I count myself very lucky that I have been adopted by this beautiful country of Malaysia. And because the Malaysian government is a truly democratic one, I have the freedom to practise whatever religion I choose. I see this with my own eye because the government and the people of this country embrace diversity and see it as a strength. It is this prevailing mentality has benefited everyone in the country and we have all gained from it tremendously.
As a Tibetan monk, I have also been able to freely share my culture, history and the Dharma with anyone who cares to listen. In that way, the democratic government of Malaysia has helped to keep our rich Tibetan culture and rich traditions alive.
Having experienced this benefit and at the same time seeing how much the Tibetan people have suffered segregation for so long, I feel compelled to speak in the hopes that my simple words will help heal a deep fracture that has sadly impacted all Tibetans worldwide, and in the hopes that my pleas will bring about some change in the minds of those who listen to my thoughts.
You see, we Tibetans are already a small nation of people and today we are scattered everywhere around the world. This separation has weakened us very badly and all Tibetans are affected regardless of the region we come from, our religious tradition and our political preferences. Ultimately, all these do not matter if the Tibetan identity becomes extinct completely. And so, the last thing we need is to allow another poisonous issue divide the Tibetan community even more to the point we become crippled as a body of people. By this, I mean the Dorje Shugden conflict that the Central Tibetan Administration, or the CTA (the Tibetan leadership), has allowed to persist and even promotes with its existing policies.
Diversity is very common today and we see powerful nations being built on many diverse backgrounds and yet the citizens of these nations have strong national identities and pride. Whether a nation of people live in harmony or great strife and disharmony depends very much on the government. If the government allows and protects diversity and respects differences and sees everyone as being equal as a liberal and democratic government should, then the differences do not matter. On the other hand, if the government makes big issues out of what separates the people, then there is chaos as we see in the Tibetan community.
Today, there is disharmony within the Tibetan people and they are divided. This is because Tibetan leadership allows and encourages issues that separate people, such as the Dorje Shugden issue. But now the Tibetans need to decide what is more important – for the collective nation to survive or for a small faction to win over another in unnecessary conflict at the overall cost of Tibetan unity.
For the Tibetan people to survive, the CTA must urgently start behaving like a democratic government that the Dalai Lama intends it to be, and stop its persistence in persecuting its own people because it disagrees with the people’s religious belief.
VIDEO: A Solution for Tibetan Unity
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi Tashi Delek,
My name is Tsem Tulku. I am from Gaden Monastery and since 1996, there has been a ban against the protector deity of 400 years, Dorje Shugden. I have received the Dorje Shugden practice from my teacher over 30 years ago and tens of thousands of monks, nuns and lay people have also received Dorje Shugden practice from their teachers in the last 400 years. Most of us practice Dorje Shugden for spiritual purposes to remove obstacles to our practice, to remove outer obstacles to our practice so we may engage in the teachings of the Buddha, learn the teachings of the Buddha, meditate, practice and transform our minds in order to become a fully enlightened Buddha. So, there are many Dharma protectors, such as Setrap, such as Palden Lhamo, such as Mahakala, such as Kalarupa, such as Vaishravana, such as Tenma, such as Dorje Shugden, such as Kinkara. There are many, many types of Dharma protectors. What Dharma Protector we practice may come from the region we come from in Tibet, it may come from a particular monastery and our affiliation with it, it may come from the lineage of our gurus, or it may come from our sort of interest and our own sort of karmic connection to our protector. So how we are given a protector in our Tibetan tradition is, our guru may assign it to us, or we practice a particular protector because the monastery we belong to practice it, or the region we belong to practice it, or it is a tradition of our personal families. All Tibetans who are Buddhists will have a Dharma protector, and they acquired the Dharma protectors in a way that I have just described. Now what has been very confusing and has created a lot of schism in Tibetan society? There are many issues that create schism in the Tibetan society.
My father is Tibetan and my mother is Mongolian. My father is from Tibet, he is from Golok in Amdo, Tibet. My mother is from Xinjiang. So, by Tibetan and Mongolian tradition I am a Tibetan by virtue of my father, who is Tibetan. That’s their customs on both sides. Now as a Tibetan, I grew up in the United States, and I went to school there and I also learned American history and culture, the freedom of religion, the freedom of Speech and the freedom of expression. That’s all enshrined in the American constitution.
The American constitution does not envelop or does not cover the whole world but democracy has similar principles. What is enshrined in the democracy or democratic countries is the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, equality, those are heavily enshrined. For example, in America, there may be people who don’t like certain religions, or they don’t accept or believe in certain religious paths. They may say that this religion is bad, this religious rite is not good. This religion is good, this religion is not real. They may have some kind of religious debate among the people themselves, but it is not enshrined as a law. It is not spoken about by the leaders, and it is not enforced by the law. But in Tibetan society it’s different. Over 150,000 Tibetans left Tibet in 1959 as the world knows. And I am the result of that. I am the result of my Tibetan government in Tibet losing their country. And as a result, we become refugees. We have to run all over the world and myself and many other Tibetans have lost our language, culture, and I have relatives in Tibet that I have never ever met. But that’s not my fault, that is the leadership that was not able to protect their own country. But I am not going into that.
What I want to talk about is that the current Tibetan leadership, which is kind of overseeing the 150,000 Tibetans in India and Nepal they are called the Central Tibetan Administration or in short CTA.
So, the Central Tibetan Administration, the CTA live in the Northern India in the Himachal Pradesh state, in a hill station town named Dharamshala. So, Tibetans refer to their government as Dhasa or Dharamsala, or the CTA or Peshung. They can refer to any of those words. So, the CTA and the leaders of the CTA have had it enshrined in their constitutional charter that those who practice the religion or the spiritual path of Dorje Shugden are not allowed in Tibetan schools, are not allowed to work in Tibetan government positions, are not allowed to enter Tibetan hospitals, are not allowed to enter Tibetan associations, and receive any benefits that other Tibetans have a right to. So that has been enshrined. If you go to the CTA’s charter, you can see that clearly online. That’s very clear and there is no doubt about that. On top of that the Tibetan leadership are always saying that Dorje Shugden is an evil spirit, that Dorje Shugden is a negative being, and if you practice Dorje Shugden you shorten the life of the Dalai Lama. It harms Tibet’s cause, it harms the Tibetan people, which all don’t make sense but I have addressed that in my other live streaming tape, which you can listen to. Now His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whom I respect very much and I love very much and I have a lot of respect for, I still do, has said that our Tibetan people will be democratic. So, they have a democratic system in Dharamsala supposedly, and they are supposed to elect their leaders because for the last 400 or 500 years, there is no election of leaders. The Dalai Lama is the leader, he is the king, he is the spiritual leader, he is the king of the country, he is the secular and the religious leader of Tibet, and there is no competition in any other way. So only the Dalai Lama can sit on the king’s throne or the ruler’s throne. But now the Dalai Lama has said that he is passing everything over to the Tibetans to become democratic, and that’s very kind of him. But what’s very important to remember is that although in name we are democratic, in practice we have to be democratic too. There are many unfair practices within the Tibetan society and the CTA that I know about, and my friends know about, that I have experienced and that I have seen, and other Tibetans have seen that many foreigners would not understand. But what I want to get into is the religious segregation, the religious prejudice, and the religious bias, that is enshrined in the Tibetan government.
Now the Tibetan government specifically says that if you practice Dorje Shugden, you are not allowed the privileges for the Tibetans. For example, you cannot enter the same monasteries, you cannot visit Tibetan hospitals, you cannot visit Tibetan government offices and receive the same privileges, you cannot work in the Tibetan government. All that have happened no matter how much people deny it, there’s much proof on that. Now if Tibetans are to be democratic, if the Tibetans are to go toward the democratic route, what religion a Tibetan practices should not matter. For example, in DalaiLama.com and also Tibet.net, I repeat, DalaiLama.com and Tibet.net – Tibet.net is the official website of the Tibetan Government in Exile or the CTA’s website, and DalaiLama.com is the official website of the Dalai Lama. If you look at both of those websites, they have a special section that speaks negatively about Dorje Shugden, that discourages the Dorje Shugden practice, that discourages people to practice Dorje Shugden, that basically is saying if you practice Dorje Shugden you are not good.
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak about a topic that is very close to my heart. The Dorje Shugden controversy concerns me deeply, and I sincerely believe that acceptance of his practice is one of the keys for unity in the Tibetan community.
Now that’s very strange because Japan, Germany, Italy, Brazil, America, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Iceland, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Mongolia, Russia, etc. There is no democratic government that has a special section criticising and warning you about a specific religion. They can warn you about people who are in the name of religion doing harm to the people in government and that’s fair, but to warn people against a specific religion or a spiritual path, is completely undemocratic.
In the United States, where I am from, the constitution of the United States allows us freedom to worship and to gather to worship any religion we choose. Now 200 years ago in America, if you practised witchcraft, or you were suspected of witchcraft, or Voodoo then there would be big issues. You’d be lynched, you’d be interrogated, you’d be tortured, you’d be drowned, you’d be beaten and you’d probably be set on fire because witches were not allowed. But you see, this is not America 200 years ago. This is 2017, the United States and the democratic world. What’s happening is you can’t segregate a group of people because of their religion. You may not agree with their religion. You may not agree with the tenets of their religion, or the god that they worship. But you cannot, and you as a leader, secular or religious cannot discourage the religion of another person in today’s world because if you do that, it is political suicide. It is also undemocratic and on top of that, creates dissension and schism among the populous. Imagine if the President of the United States, whatever his personal view is, that’s his personal view. But imagine the President of the United States saying, “Anyone who practices Hinduism cannot come to my political talks, cannot come to our dinners, cannot associate with me”. Who would accept that in today’s world? Who would accept that? Imagine if a leader of a democratic country, in their official government website has something written, has comments, or advice written against a specific religion. Who in today’s world will accept that? Nobody. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, again let me reiterate, whom I respect very much has mentioned in his teaching that those who practice Dorje Shugden may not attend his talk, may not attend his secular talks, may not attend his peace talks, may not attend his religious rites and rituals. I would like to go one step further and say that even today when the Pope goes and gathers in many countries around the world, or gets together for interfaith services, or meets people of different religion, background, cultures, they never say if you are not catholic or you are not of a particular religion, you cannot join them. Even today the Popes do not segregate against other religions. So, I think a religious leader of His Holiness’ calibre should also allow all people to meet him, all people to enjoy his wisdom, all people to come and see him and to be around him. I think that’s very very important.
So, if you go to Tibet.net, if you go to DalaiLama.com, you will see things written very clearly that if you practice Dorje Shugden, they advise strongly against it. I think the Tibetan government is undemocratic, and I think the Tibetan government or the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan leaders are wrong to place those things on their official website. Because it is dated, it is antiquated, it is very very colonial, on top of that is not democratic. If you want to be democratic, you must practice democracy all the way. You don’t cherry pick. You don’t pick what you like and what you don’t like, you don’t enshrine. If you are going to call yourself democratic, and based on you being democratic, you receive funds, aid, help, assistance from democratic countries because you enshrine democracy, then you must practice democracy all the way. How do you practice democracy when on your own websites, DalaiLama.com, Tibet.net, you have advised against one particular religion? Be it Dorje Shugden is a devil. Be it Dorje Shugden is an angel, be it Dorje Shugden is a non-existent god, just an idol, be it he is a Buddha, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter whether Dorje Shugden is a Buddha, is a devil, is a demon, is a god, is a fake, it doesn’t matter. But what matters is the people who believe in Dorje Shugden are people. The people who believe in and practice Dorje Shugden are people with flesh, and blood and feelings, and have a right to equality, and have a right to what every human being deserves on this planet. So, it doesn’t matter if these people practice Dorje Shugden, it doesn’t matter if these people practice Catholicism, if they practice Hinduism, Judaism, Voodoo, if they practice Druid, if they practice witchcraft, magic, it doesn’t matter because deep down inside, they are people. If they are people and they are under a democratic rule, they should be accorded the respect of any other human being, regardless of what religion they practice.
A democratic government should not debate whether Dorje Shugden is a god or spirit, is good or bad, it doesn’t matter because Tibetans are not in Tibet anymore and Tibetans are scattered around the world, and they will be exposed to many religions, they will be exposed to many paths. Some Tibetans have become atheists, some Tibetans have converted to other religions, some Tibetans have become Buddhists, some Tibetans are Muslims. It does not matter. Some Tibetans practice Dorje Shugden. Some Tibetans are Christians, it does not matter what they are. A Tibetan is a Tibetan, and under the Tibetan rule, under the Tibetan leaders, they should be treated equally, regardless of their religion. If you are Dorje Shugden practitioners, you should not be spat upon. If you are Dorje Shugden practitioners, you should not be segregated or have things written in your official government’s website that speaks against your religion and encourage other people to ostracise you, to segregate you, to hate you. That should not be the case.
So, imagine if the Prime Minister of Canada says, all Christians, except Catholics, can join and come to my political rallies, can come to my political talks, can come to my talks, what kind of uproar will that create in Canada, you know, around the world? If that creates an uproar in democratic Canada, why wouldn’t something like this create an uproar in so-called the democratic Tibetan society? So (if) Tibetan society is definitely democratic, then all talk against Dorje Shugden must cease immediately. All materials against Dorje Shugden on official websites should be removed immediately. All “advice” against Dorje Shugden practice should cease immediately. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan leaders should never speak against Dorje Shugden, should never say anything against Dorje Shugden because the Dalai Lama is not only a spiritual leader, he is definitely a political leader. He is the face of Tibet. So, the face of Tibet should not be [saying], “Everyone can come to my talk, everyone is under my compassion. I love everyone except Dorje Shugden people”. That’s not right.
The Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader, he is also a secular leader. Under the Dalai Lama’s powerful, innovative, compassionate leadership, His Holiness the Dalai Lama should accept all people, all Tibetans, no matter where they come from, who they are, and what religion they practice. Does it befit a man of the Dalai Lama’s stature, does it befit the compassion of such a great monk, the Dalai Lama, to say, “Everyone may come to my teachings. Everyone is loved by me. Everyone is accepted by me EXCEPT the Dorje Shugden people”? Definitely not.
The job of a Buddhist monk is to love all beings regardless of who they are, how naughty they might be or how good they might be. The job of a democratic leader is to gather his people together and unite his people, and bring his people as one regardless of gender, age, colour, race, economic background, sexual orientation, and religion. Any democratic country will unite their people regardless of all I have just mentioned, religion, race, sexual orientation, because we are living in the age of enlightenment, we are living the age where we realise everyone is the same. What religion we practice is not the issue anymore. You cannot say that person practices Dorje Shugden therefore I don’t like them, that person practices Dorje Shugden therefore I won’t associate with them, that they deserve to be spat upon, that they cannot come for the Dalai Lama’s teachings. How come a Dorje Shugden person cannot go to the Dalai Lama’s teachings? They had been attending the Dalai Lama’s teachings up till 1996. I have attended many of the Dalai Lama’s teachings. I certainly do not intend any harm to the Dalai Lama. I certainly do not have any ill wishes for the Dalai Lama. I certainly do not have any bad thoughts about the Dalai Lama. I have attended Dalai Lama’s teachings so many times up till 1996 because what happened in 1996? Suddenly in 1996, in the CTA’s charter, in the CTA’s ruling, in the CTA’s constitution, all those who practice Dorje Shugden may not attend the Dalai Lama’s talk, may not go to Tibetan hospitals, may not work in the Tibetan government. Suddenly that ruling came. But you have to remember, before that I was practising Dorje Shugden for decades, and suddenly I am not able to. That confuses many people. Now, to make a long story short, any leader in any country should look at his or her people, and think how to unite the people, how to improve the economic situation, how to improve their social situation, how to better the lives, give more education, and give opportunities, and betterment. That’s what every single leader should do, whether they are religious or not. If a religious leader says, “Everyone can come to my teaching, everyone can come to my talk, everyone can come to my gathering except this group”, then that’s not very compassionate, nor is it democratic, it doesn’t befit a spiritual leader, it doesn’t befit a democratic leader. It doesn’t fit any leader today. I would gently and respectfully request the Tibetan leadership to remove all their information against Dorje Shugden practice, Dorje Shugden lineage, and Dorje Shugden people, on their websites Tibet.net and DalaiLama.com. I repeat, Tibet.net and DalaiLama.com. They should remove all that and they should stop segregating and creating dissension among their own people. Number one.
My team of writers work very closely with me, including helping with the preparations for the livestream. They make sure everything is perfect and I appreciate them very much.
Number two, they should say, “Whether you are a Dorje Shugden Tibetan, you are a Muslim Tibetan, you are a Bonpo Tibetan, you are a Nyingma Tibetan, Kagyu Tibetan, you are a Gelug Tibetan, you are a Sakya Tibetan, whether you are a black Tibetan, you are a white Tibetan, a girl Tibetan, a boy Tibetan, whatever Tibetan you are, you are welcome by your leader the Dalai Lama, he loves you, and you are welcome to his talks and you are welcome to get his blessings.” That’s what the Tibetan leadership should say, and I’m waiting for that. So, if the Tibetan leadership really wants to be democratic, this is how democracy is, this is how democracy operates, this is how democracy really should be. Please don’t look at me for what religion I practice, look at me because I am a human being, and I deserve respect as does everyone else. Please look at me as a Tibetan, and as a Tibetan who is proud of his ancestry. Please accept me as I am.
The Tibetan leadership has also said that Dorje Shugden people are connected to China, that they are being paid by the Chinese government to create schism within the Tibetan communities, that they are traitors to the Tibetan nation, that they are basically spies for the Chinese nation. I beg to differ. I have never received any money from the Chinese government, I have never spied for the Chinese government or any government. I have never ever done any government work for any government. On top of that, they say that Dorje Shugden people, some of them wish to harm the Dalai Lama. Well, I don’t wish to harm the Dalai Lama. I have no intention of harming the Dalai Lama because I love him. Now, my solution for all this, for this Tibetan “democratic” government, the CTA in Dharamsala is that they immediately remove all writings from Tibet.net and DalaiLama.com that refers negatively to Dorje Shugden. None of the official website as a government, or a democratic government-to-be should contain any prejudice against anyone with regards to religion, race, and background. That should be removed, if they are genuinely going to be democratic.
Number 2, they should allow all Tibetans to become employees of the Tibetan government or different sectors of Tibetan society on the basis of merit and education, and not religion. Because Tibetan Dorje Shugden practitioners cannot work for the CTA, or cannot work in Tibetan hospitals and schools if they practice Dorje Shugden, that should be removed immediately. They should be able to apply for a job and get it on the basis of merit and qualifications, not religion. On top of that, the monasteries that have been split apart, Gaden has been split apart – over 700 monks have left Gaden Monastery because of the Dorje Shugden issue, because His Holiness has asked them to leave, and it’s taped in Drepung Monastery of him saying that. All the monasteries should unite, all the monks should unite as before because we all believe in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. All segregation against Tibetan Dorje Shugden practitioners that was started by the CTA should stop, for example, an effective sweeping order should be given by the Tibetan CTA to all Tibetans that signages on restaurants, hospitals, clinics, stores, coffee shops that say, “If you practice Dorje Shugden, you are not allowed within these premises”. That should be removed. That should definitely be removed because why are you not allowing a certain service based on someone’s religion? That is not correct.
If they are worried about the Dalai Lama’s safety, that they think that some Dorje Shugden practitioners are connected to China, and they want to harm the Dalai Lama; if they are worried about that, they should be worried about all sectors of Tibetans. I am sure there are Tibetan people, there are some Tibetan people who don’t like the Dalai Lama, who want to harm him, but it shouldn’t be just confined to one group. They should allow Dorje Shugden practitioners to attend the Dalai Lama’s talk, attend the Dalai Lama’s gatherings, they should allow that because he is our leader, and we have the right to hear what he wants to say, and what he wishes to share, we have that right. We earn it by being Tibetan. We did not harm him, he is our leader. I mean since we are Tibetan and he is our leader, automatically, then please lead us. How do you lead us? By example. What’s the example? Compassion, acceptance, tolerance.
So, if they really have doubts about certain Dorje Shugden people who they think might harm the Dalai Lama, please do a security check. Check their background, check if they have any association, check with the police, check with the FBI, CIA or whoever they are connected to, check. You can check my background as much as you want, I have no criminal records, I have no records of working for any government or nothing, I am just a Buddhist monk. So, if they are worried about certain Dorje Shugden people who would harm the Dalai Lama, do a full security check, people often do that. If they check and the person comes clean, then stop accusing them of being something that they are not. So, what the Tibetan government should immediately do? The Tibetan Exiled Government, CTA, should immediately unite the people, remove any references regarding Dorje Shugden. Why? Because it makes them not democratic, and if you wish to be democratic then act as if you are democratic, be democratic, govern and rule, and take care of your people in a democratic manner, otherwise don’t tell people you are democratic, and on that basis, receive a lot of aid from the West.
Finally, Your Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, I and tens and tens of thousands of us who practice Dorje Shugden loved you prior to the ban against Dorje Shugden in 1996, and still love you now. We respect you, I respect you, I love you, and we all love you, and we care about you. We wish no harm towards your person in any way, shape or form. Since 1996, we are not allowed to attend any of your teachings, any of your gatherings, any of your secular talks – even secular talks we are not allowed, and it hurts very very much. Please allow us to meet you, please allow us to join your talks, please allow all people regardless of their religion, even if they practice Dorje Shugden to join your talks. I myself do not wish you any harm, or any negative energy or thinking towards your direction, but I am appealing to you to unite your people, unite all of us religiously, we’re all Buddhists, we’re all one. I have received many teachings from you, and I have received many teachings from my root lama. I will continue practising Dorje Shugden, Your Holiness. I will continue practising Dorje Shugden Your Holiness, not to defy you, not to go against you, not to hurt you, and not to be in conflict with you. I am practising Dorje Shugden because my root guru gave me this practice and I cannot stop this practice because I promised him to do so. Your Holiness, please understand that, please understand that there are thousands and thousands of us Tibetans who love you, who miss you, and who are practising Dorje Shugden as a commitment to our lama and not to contradict you. Please unite us, please allow us in your teachings, please allow us to meet you and pay respect to you, thank you very much.
Below is a screenshot of Tibet.net, which is the Tibetan leadership’s website. In it, they have a section with “information” about Dorje Shugden which is designed to promote hatred, negativity and direct vulgarities towards Shugden practitioners. What kind of democratic leadership has a section like this on their site targeting a religious group? Imagine the uproar there would be if the American or Canadian, or any other democratic government had sections like this on their site for the public!
This is a screenshot of DalaiLama.com which is the official website of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. When this section exists on His Holiness’ website, it actually emboldens Tibetans to discriminate against and segregate Shugden practitioners. This section is basically the Dalai Lama’s ‘endorsem*nt’ of such behaviour; when anti-Shugden individuals see this, they think it is okay to segregate against the practice “because the Dalai Lama said so”. I don’t think the Dalai Lama would agree with this but the webmaster and shadow writers behind his website should not put this type of anti-Dorje Shugden section which subscribes to discrimination against a group because of religion. In the 21st century, this is not fitting of a great spiritual leader like His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Do not discriminate tolerate; is the way to go.
If the Dorje Shugden ban is just advice and not a ban, then why is a section like this necessary on any website?
In 1996, the Tibetan leadership passed a resolution stating that all departments (and ergo their employees) should not rely on Dorje Shugden (point 8). The resolution also stated that individuals who do engage in its worship will harm the Dalai Lama’s life and the so-called Tibetan cause. That being the case, how will anyone within the Tibetan settlements and government be able to openly engage in Dorje Shugden practice after that, if their worship has been widely labelled as anti-Dalai Lama, anti-CTA and treasonous? To openly practice after that will leave them open to criticism, vulgarities, harassment and discrimination, as Dorje Shugden practitioners have been for the last 20 years. So they will be left with three options: to give up the practice (which many will not do), to practice secretly, or to give up their jobs.
This is a screenshot of tibet.net, the Central Tibetan Administration’s official website, which showsthe Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile’s unanimous resolution dated 17 March 2014 naming Dorje Shugden practitioners as criminals in history (point 3, paragraph 2).
His Holiness the Dalai Lama was recorded in Drepung Monastery in 2008 clearly stating that those who refused to give up their Dorje Shugden practice should be expelled from the monasteries. His Holiness even said that if people found it difficult to fulfill this instruction, that they should say that the Dalai Lama told them to expel Dorje Shugden practitioners.
My question is this: if giving up Dorje Shugden practice is just advice, and it is up to us who we wish to rely on, then why are there such heavy repercussions for people who choose to keep the practice? As a result of His Holiness saying this, thousands of Shugden monks were expelled from the monasteries, and were forced to set up their own monasteries where they would be able to continue their Dorje Shugden practice.
A Dorje Shugden practitioner enquiring about room rates at the Gaden Shartse Monastery Guest House in Majnu-ka-tilla, Delhi was rejected by the hotel staff and asked to leave.
France 24 is a reputable news network based in France, known for their objective reporting style. They covered the Dorje Shugden issue extensively, surely a reflection of the seriousness of the issue for them to devote so much airtime to it. In their video, France 24 captured on film the discrimination against a Dorje Shugden monk.
Based in the Middle East, Al Jazeera was formed in response to the heavy influence of Western culture on the media. They are known to cover controversial topics that other news agencies may be reluctant to cover, and provide hard-hitting, objective coverage of current affairs.
Over the years, my students have collected evidence of the ban against Dorje Shugden. Personally, I find it quite disappointing and sad that they have been able to collect so much evidence because it just goes to show how widespread and pervasive this ban has become. As you can see below, notices banning Dorje Shugden practitioners can be found just about anywhere in the Tibetan settlements. Whether a Dorje Shugden person is trying to access healthcare or enter a restaurant, or try to buy something from a shop, they are banned everywhere and refused service. How is this just ‘advice’ when the repercussions of practising Dorje Shugden are so violent inside the Tibetan communities and settlements?
