Discrimination against Dorje Shugden practitioners at a Monastery

[Ensapa]

The circumstances concerning how this particular picture was taken are actually a bit ironic. On the day the photo was taken, it was raining very heavy and a friend and I were walking down the road next to the Drepung Loseling Clinic. As we were passing by, a monk sitting on the steps to the clinic waved us over to take shelter with him on the steps of the clinic. It wasn't until we had been standing there for about 15 minutes that we noticed this sign almost directly over our heads. I then asked my friend to discreetly take this picture.
Drepung Loseling is a a bit far from Gaden, at least in terms of normal everyday travel for monks, so none of the monks there seem to know who we are. It is very different near Gaden where everyone has seen us around and knows we are from Shar Gaden.

Anyway, we had a laugh about it. What would the old monk have said if I had indirectly flashed my Shar Gaden I.D. card? Who know, maybe nothing. Some of the older monks seem to think that it is easy to ignore the issue as best as they can to avoid having to deal with it. It seems mostly the younger and middle-aged monks who are still pushing these draconian measures.

In my opinion, I feel that it is those younger and the middle aged monks who impose the ban more zealously is because they are somewhat insecure about their own spiritual practice which is why they feel that somehow imposing the ban would be a fast track to their spiritual practice. I feel this in western practitioners who are against Dorje Shugden as well and it is pretty clear and strong. That is the reason why they are so against the Dorje Shugden ban when they could have took the effort and time to do Dharma practice instead and tame their own mind and bring real results. They see hating Dorje Shugden and enforcing the ban as a spiritual shortcut to spiritual peace, like how some Christians think that the shortcut to heaven is to convert everyone around them.

[Losang_Tenpa]

Some of the older monks seem to think that it is easy to ignore the issue as best as they can to avoid having to deal with it. It seems mostly the younger and middle-aged monks who are still pushing these draconian measures.

Losang Tenpa - the story is a good one, thanks!

It's interesting what you say about older monks 'ignoring' the issue as much as they can. Do you really think it's because they want to 'avoid having to deal with it' or is it more that they really do not have any ill wish towards Shugden practitioners and wish to just turn a blind eye, as it were - in other words, to continue interacting with them as if there was no problem?

It is however, very saddening to hear that it is the young (and probably more energetic) monks that are implementing these measures. It's likely they'll have far more stamina and energy to keep such strict measures going and far less willing to compromise or turn a blind eye. What do they really get out of it, I wonder?

You are probably right, at least in my own mind it seems that the older monks hold no ill will and have truly put compassion ahead of any political agenda. True Dharma!!!

[beggar]

In my opinion, I feel that it is those younger and the middle aged monks who impose the ban more zealously is because they are somewhat insecure about their own spiritual practice which is why they feel that somehow imposing the ban would be a fast track to their spiritual practice.

This is what I have the most problem with - that the ban is being upheld in the name of religious purity and out of what is a supposed devotion to the Dalai Lama... but how is discrimination, unkindness, ostracism and attacks (psychological, physical, ethical) in any way a reflection of good practice or a good Buddhist?

If we really were students of the Dalai Lama, respected him so much and wished to be a good reflection him as a teacher, then why would we act in such unsavoury ways? It is one thing to choose not to continue your own practice of Shugden, in following the Dalai Lama's instructions, but it is quite another to also denigrate others who choose to maintain their practice, uphold such a cruel ban and act in such unkindly ways.

This ban, above all, has called into question so many aspects of practice - what it really means to follow a teacher's instructions, what it means to really maintain your practice without it being at the expense of another person's practice and relationship with their teacher. I think it isn't just the ban on the deity that has been the problem but more so, the ensuing reactions of people upholding the ban and the way Buddhists are treating fellow practitioners.

[Ensapa]

This is what I have the most problem with - that the ban is being upheld in the name of religious purity and out of what is a supposed devotion to the Dalai Lama... but how is discrimination, unkindness, ostracism and attacks (psychological, physical, ethical) in any way a reflection of good practice or a good Buddhist?

If we really were students of the Dalai Lama, respected him so much and wished to be a good reflection him as a teacher, then why would we act in such unsavoury ways? It is one thing to choose not to continue your own practice of Shugden, in following the Dalai Lama's instructions, but it is quite another to also denigrate others who choose to maintain their practice, uphold such a cruel ban and act in such unkindly ways.

This ban, above all, has called into question so many aspects of practice - what it really means to follow a teacher's instructions, what it means to really maintain your practice without it being at the expense of another person's practice and relationship with their teacher. I think it isn't just the ban on the deity that has been the problem but more so, the ensuing reactions of people upholding the ban and the way Buddhists are treating fellow practitioners.

Because like I have mentioned earlier, these people find it difficult to actually put the teachings into practice because well, focusing on your own mind and facing your own weaknesses is always harder than hating a particular group of people or spreading the gospel about how Dorje Shugden is bad. To me the acts and mentality is not that different from evangelists, extremists and fundamentalists that damages everyone else just to enact their ideals on others. The most ironic part of this is that robert thurman calls the Shugdenpas as the Buddhist taliban when he, being a critic of Dorje Shugden, it is more of him and other anti Dorje Shugden people who make up stories and who focus their hatred on the Shugdenpas act more like the talibans instead.

[Gabby Potter]

This is really sad to know about because religious freedom is one of the most basic human rights and it's not fair that Dorje Shugden practitioners have to endure the suffering. I don't understand, people are treated the same way even in some monasteries, aren't monasteries supposed to teach what the Buddha has taught? Where is the compassion and tolerance?