it would be interesting to consider how many Tibetans there actually are now in the exiled communities of India / nepal - because we have been hearing increasing reports about Tibetans immigrating to either Europe or America, or around the world. It looks like nobody really wants to remain in the Tibetan communities where their government offers so little protection and opportunity for their own people.
And while an older generation has a lifelong, deep faith in the Dalai Lama, I'm not sure the same can be said of a younger generation - this can be seen just from the audience in the Dalai Lama's teachings, where a majority of the attendants are very obviously of an older generation. While young people may still have some degree of respect for the dalai lama, they certainly aren't allowing him, his policies and his government to direct their lives, interests or even loyalty to their community. After all, what is there for a second-generation Tibetan in India these days?
So it's becoming clearer that the practices and lineage are likely not to be upheld by the Tibetans within India - especially not the lay Tibetans. Apart from practices and teachings within the monasteries, you rarely hear of the participation of laypeople in significant Dharma activity within these Tibetan communities today.
In contrast though, the largest Buddhist organisations in the world now are all outside of this nucleus of exiled Tibetan communities. They're in the West (such as Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's NKT centers and Lama Zopa's FPMT centers) or around Asia / Pacific (such as Serkong Tritul's centers). The ones upholding and carrying on the lineage to new generations are NOT Tibetans. The teachings and practices aren't even being conveyed in Tibetan.
So yes, Dorje Shugden will be upheld outside of Tibet and, I would daresay it isn't even just this one practice, but an entire lineage, the whole corpus of teachings and meditations from the many schools of Tibetan Buddhism. And while the CTA fights its tiny little battles among just a few 100,000 of its exiled community (perhaps less now that the incidence of immigration is increasing) to stop a practice and uphold some version of religious purity, the rest of the world are merrily continuing to promote and practice exactly what they're trying to stop. The best part? They have absolutely no say in anything outside the relatively small borders of the Indian nation. And so the practice flourishes, perhaps even more than it ever did before within the small and cloistered Tibetan world.
