Thank you PC. This is quite funny and quite apt. The cartoon shows Batman slapping Robin for saying something quite stupid. It is also quite ironic because Batman and Robin and from the same team, and should be fighting a common enemy instead of each other. Similarly, the ban has caused such a split within the Sangha.
However, unlike the cartoon, I have not witnessed or heard accounts of Dorje Shugden or Dorje Shugden practitioners fighting back against the people who impose the ban, in a rude or violent way. When I first read about the ban and how badly the Shugden practitioners were treated in the monasteries as well as in the lay communities, I expected to find reports of retaliation because that usually happens, but I couldn't. Against accusations of Shugden being an evil spirit will malevolent intentions against the Dalai Lama, and the Protector being made the scapegoat for the failure of the Tibetan cause, true Dorje Shugden practitioners chose to continue the practice and suffer without any violent protests or aggressive fight backs.
Here are some of the accounts of abuse against Dorje Shugden practitioners and even those who are not for the ban:
Account 1:
Journalists researching the ostracism are intimidated at Otty Tibetan market, May 22, 2008
Two independent French journalists visited Otty, in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, to interview the families of Shugden devotees, who told them their stories of discrimination and human rights abuses. At 6 pm, the journalists went to the Tibetan market where Shugden devotees and non-devotees used to sell clothes together. (The story of how the Shugden devotees have been ostracized by the others in the market has been documented here, along with many other reports of discrimination).
The journalists questioned the officer there about the ostracism being experienced by Shugden devotees. Because the officer denied that Shugden devotees have any problems, the journalists later brought a Shugden devotee to the office and pointed out that there is indeed a problem.
The officer got angry and said: “Why do you question us? You must question the Tibetan representative in Bangalore and the Dalai Lama.” The office was then surrounded by Tibetan men and women – some of whom tried to snatch the journalists’ camera and smash it on the ground. They threatened to beat the journalists, who immediately fled to the nearby police station for protection.
Account 2:
Jamphel Yeshe, the sixty-year-old President of the Dorje Shugden Society, summarized and wrote down his life's contributions upon request from a Dorje Shugden support group. What follows is an extract from the translation of an unpublished biographical statement.
From September 1997, the Tibetan community has been circulating my dossier (one among ten others) published by the Security Bureau of the Tibetan exile government. Like a "wanted poster," it was put up repeatedly on walls of Tibetan settlements around India and Nepal. This poster gives basic information about my whereabouts and that of my family. It also gives defamatory, wrong information about my person, falsely accusing me of working for the Chinese government, the worst possible disgrace for a Tibetan in exile.
This and other defamatory acts that aim at ostracizing me and my family from society have been very painful and changed my life radically. Even worse than the death threats against me were the threats against my wife, who had to leave as a result. I had to send the children abroad for safety reasons. When my six-year-old daughter playfully answered the telephone, anonymous callers told her, "We will kill your Daddy." This traumatized her so severely that she would check on me constantly, try to close all the doors, and prevent me from going outside.
We have all been separated from each other for quite some time now, mother and father from children, husband and wife from each other. In addition, my business is boycotted by Tibetans who believe the distortions of the exile government, and my economic base is disappearing. I am alone and isolated from others in my already isolated exile society.
Account 3:
Deccan Herald reported on Monday, September 11, 2000
Three police officers and more than 30 persons were injured in stone pelting incident in Lama camp of Tibetan settlement, Mundgod on Sunday morning. More than 2000 Lamas including 200 women who are said to be the followers of Dalai Lama took out procession under the leadership of Prema Tsering and tried to destroy Shugden temple and started pelting stones on Shugden devotees. Police personnel resorted to lathi charge and later bursted teargass shells.
That there has been no harsh retaliations against their persecutors, says a lot about Shugden practitioners and the Dorje Shugden himself. Still, I would personally love to do a "Batman" on those who go along with the ban without knowing much.
