NAGBA Protest in New York City

By Brunhild Hekate

The public image of the Dalai Lama as the peaceful icon of Buddhism is fast waning in the West. Many more westerners are beginning to realize that he is not the man of peace that is commonly portrayed. The tragic truth is, his hypocrisy in suppressing freedom of religion and his prosecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners in his new-found homeland have made a mockery of the peaceful and holy image he has projected and advocated over the years. No matter how much the Dalai Lama denies his actions and his lies about Dorje Shugden, the truth will always prevail.

In the wake of the recent peaceful demonstrations across California by the International Shugden Community, dorjeshugden.com would like to bring attention to the peaceful efforts of another community of suppressed Shugden practitioners, who did the same recently in New York City.

Activists of the North American Gelug Buddhist Association (NAGBA) were distributing brochures on 18 December 2013, in hopes of creating awareness of the religious suppression and human rights violations by the Dalai Lama. The following is an account by NAGBA on how the event turned into a protest:

On October 18 as we prepared to hand out books and brochures in front of the Beacon Theatre, one of the Dalai Lama’s supporters attacked us and tried to rip down the banner we were holding. We then started saying “Stop lying Dalai Lama” and the event turned into a protest. The reaction from Tibetans was mixed. Some people even congratulated us and said we were very brave to stand up. Only a few people spit and cursed at us. Overall the experience was not bad. Wonder if maybe many Tibetans have started waking up and realize we have no choice but to do this.

The Beacon Theatre is located right next to a busy hotel full of tourists from all over the world and we got a chance to speak with some of them. They were very open minded about the situation and one young lady from France and a couple from Germany were willing to help us spread our message through the internet when they went back to their countries and they all took of brochures and books. Many Westerners were shocked when they saw the picture of the sign posted at Loseling Monastery which reads: “PUBLIC NOTICE This monastery is under pledge to dissociate itself from any individual or organization practicing Dorje Shugden or having any association with Shugden worshipers.  Therefore, they are requested not to visit this unit of the monastery for any reason. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Anti-Dorje Shugden sign at Loseling Clinic, Drepung Loseling Monastery

We at dorjeshugden.com appeal to all believers of human rights and freedom of religion to give both the International Shugden Community and the North American Gelug Buddhist Association your encouragement, support and prayers for their hard work and dedication to lift the undemocratic ban on our Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden.