Holy temples to contact if you want to get rid of Dorje Shugden statues/images

[Mana]

Found the below in some forum. Apparently somebody's family has been having a Dorje Shugden shrine for years in their home and decided to get rid of it upon hearing that Dorje Shugden practice is bad.

So someone replied and named some places which will accept the return of Dorje Shugden statues, apparently these places are in Singapore: Charitable Assistance society, Thekchen Choling or Amitabha Buddhist Centre.

I wonder what the holy temples are going to do with the returned statues/images? Maybe they send Dorje Shugden statues to the foundry and re-melt the metal and re-cast into a Nechung statue? But since the atoms of the metals are the same, re-melt and re-arranging the atoms of the metals does not remove the fact that the atoms are "evil atoms", so I hope they don't do that, because no matter what statue it is being re-casted into, it is still intrisically evil.

Hmmm....that means it is possible that some of the statues on the altars of these temples now are originally Dorje Shugden statues...so beware, devotees there may unknowingly pray to demons all these while...

if they didn't do that, then perhaps they are very kind to give away Dorje Shugden statues for free, so please contact these temples if you are in need to Dorje Shugden statues/images.

websites of the three holy temples in Singapore that you might just get free Dorje Shugden statues from:
http://www.casotac.com/
http://www.thekchencholing.org/
http://www.fpmtabc.org/



source: http://sgforums.com/forums/1728/topics/217527

My family and I have been Therevadan Buddhists for sometime but we were first introduced to Buddhism via Chinese Gelugpa. We used to be fervent devotees of the association, even setting up a shrine specially for (the controversial) Dorje Shungden on the advice of the chief rinpoche.

It has been half a decade since we moved to Therevada Buddhism but the shrine of Dorje Shungden still remain in the household.

On the advice of many Buddhist friends online and offline, I was encouraged to remove the shrine and return all religious artefacts and books relating to the sect back. I have always procrastinated but did so this evening.

My parents being traditional, felt that since the household has been fine and peaceful, there shouldn't be any reason why we should remove it. Even our Therevadan Bhante felt that it was fine to leave the shrine there as long as we don't seek any favours from it.

As I am not well-versed with Vajrayana Buddhism, I would like to seek my fellow brothers and sisters in the Dhamma on how to deal with this situation. As my family is quite uneasy with this episode, I would hope that someone can guide me as I would like to return all the artefacts back to the association tomorrow.

Thank you.

___________________________

it is okay to have the statue of Dorje Shugden Image at home .

If one wish to "send" off image of Dorje Shugden, Please contact

either Charitable Assistance society , Thekchen Choling or Amitabha Buddhist Centre for assistance

The Chinese Gelugpa was not recognised in this forums as their practice do not adhere to the Mainstream of Gelugpa teachings and in due respect to the founder of Gelugpa ,Je Tsongkhapa

please read more on Gelugpa lineage .

With Sincerity,
Bohiruci

[Mana]

It appears that there is another holy temple in Singapore that you may get free Dorje Shugden statues from:

Tibetan Buddhist Centre:
http://www.tibetanbc.org/

They have a statement on their website about Dorje Shugden, and in their notice inviting members to participate in Dalai Lama's teachings, they specifically stated that "Dorje Shugden practitioners are not allowed to participate"



Dear Dharma Brothers & Sisters,

We're pleased to share with you on 2011 His Holiness The Dalai Lama Teaching's information as below:

2011 His Holiness The Dalai Lama Teaching For South East Asia Students

Teaching Topic:  A Guide To The Bodhisattva's Way of Life by Acharya Shantideva
Date: Aug 30 – Sep 1 , 2011
Teaching Site : Namgyal Monastery, Upper Dharamsala, India
Organise by : Tibetan Buddhist Centre

Note :
Visit our website www.tibetanbc.org for more information.
Dorje Shugden practitioners are not allowed to participate.

[Big Uncle]

Hmmmm! I wonder if we can tell these temples to send all these statues and paraphernalia to us instead so we can spread them to others. That would mean that they would have to send it to someone in singapore. Why can't they return these sacred items to a Dorje Shugden organisation like Serkong Tritul's center or NKT? Why give it to these anti-DS centers so they can destroy them?

On top of that, the ban has forced this innocent family to be ungrateful to Dorje Shugden. Don't they realize that Dorje Shugden has protected their family all these years and there has never been any problems. Heck! Even the Theravaden monks have told them to keep the shrine to Dorje Shugden. Why can't they do that? They are not even students of the Dalai Lama! This is just so ridiculous. 

[Ensapa]

Hmmmm! I wonder if we can tell these temples to send all these statues and paraphernalia to us instead so we can spread them to others. That would mean that they would have to send it to someone in singapore. Why can't they return these sacred items to a Dorje Shugden organisation like Serkong Tritul's center or NKT? Why give it to these anti-DS centers so they can destroy them?

On top of that, the ban has forced this innocent family to be ungrateful to Dorje Shugden. Don't they realize that Dorje Shugden has protected their family all these years and there has never been any problems. Heck! Even the Theravaden monks have told them to keep the shrine to Dorje Shugden. Why can't they do that? They are not even students of the Dalai Lama! This is just so ridiculous.

people with weak minds and no logic end up being bad buddhists. there are too many of those around. they betray their own lineage for something they think is better etc and is always fearful to go all the way with any one lineage. They dont have their own stand of things and rely on the opinions of less qualified people. Personally i dont think we can do much about people like that. So much fear that he ignores the advice of his new guru and act out of fear. That is not buddhist at all, that is just plain ignorance shown in full glory.

[harrynephew]

I have seen this posted too!

I do agree how confused practitioners back then were unable to find a source of explanation and clarification because in many countries, due to the disposition of the laws, many are unable to house a resident Lama or Geshe to provide with the necessary information on how to handle such cases.

In such countries, many a times there will be Dharma centres and temples taking matters into their own hands by offering such services. Little do they know that the people in the committee have zero or next to none Dharma to be able to handle such cases. (This may be a sweeping statement but you may look up on these centres the next time u pop by these countries)

There has been a well known anti-Dorje Shugden warfare since the beginning of the ban in Singapore with every single Dharma centre scrutinised and questioned to the max. Laymen would try their best means to compete with other centres by setting up their own 'police patrol' going to every centre to ensure that there were no DS related items in the temple and would declare themselves as being 'clean' before proceeding to the next.

That was the past, now they've got printed materials stating the downfalls of practicing Dorje Shugden. Their efforts will come in vain in the near future as they will find out how foolish they have been when the ban is lifted.

[kris]

I like the way Mana said it, so sarcastic, yet so true

I wonder what the holy temples are going to do with the returned statues/images? Maybe they send Dorje Shugden statues to the foundry and re-melt the metal and re-cast into a Nechung statue? But since the atoms of the metals are the same, re-melt and re-arranging the atoms of the metals does not remove the fact that the atoms are "evil atoms", so I hope they don't do that, because no matter what statue it is being re-casted into, it is still intrisically evil.

Like what Big Uncle said, I am just wondering, is there a way the owner of this website can find a way to collect these statue back and re-distribute them. May be can setup a chapel. The chapel will be primarily used to give out free distributions, and it can allow others to drop off their Dorje Shugden statues if they so decided to do so...

[Lawrence L]

I respect the Dalai Lama, but sorry, it's just too hard for me to accpet this.

How could a Buddha suddenly turned to be an evil spirit? How could the Dalai Lama made prayers to a Buddha in the past and now the Buddha is an evil spirit? And the statue you used to respect so that much, you see the statue as a Buddha, and now you going to send the Buddha off or even just throw it away?

Even after I grow up to be a young man, i didn't throw my old toys away and send them off to someone who I know he/she wouldn't appreciate the toys. And what Im talking about now is a Buddha statue that you used to make prayers to, a Buddha statue you used to gain energy, aspiration and hope from.

[Ensapa]

I respect the Dalai Lama, but sorry, it's just too hard for me to accpet this.

How could a Buddha suddenly turned to be an evil spirit? How could the Dalai Lama made prayers to a Buddha in the past and now the Buddha is an evil spirit? And the statue you used to respect so that much, you see the statue as a Buddha, and now you going to send the Buddha off or even just throw it away?

Even after I grow up to be a young man, i didn't throw my old toys away and send them off to someone who I know he/she wouldn't appreciate the toys. And what Im talking about now is a Buddha statue that you used to make prayers to, a Buddha statue you used to gain energy, aspiration and hope from.

It just goes to show the quality of the practitioners today: no loyalty or stability to their practice. Will these people achieve enlightenment? How to benefit all beings if they take sides and follow the 'flow' on influential forces and abandon practices for the sake of being "correct"?

When HHDL does it I am very sure he has  his reasons, but when laypeople who know next to  nothing do it i am pretty sure they are doing it out of blind faith, fear and ignorance. So sad to see how people can be so disloyal to their own lineage and protectors. How can they even hope to achieve results or have blessings?

[triesa]

I respect the Dalai Lama, but sorry, it's just too hard for me to accpet this.

How could a Buddha suddenly turned to be an evil spirit? How could the Dalai Lama made prayers to a Buddha in the past and now the Buddha is an evil spirit? And the statue you used to respect so that much, you see the statue as a Buddha, and now you going to send the Buddha off or even just throw it away?

Even after I grow up to be a young man, i didn't throw my old toys away and send them off to someone who I know he/she wouldn't appreciate the toys. And what Im talking about now is a Buddha statue that you used to make prayers to, a Buddha statue you used to gain energy, aspiration and hope from.

It is human nature to keep clean and be on the good books, any rumours can trigger a sparkle that starts off a fire. Again it shows that the nature of the minds that for most, they prefer to stay away from any controversy and abide to peer group pressure so as to avoid any trouble.

Ignorance is rooted, even ignoring the advice from one's guru, how do one advances on one's spiritual journey when household gossips can make one deviate from one's practice??

Sad but it is a reality, so all the more that motivate me to do whatever I can to spread the truth of Dorje Shugden. All the more, we should do whatever we can, be it distributing the brochures, be it supporting the monasteries like Shar Gaden or Serpom , be it participating in the forum,  be it anything in fact, as the truth will always prevail!!!!

The more people wants to talk bad on Dorje Shugden, the more I want to tell people how wrong and ignorant they are!!!!

[Ensapa]

It is human nature to keep clean and be on the good books, any rumours can trigger a sparkle that starts off a fire. Again it shows that the nature of the minds that for most, they prefer to stay away from any controversy and abide to peer group pressure so as to avoid any trouble.

Ignorance is rooted, even ignoring the advice from one's guru, how do one advances on one's spiritual journey when household gossips can make one deviate from one's practice??

Sad but it is a reality, so all the more that motivate me to do whatever I can to spread the truth of Dorje Shugden. All the more, we should do whatever we can, be it distributing the brochures, be it supporting the monasteries like Shar Gaden or Serpom , be it participating in the forum,  be it anything in fact, as the truth will always prevail!!!!

The more people wants to talk bad on Dorje Shugden, the more I want to tell people how wrong and ignorant they are!!!!

problem is it is also human nature  to do proper research before jumping into things,  but these people have  obviously lost the whole thing. They do not do their own research but prefer to listen to hearsay.

When I see people like these i pity them as they will never be able to develop any wisdom for a very long time and yes like you, it does motivate me to want to educate them more about Shugden, but in a friendly and explainable way. There are just so many materials on Shugden and why is he actually enlightened yet so many of his detractors seem to miss them.

[dsiluvu]

I like the way Mana said it, so sarcastic, yet so true

I wonder what the holy temples are going to do with the returned statues/images? Maybe they send Dorje Shugden statues to the foundry and re-melt the metal and re-cast into a Nechung statue? But since the atoms of the metals are the same, re-melt and re-arranging the atoms of the metals does not remove the fact that the atoms are "evil atoms", so I hope they don't do that, because no matter what statue it is being re-casted into, it is still intrisically evil.

Like what Big Uncle said, I am just wondering, is there a way the owner of this website can find a way to collect these statue back and re-distribute them. May be can setup a chapel. The chapel will be primarily used to give out free distributions, and it can allow others to drop off their Dorje Shugden statues if they so decided to do so...

This sounds like a great idea because giving the Dorje Shugden statues to these centre would go to waste.... perhaps create a public collection center/chapel/booth that allows people to send their Dorje Shugden statues. Then on the other side a free distribution of Dorje Shugden statues, images, information etc for those who wish to invite DS. This will look hilarious... but it would be convenient for those who wishes to return DS and those who wish to obtain a stat would discourage the other named centres in the list from throwing or burning DS images... creating more negative deeds from their ignorant actions.

[DharmaSpace]

I had the good fortune to visit the old protector house on the border of gaden and shar gaden. And there are many statues and even pictures of dorje shugden practitioners left by people and the monks who probably could not find any way go against the decree by Dalai Lama or could not find the strength to oppose the society views of the day. If ds was so evil and if one is on the side of the truth why fear to destroy these items unless there is doubt within their hearts.

[pgdharma]

It is so sad to hear that a family who has been praying to and protected by Dorje Shugden decided to get rid of of it upon hearing that Dorje Shugden practice is bad. How can these practitioners be so ignorant? They should check out this website and know more about Dorje Shugden before making such a silly move. How can Dorje Shugden who has been taking care of them all these years suddenly became an evil spirit?

HHDL has reasons for his actions, but the practitioners should at least make an attempt to check out more information before making such a move. I hope they will have no regrets when the ban is lifted.

[Ensapa]

It is so sad to hear that a family who has been praying to and protected by Dorje Shugden decided to get rid of of it upon hearing that Dorje Shugden practice is bad. How can these practitioners be so ignorant? They should check out this website and know more about Dorje Shugden before making such a silly move. How can Dorje Shugden who has been taking care of them all these years suddenly became an evil spirit?

HHDL has reasons for his actions, but the practitioners should at least make an attempt to check out more information before making such a move. I hope they will have no regrets when the ban is lifted.

I have a feeling that they will regret the whole thing but it will be too late back then as they will be faced with much obstacles from betraying their own lineage and doing/making decisions out of fear and hearsay. Because the only research i see them do is asking friends and family. No reading, no investigation. Nothing.

but i guess sadly this is the majority of how the anti Shugden people are and it is shown very clearly.

[Galen]

It is sad to hear how ignorant this family is that they could abandon something they have prayed to for a long time and has helped them in some ways. If they do not want to practice or pray to it anymore, at least respect it enough to give it to someplace who respects it also and not to be destroyed. I have heard that during the initial stages of the ban, there were lots of statues being abandoned by practitioners at the doorstep of Shar Gaden (Gaden Monastery then). The monks there do not know where the DS statues/thanka comes from but they put the statues at the altar and continue to pray to it. That should be the way.