When I think of the FPMT and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, I cannot help but have this image of a huge and impressive oak tree that is hollowing out from the inside and rotting at the roots, beneath the surface. And I say this based on what I can gather from teachings from the Lama Yeshe's Archives itself.
When I first started to become interested in Tibetan Buddhism, there were scant information that I found to be reliable and consistent and with comprehensive information. There two resources I found which were helpful were lamayeshe.com and tsemrinpoche.com. Frankly after I heard about the Dorje Shugden ban, I stopped relying on lamayeshe.com because on the one hand Lama Yeshe was hailed by the FPMT and even Lama Zopa as a Buddha and on the other hand, they regard him as a fallen teacher because he was a keen practitioners of the deity they now regard as "dolgyal" apparently [to them now] a malicious deity and a common river ghost. I found these 2 thoughts disturbingly inconsistent.
In fact, a number of things about Lama Zopa and FPMT disturbing:
1. I read on numerous occasions that Lama Yeshe would never start anything important before consulting and propitiating this "ghost" including asking for this dolgyal's help to build what is today the FPMT. That got me stumped! Why would a malicious river ghost help Lama Yeshe build what was then a Buddhist fortress that preaches Lama Tsongkhapa's teachings? Wouldn't helping lama Yeshe build a Dharma institute be the act of a being who is synonymous with the dharma and not the anti-dharma? I mean a malicious being would surely wish to see any institution propagating the dharma fail or become destroyed.
2. As a new student of Lama Tsongkhapa's lineage, one of the first texts I was taught was the Yön-ten-shir-gyur-ma. In fact, it was taught by Khunu Rinpoche and translated by Lama Zopa to the students in Nepal in 1975! And the very first line said:
The foundation of all good qualities is the kind and venerable guru;
Correct devotion to him is the root of the path.
By clearly seeing this and applying great effort,
Please bless me to rely upon him with great respect.And a few stanzas later, I read this for the first time which moved me deeply:
At that time, the basis of accomplishing the two attainments
Is keeping pure vows and samaya.
Having become firmly convinced of this,
Please bless me to protect these vows and pledges like my life.I was told that the above stanzas meant that the foundation for Bodhicitta and Wisdom i.e. the two pre-requisites for enlightenment, is to keep the vows and commitments made to especially to the Guru and to guard these with our lives!
So why did Lama Zopa teach this key practice in 1975 and then go on to break his commitments to his Guru and the very Dharma Protector who must have also be one with his Guru, Lama Yeshe, after it became politically correct to do so??? So, what is it - vows or commitments or become sycophantically and politically correct? And why does Lama Zopa now prevent FPMT students from practicing this key "foundation" of Vajrayana? Why does the FPMT claim to follow Lama Tsongkhapa's teachings even though they have demolished the foundations Tsongkhapa said to establish and protect with their lives?
This instructions were written by Lama Tsongkhapa himself! Lama Zopa's abandonment of his teacher's practice of Dorje Shugden and encouraging/forcing others to do so means that, not only does he think Lama Yeshe was wrong but also that Lama Tsongkhapa was wrong. Lama Tsongkhapa did not teach "...please bless me to protect these vows and pledges until it became financially and politically beneficial to break them..."
If the FPMT no longer trusts Lama Tsongkhapa's sintructions, why not tear down FPMT and start Lama Zopa own lineage that cherry picks what teachings suit them and discard what doesn't. Why even keep LamaYeshe.com up (not to mention the statue of Lama Yeshe) when it was written by such a 'hopeless' Lama who could not tell the difference between an enlightened Dharma Protector and a common ghost???
Either you believe through and through and keep your commitments and vows all the way as Lama Tsongkhapa instructed or you cannot regard yourself as a legitimate holder of the lineage.
3. By the FPMT's own reckoning, Lama Zopa is a bit of a demon worshipper. Not by my words but by actions of Lama Zopa - (i) first by still,venerating Lama Yeshe, a demon practitioner again by the FPMT's reckoning since Lama Trusted trusted "dolgyal" so much and (ii) Later I read that Lama Zopa would also pay respects and worship the holy stupa with Trijang Dorje Chang's remains are kept. [see this
http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/the-controversy/lama-zopa-worships-trijang-rinpoches-stupa/Why would Lama Zopa worship Trijang Dorje Chang's holy stupa unless he believed and knew that it contained the relics of a Buddha? If Dorje Shugden is truly a demonic force, then Trijang Dorje Chang was at fault because it was Trijang Dorje Chang was the one who taught that Dorje Shugden is in fact Manjushri, the same belief Lama Yeshe held. Shouldn't Lama Zopa and his FPMT campaign to destroy the stupa and throw away the ashes like they did with the ashes of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen who arose as Dorje Shugden? To be seen worshipping Trijang Dorje Chang's holy stupa is to encourage others to do the same. Why do the opposite of what you preach?
Again this is highly inconsistent.
Hence my opening words i.e. I cannot help but think of Lama Zopa and FPMT as hollow since they renounced Dorje Shugden.
4. And to cap it all off, Lama Zopa himself wrote that he was recognised by the oracle of Domo Geshe's monastery and who else can this oracle be but the hugely famous oracle of Dorje Shugden.
Lama Zopa wrote:
"...Next day in the morning my aunt made a very nice thermos of tea and bread in a bamboo container inside a basket and took me to the small branch monastery of Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s main monastery about fifteen to twenty minutes’ walk away, where I met the tall monk again – he was the Lopon of this small monastery. The Lopon heard stories of me from people in the village, that I was a tulku from Lawudo near Thami. So the Lopon for his own benefit
asked the oracle of the monastery if this was true".
The is the very same oracle of Domo Geshe's monastery who famously took trance of Dorje Shugden and Kache Marpo and Namka Barzin (both deities are also in Dorje Shugden's entourage and assists Dorje Shugden) whom the 14th Dalai Lama had met earlier and then proceeded to write the famous praise of Dorje Shugden called Melody Of Unceasing Vajra. In it the 14th Dalai Lama referred to Dorje Shugden as:
"...Miraculously powerful protector of Manjusri Tsongkhapa’s Teachings
Arisen as a lord of all wrathful worldly hosts
Come from the abodes of Tushita, Kechara, and so forth"Who else would guard Manjushri and Tsongkhapa's teachings and come from Tushita, Kechara and so forth except a Buddha??? So Lama Zopa is saying the 14th Dalai Lama, Chenresiz himself messed up!
5. Let's set aside all these dharma stuff. I have seen pictures of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa. There was so much love and care. Lama Zopa himself said that Lama Yeshe was like his own father and mother. So what happened? What happened to simple old gratitude and loyalty?
So why does Lama Zopa still keep a statue of his Guru Lama Yeshe and encourage others to revere Lama Yeshe and at the same time, denounce Lama yes he's trusted Protector? Only a few logical reasons:1. Lama Zopa was forced by the CTA to do so. In fact, in Lama Zopa's first comments about Dorje Shugden after the Dalai Lama's ban on the practice, Lama Zopa refused to outrightly denounce the deity and even said that he is not saying that Dorje Shugden is bad.
Lama Zopa in a answer to a question on Dorje Shugden wrote this:
"Recently, I also introduced a new guideline for the protection of the Dharma centers and their students, which is not to invite to the center teachers who do the protector practice and are therefore against His Holiness the Dalai Lama. However, this doesn’t include gurus who may have practiced the protector in the past. It doesn’t mean that they’re bad. I’m not saying that. If you have already made a Dharma connection with such teachers and you criticize them or give them up, that is totally incorrect; that is opposite to lam-rim practice. The lam-rim, sutra, and tantra teachings all explain how to practice guru devotion so that we can avoid creating such heavy negative karmas as criticizing our gurus. It’s for our benefit. Since we disciples want profit, not loss, since we aspire to achieve the highest profit, enlightenment, the complete qualities of cessation and realization, it is crucial to know how to practice guru devotion".That the complete opposite of Lama Zopa's actions in supporting the 14th Dalai Lama to force practitioners to denounce their Dorje Shugden worshipping teachers regardless of whether they are still alive or not!
2. Lama Zopa is putting on a show for the Dalai Lama and Tibetan government not to get into trouble but are still quietly practicing Dorje Shugden. The Dalai Lama's government (The Central Tibetan Administration) is known to use heavy handed means to force people to stop, even violence and abusing legislative instruments to criminalise the practice.
3. Lama Zopa and FPMT simply sold out and chose to follow the Dalai Lama's political diktat instead of being loyal to Lama Yeshe and Lama Tsongkhapa.
In any case, the FPMT is very much part of the machinery that is eroding the the integrity of the dharma, the sanctity of Guru Devotion and the purity of Lama Tsongkhapa's lineage. You may say they had no choice but many other lamas like Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche, Gonsar Rinpoche, Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, Pabongka Rinpoche, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche and many others chose to protect Tsongkhapa's foundation and the honour of their teacher with their lives.
Lama Zopa? Well he made what he thought was savvy business move. So, yup...hollow. Like a tree that has forfeited its roots. Lama Tsonghapa's lineage is 600 years old and is growing in spite of the Dalai Lama's attempts to tear it down. There are no 600 year old business that is still standing no matter how politically correct they were...except for the profession of 'soliciting' in the liberal sense of the word.
