what do you think?
Pro - shugden protesters have right to protest, Dalai Lama sayshttp://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=35427&article=Pro+-+shugden+protesters+have+right+to+protest,+Dalai+Lama+saysPhayul[Tuesday, October 28, 2014 22:00]
By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, October 28: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, currently on visit to the US, said the pro-shugden protesters demonstrating outside the venues of his talks have the right to freedom of speech. However, the Tibetan leader also thanked those who had come to express their support for him. "Thank you," said the Tibetan leader.
A small number of pro-shugden protesters stood outside the venue with signs and banners accusing the Tibetan leader of infringing upon their religious rights. One banner even referred to the Tibetan leader as "false Dalai Lama", angering several Tibetans and Buddhists.
The Tibetan leader says he was himself a follower of Dorje Shugden but that he later quit in 1975 for reasons he describes as "strong sectarian overtones" and "a history of contributing to a climate of sectarian disharmony" among the four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetan leader denounces the worship of Dorje Shugden as "spirit worship" and fears that the propitiation of it might degenerate the "rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhism" into "mere propitiation of spirits."
The Tibetan leader was speaking on Monday to some four hundred Tibetans who had travelled from Atlanta, New York and New Jersey and Minnesota to Birmingham, Alabama. The Tibetan leader regularly meets with the local Tibetan communities in the cities he visits around the world.
The Tibetan leader said young Tibetans both in exile and Tibet must acquire good education for a self reliant community.
The Tibetan leader encouraged the Tibetans to pursue the goal of earning money in the US but reminded that they must use their hard-earned money purposefully for the common good.
The 1989 Nobel Laureate also expressed his hope for possible change in China with younger generation of communist leaders gradually coming at the helm. He said, "while the present leadership is made up of people who remember the hardships of the Cultural Revolution, there is a new generation who have experienced freedom and democracy when studying abroad and that when these people come to power there will be a change."
The Dalai Lama, who is known for his commitment to religious harmony, later took part in an interfaith dialogue "Beyond Belief" at the Alabama Theater in Birmingham, Alabama.
He said it is universal that everybody wants to achieve happiness and dispel sorrow but that the approach to achieve happiness must be realistic. “We need to look at the situation from all angles to assess our goal. After thorough examination of whether it can be achieved, we need to judge whether it can be done in a short or long time. That which can be done easily, we should do. That which will take more time, we should be patient about. We have to be truthful and honest, which will attract moral support as people come to trust us. Patience as we wait to take action is a kind of compassionate mind. Impatience on the other hand can be a source of failure,” he added.
The 79 year old Tibetan leader further noted that the existing education systems around the world must inculcate inner values in schools. “No matter how wonderful a religious tradition may be it will not appeal to everyone, so we need a more universal way to teach warm-heartedness and compassion.”
On October 30, His Holiness will give a day-long Buddhist teaching based on Geshe Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses of Training the Mind (lojong tsikgyema) and confer the Generation of Bodhicitta (semkye) organized by the Vietnamese Buddhist community at the Wang Centre for Performing Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.
