The Dalai Lama Ends The Dorje Shugden Ban

The opinion piece below was sent to dorjeshugden.com for publication. We accept submissions from the public, please send in your articles to [email protected].
 

By: Shashi Kei

During a teaching in January this year, the Dalai Lama very casually overturned the ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden which he had instigated over twenty-three years ago. It was easy to miss the significance of what he said because of the incidental manner in which the Dalai Lama addressed the subject. However, to those attuned to the subtleties of the Dalai Lama’s manner of speaking, it was clear that the campaign which the Tibetan leadership had unleashed against Shugden Buddhists was at an end.

When the Dalai Lama decided to smother the practice of the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden, he was well aware of the power of his words over the Tibetan people. They regard him as a Buddha and every word he utters, even mere suggestions, are taken as decrees. And so, in 1996 when the Dalai Lama gave what he termed an ‘advice’ against the practice of the Dharmapala Dorje Shugden, the Tibetan exile government known as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) immediately took aggressive measures that culminated in laws condemning the religious practice as a “crime against humanity”.

Dorje Shugden on Tibet.net: The Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies’ Resolutions (June 1996). Click to enlarge.

A prominent section of the CTA’s official website was dedicated to condemning Shugden Buddhists, indicating that it was official policy to oppose the belief. Within that section, the CTA posted anti-Dorje Shugden Parliamentary Resolutions, government notices and a slew of articles that demonized the deity. Even the failure of the Tibetan people to regain their homeland was attributed to the practice of Dorje Shugden. To further spur the Tibetan people to turn against the ancient practice, the Dalai Lama claimed that worshipping Dorje Shugden would shorten his life. Ironically, the same website boasted of the CTA’s democratic values and its guarantee of religious freedom for all Tibetan people.

The Dalai Lama’s global influence meant that the campaign against Shugden believers extended well beyond the Tibetan exile community in India. Non-Tibetan Dalai Lama supporters joined in the anti-Shugden sentiment in the mistaken belief that the Dalai Lama was the most competent Buddhist monk in the world and, therefore, uniquely qualified to endorse or discredit the validity of any Buddhist practice. Others fell for the CTA’s ruse that framed the Shugden practice as a political ploy of the Chinese government aimed at undermining the Dalai Lama. It was a sly but extremely effective scheme.

In short, the Dalai Lama and the CTA painted the Dorje Shugden practice as categorically evil and to be avoided at all costs. There was no misunderstanding about this – the Dalai Lama repeatedly reminded the Tibetan people of how the practice would harm him and ruin their chances of regaining their country. Scores of sycophantic pro-Dalai Lama writers and monks ranted about how evil Dorje Shugden was. Some, like the FPMT’s Dagri Rinpoche (who has been arrested by Indian police and is now under investigation for decades of sexual harassment against nuns and female practitioners), made a grandstanding show of support for the Dalai Lama by leading powerful rituals to supposedly kill this ‘demon’. Under the directive of the Dalai Lama, Shugden-worshipping monks were expelled from their monasteries. This sentiment dominated the Tibetan socio-political landscape from the mid-1990s when the Dalai Lama’s campaign against Dorje Shugden started.

So, it came as a complete surprise when the Dalai Lama casually remarked in his January 2020 teaching that it was fine to worship Dorje Shugden as a birth deity (kye lha) or a land god (yul lha). Although the Dalai Lama persisted in questioning the historic status of Dorje Shugden as the Protector of Lama Tsongkapa’s lineage, his consent for the worship of the deity was a drastic reversal of official Tibetan policy that had stood for over two decades. The Dalai Lama had just ended a ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden that the Tibetan leadership had pursued aggressively since 1996.

Some have suggested that the Dalai Lama made an error and did not, in fact, intend to lift the prohibition on Dorje Shugden. However, there were three other hints to indicate that the Tibetan leader’s attitude towards Dorje Shugden has actually changed:

1. The Dalai Lama raised the subject on his own. There were no new developments on the Dorje Shugden front that made it necessary for him to address this very sensitive issue. Nor was his mention of Dorje Shugden in response to questions about the subject. So, it is clear that the Dalai Lama intended to convey a point specifically with regard to the Shugden issue.
2. The Dalai Lama referred to the deity by the proper name, ‘Dorje Shugden’, which means ‘the adamantine force that protects the Gelug’. For over twenty-three years, the Dalai Lama had called the deity by the derogatory name ‘Dolgyal’, which translates to ‘angry spirit of the river Dol’. By addressing the deity respectfully on this occasion, the Dalai Lama signaled that it is time to stop disparaging Dorje Shugden.
3. The Dalai Lama’s tone was amiable and gentle when he spoke about Dorje Shugden. This, too, was a departure from the scathing, derisive manner which the Dalai Lama had previously employed to refer to ‘Dolgyal’ whenever he wanted to perpetuate public animosity against Dorje Shugden.

The prominent ‘Dolgyal’ banner on the Tibetan government’s official website has been removed since the Dalai Lama announced that it is acceptable for Dorje Shugden to be worshiped. Whilst the section that condemns Dorje Shugden still exists, it has been discreetly moved to an inconspicuous section. Click to enlarge.

We must remember that the Dalai Lama is a master politician and an eloquent orator. He is deliberate in his actions and extremely masterful in his ability to move an audience with mere words. Without any military or economic might to speak of, the Dalai Lama has been able to keep world leaders and citizens focused on the Tibetan issue for over sixty years and tip the balance against China, an extremely powerful rising force. A grandmaster such as the Dalai Lama would not carelessly and accidentally revoke a ban on a supposedly evil activity that harms the Tibetan cause, puts his own life at peril and jeopardizes the sanctity of the Buddhist religion.

Perhaps the best evidence that the Dalai Lama intended to end the persecution of Shugden believers is the sudden disappearance of the prominent ‘Dolgyal’ banner on the CTA’s website. That banner served as an ongoing official warning for Tibetans to not practice Dorje Shugden and to not associate with Shugden Buddhists. The simultaneous disappearance of the banner indicates that the Dalai Lama’s words were no mistake.

Given the seriousness of the Dorje Shugden ban, the large number of lives it affected, and the seismic consequences it had on the Tibetan Buddhist community worldwide, one would have expected the Tibetan leadership to make a very public announcement about this drastic change of stance on such an important issue. However, this is not the Tibetan way, especially when it comes to the 14^th Dalai Lama.

It is not in the 14^th Dalai Lama’s nature to admit that he has made a mistake. There have been many instances that attest to this. One clear case was the Dalai Lama’s overreach of his authority to endorse Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the 17^th Karmapa, overriding the protocol of the Karma Kagyu sect. It was not the Dalai Lama’s right to interfere in the spiritual affairs of the Karma Kagyu, whose tradition precedes the Dalai Lama line.

His Holiness the 14^th Shamarpa who pointed out the Dalai Lama’s error in meddling with the recognition of the 17^th Karmapa. Click to enlarge.

The 14^th Shamarpa Mipham Chokyi Lodro, the second-highest ranking lama of the Karma Kagyu sect pointed out the Dalai Lama’s error, which had turned the Karma Kagyu on its head. The Dalai Lama should have acted immediately to correct his mistake after the Shamarpa pointed it out. It would have saved the Karma Kagyu from the carnage that it suffered for twenty-seven years as the result of the Dalai Lama’s unwarranted meddling. But the Dalai Lama did not. Instead, the Dalai Lama reportedly replied that he had already made the decision and could not withdraw his endorsement.

This episode indicates that it would be completely out of character for the Dalai Lama to publicly announce that he made a mistake with regards to Dorje Shugden. So, instead of officially overturning the Tibetan leadership’s ruling on the Shugden practice, the Dalai Lama suggested an exception to the ban on the worship of Dorje Shugden that renders the prohibition against the practice practically meaningless.

The classification of Dorje Shugden as kye lha or yul lha is a relatively insignificant detail. The list of gods and Buddhas in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon is inexhaustible and covers lhas or gods who are often accepted as emanations of enlightened beings. The Great 5^th Dalai Lama wrote rituals popularizing the inclusion of worldly gods, including yul lhas in formal prayers. Lamas of all Tibetan Buddhist sects over the centuries did the same. So, to regard Dorje Shugden as a kye lha or yul lha is to restore the practice as an acceptable part of mainstream Tibetan Buddhism.

What could have led to this sudden, albeit rather coy, reversal? No one can say for sure. To do so would require insight into why the Dalai Lama implemented the ban to begin with. This is problematic because the Tibetan leadership has never actually presented any real evidence or sound reasons to justify its infringement on the religious freedom of Shugden Buddhists.

Over the decades, a number of postulations have emerged. The Dorje Shugden conflict has been said to be:

• A scheme of the Dalai Lama’s clique to consolidate power by forcing all the different Tibetan Buddhist schools to merge into a single one under the Dalai Lama, achieved by weakening opponents to the design;
• A strategy to distract the restless Tibetan refugee populace from focusing on the Tibetan leadership’s failure to deliver on decades of promises;
• A ploy to create chaos within the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) to gain bargaining power with the Chinese government;
• The machinations of rival sects jealous of Gelug supremacy and who had the ear of the Dalai Lama.

Click to enlarge

Whatever the Dalai Lama’s reasons were to suppress the Dorje Shugden practice, it appeared on the surface to be a success when it was actually a complete disaster. Outwardly, some Tibetans obeyed the Dalai Lama’s persecution of Shugden Buddhists because they believed in the absurd accusations. Most did so to avoid being accused of going against the Dalai Lama, which is typically hazardous. Then, there were those who seized the opportunity to curry favor with the Dalai Lama establishment by supporting the Shugden oppression. But behind closed doors, many Tibetans and confused supporters of the Tibetan cause were beginning to lose faith in him.

Gyalchen Dorje Shugden was, after all, a four-hundred-year-old practice advocated by the greatest luminaries and pandits of the Gelug and Sakya schools, including the Dalai Lama’s tutors. Also, regardless of how the Dalai Lama personally felt about the practice, isn’t the Tibetan leadership a democracy that upholds the basic principles of human rights, including the right to worship? If so, then the oppression of Shugden Buddhists’ rights go against the very essence of freedom and democracy.

Time became the most proficient interlocutor for the case against the Tibetan leadership’s campaign to eliminate the Dorje Shugden practice. The unpopular religious ban was tolerated because it was believed that doing away with Dorje Shugden would strengthen the Tibetan people’s efforts to regain their country. Instead, the Tibetan cause deteriorated even further as the Tibetan leadership became embroiled in a series of internal rivalries, corruption charges and sex scandals.

The Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje (left) whom the Tibetan leadership did not endorse and the Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje (right) who is the Dalai Lama’s choice of Karmapa, in a show of unity, a subtle but firm message to the Tibetan government.

In the meantime, the Tibetan exile populace languished. Dwindling numbers in the refugee settlements indicate that most no longer believe in the Tibetan leadership’s ability to adequately provide for them, let alone take on the powerful Chinese government.

The Dalai Lama’s subtle reversal of the ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden may well be a silent acknowledgment that he made a mistake. Or, it could be the Dalai Lama’s attempt to curb the speed with which his power is diminishing. Besides countless failed promises to return the Tibetan people to their homeland and failure to provide the necessary economic infrastructure for exiled Tibetans to sustain meaningful livelihoods, the Dalai Lama also miscalculated the strength of his dominance, not only over his own Gelug sect but also over the other Tibetan Buddhist schools.

The 17^th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who was endorsed by the Dalai Lama, absconded and closed ranks with the rival Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje, who was never acknowledged by the Dalai Lama and CTA. The coming together of the two Karma Kagyu leaders delivered a very firm message to Dharamsala – that the Karma Kagyu no longer accepts the Dalai Lama’s self-proclaimed authority over them. This is confirmed by their snub of the Dalai Lama in subsequent major religious ceremonies such as the recognition of Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje’s newborn son as the reincarnation of Shamarpa Mipham Chokyi Lodro, who had passed into clear light not long after his confrontation with the Dalai Lama. In the past sixty years, such an important event would only be regarded as having legitimacy if it carried the Dalai Lama’s seal of approval. This time, the Dalai Lama was not consulted and, in fact, not even invited to attend the ceremony.

Going against Nyingma tradition, Dudjom Rinpoche was appointed as the supreme head of the Nyingma sect. He was previously imprisoned by the Tibetan government for not toeing the Tibetan Government’s line.

Other Tibetan Buddhist schools appear to have also taken drastic steps to insulate themselves from any machinations of the Tibetan leadership. The Sakya sect made changes to its succession system. The Nyingmas announced that they would do away with the selection and appointment of a single spiritual leader to preside over the Nyingma sect. That, too, was a subtle but clear rejection of the Dalai Lama’s interference in Nyingma affairs. It was never a Nyingma tradition to have a single spiritual leader until the Dalai Lama appointed one during the period of exile.

The Dalai Lama’s new proclamation on the worship of Dorje Shugden may be lamentably late. Still, it is a welcome step and one that is necessary to heal the deep fracture that has afflicted the holy lineage of Je Tsongkapa. Today, the Gelug sect is still divided into two groups – one that embraces the worship of Dorje Shugden, and another group that condemns the deity as an anti-dharma entity. This division has severely damaged the credibility of the Gelug and confused countless spiritual seekers. Perhaps, it is now time for the Gelug to reconcile.