My two-cents on Dorje Shugden

[WisdomBeing]

This blog post by a Zen Buddhist is interesting because this is the view of someone who is from a different Buddhist tradition. Perhaps it is exactly because he or she is from a different Buddhist tradition that he/she can be more objective about the Dorje Shugden vs Dalai Lama issue. He/she says that “No, the Dalai Lama is not the “head” of Buddhism. He is not our pope. He is really only the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, although the other schools and sects may respect him and view him as a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara.” Which is so true.

This zen Buddhist is rather unconventional (he/she writes about hitler parodies…) but what he/she says about the Dorje Shugden issue is definitely objective, pointing out that the ban causes schism and incites violence. Take a read and see what you think?


My two-cents on Dorje Shugden
http://brahmaloka.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/my-two-cents-on-dorje-shugden/

You probably have heard of the Dalai Lama.The guy who’s very name brings up ideas of love and compassion. I wonder if the worshipers of Dorje Shugden feel the same?

First of all, I am a Zen Buddhist,with some “unorthodox” ideas. I know very little about Tibetan Buddhism,but I know enough about human rights and Buddhism in general to know what the Dalai Lama is doing is wrong.

You see,in Buddhism,there are several Buddhas(Siddhartha Gautama being the most recent)and Bodhisattva(enlightened beings who have held off their own entering Nirvana to help other sentient lifeforms.)since they have not entered Nirvana yet,Bodhisattva are still reborn.The Dalai Lama is said to be a manifestation of this guy:



Avalokiteshvara is one of the most popular deities in Buddhism.He represents universal compassion (that’s where the Dalai Lama gets it.)

Don’t get me wrong, I admire and respect the Dalai Lama. I feel he is a wise and venerable man. However, even the most wise man can fall into ignorance if they’re not careful, and that is exactly what the Dalai Lama has done.

“What’s the big deal,”you may ask.”It’s his church, he has a right to try to keep it’s doctrines pure.”

No, the Dalai Lama is not the “head” of Buddhism. He is not our pope.He is really only the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, although the other schools and sects may respect him and view him as a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara.

Still, calling shenanigans on any Buddha or Bodhisattva should not be taken lightly. It will cause schisms, it will not strengthen the Sangha. As the Theravada Buddhist will tell you, causing a schism for any reason is not something to be taken lightly. In some myths,it will get you reborn in the lowest hell realm.

The Dalai Lama could’ve simply voiced his concerns and tried to consult various lamas, Shugden worshipers,etc before pulling out the big guns.

Next,he is inspiring violence against Shugden worshipers and even Shugden himself. In 1996,Buddhist nuns destroyed a Shugden statue on the Dalai Lama’s orders. They willingly desecrated the statue of an enlightened being. Although some Zen Buddhist care little about Buddha statues (one time a Zen master used them for firewood.) I am appalled that these nuns would do such a thing. They have committed an act of evil. They walked into the temple with the purpose of “injuring” this great deity.All I can say is that these nuns do not deserve to call themselves “Buddhist nuns.”

The Dalai Lama calls himself compassionate,and a supporter of religious rights. How compassionate and freedom-loving can you be when you direct people to destroy other people’s objects of worship?

Just think on that.

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in your religious books.Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

The Buddha

[vajratruth]

I too have often wondered how His Holiness The Dalai Lama can ever reconcile His decision to ban the Dorje Shugden practice which has damaged so many people and create such a fracture in the Tibetan Buddhist community, with His Holiness's monastic vows to refrain from any destructive behaviour and a pledge to never bring harm upon others. On the face of it, the Dalai Lama's actions are no less blatant breaches of His Holiness's vows.

However, there is another dimension to these vows and those who are initiated into Tantric practices also pledge never to use these vows as excuse for them not to take drastic (and what appears to be harmful) actions when there are no longer other peaceful methods, so long as these methods are executed based on sincere compassion.

When we take cases of Dorje Shugden persecutions in isolation they are definitely horrible, unjust and totally wrong. Personally I strongly dislike what is going on with the ban and I feel sad and even angry especially when I watch videos of old Dorje Shugden monks saying they wish they were dead before being made to chose between The Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden.

But that is merely us, seeing with human eyes and relating what we see to our very human experiences and judgement of what is right and what is wrong (if indeed there are such things as right and wrong). I am quite certain a Bodhisattva thinks very differently and with wider scope and more depth covering not only one lifetime but as many lifetimes as required for man and all sentient beings to finally reach enlightenment. And to that end, the Buddha's teachings must prevail and for it to prevail at a time when the practice of Dharma itself is debased, it must be accompanied by the practice of the most efficacious Protector Of The Dharma of our degenerate times. Dorje Shuden's practice must spread widely all over the world, reaching into minds of practitioners and would-be students of the Buddha's Dharma.

So how does Avalokiteshvara do that? The answer that is to give cause to the most populous nation in the world, and with the most potential to influence the world to take up the practice and spread it widely. Dorje Shugden is the antidote and China the administering agent with His Holiness's early death as the incentive. Perhaps with time and karma running out for people to practice the Dharma, the big guns had to be pulled out.

True, a lot of people suffer because of the ban and many have died for the same reason. But it is also true that we being in samsara suffer and die anyway and to my mind, it is far better to suffer and die for Dorje Shugden, than not. It is not as if we would never have experienced suffering and death if not for the ban. Plus, I cannot imagine our Protector ever allowing anyone who is true and loyal to the Dharma and His practice being born in the lower realms. On the contrary those who die for the sake of Dorje Shugden's practice have much to look forward to. When we look at how the ban has affected people on a worldly and material level, it is terrible but when we consider how the ban has affected the same people who suffer and yet refuse to forego their Protector, on a spiritual level, there is much to rejoice in.

We learn in Buddhism that nothing exists independently. What we see on mundane level is the destructiveness of The Dalai Lama's actions but at the same time, we should also see the constructiveness of it - people holding tight to their samaya in the face of adversity, the name of Dorje Shugden spreading on the back of news regarding the ban and persecutions because of the ban, and a very powerful nation capable of catapulting Dorje Shugden and Dharma taking up the practice. We see a blissful co-existence of opposing forces.

The Dalai Lama is not only known for this ban on Dorje Shugden and in true contradiction, His message of world peace and tolerance. The Dalai Lama is also known as a prolific practitioners of the Kalachakra Tantra which I find interesting. Although I am no expert, I have read that a distinguishing feature in the Kalachakra is the union of opposites. Two seemingly opposing forces actually working in harmony.

Therefore the proper response to the Dalai Lama's ban on Dorje Shugden is not to oppose His Holiness but to vehemently oppose the ban and do the opposite of what the ban "intended" and spread the great Protector's practice widely. The result can only be the spread of the Dharma.

[Ensapa]

As far as I recall, the Dalai Lama did not tell people to destroy images of Dorje Shugden or hurt the practitioners of Dorje Shugden. He only told people not to practice it.

Whatever happened to the advice? it has been misinterpreted and misunderstood by many again. Why are statues being destroyed and practitioners being hurt? They should not be, by right because that is not the Dalai Lama's exact instructions.

Is it just me or is it the fact that everyone likes their own interpretation of the Dalai Lama's advice too much that they just prefer to interpret to what conveniences them instead of seeing reality?