Dalai Lama visit sparks protests in Birmingham, Alabama

[Solomon Lang]

http://www.myfoxal.com/story/27016515/dalai-lama-visit-sparks-protests-in-birmingham






BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) -

The Dalai Lama's visit wasn't without controversy.

Not everyone welcomed him to town, including close to 300 protesters at Kelly Ingram Park

They say that the Dalai Lama has publicly banned the tradition of making prayers to the Buddhist Deity Dorje Shugden. The protestors chanted "Give religious freedom" and "stop lying."

They claim Dalai Lama is causing a world wide rift in the Tibetan community, and that those who do offer the prayers are often times discriminated against and face segregation.

Vanessa they claim that his holiness is responsible for religious persecution and human rights violations...

[cookie]

The protests against the Ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden has not stopped. It is very surprising to me why the Dalai Lama or the CTA has never called for a proper dialog to try to resolve the dissatisfaction of the DS practitioners. In any normal dispute in our daily lives, there would be discussions, dialoques, debates or tribunals organised by 3rd party to mediate. etc. In relation to this BAN it almost seems like all the parties , for and against, wants to allow this issue to be publicized in a big way ! Why ??
I am just worried that each day this issue drags on, each day more suffering is created and the negative karma is exponentially multiplied !!

[yontenjamyang]

It occurs to me that either the Dalai Lama is recalcitrant and lose the plot or He is just plain playing along. Like Cookie said, it doesn't make any sense that the Dalai Lama just plainly refuse to has dialog with the protestors and other Dorje Shugden groups. Such negative publicity does not serve any purpose for the Tibetan cause or does it? Perhaps the Tibetan cause is not as important as the human cause.
I am in the opinion that the this is all part of the Dalai Lama's game but I am not sure of the end result. Things are surely getting hotter each time the Dalai Lama appears in the West. Already a few Western country that is traditionally very supportive of the Dalai Lama has denied Him a visa to enter the country. The latest being South Africa who denied the Dalal Lama a visa for the Nobel Peace Summit.

[Gabby Potter]

Actually I am really glad too see that there are so many people who have so strong faith in Dorje Shugden, not because there's a riot obviously. May this holy practise benefit billions of lives around the world.