The opinion piece below was sent to dorjeshugden.com for publication. We accept submissions from the public, please send in your articles to [email protected].
Simply Gross!
Philip Glass, Donna Karan, Yoko Ono Lennon, Martin Scorsese, Trudie Styler and Sting, Uma Thurman – these are some who lent effort and donated to the Tibet House 12th Annual Benefit Auction last year. Sting also threw in his (signed) guitar for auction to raise funds.
It was perfect publicity – Nobel Peace Prize winner His Holiness the Dalai Lama; compassion; world peace; democracy; save Tibet! But let it be clear, I’m not mocking these generous celebrities. It’s just that on the other side of the world, 143 monks and lay Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009. Yes, they doused themselves in fuel and set themselves on fire.
It is unprecedented, it is shameful that it has and continues to happen, and it is downright shocking that His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile do not blink an eye at this catastrophe that has not contributed one single iota towards Tibet’s march for self rule.
On the spiritual side, Buddhists including International Campaign for Tibet (“ICT”) Chairperson Richard Gere surely must know that taking one’s own life creates the karma to be born in the lower realms (this is not good). But instead, the ICT keeps tabs and details of all these self-immolations on its website as if it were a medal tally. This is downright disgusting and morally wrong.
In the mean time, China is not an inch closer to giving up Tibet and the Central Tibetan Administration (“CTA”) is looking paler and paler on a world scale.
At “home”, the CTA’s record has been equally dismal. According to the Tibetan Demographic Survey carried out by the CTA, unemployment rates amongst Tibetans in India are as high as 75%. Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament Penpa Tsering stands accused of being a murderer. The Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay evades question about his Chinese National Passport and then gives the Tibetan fight in Washington before a live world audience. Questions are now being asked about whether foreign aid is being appropriately used. The Dalai Lama is plagued by protesters everywhere he goes. Things are not going well for the CTA.
By any single measure, this government would have been broken. Don’t you wonder what keeps the status quo?
Not The Shangri-La You Imagined
Besides His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s impeccable and heavily guarded public profile as a kind of Saint, we also have people’s perception that Tibet was some kind of Shangri-La which was destroyed by the evil Chinese Communists.
In James Hilton’s fictional 1933 novel Lost Horizon, he describes a lost Tibetan paradise as a valley cut off from the world and calls it Shangri-La. There’s even a five-star hotel named after it and an entry in the Merriam Webster dictionary describing the meaning of the word as “a remote beautiful imaginary place where life approaches perfection”. Imaginary is the operative word but that Tibet never did exist.
Perfection It Is Not, Perfection It Never Has Been
The structure of society in Tibet is described by some as that of a theocratic despotism – a form of government in which a religious group rules with absolute power. And here is what Michael Parenti, Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University, has to say about Tibet:
Religious conflict was commonplace in old Tibet, writes one western Buddhist practitioner. “History belies the Shangri-La image of Tibetan lamas and their followers living together in mutual tolerance and nonviolent goodwill. Indeed, the situation was quite different. Old Tibet was much more like Europe during the religious wars of the Counter-reformation.” In the thirteenth century, Emperor Kublai Khan created the first Grand Lama, who was to preside over all the other lamas as might a pope over his bishops. Several centuries later, the Emperor of China sent an army into Tibet to support the Grand Lama, an ambitious 25-year-old man, who then gave himself the title of Dalai (Ocean) Lama, ruler of all Tibet.
The CTA puts on a good show about its championing of democracy and the welfare of the people
His two previous lama “incarnations” were then retroactively recognized as his predecessors, thereby transforming the 1st Dalai Lama into the 3rd Dalai Lama. This 1st (or 3rd) Dalai Lama seized monasteries that did not belong to his sect, and is believed to have destroyed Buddhist writings that conflicted with his claim to divinity. The Dalai Lama who succeeded him pursued a sybaritic life, enjoying many mistresses, partying with friends, and acting in other ways deemed unfitting for an incarnate deity. For these transgressions, he was murdered by his priests. Within 170 years, despite their recognized divine status, five Dalai Lamas were killed by their high priests or other courtiers.
For hundreds of years, competing Tibetan Buddhist sects engaged in bitterly violent clashes and summary executions. In 1660, the 5th Dalai Lama was faced with a rebellion in Tsang province, the stronghold of the rival Kagyu sect with its high lama known as the Karmapa. The 5th Dalai Lama called for harsh retribution against the rebels, directing the Mongol army to obliterate the male and female lines, and the offspring too “like eggs smashed against rocks. In short, annihilate any traces of them, even their names.”
In 1792, many Kagyu monasteries were confiscated and their monks were forcibly converted to the Gelug sect (the Dalai Lama’s denomination). An eighteenth-century memoir of a Tibetan general depicts sectarian strife among Buddhists that is as brutal and bloody as any religious conflict might be. This grim history remains largely unvisited by present-day followers of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.
In 1895, an Englishman, Dr. A. L. Waddell, wrote that the populace was under the “intolerable tyranny of monks” and the devil superstitions they had fashioned to terrorize the people.
In 1904, Perceval Landon described the Dalai Lama’s rule as “an engine of oppression.” At about that time, another English traveler, Captain W.F.T. O’Connor, observed that “the great landowners and the priests exercise each in their own dominion a despotic power from which there is no appeal.”
Fast forward to the 21st century and not much has changed. Except, perhaps a better disguise.
Failed “State”
A Tibetan refugee camp in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala. Their living conditions do not reflect half a century of foreign aid to the Tibetan people
The CTA is showing all the signs of failure; Dharamsala is again not the Shangri-La in the movies.
How successful a government is the CTA when unemployment amongst Tibetans in India runs as high as 75%? What does the CTA do? It still carries on “managing” programs created by the Indian government in the 1960’s, still mostly funded by India, with contributions from other governments, NGOs and private donors. The settlements in India are breaking down as one would imagine. “The winter sweater selling business is the economic mainstay of about 70% of the exile population in India”, according to the CTA themselves.
Who and what is the CTA? What has the CTA actually done for the Tibetan people that it professes to represent? In half a century, and with countless millions pouring into funds supposedly set up for their welfare, and with the Dalai Lama as the darling of the world, rubbing shoulders with government leaders and celebrities, what has the CTA actually achieved for the Tibetans in exile? What plans and programs has the CTA drawn up in areas such as education, science, technology and business for its populace so that the Tibetan people can be competitive in the world? What remarkable areas of achievement can the CTA boast in half a century, given all the support it has received? What are the Tibetans known for, apart from being victims of an oppressive China and even then, it is an image that the CTA themselves play to the hilt?
The answer is nothing and the CTA has done nothing for its people other than lobby the world to give them more money and to oppose China on their behalf. The CTA has had only two products: 1) the Dalai Lama, and 2) the willingness to be the thorn in China’s side. The Tibetan people themselves have never factored into the equation. The answer is self evident. So why are they still in power? Because the CTA’s principles of democracy are only for show.
The Self-Serving Politicians
One way the Dalai Lama-CTA partnership has remained in “power” is under the strategic guise of pursuing Tibetan autonomy. The Dalai Lama and CTA have taken the position that Tibetans in India should remain refugees apparently so they are ready to return to an independent or autonomous Tibet. Under Indian law, Tibetans in India are not recognized as refugees and this is not to their advantage. The Indian “RC”, the official document provided to Tibetans, is a registration card which makes these Tibetans not refugees but stateless foreigners. This significantly restricts them.
Under the status quo, the CTA hence leaves most of its 100,000 constituents in India vulnerable to the most corrupt elements of society by ignoring their statelessness. Visa brokers; a black market of corruption and all that goes along with it; desperate, stateless people; these are the very real life and death situations which Tibetans endure. This is a basic example of what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) describes as the “Protracted Refugee Syndrome.”
Indeed, to demonstrate the power the CTA has over the Tibetans in exile, Tibetans in exile can apply to the Government of India to acquire citizenship by birth only after obtaining a “no objection” certificate from the CTA. This is a huge obstacle for Tibetans as the CTA officials discourage any applications with the suggestion that it shows disloyalty to the Tibetan cause. Hence, the statelessness of the Tibetans continues unabated, all for what?
Democracy? A Joke of Poor Taste
If the sponsors of the Free Tibet movement think they are providing support to a pro-democratic system, they are in for a surprise. One would think that a culture trying to win back independence from occupation by an “oppressor” would be embracing a system that allows more democratic freedom. Instead it behaves precisely like the oppressor it accuses.
Where the Dalai Lama resides when he is in Milan
The Dalai Lama and CTA have been working hard to try and convince the world that they are not a theocratic dictatorship but a democracy. Of course “they are”. They will attract more foreign aid from democratic Western countries and Westerners in general if they appear to operate as a democracy.
But kill any thoughts of democracy. Richard de Jongh has commented that
…the Lama’s power elite misuses the word democracy because it still dominates exile Tibetan politics through ‘democratic’ manipulations to perpetuate the existing patrimonial structures. The introduced reforms touch only the surface of Tibetan society but do not change the traditional system.
There is nothing democratic about this model, there are elections but there is only one party standing under the overall leadership of a non-elected Dalai Lama. So what has the West been supporting?
Really, Where Does All The Money Go?
One question that has never been satisfactorily answered by the Dalai Lama or the CTA is where does all the money, equivalent to many millions of dollars, that pours into the exile community, go exactly? Structurally, the CTA comprises seven departments plus other special offices. There are also charitable trusts, a publishing company, hotels, and a handicrafts distribution company in the USA and in Australia, all grouped under the government-in-exile’s Department of Finance.
The CTA annual budget is also some sort of a mystery. Other than stating some aggregate numbers in public statements, a complete written breakdown is hard to obtain.
About the annual budget:
“In response, it claimed then to have annual revenue of about $US22 million, which it spent on various health, education, religious and cultural programs. The biggest item was for politically related expenditure, at $US7 million. The next biggest was administration, which ran to $US4.5 million. Almost $US2 million was allocated to running the government-in-exile’s overseas offices. For all that the government-in-exile claims to do, these sums seemed remarkably low.
It is not clear how donations enter its budgeting. These are likely to run to many millions annually, but the Dalai Lama’s Department of Finance provided no explicit acknowledgment of them or of their sources. Certainly, there are plenty of rumors among expatriate Tibetans of endemic corruption and misuse of monies collected in the name of the Dalai Lama. Many donations are channeled through the New York-based Tibet Fund, set up in 1981 by Tibetan refugees and US citizens. It has grown into a multimillion-dollar organization that disburses $US3 million each year to its various programs.”
The article above also points out how the Dalai Lama has been remarkably nepotistic, appointing members of his family to many positions of prominence. A summary from the article:
- In recent years, three of the six members of the Kashag, or cabinet, the highest executive branch of the Tibetan government-in-exile, have been close relatives of the Dalai Lama.
- An older brother served as Chairman of the Kashag and as the Minister of Security. He also headed the CIA-backed Tibetan contra movement in the 1960s.
- A sister-in-law served as head of the government-in-exile’s planning council and its Department of Health.
- A younger sister served as Health and Education Minister and her husband served as head of the government-in-exile’s Department of Information and International Relations. Their daughter was made a member of the Tibetan parliament in exile.
- A younger brother has served as a senior member of the Private Office of the Dalai Lama and his wife has served as Education Minister. The second wife of a brother-in-law serves as the Representative of the Tibetan government-in-exile for Northern Europe and Head of International Relations for the government-in-exile.
All these positions give the Dalai Lama’s family access to millions of dollars collected on behalf of the government-in-exile.
Half a century of donations and foreign aid have gone towards suppressing the Tibetans, not free them of oppression.
Where?
In her book “The Tibetan Government-In-Exile”, Stephanie Roemer tried to figure out the annual budget of the CTA and the Dalai Lama’s revenue.
She found swaths of income and expenditure that were not clearly documented, with large sums unaccounted for and spending unclear. An example is whilst the revenues for the CTA had increased dramatically with the opening of CTA bureaus around the world, nevertheless what the revenues were spent on is unclear.
The largest part of the total annual expenditures of the CTA is listed under a general, vague title – “politically related affairs”. This expenditure isn’t broken down by the finance department. It was equally difficult for Stephanie Roemer to gain clarity over the financial position of the Dalai Lama:
“The grants of the 14th Dalai Lama are drawn from the inheritance of the Tibetans but also gifts and donations. The total amount of the 14th Dalai Lama’s treasury cannot be estimated because it is neither published nor did my interviewees give any detailed information. But the finance department assumes that the granted sum to the annual budget portrays only a small amount of his wealth.”
By now, you would have understood how paltry the CTA’s annual budget is and how, together with its control over how it is dispensed, it is being used to perpetuate the CTA. It is virtually feudalism.
Donations for Intimidation and Control of the Media
In his article ‘Free Radio Free Asia,’ the writer Jamyang Norbu shows us how the CTA silences those they perceive to be criticizing the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way Policy in the media. He details how the largest independent Tibetan language newspaper, “Mangtso” (“Democracy”) was finally pressured to close when His Holiness publicly expressed his displeasure with its reporting. In fact it is not only those with differing political beliefs that the CTA gags.
Ngapo Jigme, one of the senior members of Radio Free Asia, was summarily dismissed because he had views which differed from the CTA’s on a number of issues. When staff of RFA asked for the reason for the dismissal of their senior colleague, they were told that it was “personal” and not any of their business. This came as a big shock to the Tibetans at RFA who liked and trusted Ngapo Jigme, and appreciated his respect for their professional integrity and independence. The goings-on within the management of the RFA and interference by the CTA prompted a senator of the USA, an ally of the Tibetan people’s supposed march towards democracy, to issue a stern warning.
Tibetan Parliament Speaker Penpa Tsering had also issued threats to the media that they should not be “a medium to spread discord within the community”. This is obviously not a very democratic view to say the least. Indeed, one of the characteristics and foundations of democracies is the right to have and voice a different opinion, one’s opinion.
Then there is the Tsokpa Chukchik (Eleven Associations – including the Shopkeepers Association and the Restaurants Association) whose publicized goal is to “strictly deal with” any person making “baseless” claims against His Holiness the Dalai Lama, including taking them to court.
Tenzin Nyinjey has described how the CTA had fired an employee in the Department of Security, a person called Lukar Jam, who is now running the Sikyong seat for 2016, who had written criticism against the CTA. Any criticism even fair ones are morphed into acts of disloyalty towards His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The World Needs to Rethink
143 Tibetans have self-immolated in Tibet and China since February 27, 2009.
Poverty, chronic unemployment, cronyism, corruption, continued statelessness. Aren’t these signs of a failed state, therefore a failed administration?
Wake up world, wake up donors, wake up Tibetans. Do the funds raised for the Tibetan cause actually help the Tibetans? Do the funds actually reach the Tibetans? The recipe did not work, has not worked and will never work.
Instead, it has given birth to a group of opportunists who, while likely agreeing that Tibet would never have its independence, are going around playing the part and enjoying the spoils, while month after month, Tibetans self-immolate.
China can do without a Maroon 5 or Jon Bon Jovi concert but can donors continue to ignore the travesty of the whole system?
During the same time, Bill and Melinda Gates have poured millions of dollars into global health and development with success, with results. Warren Buffet has joined them. The results of their charitable acts are visible and tangible.
What has His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his government the CTA specifically achieved? Where are the results of half a century of aid?
Wake up.
Disclaimer: This article was submitted by a third party author and does not necessarily reflect the official opinion of DorjeShugden.com. We accept submissions from the public, please send in your articles to [email protected].
English
Indonesia
Tibetan
Shugden Library
October 3, 2015
Suggest reading Gilded Cage Articles for the broader picture
http://gildedcagearticles.com/
eyesoftara
October 29, 2015
It is sad that the CTA has “lost focus” of what they really a suppose to achieve and I suspect they know that the cause was lost years ago and continue to deceive the world by blaming it of the Protector Dorje Shugden.
This is a real shame!
Rinchen
November 15, 2015
It is a huge joke that with the CTA receiving so much support, be it through goodwill or financially there is still no improvements with their management nor the quality of the lives of the Tibetans. With that it clearly shows what is going on and how manipulative the CTA is with regards to what they want the world to see and think.
The CTA constantly try to gain the sympathy of others, yet they accuse DS practitioners to be getting support and money when there are practitioners that live in poor and do not receive any support at all due to what they have said and spread in the main media to people around the world.
Thank you so much for sharing this information with all of us here. With this, it is clear that it is a dictatorship on how the CTA runs. Everyone in the CTA is all within the family. What is stated above is very similar to when Tibetans do not agree with what the CTA say or have a different view from them, these Tibetans will end up on a hit list that is circulated on the internet. Through that it is also obvious that the CTA wants people to have a look at the list then carry out actions of hurting/killing these people on the hit list. Otherwise, why would they be publishing such a list online for all to see.
For a government that truly mean well for their people, they will not be creating disharmony within their own people. Simple reason, it is only through harmony that will allow their society to grow. So why create disharmony that will jeopardise the growth of the country when they want to gain their independence once again? It makes no sense at all.
If the CTA really wants to get Tibet back, they will have to stop all the self-immolations, then remove the ban so that the Tibetans will be able to reunite and stand at the same side and be battling a common battle. They have too many political things ongoing in that small community of theirs, with everything not being solved, it will never be able to resolve any issue at all.
Sarah
December 5, 2015
It is very sad to read about the plight of the Tibetan community in India, living as stateless people and not allowed even a refugee status. For those born in India, they have a choice to become Indian citizens but they are discouraged from doing so because this is seen as being disloyal to the Tibetan cause. One day, the Tibetans will have to leave India. Where will they go? Is the CTA really taking care of its people? Why does the Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay have a Chinese National passport?
Moreover, why are the financial accounts not transparent? The system does not appear to be democratic. In this day and age, such a feudal approach to governance is not acceptable at all.
Sabrina
December 7, 2015
This is so sad that Dalai Lama, being the “Buddha of Compassion – Chenrenzig” to allow for all the wrongdoings. The funds are for the betterment of his people not just a select few. I guess the Dalai Lama and CTA wants to keep their people at poverty level so as to have easy control them. “Feed them occassionally and they are their slave” – as the saying goes. Buddhism is love and compassion but is it being practised here???
Buddha Shakyamuni lived amongst the people, may they be rich, poor or sickly. Dalai Lama certainly should get of his throne to go amongst all those in need daily until he suffers what his people suffers. Dharma cannot be learnt thru studies only. It must be practised in the real world and conditions. I don’t think the Dalai Lama had ever suffered other than his escape journey from Tibet to India.
If they don’t change for the better, everyone looses … donation will stop, Tibetan “refugees” will suffer and most of Buddhism will suffer. Sad Sad Indeed!!
Doreen Park
January 10, 2016
With countless millions in foreign aid flowing in over the last 50 or more years, one would have expected the Tibetans-in-exile to be enjyoing a higher standard of living and not face unemployment at a 75% rate ! Being stateless and unemployed is the sad fate, then, of most Tibetans-in-exile.
Despite the more than 100 desperate cases of self-immolation of Tibetans in Tibet, the likehood of regaining independence of Tibet is dim. On top of this, the CTA seeks to distract their people’s attention from these harsh realities( which they themselves have brought on them), by throwing in the Shugden controversy to rip the community n 2.
The CTA do not need to publish their accounts and show the world how they have been spending the huge amount of aid received. They do not need to show how this money has been spent to create anti-Shugden websites to fan sentiments against all Shugden practitioners every where.
Donors please wake up to what is really happening with the money you always thought was being spent on the welfare and education of the poor Tibetans-in-exile.!
T. Tsundu
May 6, 2016
All this is true and many Tibetan people love Gyalwa Rinpoche and our Tibetan government very much but in the end he did not take take us but himself only. I was young man when I left Tibet and for over ten years my life very poor and no future. After I went America then slowly improve and improve.
Look at many Tibetan people in India more poor and Gyalwa Rinpoche more rich and travel first class everywhere in the world. Our leader like Losang Sangay can have 2 passport and have nice house and money in America and still many people cannot have many food and house.
Where all the money people donate go? We Tibetan trust our leader but we suffer because we make stupid mistake.
Lukas Leibowitz
May 6, 2016
This should be retitled to “Half A Century Of Wasted Aid – What The CTA Hides” to “Half A Century of Theft from the American Taxpayer” because that’s what it has ACTUALLY been. Half a century of our government funneling money to this bogus democracy while dumb politicians and doe-eyed celebrities fawn over the Dalai Lama and his ilk, bewitched by some fake Shangri-la spell that is so way off the truth, it’s unbelievable. I would like to thank the American government for wasting half a century’s worth of taxes on supporting a regime that abuses its people under the guise of democracy. Seems we have a real knack for installing puppet regimes.
Jerad Law
May 6, 2016
All that SAVE TIBET campaign is really just empty bull! And what’s ironic is all these stupid westerners just keeps buying into it. This is how good the media agency who markets this. I am confident to say that the exile Tibetan government is a fake government. What exactly can they do for their people and what exactly have they done so far? Look at the results for crying out loud and on top of that they create more disunity and more conflict splitting their own people up further. Real democratic government do not dabble into their people’s faith or religion unless the religion is going against the government. Politics and religion should never be mixed!
The CTA should come clean and show the public what their accounts and be accountable for all the funds they raise. This would be how a true democratic government operates.
Michaela Smith
May 6, 2016
Dear DS.com
Thank you for this article. Reading this article, it is sad to see that western donors have been manipulated to give to a cause that has been running ineffectively. So if I am giving to CTA, I would not know where the money goes or what it is used for. I will always wonder whether my money is used to promote self immolation? And it would not and never be the cause that I am supporting.
I think the donors have moral responsibility to make sure that their money is being used for the cause that they intended to donate. If the Tibetan leadership refused to run their financials in a transparent manner, then maybe the donations toward their activities should be stop
Michaela
Pema
May 6, 2016
This article really opens my eye on what is going on for the Tibetan people.
Indeed so much funds wasted on the wrong government – who does clearly not respect their own people.
The way the CTA treats their people ( example Radio Free Asia) and the religious community – like Jonang, Dorje Shugden says a lot what is going on there.
Yet, in the same way it is the whole Tibet people who are treated in this way as so many have friends and family who practice Dorje Shugden and they are not allowed to talk to them again.
What a government of shame!
Indeed, they have nothing in common with a democratic government and the world should know it!
Thank you DorjeShugden.com to always explain in such detail what is behind, the history and much more.
I am so happy to be able to come on this page and get a better picture of what is going on in the CTA and the reasons why they have lost their country.
Aloysius Bong
May 6, 2016
Simply gross! The world has this fantasy of Tibetans as inhabitants of Shangrila, holy, pure, spiritual…no, their leaders are as gross and corrupt as any government in the world, read all these, and stop donating to them:
Lobsang Sangay supporter bashes Penpa Tsering supporters in Orissa
https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2016/03/16/lobsang-sangay-supporter-bashes-penpa-tsering-supporters-in-orissa
State Oracle Nechung rebukes CTA top brass
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=37348&article=State+Oracle+Nechung+rebukes+CTA+top+brass&t=1&c=1
Amber Sonam
May 7, 2016
Yes, wake up. Wake up donors, Tibetans, world – see for yourself what exactly has the CTA achieved apart from suppressing its own Tibetan people and create disharmony and segregation while ignoring their needs for a status and a stable place they can safely call home. What has the CTA done with the donations and claimed to do? These are valid questions the donors can and should ask so to make sure the sum is being put to good use.
It is so obvious there are no results from the CTA and the self-immolation are a waste of precious lives towards nothing. How pitiful that people are sacrificing for nothing and contribute to nothing. It is so depressing just by the thought of it.
The CTA has to be transparent with their spending and proof to people where the sum has been allocated and for what. This is a smart way to garner even more donations as people are generally kind and they are more than happy to give seeing the impact and result of their donations. I suppose the CTA will not do so for the group is formed by selfish politicians who are short-sighted and couldn’t care less about the benefits of their own people. Why would this kind of government deserves any respect and support to say the least?
Ashok Rao
May 7, 2016
Shame on the Tibetan leadership for betraying the world by using and portraying an ideal civilisation based on the Buddhist ideals of love and compassion. I was asking around and it seems that the ancient Indians actually considered the Tibetans to be barbarians. That was why the Indian pandits and mahasiddhas were so helpful in spreading the Dharma there. It was because they had compassion that they wanted to see their Tibetan brothers and sisters benefit from the Dharma.
But woe, this is no longer the case. The previous masters both Indian AND Tibetan would be so disapointed with the current corrupt state of affairs.
Olivia
May 7, 2016
It’s funny that even though there are so much evidence of the leadership’s corruption floating around the internet, there’s not a single person from the states who speaks up against it. Yet that they are the biggest donor to the Tibetan cause, supposedly donating to the betterment of Tibet.
Obviously the leadership has not done anything pleasant/ substantial with the funds they have received. They did not build more schools nor hospitals, they did not build houses for the poor, and instead they encourages violence against Dorje Shugden practitioners, funding some people to take out Dorje Shugden practitioners. Such a great shame to the leadership.
winnie mb
May 8, 2016
Thanks for sharing this article. Big shame to the Tibetan government for not doing anything for the people and let them continue to suffer despite financial helps pouring from various countries. Hope more people are aware of this unfair treatment and action to be taken soon to help the people.
Lovett
May 8, 2016
CTA is just doomed! They rely on the Dalai Lama to court with the West in order to bring home donations and sponsorship. Then, they take this money and use it to fund the many programs to enforce the Dorje Shugden ban. How unfortunate! Once the Dalai Lama is not around anymore, most Tibetans would immediate fled to the West or naturalize as India citizens. By then, the Tibetan society as we know it.
Sherabz
May 9, 2016
The party that received funds should be the one who is trustworthy, truthful and most important is the responsibilities for the concern and safeguard of its citizen. In addition, if the relevant authorities unable to use the funds appropriately as well as to solve the country internal affairs such as religious matter, the people will have more suffering and living with no hope and insecure.
Sierra
June 26, 2016
There are so many evidence supporting the mismanagement of funds by the CTA. But no one wants to be the bad guy to start digging into the finances. But lately people like Congressman Dana Rohrabacher raised questions about it.
http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/news/congressman-dana-rohrabachers-warning-over-unethical-tibetan-elections/
Are there enough people out there, people of influence who can and will do the thing, speak up? Doubt so. Which is why the CTA is so blatant about not keeping proper accounts of their financial standing. Anyway, who is there to audit them and penalize them should there be fraud?
Are the Buddhist going to say, ‘oh..let them be….karma will bite back at them..’. In the meantime, the Tibetans in exile are in double jeopardy. They are stateless with no future. They are divided and oppressed. So are they better than slaves? don’t think so. They have to do as the CTA says.
Which leads to another question.’are the Tibetans so vulgar and violent because the CTA are holding them ransom?’
So, the most compassionate thing the holder of the Nobel Peace Prize can do is to unite the Tibetans. That’s not even going into spirituality and the true teachings of the Buddha yet. Just a mundane view.
My apologies to the admin, for dragging mundane views here. It is very difficult being spiritual when you see that the basic tenets are not adhered to – be mindful and aware. The refuge vows of :-
To refrain from harming living creatures (killing).
To refrain from taking that which is not given (stealing).
To refrain from sexual misconduct.
To refrain from false speech.
To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refuge_(Buddhism)#Precepts
They probably will interpret it to their samsaric views. Sad, really.
Lhakpa Dhendup
August 11, 2018
What will the all the people around the world and in Tibet do now? Dalai Lama says he is happy that Tibet is a part of China and should remain a part of China. So many Tibetans self-immolated for Tibet to be independent and now Dalai Lama did a 360 degree turn and says he wants to go back to Tibet and China and Tibet should be a part of China. So unbelievable. So many are angry and disappointed.
Dalai Lama should set things right
August 12, 2018
Dear Dalai Lama,
Since you started the cruel ban against the 350 year Dorje Shugden practice, how has it benefit your Tibetan society and Buddhism in the world? Things have become worse and most educated Tibetans can see this. They don’t speak out not because they don’t see your ban as wrong, but you instill fear in them and not respect. It is like fear of a dictator. I am sorry to say so. Everyone is divided. There is no harmony. Before your ban there was more harmony and unity.
By enacting the ban, you split the monasteries, split so many families, split regions in Tibet apart, split your disciples from you, split your own gurus from you, split Tibetan Buddhism apart. You have created so much disharmony.
It is not democratic what you have done to ban a religion within your community. You always talk of tolerance and acceptance and democracy and yet you do not accept and tolerate something different from your beliefs. When people practice Dorje Shugden you ostracize them, ban them from seeing you, ban them from using Tibetan facilities. You know you have done that. There are videos that capture your speech and prove this point. You even had people expelled from monasteries just because they practice Dorje Shugden. Some of the monks you expelled have been in the monastery for over 40 years. Many older monks shed tears because of this.
Many young educated Tibetans lost confidence in you as they saw the damage the Dorje Shugden ban created and they lose hope. Many have become free thinkers. They reject what you have done. So many people in the west left Buddhism because of the confusion you created with this ban against Dorje Shugden which is immoral.
You could of had millions of people who practice Dorje Shugden to support, love and follow you, but you scared them away. They are hurt and very disappointed. They loved you and respected you deeply before the ban. It has been 60 years and you have failed to get Tibet back. Your biggest failure is not getting Tibet back after 57 years in exile. Now you are begging China to allow you to return to Tibet to the disappointment of thousands of people who fought for a free Tibet believing in you. So many self-immolated for a free Tibet and now you want Tibet to be a part of China with no referendum from Tibetans. Just like a dictator, you decide on your own. It was your government and you that lost Tibet in the first place. Your policies and style of doing things do not benefit Tibet and Buddhism. You have been the sole ruler of Tibet your whole life and you still have not gotten our country of Tibet back for us. Our families and us are separated. Yet you create more pain by creating a ban to further divide people. Please have compassion.
No other Buddhist leader has banned or condemned any religion except for you. It looks very bad. You are a Nobel laureate and this is not fitting of a laureate. You should unite people and not separate them by religious differences.
You said Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi did not do right to the Rohingya people in Myanmar due to religious differences, but you are doing the same thing to the Shugden Buddhists within your own society. There is a parallel in this. You separate the Shugden Buddhists from the others in Tibetan society.
You have lost so many people who would have loved and supported you. You have lost so much support around the world. The Shugden Buddhists who love you number in the millions. When you are fast losing support from governments and private people, it will not do you well to lose more.
After you are passed away in the future, the rift you created between the Dorje Shugden and non-Dorje Shugden people will remain for a while and that will be your legacy. Disharmony. You will be remembered for this. Not as a hero but a disharmony creator.
Dorje Shugden will spread and further grow, but you will be no more as you are a human. No one wishes you bad and in fact we hope you have a long and healthy life, but we have lost so much hope and have so much despair because of you. All the hundreds of Dorje Shugden lamas, tulkus and geshes are maturing and there are hundreds of Dorje Shugden monasteries in Tibet who will not give up Dorje Shugden. You have made a mistake. These hundreds of teachers and teachers to be will spread Dorje Shugden further in the future.
The gurus that gave us Dorje Shugden as a spiritual practice and you have called these holy gurus wrong and they are mistaken in giving us Dorje Shugden. How can you insult our gurus whom we respect so much? If they can be wrong, then you can be wrong. Then all gurus can be wrong. So no one needs to listen to any guru? You have created this trend. It is not healthy. Your own gurus practiced Dorje Shugden their whole lives. Your own gurus were exemplary and highly learned.
Dalai Lama you have created so much pain with this ban against so many people due to religion. You are ageing fast. Are you going to do anything about it or stay stubborn, hard and un-moving. You show a smile and preach peace and harmony wherever you go. But will you do the same to your own people? Please rectify the wrong you have done. Please before it is too late. You can create harmony again or you can pass away in the future with this legacy of peace. May you live long and think carefully and admit what was a mistake in having this unethical ban against Dorje Shugden religion.