At the Loseling Clinic in Drepung Loseling Monastery (Karnataka, India), there is clear religious discrimination against Dorje Shugden practitioners who are denied medical care on the basis of their belief
Dear friends around the world,
If you have your personal religious beliefs, you have every right to it and you have every right to express it and share it with others. There is nothing wrong about you having your personal beliefs, except when your beliefs materialize into a ban which brings pain, separation, schism and confusion for millions of people.
The Dorje Shugden practice has been passed down for the last 350 years from one eminent master to another eminent master. These masters were not only Dorje Shugden practitioners, but they were also supreme teachers and meditation experts of the highest caliber, who had mastered both sutra and tantra. They were masters who had spent their whole lives in study, contemplation, meditation and finally, gaining attainments. From their attainments, they had taught the vast corpus of sutras and tantras, and they held their practice of Dorje Shugden very strongly and closely to their hearts. All of these lineage masters who number into the hundreds cannot be wrong about their practice of Dorje Shugden.
It is impossible that all of these masters did not have the wisdom, the learning or perhaps even the clairvoyance to perceive the true nature of Dorje Shugden.
It is impossible that only one person, which is the Tibetan leadership, can be correct in saying Dorje Shugden is negative and that they negate all other masters’ learning, perception and clairvoyance of Dorje Shugden.
Therefore if you have your own opinion and you wish not to practice, that is fine. However you not wishing to practice should not be enforced onto others, nor should you use your name, fame or celebrityhood to suppress the practice, thus creating distress amongst millions around the world.
With the Tibetan communities in India and Nepal, if you practice Dorje Shugden, it is enshrined within the Tibetan constitution-in-exile that in the Tibetan communities, you may not vote. You may not go to any Tibetan hospitals. You may not go to any Tibetan schools, join any monasteries, join in public events, hold office, or get travel documents such as passports. You are not allowed to enter certain places of business or restaurants, nor can you get a job within the Tibetan administration. If you practice Dorje Shugden, none of the above are allowed to you, your immediate family, your children or your parents. This is within the Tibetan constitution.
When you say that Dorje Shugden is a negative practice, that is an opinion; when you say that Dorje Shugden is a negative practice and therefore it is banned, and if anyone does not follow the ban, they are not allowed what every democratic citizen is allowed, this becomes pure dictatorship of the worst type, of the worst kind. It is nothing short of a witch-hunt.
Therefore we at DorjeShugden.com, representing millions around the world, would like to express that the ban against Dorje Shugden should be removed immediately. That all Dorje Shugden practitioners should enjoy the same rights as any other Tibetan within the Tibetan communities; this is very important. The ban against Dorje Shugden and his followers must be removed from the Tibetan constitution in order for the Tibetan government to consider themselves a credible democratic leadership, especially since it survives on the compassion and donations of other democratic nations around the world. In this article from the Tibetan leadership’s own website, you can see clearly that they publish articles and statements against Dorje Shugden. In their public talks, they also state again and again negative propaganda against Dorje Shugden.
In the West and the East, you may have the freedom of religion and you may listen or not listen to the Tibetan leadership’s advice. In India and Nepal however, within the Tibetan communities, if you go against the grain, you will be fully ostracized and branded a traitor, a Chinese spy or someone who is against the Dalai Lama, none of which you are. So please take heed of this article and visit DorjeShugden.com for much more information to understand what is behind the ban.
Thank you.
Admin
www.dorjeshugden.com
Click the image above to view the article in full (opens in a new window)
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Jampa Tsering
March 3, 2014
Dalai Lama should do something already:
The protests will not stop and this issue will not die off till it’s handled correctly. His HOliness the Dalai Lama or the Tibetan leadership MUST have dialogue with Shugden groups in a peaceful and logical manner to resolve this issue in a democratic manner. These protests which are all over the media will embarrass the the Tibetan leadership and unfortunately tarnish the Dalai Lama’s international reputation. Something must be done immediately. I do not worship Dorje Shugden but I live in USA and freedom of religion is honored. We Tibetans have religious freedom here in the USA. All Tibetans and people of the world deserve it also. It is outdated for CTA leadership to ban any religions, spiritual worship or practices in this day and age with Tibetans and Tibetan communities.
Tibetans and Tibetan leadership still rely on Western support of their causes. So it would be better to portray to Westerners and their governments that we Tibetans (CTA) are not having witch hunts. You may have theological differences, but that should not equate to having actual laws banning Shugden Tibetans from Tibetan hospitals, monasteries, schools and equal opportunity. The CTA should stop printing flyers/information/distributions, remove all anti-Shugden write ups from their official website. All Shugden Tibetans should be welcomed into mainstream Tibetan life and join the protest for a Free or autonomous (Depending on Dalai Lama) Tibet against the Chinese just like our Muslim and Bonpo Tibetans. CTA should stop dividing Tibetans. His Holiness (with respect) should stop calling Shugden people spirit worshippers. He is insulting someone’s faith and inevitably inciting ignorant Tibetans to act (sometimes violently: http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/the-controversy/cta-creates-violence-again/ )against Shugden people. That should stop. It does not look good for H.H. Dalai Lama to be seen in this light where he encourages religious discrimination. He should not call anyone a spirit worshipper. This really looks bad: Dalai Lama angrily replies to peaceful nun
I don’t agree with the nun’s approach but I don’t agree with Dalai Lama’s answer. His Holiness invited this upon himself I respectfully say.
I love my Tibet, I love the Dalai Lama and proud to be a Tibetan, but there are issues within our society and religion that need to be addressed immediately such as the Shugden issue. The Dalai Lama and Tibetan lamas all get their support/finances from foreigners. Foreigners and their democratic views must be respected.
Jampa Tsering
US press clearly talking about protests against Dalai Lama. This is not good:
http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/news/extensive-media-coverage-of-dalai-lama-protests/
sam
March 8, 2014
Whether the practice of Dorje Shugden is demonic or spirit worshiping, which is wrongly portrayed, it is the right of the people who had practiced for centuries and the right of the people who are still practicing, and the right of the people who will continue to practice. I urge the government of independent states in this modern world to sit up and notice what the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration are unjustly doing to its own people and those people around the world who are practicing Dorje Shugden, a practice that has helped countless people in the past, present and future. I urge these governments to speak up and say IT IS WRONG TO SUPPRESS AND OSTRACIZE the innocent and peace loving people who just want to have their religious freedom reinstated.
samayakeeper
March 21, 2014
Below is what Dana Drake wrote on my FB page and below that is my reply.
Dana Drake
The Dalai Lama has researched Dorje Shugden and feels he is a malevolent, imposter spirit. Should you choose to pray to him, it is your right. However do not ask the Dalai Lama to change his beliefs or his followers beliefs. If you do not agree, how can you expect to remain in monasteries that practice different beliefs? Also it is highly believed that China is using Shugden to attack and undermine the Dalai Lama. Shugden has caused division in Tibet and Dharamsala which is what the Chinese want. It is no coincidence.
Sam Kee
I find it strange that the Dalai Lama who is considered to be the emanation of Chenrezig needed to research and feels that Dorje Shugden is a malevolent, imposter spirit. That implies that he would have researched and feels his gurus are not highly attained masters since he claims that his teachers are wrong. That would mean his learning from his gurus is flawed. Hence his gurus’ gurus and so on leading to Buddha Shakyamuni were all wrong. Therefore the Dalai Lama is the only one who is right.
Since it is the right for one to exercise one’s religious belief, then the Dalai Lama should not have put a ban on others who are practicing their belief. Where is religious freedom?
Those who continue to practice are segregated and they have no voting right, they cannot be admitted to any Tibetan hospitals and schools, they cannot join any monasteries and public events, they cannot get travel documents such as passports, they are not allowed to enter certain places of business and restaurants, nor can they get jobs within the Tibetan administration. If they practice Dorje Shugden, none of the above is allowed to them, their immediate family, their children or their parents. And this is all within the Tibetan constitution. Where is human right?