WisdomBeing, thank you for sharing this interview. It's a good read and gives a penetrating, honest account of one practitioners' experience within this controversy. It saddens me that this conflict and ban led him to give up altogether and I do agree with WB that he gave up perhaps a little too quickly without further investigation or trying to seek further clarification.
It is unusual to hear this perspective - usually, there is criticism of DS practitioners but this shows us a view from the other side of the fence. How the actions of some DS practitioners have damaged one man's spiritual path and shown him a very negative side of Buddhism. The questions and doubts that arise in his mind are valid: "I was deeply shocked. Not because I had any particular affinity for the Dalai Lama, but because it seemed that despite the emphasis on tolerance, harmony and respect, at the heart of Tibetan Buddhism lay a great deal of acrimony."
It is not enough to simply say that he wasn't a committed practitioner and that he didn't investigate properly... no, we can't say that, because there are probably more people like him in the world that people who are well versed in Dharma and have had the priviledge of many countless teachings to be able to understand what is going on at a deeper level. Like Simons, I am sure there are many, many more people out there who are looking upon the situation and feeling great despair, disrespect and even shock that there are practitioners rallying and protesting against the Dalai Lama... or ANY Lama for that matter.
Yes, there are groups who have their reasons for protesting against the Dalai Lama - we have had countless discussions about this on this forum. But this account from Jake Wallis Simons shows us clearly what the average layperson's view of the whole thing would be - from the outside looking it, it appears clearly and simplistically that the conflict is one camp fighting against another camp. Yes, so they are apparently "peaceful" protests with no physical aggression or violence - but as you can see from his account, even shouting out slogans like "Dalai Lama, stop lying" is enough to harm one person's view of Buddhists, Lamas, and Buddhism in general. (after all, our speech sometimes can be even more damaging than our physical actions).
From the outside, it will be difficult for non-Buddhists or even new Buddhists to understand why any Dharma practitioner would shout against another Lama, bring down the name of another Lama or act in this way, which seems totally contradictory to the practices and teachings of harmony, peace, tolerance, kindness, compassion. Whether they see the conflict from the side of DS practitioners protesting against the Dalai Lama; or from the side of DL supporters suppressing DS practitioners - the whole thing begins to look aggressive, unkind, intolerant and almost childish.
Making a stand for DS practitioners and putting out effort forward to lift the ban, I feel, does NOT equate to being negative, or speaking in negative ways against the Dalai Lama, or any Lama. Then, we become as low as the DL supporters who are suppressing DS practitioners, we go down to their level. It is like ethnic minorities who start discriminating against ethic majorities, in an attempt to assert their rights - reverse racism. Then, we show the whole world that this is what Dorje Shugden's practice is about - retaliating, speaking against another Lama AT THE COST of destroying other people's faith, bringing them down, causing them doubt in their Lama (the Dalai Lama in this case). This ISN'T what DS is about, is it?
Making a stand for DS practitioners and putting our effort into lifting the ban can be done in so many more peaceful ways that do not need to have anything to do with criticising or attacking the Dalai Lama in any way. This is where I am most supportive of this website because of its tremendous efforts towards supporting DS practitioners, by other means - they never speak badly about any lama, never harm any practitioner but instead look only to raise awareness of Dorje Shugden, his practice, benefits and story to as many people as possible.
It is simple logic - we can spend the rest of our lives fighting and fighting and fighting against the Dalai Lama and his teeny, tiny little government, and probably get nowhere, or we could bring Dorje Shugden to many, many, many, many more people in the world. The maths alone is simple and clear - the Tibetan community that are maintaining this ban ARE SO SMALL compared to the population of the rest of the world. Drown out the ban and their oppressive voices, by BRINGING DS TO MORE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. Reverse the ban by reversing the numbers - make the number of DS practitioners far outweigh the people who are against DS.
Bring logic, explanation, knowledge to others so that whatever people say against DS, it falls on deaf ears and will have no effect on bringing the practice down. Grow the might and awareness of DS in the world so that whatever is said against him will have no more of an effect than throwing an egg against a mountain! This serves the purpose of bringing light to DS, growing support for DS practitioners everywhere AND AT THE SAME TIME NOT damaging others' faiths in their Lamas / Dalai Lama, nor creating any negative karma of speaking badly against other Lamas.
This article is powerful for us to contemplate how our actions - no matter how well meaning - can have a damaging effect on others' spiritual paths.
