What made the Dalai Lama, a role model of peace and tolerance, turn against Shug

[christine V]

Come across this article written by Johannes Nugroho, a writer and businessman based in Surabaya, Indonesia.


Dalai Lama troubled over Shugden worship
26 April 2014

Author: Johannes Nugroho, Indonesia

During his US visit this year, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso — and the media — could not fail to notice the presence of protesters. The protestors’ ire stemmed from the Dalai Lama’s alleged support for the suppression of Dorje Shugden devotees within Tibetan Buddhism. When confronted by a Buddhist nun about the issue, an agitated Dalai Lama said the issue was not about ‘religious freedom’ and that Shugden was ‘spirit worship’ and therefore ‘wrong’.

In contrast to his usual unflappable demeanour and respect for other religions outside Buddhism, the Dalai Lama’s condemnation of Shugden worship is anomalous. In 1996, he pronounced that Shugden, instead of being an emanation of a Buddha as his devotees maintain, was ‘an evil spirit’, and that propitiating him did ‘great harm to the cause of Tibet and imperils the life of the Dalai Lama’.

In swift response to the ban, Buddhist monasteries within the Tibetan exile community started to expel Shugden followers. Shugden lay devotees have claimed that the Central Tibetan Administration and supporters of the Dalai Lama ostracise and discriminate against them for their religious belief.

So what made the Dalai Lama, a role model of peace and tolerance, turn against Shugden, considering that by his own admission he used to worship the deity himself? The matter becomes more perplexing when the fact that one of the current Dalai Lama’s gurus, Trijang Rinpoche, was a devotee of Dorje Shugden as well. In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, a practitioner’s first loyalty is to the guru. Thus, in denouncing Shugden, the Dalai Lama also severs his allegiance to his guru — an unthinkable act within Tibetan Tantrayana.

The answer may lie in the 14th Dalai Lama’s deepest worry: what will happen to the movement for Tibetan autonomy after his own death. As he ages, he presumably wants to ensure that the struggle for Tibetan autonomy continues. Yet two immediate problems present a stumbling block for this.

First, there is no Tibetan leader of enough calibre and stature at the moment to replace the Dalai Lama. Second, there is insufficient harmony between the four existing schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama himself is technically the leader of the Gelugpas, so in theory he cannot presume to speak for the Nyingmapas, Kagyupas and Sakyapas. It is only his own personal stature that has allowed him to speak for all Tibetans internationally. There is no guarantee that the schools will vest such prestige in the next Dalai Lama.

The unification of all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism could ensure that the Tibetan cause does not flounder after the Dalai Lama’s death. But Dorje Shugden appears to stand in the way. Shugden is, after all, a deity that the Dalai Lama’s devotees claim as the major protector of the Gelugpa tradition. In this sense Shugden is seen to be favouring the separation of the Gelugpas from the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama’s own intransigence against Shugden has resulted in Beijing courting the sect to further derail the Tibetan cause. It has caused suffering for the ordinary Shugden devotees in the Tibetan diaspora. Worse still, it may eventually tarnish his well-deserved image as the embodiment of the Buddha of Compassion that many Tibetan Buddhists hold to be true.

Tenzin Gyatso appears to be particularly troubled by the prospect of China determining the next Dalai Lama. In November 2007 he indicated that the people of Tibet should be involved in selecting his reincarnated successor — breaking with centuries of monastic methods through divination and oracles. The remark was undoubtedly made in response to Beijing’s enactment of a law dictating that all high lamas of Tibet must be approved by the Chinese government.

The mere possibility of a Chinese-appointed Dalai Lama seems so repugnant to the current Dalai Lama that he declared in an interview he would not reincarnate in a Chinese-controlled territory.

Perhaps, this is the meaning behind his claim that the worship of Dorje Shugden is detrimental to Tibet and his own well-being: a Tibet fragmented by different religious schools may not sufficiently resist the Chinese after he is dead.Notwithstanding the reasons behind his ban on Shugden, Tenzin Gyatso may want to revisit his own legacy in Tibetan Buddhism. His main accomplishment may not be a Tibet free from Chinese rule, but it is an international reputation of humility, compassion and religious tolerance — for which he is much admired. 

Source: EAST ASIA FORUM
Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2014/04/26/dalai-lama-troubled-over-shugden-worship/

[christine V]

This article seems to be popular

[christine V]

This article seems to be popular, which is also in Siam News Network

at other Press too : http://www.siamnews.net/asean/17486-dalai-lama-troubled-over-shugden-worship/

[DharmaSpace]

Many people do not know that the Dalai Lama is not the head of the Gelugpas from the likes of this article and no authority whatsoever to decide on what practice and direction that the Gelug movement should take on. Having said that this is a very well informed article about the Dorje Shugden issue and with time I would expect with more knowledge and information is available to the public more and more clarity about issue will come to the surface.

Why would the Dalai Lama who would be very gracious and accommodating to non Buddhists from other faiths, Bon an animistic tradition with buddhist elements, Jonang a tradition that was persecuted during the great 5th Dalai Lama for being on the wrong side of the Tibetan conflict then be fiercely critical against the Gelug tradition for engaging in Dorje Shugden practice? 

To read the Dorje Shugden issue literally like most Western critics and commentators of this issue will not get us to the root of this issue. It is a ban that has a lot of inconsistencies and as I mentioned in many posts before it is a ban whereby year on year despite the ban more and more people have taken up the practice and devoting themselves to Dorje Shugden.

Why are more people flocking to do the Dorje Shugden practice and the growth of the practitioners of Dorje Shugden coming from a predominantly Western upbringing and lifestyle who more critical and need logic to back up their decisions and comments? The current times is not feudalistic periods whereby the the words of the religious elite are deemed final and absolute. It is the internet age whereby everything can challenged and nothing is above scrutiny one has to wonder why the number of Dorje Shugden is increasing day by day?

Do share your view on this article I have given my contribution on
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2014/04/26/dalai-lama-troubled-over-shugden-worship/

 




   



 

[eyesoftara]

This article by Mr Johannes Nugroho is very well written and rightly pointed our that the real reasons behind the ban is political and not spiritual. The Dalai Lama placed the "unity" of the Tibetan schools His number priority even if it means sacrificing his Guru Samaya and the sufferings of millions of Tibetans. This is so ironic and it reflects the karma of this age. However, I feel it is a lost cause; the Tibetan cause that is. Sorry about this. For there is no indication that the Tibetan cause whether independence or autonomy is going anywhere for the simple reason that Tibetans themselves seems very confuse about religious unity and political unity. Unfortunately the world works on political and economic reasons. It doesn't work on spiritual reasons. For that reason the ban is ironic because in one stoke the Dalai Lama divided the Tibetans and provided doubt for the support of the West to the Tibetan cause. The lesson to be learned is that the no one should politicize religion. It is simply too delicate.

[yontenjamyang]

The Dalai is NOT the spiritual leader of the Gelug school. The Ganden Tripa is. He was the political leader of Tibet as self appointed since the Fifth Dalai Lama's time until recently when the 14th Dalai Lama retired as the political leader of the CTA. Each of the main schools of Tibetan Buddhism has its own leader. For the Kaygu, the Karmapa, the Sakya, the Sakya Trizin, while there is no official spiritual head for the Nyingma school. The Supreme Head of the Nyingmapa is a position that was established, primarily for administrative purposes, only while in exile in India. In Tibet no one served as the head of this school. First this title was given by H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama to Dudjom Rinpoche. Then it passed on to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche and in 2001, to Minling Trichen Rinpoche. In 2010 Kyabjé Trulshik Rinpoche accepted the position, and in 2012 the title passed to Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche.
Hence, from the spiritual perspective, Tibet is divided into 4 major schools plus the Jonangs, Bons and minority Christian, Hindu and Muslims.

Mr Johannes's article is very correct otherwise that the Dalai Lama sees the "unity" of the schools of Buddhism as the key to political autonomy. However, the Shugden practice does not favor separation from other schools of Tibetan Buddhism. All schools favor independence practice for reasons of purity of lineage and practice. This being the case, independent practice does not means separation. It can still mean unity under one political head ie the Dalai Lama.

[prodorjeshugden]

I don't understand why the Dalai Lama is so kind to people from other religions, but so intolerant of people from his own religion? The Dalai Lama is a Buddhist and so are the people that practice Dorje Shugden, but yet the people who practice Dorje Shugden are ill treated and face the risk of getting arrested for false reasons... These ill treatments are in part due to the Dalai Lama(the so called model of peace) and the Central Tibetan administration(CTA).

For several years people who practiced Dorje Shugden were considered as 'outcast', but with the grip of the CTA crumbling and more and more people taking to the streets and the internet to protest against the inhumane treatment of Shugdenners by the CTA and the Dalai Lama, the ban will crumble into a million pieces and the ban will no longer be a reality but history.

[SabS]

I thought that Johannes Nugroho gave quite a clear summation of the Dalai's fears and reasons for proclaiming Dorje Shugden practice to be detrimental. However I do also agree that he missed a few points. The Dalai Lama is not the head of Gelugpas as its the Ganden Tripa that is the head. The Dalai Lama is viewed as the head by default of his popularity. All the four major sects of Tibetan Buddhism were not in favour of the Dalai Lama's plan of unity under one as each had their individual and differing lineage practises. As such schism and method of "divide & conquer" was used to weaken the sects, ie. Gelugpas with the issue of Dorje Shugden, recognition and endorsement of Karmapa which the Dalai Lama had no authority, injecting "advices" on the succession of Sakya Trizin. However even though the Dalai Lama has successful increased the popularity and spread Tibetan Buddhism to the world, he had not succeeded in uniting the different sects as one nor gain autonomy to Tibet. In these modern times where messages and activities, good or bad, get mass coverage in an instant, I think many people and governments are turned off by the vulgarity and rudeness of the Dalai Lama's supporters. As such Tibetans-In-Exile are still languishing as refugees and CTA still ineffective in governance. It does not pay to blame religion for failure in political agenda. Many countries suffer war when the two mix. May the Dalai Lama once again step in to stop the ban and persecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners and return the unity to his people.