CTA Continues to Spread Hate Campaign

by Shashi Kei

The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) again shows their true colours, this time by compelling Dharma centres around the world to publicly denounce Buddhist practitioners who do not agree with the Dalai Lama’s “advice” which the CTA is enforcing.

In their latest installment of separatist activity, the CTA have induced centres from Germany, the Unites States and now Italy to condemn the deity Dorje Shugden and its practitioners, thereby spreading hatred and divisions amongst Tibetan Buddhists around the world. Instead of using the public platform to promote harmony amongst Tibetans and Buddhists alike, they instead continue in their hate campaign and have obligated dharma centres overseas to participate in their schism and policy of marginalization of Shugden practitioners.

In the latest statement titled, STATEMENT CONCERNING THE CULT OF DOGYAL/SHUGDEN, published on their website on June 9th 2014, the CTA listed 24 centres in Italy who have joined in disparaging Dorje Shugden and its believers.

Click on image to enlarge

Again, like previous public statements, this one denies that there is even a ban on the Shugden practice and yet it should be noted that the length to which the CTA has gone in their denials shows that there is something they feel obliged to hide and repudiate.

Why bother asking centres around the world to declare that Dorje Shugden is bad and “devilish” to begin with if not to create divisions within Buddhist communities in Italy?

Why create a social demarcation and an “us against them” sentiment when there is none to begin with?

Why encourage practitioners in those countries to attended only selected centres thereby inferring that centres that are no named are “illegal” or not practicing proper Dharma?

These measures have no other intentions than to spread the poison from the ban into communities worldwide. What kind of a government seeks to be so heavily involved in a spiritual issue especially when it is proving to be ineffective, if not absolutely incompetent in the duties they are charged to do, that is, to manage the affairs for the good of all Tibetans in the exile community, to progress (instead of regress) the process of democratization for Tibetans, to foster harmony amongst an already beleaguered people, and to implement good and effective strategies to return the Tibetans to their homeland as the CTA had promised for over half a century?

What good does it serve for the CTA to continue to carry on in its official websites, posts and articles that serve to separate the Tibetan people and carry the smear campaign all over the globe where people have sponsored the rebuilding and maintenance of all Tibetans, not selected ones who dare not oppose the government?

The publishing of this latest article not only makes the CTA look like an instrument of a dictatorial regime but also makes the CTA look absurd. For instance in one of the points in the article it is stated;

2) His Holiness is accused of suppressing freedom of religion. This is untrue, as nobody has ever been banned from invoking this spirit privately, in temples and monasteries where this practice is followed

It is clear that the CTA means that no one can worship Dorje Shugden publicly. A man’s house is his castle and of course a person can do whatever he likes in his own home so long as it is not illegal. Why is there a need to stress that one can only practice this deity in secret and not in public? How can you say that there is no ban and yet in the same sentence insist that you can only practice your religion in hiding?

And as if, not contented with proving to the public how ridiculously prejudiced this supposed democratic government is, the article goes on to say that in practicing Dorje Shugden…

There is the danger that Tibetan Buddhism could degenerate into a kind of spirit cult, as the practice of Dogyal/Shugden brings its followers to consider this spirit as more important than Buddha himself.

and,

There is the actual possibility that this practice could be an obstacle toward the creation of a true non-sectarian culture, in total contrast with one of the objectives that His Holiness is mostly concerned with, namely, the fostering of true harmony amongst all religions.

and finally,

there are problems connected to the preservation of Tibetan culture, which have existed since the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama (seventeenth century).

Clearly there is a lack of conviction in the things the CTA accuses Dorje Shugden of. There are dangers everywhere in life itself and there is a danger in driving on roads. Why not ban driving? There is a danger that any of the five main and recognized schools of Tibetan Buddhism may be abused by unqualified practitioners especially when we consider that Tibetan Buddhism consists of an uncountable number of deities as well as mundane and supra-mundane beings. Hence, the critical importance of learning only from qualified masters based on a pure lineage has been proven over centuries to be sound. So why does the CTA pick on Dorje Shugden specifically amongst an extensive range of deities and claim that there is a possibility it could be bad?

There are a litany of complaints against spiritual practitioners from just about all kinds of religions and whether founded or unfounded, you don’t see any government banning a religious practice just on the odd possibility that it may pose a danger. China did ban the Falungong practice, and there have been military governments who have suppressed religious worship among its minority population and in the Dark Ages, Ferdinand Torquemada did begin the Spanish Inquisition against his regime’s political enemies. But these are dictatorial regimes and one can only conclude that indeed this is what the CTA is, and not a democracy by which it has solicited support and millions of dollars annually from worldwide sponsors wishing to see the Tibetan people enjoy genuine freedom under a democracy.

As to how the worship of Dorje Shugden poses a problem to the preservation of the Tibetan culture is a complete mystery. The practice of Shugden IS a rich part of the Tibetan culture and it is the ban that is creating problems for the preservation of its culture.

In all the CTA’s literature and propaganda against Dorje Shugden, there is always a reference to “carefully examined research” supposedly to support the accusation why Dorje Shugden’s practice is harmful. Similarly there is the well-worn accusation of Shugden practitioners being responsible for the 1997 triple murder that has remain unsolved.

If there truly is such evidence, surely it is the responsibility of the government to produce them publicly and table all such proofs for examination and public debates, not only in Tibetan but also in English. Surely this would solve the dispute once and for all. To have concrete proof that a 360-year old religious practice is harmful and not produce evidence so that those who are engaged in the practice can cease in their worship is just uncompassionate. This is how a fair and democratic government would behave, instead of lobbing baseless and defamatory messages into the public without any proof whatsoever.

But instead the CTA is continuing in its campaign to divide Buddhist communities around the world. Just looking at the list of Italian Dharma Centres that are supposedly opposed to Dorje Shugden, it is also clear that the CTA’s clear hand in procuring this joint statement is creating disharmony within the centres themselves. Many of the centres on the list are FPMT centres whose spiritual director, the Ven. Lama Zopa had stated unequivocally in the past that, “This does not mean that Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo, His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche, and His Holiness Song Rinpoche have made mistakes. It does not mean they are wrong. Nor does one have to look at the protector (Dorje Shugden) as evil. For us ordinary people it is difficult to judge, because we cannot see these lamas’ minds. Another side of the teaching is that it is mentioned that the protector is an Arya Bodhisattva, a manifestation of Manjushri. So, then, there is also the risk of our creating very heavy karma in that context”. The recent statement places the listed FPMT centres at odds with the advice of Lama Zopa.

In the end, it is Tibetan Buddhism that suffers as the general public becomes confused and lost in the myriad of lies and accusations. The Buddha taught the Dharma to help eliminate confusion and tension, not create problems for those who are on the path to discover the truth, like the CTA is doing.

The CTA’s acts of decreeing a religious ban, and then allowing various politicians such as the Speaker of Parliament, Penpa Tsering, to make disparaging comments on religious issues, and inciting public violence against practitioners of a belief, and now compelling Dharma centres around the world to participate in the campaign to create even more schism is the real problem and is the one that poses real and imminent danger to the Tibetan people’s culture and religion.