakya Shri Bhadra, the 11th Dalai Lama 1838 - 1856 (who installed Dorje Shugden as the Protector of the Gelugpa tradition), Gyara Tulku Rinpoche, Tomo Geshe Rinpoche (regarded by the 13th Dalai Lama as an emanation of Je Tsongkhapa), Serkong Rinpoche (regarded by the 13th Dalai Lama as Vajradhara), and Tagpo Kelsang Khedrub Rinpoche (the root Guru of Je Phabongkhapa), who wrote:

With deep faith I prostrate to you, Vajradhara Dorje Shugden. Although you have already attained the Buddha ground and engage in the twenty-seven deeds of a Buddha, you appear in various forms to help the Buddhadharma and sentient beings.

Origin story

The emergence of the practice is strongly related to Tulku Drapga Gyaltsen, a contemporary of the 5th Dalai Lama about whom exist different stories.

According to von Brück, there is little documented historical evidence before the beginning of the 19th century and different orally-transmitted versions of his origins contradict each other.

Von Brück traces the root of the link between the death of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen and the worship of Dorje Shugden back to "the power struggles of the 5th Dalai Lama and the successful centralization of power in his hands after the death of the Mongol Gushri Khan." According to Mullin, the soul of the murdered monk Dragpa Gyaltsen wandered after his death for some time as a disturbed spirit, who created trouble for the people of Lhasa. The 5th Dalai Lama tried to "exorcise and pacify" him by first asking Nyingma shamans to subdue him, but when they failed he asked Gelugpa shamans who were finally successful. By these measures, the spirit of the diseased Lama was "pacified and transformed" into the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden. According to Mumford, the 5th Dalai Lama unsuccessfully tried to subjugate Dorje Shugden through a fire exorcism and "invited the still-wandering spirit to become a Srungma of the Gelugpa order, with result that Shugs-ldan became one of the most popular Srungmas in Tibet. With the encouragement of local Lamas, kin groups all over Tibet took on Shugs-ldan as their lineage guardian." Mullin continues, saying that the practice was later adopted by "numerous Gelugpa monks who disapproved of the 5th Dalai Lama's manner of combining Gelugpa and Nyingmapa doctrines" and that the 5th Dalai Lama tried to discourage the practice, but "it caught on in many monasteries". According to Mullin, "The practice continued over the generations to follow, and eventually became one of the most popular Protector Deity practices within the Gelugpa school." The practice became even more popular during the late 1800s. During that time, Dorje Shugden "became an all pervasive monthly practice within almost all provincial Gelugpa monasteries, and was especially popular with Gelugpa aristocratic families."

According to Tagpo Kelsang Khedrub, although the Fifth Dalai Lama and others tried to destroy Dorje Shugden, they were not able to because Shugden is enlightened:

Then, although four undisputed powerful Tantrikas with concentration, began wrathful rituals to strike you down, through the power of having completed Guhyasamaja's two stages, you would not be silenced, and showed signs of heroism; praise to you!

According to some Gelug Lamas, there is evidence to show that the 5th Dalai Lama realized he was mistaken in considering Dorje Shugden a spirit, and then composed a prayer praising Dorje Shugden as a Buddha and crafted a statue to show his respect for Dorje Shugden. However, 14th Dalai Lama has denied that the 5th Dalai Lama composed such a prayer. Also von Brück denies the historical evidence of such a claim, stating "The problem is that this position has no historical evidence, neither in the biography of the 5th Dalai Lama or elsewhere."

According to McCune, the story about his being a wandering spirit was said by followers to be disseminated by those who murdered Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, not by his followers who viewed him as the reincarnation of a highly realized being. According to Trijang Rinpoche:

Yet all this talk is nothing but babbling speculation. Why? Because this great guardian of the teachings is well known to be the precious supreme emanation from Drepung monastery'supper house, Dragpa Gyaltsen, arising in a wrathful aspect. The proof is unmistaken. Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, as is taught in the lineage, was the final birth in a reincarnation lineage that included the Mahasiddha Birwawa, the great Kashmiri Pandit Shakya Shri, the omniscient Buton, Duldzin Dragpa Gyaltsen, Panchen Sonam Dragpa, and so forth; this is proven by valid scriptural quotation and reasoning. These great beings, from a definitive point of view, were already fully enlightened, and even to common appearances, every one of them was a holy being that attained high states of realization. What worse karma could there be than denying this and asserting that he was born in the preta (spirit) realm?

Origins of the dispute

The Shugden dispute represents a battleground of Views on what is meant by religious and cultural freedom.

Historically the Gelug tradition, founded by Je Tsongkhapa, has never been a completely unified order. Internal conflicts and divisions are a part of it and are based on philosophical, political, regional, economic, and institutional interests and usually connected with the institution of the Dalai Lama. In the 17th century the Gelug order became politically dominant in central Tibet. This was through the institutions of the Dalai Lamas. Although he is not the head of the Gelug school — the head is the Ganden Tripa, the abbot of Ganden Monastery — the Dalai Lama is the highest incarnate Lama of the Gelug school, comparable to the position of the Karmapa in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Eclecticism vs. Orthodoxy

Georges Dreyfus and other researchers, like David Kay, trace back the conflict more on the exclusive/inclusive approach and maintains that to understand the Dalai Lama's point of view one has to consider the complex ritual basis for the institution of the Dalai Lamas, which was developed by the Great Fifth and rests upon "an eclectic religious basis in which elements associated with the Nyingma tradition combine with an overall Gelug orientation" This involves the promotion and practices of the Nyingma school. The 5th Dalai Lama was criticized by and was treated in a hostile manner by conservative elements of the Gelug monastic establishment for doing this and for supporting Nyingma practitioners. The same happened when the 14th Dalai Lama started to encourage the devotion to Padmasambhava, central to the Nyingmas, and when he introduced Nyingma rituals at his personal Namgyal Monastery (Dharamsala, India). Whilst the 14th Dalai Lama started to encourage the devotion to Padmasambhava for the supposed purpose of unifying the Tibetans (perhaps by bringing the four traditions into one under his rule) and somehow "to protect Tibetans from danger", the "more exclusively orientated segments of the Gelug boycotted the ceremonies", and in that context the Yellow Book was published.

Paul Williams states that "The Dalai Lama is trying to modernize the Tibetans’ political vision and trying to undermine the factionalism. He has the dilemma of the liberal: do you tolerate the intolerant?" Shugden supporters assert that it is the Dalai Lama who is being intolerant and adhering to a theocratic model of government by banning their 400-year old religious practice.

The Yellow Book

The controversy -- that is, the Dalai Lama and others pitting themselves against Shugden practitioners -- surfaced within the Tibetan exile community during the 1970s. Zemey Rinpoche published the Yellow Book, which included cautionary tales passed down by Pabongkha Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche of 23 members of the Gelugpa sect who also practiced Nyingma teachings and were supposedly "killed" by Shugden. According to Mumford: Dorje Shugden is "extremely popular, but held in awe and feared among Tibetans because he is highly punitive." After the publication of the Yellow Book, the current Dalai Lama expressed his opinion in several closed teachings that the practice should be stopped, although at that time he made no general public statement.

The Yellow Book, however, is not believed by the majority of Dorje Shugden practitioners and not taken literally by any. It is considered by them to be a collection of superstitious or cautionary tales. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso stated in 1996: "Because the Dalai Lama believed these superstitions, people also believed them, and this is how the present problem arose."

Use of oracles

According to von Brück, the 14th Dalai Lama has applied three methodological devices or arguments for investigating the status of Dorje Shugden: historical evidence, political reason, and spiritual insight. However, the belief that Dorje Shugden is a threat to the Dalai Lama and to Tibet is directly attributable to an oracle in a trance.

According to Pico Iyer, the Dalai Lama uses both his Cabinet and oracles in a balance of the "visible and invisible worlds." The Dalai Lama uses the Tibetan state oracle Nechung for matters of both religion and politics but stated that it "is not to say that I rely solely on the oracle's advice. I do not. I seek his opinion in the same way as I seek the opinion of my Cabinet and just as I seek the opinion of my own conscience."

In 1996 the Dalai Lama announced that worship of Dorje Shugden was banned and explained that his oracle, Nechung, had advised him that the deity was a threat to his personal safety and the future of Tibet.

In Freedom in Exile, the Dalai Lama himself points out what others may consider the pitfalls of using such a methodology to make political decisions:

"For hundreds of years now, it has been traditional for the Dalai Lama, and the Government, to consult Nechung during the New Year festivals. In addition, he might well be called upon at other times if either have specific queries. I myself have dealings with him several times a year. This may sound far-fetched to twentieth-century western readers. Even some Tibetans, mostly those who consider themselves 'progressive', have misgivings about my continued use of this ancient method of intelligence gathering."

The political dimension

Dorje Shugden worshippers say the ban and its implementation are in direct conflict with the proposed constitution of a free Tibet, laid down by the Dalai Lama in 1963. The constitution states that all religious denominations are equal before the law, and every Tibetan shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. But when Dorje Shugden worshippers challenged the ban on these grounds, the TGIE responded: "Concepts like democracy and freedom of religion are empty when it comes to the well-being of the Dalai Lama and the common cause of Tibet." Lama Zopa of the FPMT explains that the main reason he stopped the practice of Dorje Shugden himself and among his students was to support the Dalai Lama's political efforts on behalf of Tibet. Brendan O'Neill argues that the extreme idolization of the Dalai Lama by his followers only serves to undermine democracy in a future free Tibet. Ursula Bernis commented that second-guessing any pronouncement made by the Dalai Lama is "sacrilege among religious Tibetans."

The Dalai Lama claims that Dorje Shugden conflicts with government-approved Dharma Protectors, so Al Jazeera asked one of the Tibetan government's Members of Parliament, Tsultrim Tenzin, whether there had been any parliamentary debate about Dorje Shugden. He replied that there had been no debate simply because there was no opposition, adding "We do not have any doubt about Dalai Lama's decisions. We do not think he is a human being. He's a supreme human being and he is god." For this reason, Richard Wilson argues that the TGIE is a theocracy which restricts religious freedom in order to establish a "national homogeneity of belief.".

Younger Tibetans who view the Dalai Lama, not as an omnipotent god but simply as the Tibetan leader, are concerned with how the ban has entered the political sphere, with Tibetan government agencies, including the Prime Minister, being involved in implementing the ban in religious establishments. The enforced ban has even spread to Europe. For example, in Switzerland, the assembly of elected Tibetan people's deputies (thunmi) passed a "Dholgyal resolution" which, in effect, calls for singling out pro-Shugden Tibetans living in Switzerland.

China

According to BBC, analysts have accused China of exploiting any dispute for political ends.

France 24 reported on their documentary The Dalai Lama's Demons that it is taboo to disagree with the Dalai Lama, and to do this incurs the label of Chinese sympathizer. Meindert Gotter claimed that any criticism of the Dalai Lama is immediately labeleld as being pro-China, which effectively makes the dissenter an outcast in Tibetan society.

According to PK Dey, a human-rights lawyer from Delhi, Dorje Shugden worshippers are suffering harassment from the Dalai Lama's followers and his government, citing door-to-door searches and wanted posters as examples. The Dalai Lama himself sanctioned such behavior by saying, "It will be the last resort if have to knock on doors."

The controversy in the 1990's

In 1996 the Dalai Lama banned the practice among his own students. On May 8, 1996 in a public address in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama said, "It has been twenty years since I first mentioned the Dorje Shugden public restriction". Also, in an address on May 5, 1996, the Dalai Lama said, "It may have been about ten years ago. While giving a lam.rim teaching at Drepung, I once gave my reasons for issuing the ban." And "In this way came the reasons, on account of which I have issued the ban in recent times."

The Dalai Lama remarked to members of the Cholsum Congress on March 4th, 1996:

It is good that paying attention to my health you have passed a resolution regarding this matter. Danger to health does not exclusively mean an armed attack. This type is extremely rare in Tibetan society. If there is continued indifference to my injunctions, then there would not be any point in my continuing to live silently as a disappointed man.

The Dalai Lama also says that Dorje Shugden is a spirit who causes harm to his own life and the cause of a free Tibet. However, Shugden practitioners reply that their worship does not harm the institution of the Dalai Lama or his government, since all Buddhists believe that taking refuge in the Three Jewels protects them any spiritual harm. Instead, the Dalai Lama's actions are seen by them as serving only "to produce a powerful emotional response in the intensely nationalistic, devout and loyal exiled Tibetans." Moreover, according to Lama Zopa of the FPMT, there was a time when Shugden was seen to protect Tibet. The Dalai Lama consulted the oracle of Shugden and "this protected Tibet for another year or for so." After that experience, the Dalai Lama made regular prayers to Shugden, until he received signs in a dream that he should stop.

The dispute first developed international dimensions in the 1990s, when the Dalai Lama's statements against the practice of Shugden challenged the British-based New Kadampa Tradition to oppose him. Geshe Kelsang said that Tibetan practitioners of Dorje Shugden asked him to help them. As a result, Kelsang Gyatso sent a public letter to the Dalai Lama, to which he did not receive any response, and subsequently created the Shugden Supporter Community (SSC), which organised protests and a huge media campaign during the Dalai Lama's teaching tour of Europe and America, accusing him of religious persecution, denying freedom of religious practice, and spreading untruths. According to Tashi Wangdi, representative to the Americas of the Dalai Lama, there was no suppression of Shugden worship. "Officially there has never been any repression or denial of rights to practitioners," said Wangdi. "But after His Holiness’ advice many monastic orders adopted rules and regulations that would not accept practitioners of Shugden worship in their monastic order." However, a Swiss TV documentary made at the time of the first abuses of Dorje Shugden practitioners in 1997 paints a different picture. The documentary shows evidence of violence and even death threats towards Dorje Shugden practitioners with 'wanted' posters of Dorje Shugden adherents being posted in Dharamsala, encouraging violence towards practitioners.

In India, some protests and opposition were organised by the Dorje Shugden Religious and Charitable Society with the support of the SSC. The SSC tried to obtain a statement from Amnesty International (AI) that the TGIE (specifically the 14th Dalai Lama) had violated human rights. However, AI replied in an official press release:

None of the material AI has received contains evidence of abuses which fall within AI's mandate for action – such as grave violations of fundamental human rights including torture, the death penalty, extra-judicial executions, arbitrary detention or imprisonment, or unfair trials. This neither asserts nor denies the validity of the allegations against the CTA (Central Tibetan Administration), nor finds either side culpable. Amnesty International regards "spiritual issues" and state affairs as separate, whilst seeing the command-based nation-state as the fundamental framework for understanding the category of "actionable human rights abuses". Fundamental to this were linked criteria of state accountability and the exercise of state force, neither of which could clearly be identified within the CTA context.

By 1998, two years after the Dalai Lama described Dorje Shugden as ‘evil’ and instructed monasteries to collect the names of those disobedient Buddhists who continued worshipping him, "an Indian human rights lawyer, PK Dey, had collected 300 statements from Tibetans in exile in India who had been either threatened or attacked for failing to comply with the Dalai Lama’s orders. 'Those worshipping Shugden are experiencing tremendous harassment,' said Dey. 'This is not in any particular part of the country but everywhere there are Tibetans.'"

Lamas in the West are also being victimized for their continued practice of Dorje Shugden. Gangchen Rinpoche of Italy has been on the Tibetan Government's top ten list of 'state enemies' since the 1990s and received death threats.

He is not allowed back to his ladrang in Sera Monastery. The buildings, prayer hall and monk rooms he has built in his Tsangpa khangtsen, Sera Mey, is there but he is not allowed back. Yet the money he donated for building it, was not returned to him at all. The Monastery kept the money, the buildings, the statues, the rooms and all the items inside, but asked Rinpoche not to return to it!!!! Why doesnt the Tibetan Govt ask all the Three Great Gelugpa Monasteries to return all items, monies and donations made by all Dorje Shugden practicing Sangha?? Why throw them out but keep their offerings? Just think, Gangchen Rinpoche is not allowed back to Sera or be involved in any of the Tibetan Religious gatherings in India at all. His crime is that he practices Dorje Shugden. He refuses to give up the commitments he has received from HH kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang which is his root guru. He is open in regards to keeping his commitment to Trijang Rinpoche. Other countries count criminals as ppl who kill, rape, and rob. But in the Tibetan Societies, you are a criminal if you practice Dorje Shugden. How is that possible in the current century? On Tibetan Govt websites they often speak against or write deragatory messages against Rinpoche. Any moves he makes is twisted around. He is accused of being friends with the Chinese govt so he is 'assumed to be on their payroll.' Payroll for what? Tibetan govt accuses him of receiving money from China to incite disharmony within the Tibetan communities. The ridiculous point is that Rinpoche has been practicing Dorje Shugden even before 1959!

The current controversy

In January 2008 the Dalai Lama started a campaign to destroy the practice once and for all. The actions of monasteries in expelling Dorje Shugden monks are in effect a unilateral decision made by the Dalai Lama: "Recently monasteries have fearlessly expelled Shugden monks where needed. I fully support their actions. I praise them. If monasteries find taking action hard, tell them the Dalai Lama is responsible for this."

The opening address of the fifth session of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE), which began on March 4, 2008, was delivered by Karma Chophel. According to the official website of the TGIE, he lauded the bold initiative of Tibetan monastic communities in their resolve to end the Dolgyal (Shugden) worship, following the long life offering to the Dalai Lama held at Drepung monastery in south India in February. "This session will present motions to strengthen the present resolution adopted by the TPiE against the propitiation of Shugden," he added.

The ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden has caused a large rift in the Tibetan community. Critics of the ban say that this will increase disharmony in the Tibetan diaspora. On April 22, 2008, the newly-founded Western Shugden Society (WSS) began a campaign directed towards the 14th Dalai Lama, claiming he is "banning them from practicing their own lineage of Buddhism". The campaigns accuse him of being "a hypocrite" who is "persecuting his own people". The WSS says that the Dalai Lama and the TGIE have not responded to any of their attempts to dialogue on the subject and supporters say that the TGIE have simply discredited the opposition.

According to France 24, Al Jazeera, the WSS and the Dorje Shugden Devotees Charitable Trust in India, on the orders of the Dalai Lama the ban was and continues to be enforced by the TGIE and all other Tibetan Exile associations such as the Tibetan Youth Congress and the Tibetan Women’s Association. Specifically, the WSS claims that:

  • Monks and nuns are forbidden to do the practice and are unconstitutionally expelled from their monasteries and nunneries if they do not comply
  • Thousands of Shugden practitioners among the Tibetan lay people are being forced to abandon the practice or lose the support of their government and face orchestrated public humiliation and intimidation
  • People who refuse to renounce the practice are losing their jobs, their children are being expelled from schools, and their travel papers, which require prior authorization from the TGIE, are not being endorsed
  • Statues have been smashed, temples destroyed, books burned, practitioner’s houses attacked, and even death threats issued

Sara Chamberlain reported that the TGIE will not employ those worshipping Dorje Shugden, keeping a blacklist of those who do. The TGIE is also accused of labeling Shugden supporters as "terrorists," as reported by Al Jazeera: "Shugden worshippers have been turned away from jobs, shops and schools. Posters with the message 'no Shugden followers allowed' cover hospital and shop fronts."

Because of perceived religious discrimination, the founder of Kundeling Monastery, Lobsang Yeshe, who lives in South India, has filed a complaint against the Dalai Lama at the Indian High Court on the grounds of religious persecution. The prosecuting lawyer, Shree Sanjay Jain, argues that when the Dalai Lama excommunicates Dorje Shugden worshippers from Buddhist society, "then it is discrimination of the worst kind." Such discrimination has taken material form in the newly erected nine-foot wall at Ganden monastery, used to divide Shugden practitioners from non-Shugden monks.

The TGIE accuses Lobsang Yeshe of being paid by the Chinese and state that he has visited China at least twice. He however denies working for the Chinese, but does confirm that he has Chinese friends and he praises the Chinese "for what they are doing in Tibet," claiming that if Tibetans who followed Dorje Shugden had to live under the Dalai Lama in Tibet, they "would have possibly been crucified".

Arguments for and against the practice

Views of the 14th Dalai Lama and replies from Shugden practitioners

The 14th Dalai Lama is asking people who want to take Tantric initiation from him to let go of the practice of Dorje Shugden, giving three main reasons:

#Although he himself engages in protector worship on a daily basis with the deity Palden Lhamo, the Dalai-Lama says that such practices degenerate the profound and vast teachings of Buddhism, wherein our ultimate refuge is the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. While the profound teachings of the Buddha are based on the two truths and the Four Noble Truths, the appeasing and propitiating of Dholgyal, to the extent it is done by those who do this practice, degenerate the Buddhist practice into a form of spirit worship.

  1. Although most Gelug Lamas who practice Dorje Shugden are non-sectarian, such as Trijang Rinpoche who was well respected by members of all four Tibetan schools, the Dalai-Lama says that this practice goes against His Holiness' non-sectarian approach especially within the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. His Holiness himself practices teachings from the other traditions such as Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu simultaneously with the Geluk tradition and encourages others to do the same. However, the practice of Dholgyal is extremely sectarian.
  2. Although no historic nor scriptural proof has been given to support his claim, the Dalai-Lama says that the Dholgyal spirit has a long history of antagonistic attitude to the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetan Government they head since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. Throughout that period, it has also been very controversial in both the Geluk and Sakya traditions. In fact, the Great 5th Dalai Lama and the Great 13th Dalai Lama, as well as many other prominent Tibetan lamas have categorically stated the harmful effects of this practice and have advised against the practice and propitiation of Dholgyal.

Responding to the above three points, the Western Shugden Society replies:

#The practice of Dorje Shugden is not spirit worship because Dorje Shugden is viewed as the embodiment of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom and because Dorje Shugden practitioners practice the complete Dharma of Buddha Shakyamuni. Moreover, if the Dalai Lama's reason were true, it would meant that the teachings he is giving himself are non-Buddhist as many of these come from his teachers who were faithful Dorje Shugden practitioners.

  1. There is no evidence to support the claim that they are promoting sectarianism. All they are requesting is the freedom to practice the tradition without being ostracized. For example, Muslims, Catholics and even actual spirit worshippers are permitted to attend the "formal religious teachings" of the Dalai Lama, but Buddhist Dorje Shugden practitioners are excluded.
  2. If another political leader were to say someone's spiritual practice was affecting the government headed by that leader and so should be stopped, this would be considered dictatorial and unacceptable. In the same way, it is not correct to say that those who pray to Dorje Shugden for the protection of their Dharma realizations in any way is detrimental to the government headed by the Dalai Lama.

Pro-Dorje Shugden Lamas have asked the Dalai Lama to present valid reasons supporting his claims and, in the absence of any response, have continued to engage in the practice. They continue to rely on teachers such as Trijang Rinpoche, who taught that Dorje Shugden is a Buddha.

However, the Dalai Lama stated conclusively, "I have explained the reasons why I am against the veneration of Shugden and given my sources in a very detailed manner.

Views of some Non-Gelug Lamas on the Practice of Shugden

A number of Lamas outside the Gelug tradition also have views Dorje Shugden practice, some favorable and some unfavorable.

Nyingma

There have been good relationships between followers of Dorje Shugden and Nyingmapas in Tibet and in the exile community. There have also been until recently Nyingma practitioners of Dorje Shugden. Mumford writes based on his anthropoligical studies in Nepal in the late 1970s:

"In Gyasumdo the lamas are Nyingmapa, yet most of them honor Shugs-ldan as a lineage guardian picked up in Tibet in the past by their patriline."

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu considers that Shugden can cause devotees to become "nervous, confused and upset." Minling Trichen Rinpoche, late head of the Nyingma tradition, said that, from his personal understanding, "Shugden is a ghost. We Nyingma practitioner do not follow him. We propagate only those protectors that were bound by Padmasambhava. Shugden came after Padmasambhava."

Some Shugden practitioners reply that Norbu is biased against the practice. For example, he advises his students to to wear special protection cords when in the presence of a Shugden practitioner and make mudras (hand gestures) to ward off evil spirits, behaviour they consider to be superstitious and shamanistic.

Kaygu

Tai Situpa Rinpoche, one of the highest Lamas in the Kagyu tradition, has said that the practice of Shugden "causes fear." He adds the practice is considered to create obstacles to spiritual practice. Proponents of the practice reply by saying that, from their own experience, the opposite is the case. Knowing they have the protection of Dorje Shugden reduces their fear and he removes obstacles from their spiritual practice. Given that Tai Situpa does not practice Dorje Shugden, his comments should be taken to be from the viewpoint of his own school.

Sakya

Sakya Trizin, head of the Sakya lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, notes that at one time followers of his school did make offerings to Shugden but that, in this context, Shugden was regarded as a worldly deity. He also mentions two Lamas of pre-occupation Tibet, Dorjechang Chokyi Lodro and Ngor Kangchen Dorjechang, who limited the practice in their monasteries.

Some Shugden practitioners reply that different Lamas have different views concerning Dorje Shugden but this is true with respect to any Deity and any religion. The principles of religious freedom and non-sectarianism dictate that each school and Lama respect the views of the other.

Claims of violence

According to the Tibetan Government in Exile

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In February 1997, three Tibetan Buddhist monks, including the Dalai Lama's close friend and confidant, seventy-year-old Lobsang Gyatso (the principal of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics), were brutally murdered in Dharamasala, India. According to a disciple of Geshe Lobsang Gyatso, before he was killed, Lobsang Gyatso had to face many death threats, but refused any personal security.

At the site of the murder, Lobsang Gyatso had grabbed from his assailants a bag containing a document issued by the Dorje Shugden Society, indicating their possible involvement in the murders. The six suspects are believed to have crossed over into Tibet, escorted to their villages of origin by the Chinese Army. As recently as June 2007, Interpol issued a Red notice to China for extraditing two of the accused killers.

Helmut Gassner, an Austrian Buddhist monk who was a translator for the Dalai Lama, reviewed the letter found in the bag of one of the assailants but conluded it contained no death threats, as claimed on television by Tashi Wangdi, the Tibetan Prime Minister at the time. Gassner publically accused the TGIE of feeding the media with an "intentionally distorted translation" that was intended to frame Dorje Shugden practitioners. He also commented that many people had been the subjects of Lobsang Gyatso's "slanderous writings," suggesting that there are any number of other potential suspects to his murder. Referring to accusations made against the Dalai Lama in the Mongoose-Canine Letter, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso asked: "... HH the Dalai Lama has many enemies, so why are only Shugden supporters suspected?" Tony Clifton concluded that "the Shugdens are suspect because no alternative theory has emerged to explain this unholy crime. But the mystery of the Dharmsala murders is far from solved."

According to Shugden practitioners

Many Dorje Shugden practitioners have appeared in wanted posters in both India and elsewhere since the 1990s for no other reason than their adherence to this religious practice. One example is Jamphel Yeshe, the President of the Dorje Shugden Society, who talks of the wanted posters and death threats in his 1997 biography. He quotes one of the wanted posters: "This is my wife's name. The names of all my children are listed..."

Wanted posters described people believed to be Shugden leaders as the "top ten enemies of the state". The posters were put up in monasteries, settlements and in Dharamsala by the TGIE. In Clementown, India, "the house of a family of Shugden worshippers was stoned and then firebombed."

In July 2008, wanted posters of several monks involved in the WSS protests appeared in Queens, New York. Al Jazeera reported about the wanted posters saying, "No Shugden worshipper has ever been charged or investigated for terrorism and yet the monks that continue to worship Shugden remain victims of name and shame." Dorje Shugden practitioners have also received other warning and death threats since the 1990s.

Shugden practitioners have been subjected to violence while protesting the ban, both in the 1990s and in the present-day. In 1996, outside a monastery in southern India, a group of pro Dalai Lama supporters (including monks) surrounded hundreds of monks who had gathered to demonstrate against the Dalai Lama's ban on Dorje Shugden and threw stones and bricks. Sixty of the Dorje Shugden monks were hospitalized with serious injuries. On July 17 2008, a mob of Dalai Lama supporters surrounded Shugden protestors after the Dalai Lama's teachings at Radio City in New York, spitting, screaming, and throwing bottles and coins. The New York riot police led the protestors away to safety.

In July 2008, the group Save Tibet announced: "We appeal you to cut any ties of buying and selling foods in restaurants and shops with whoever has connection to this Dholgyal organization that choose enemy and forsake friend."

In October 2008, Radio Free Asia reported that the residence of a Dorje Shugden practitioner had been firebombed by Tibetan monks "loyal to the Dalai Lama."

See also

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  122. An Interview with Jamphel Yeshe, Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden website, retrieved 2008-12-04
  123. Wanted Posters of Tibetan Western Shugden Society supporters, Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden blog, 2008-08-06, retrieved 2008-12-04
  124. The Dalai Lama: The Devil Within (?:??-?:??), Al Jazeera's People & Power, 2008-09-30, retrieved 2008-12-04
  125. "Response to letter from the Australian Sangha Association". Western Shugden Society. 2008-08-11. Retrieved 2008-09-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  126. Dalai Lama's Stance on Non-violence, 2008-08-05, retrieved 2008-12-04
  127. Dalai Lama's supporters clash with Buddhist sect, Rediff India Abroad, 2008-07-18, retrieved 2008-12-04
  128. Riot After Dalai Lama's Teaching in NYC (?:?? - ?:??), 2008-07-31, retrieved 2008-12-04
  129. Midtown Clash over Dalai by Pilar Conci and Jamie Schram, New York Post, 2008-07-18, retrieved 2008-12-04
  130. Demonstrators Evacuated By Police After Mob of Thousands of Hostile Dalai Lama Supporters Surrounds Them, Western Shugden Society press release, 2008-07-18, retrieved 2008-12-04
  131. Appeal from Save Tibet Group, Western Shugden Society, 2008-07-07, retrieved 2008-12-04
  132. Tibetans Jailed For Blasts by Lobsang Choephel, Radio Free Asia, 2008-10-02, retrieved 2008-12-04

External links

Supporters of Dorje Shugden

Critics of Dorje Shugden

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