The AssumptionLet us consider for a moment that the 14th Dalai Lama is right about Dorje Shugden and let us assume that Dorje Shugden is:
• An evil spirit that is harmful to the life of Tibetan’s Spiritual and Political Leader (which the Dalai Lama still was when the ban was imposed);
• A corrupter of the Dharma and harmful to its practitioners;
• Harmful to the Tibetan Cause and overall wellbeing of Tibetans.
These are very serious threats that has to be tackled with extreme prejudice. That being the case it becomes the duty of every single Tibetan - monk and layperson to take strong action against this demon (as the Dalai Lama is doing now) by terminating it or subduing it with whatever means, and completely eradicating its practice from the face of the earth. But because this demon is not an ordinary being but a dangerous and dark supernatural force, it is beyond the ordinary person to combat it and fighting this demon therefore is a job for those trained in spiritual warfare i.e. the highly attained lamas who are emanations of the various Buddhas. And we are also told that Tibetan Buddhism is well armed with an arsenal of mystical and powerful rituals capable of countering evil forces and so there are effective ways to deal with a demon. There has always been.
Duty Under OathWe can all agree that for the Sangha not to take immediate action against such a malevolent force and stop it from corrupting the Dharma, harming innocent lives and turning them away from the right path and ruining an entire nation known as keepers of the Buddha’s sacred teachings would be an act of callousness and negligence. It tantamount to the breaking of their vows.
The question then is this:Why did an almost entire lineage of Dalai Lamas not do anything about a problem as serious as this? Why did the Great 5th Dalai Lama relent on subduing this demon and allow it to grow stronger and harm more lives? Instead of destroying this evil spirit, why did the 5th Dalai Lama build a grand temple for it and even wrote a praise for it which by that action misled people to think it is safe to indulge in the practice? Was the 5th Dalai Lama wrong? Is it the 5th Dalai Lama’s fault?
Why did the 6th Dalai Lama right up to the 13th Dalai Lama not mount an aggressive crusade against the enemy of the Buddha’s Dharma and one who is hell-bent on destroying Tibet? The 6th to the 12th Dalai Lama did virtually nothing and the 11th Dalai Lama even enthroned it. Were they also wrong? Were 7 successive emanations of Avalokiteshvara fooled by a mere spirit from a small pond? Were they unable to tell the difference between a demon and a Buddha?
Why wasn’t the great and powerful 13th Dalai Lama, the present Dalai Lama’s predecessor more forceful in destroying or subduing a “dolgyal” and instead allowed the most influential lama of the time to get away and continue to spread an evil practice? Why didn’t the 13th Dalai Lama deal with Shugden conclusively? Was the Great 13th negligent? Or was he more concerned with political correctness, putting his own popularity above the purity of the Dharma and the interest of Buddhists under his keep?
Flawed LineagesIf the charges against Dorje Shugden is taken to be a fact, then this evil grew right from under the noses of 9 successive Dalai Lamas who were in fact Avalokiteshvara. It would seem that they stood by placidly and allowed the Buddha’s Dharma to be corrupted and in the process broke a good handful of their Bodhisattva vows. And if the Dalai Lama’s predecessors broke their Bodhisattva vows, then it means that the lineage is tainted and flawed which also means that the present Dalai Lama being the continuation of a flawed line, is also flawed. That begs the question, how then can the Dalai Lama be right when his roots are wrong?
And not only that, it also means that 9 Panchen Lamas who were in fact Amitabha Buddha were also wrong to neglect their duties to protect the Tibetan people and the Dharma because the evil spirit already very present and active during the years of those Panchen Lamas. They too broke their Bodhisattva vows if the Dalai Lama’s claim that Dorje Shugden is an evil spirit, which arose from the 5th Dalai Lama’s era, is taken to be a fact.
In addition, the Dalai Lama is also implying that 8 successive Karmapas have also made grievous errors in not acting against the demon and since the Karmapa is also the emanation of Avalokiteshvara, now the Buddha Of Compassion is doubly wrong. By the Dalai Lama’s definition of Dorje Shugden not only as a national threat but also a threat to the Dharma none of the 8 Karmapas can be excused from taking appropriate action against an enemy of the Dharma by giving the reason that it was not a matter within their sect to handle. That would be like a police officer from one district standing by to watch a murderer do his evil deed because it was not his district to bother with. It doesn’t make sense for the Karmapas not to act, assuming the present Dalai Lama is right.
Can This Be Right?I mean no disrespect whatsoever to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the supreme and holy lineages of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama and the Karmapa. But what the Dalai Lama accuses Dorje Shugden to be, and have been from the beginning, means that almost 400 years of incarnations of High Lamas who were and are also emanations of Buddhas failed in their duties of to uphold the Dharma and to care for the spiritual wellbeing of all sentient beings in those years and thereby failed in providing bodhicitta as well.
Seriously, how can that be? And yet, by implication this is what His Holiness’s actions against the practice of an Enlightened Protector means. The Dalai Lama is in effect saying he alone now is doing what should have been done hundreds of years ago. So what kind of Buddhism is anyone practicing today if an entire hierarchy of attained masters have been wrong for so long. What else is wrong? Either we are all practicing false Dharma or a serious error has been made about Dorje Shugden.
