In contrast to his usual unflappable demeanour and respect for other religions outside Buddhism, the Dalai Lama’s condemnation of Shugden worship is anomalous. In 1996, he pronounced that Shugden, instead of being an emanation of a Buddha as his devotees maintain, was ‘an evil spirit’, and that propitiating him did ‘great harm to the cause of Tibet and imperils the life of the Dalai Lama’.
In swift response to the ban, Buddhist monasteries within the Tibetan exile community started to expel Shugden followers. Shugden lay devotees have claimed that the Central Tibetan Administration and supporters of the Dalai Lama ostracise and discriminate against them for their religious belief.
So what made the Dalai Lama, a role model of peace and tolerance, turn against Shugden, considering that by his own admission he used to worship the deity himself? The matter becomes more perplexing when the fact that one of the current Dalai Lama’s gurus, Trijang Rinpoche, was a devotee of Dorje Shugden as well. In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, a practitioner’s first loyalty is to the guru. Thus, in denouncing Shugden, the Dalai Lama also severs his allegiance to his guru — an unthinkable act within Tibetan Tantrayana.
The answer may lie in the 14th Dalai Lama’s deepest worry: what will happen to the movement for Tibetan autonomy after his own death. As he ages, he presumably wants to ensure that the struggle for Tibetan autonomy continues. Yet two immediate problems present a stumbling block for this.
First, there is no Tibetan leader of enough calibre and stature at the moment to replace the Dalai Lama. Second, there is insufficient harmony between the four existing schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Dalai Lama himself is technically the leader of the Gelugpas, so in theory he cannot presume to speak for the Nyingmapas, Kagyupas and Sakyapas. It is only his own personal stature that has allowed him to speak for all Tibetans internationally. There is no guarantee that the schools will vest such prestige in the next Dalai Lama.
The unification of all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism could ensure that the Tibetan cause does not flounder after the Dalai Lama’s death. But Dorje Shugden appears to stand in the way. Shugden is, after all, a deity that the Dalai Lama’s devotees claim as the major protector of the Gelugpa tradition. In this sense Shugden is seen to be favouring the separation of the Gelugpas from the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Dalai Lama’s own intransigence against Shugden has resulted in Beijing courting the sect to further derail the Tibetan cause. It has caused suffering for the ordinary Shugden devotees in the Tibetan diaspora. Worse still, it may eventually tarnish his well-deserved image as the embodiment of the Buddha of Compassion that many Tibetan Buddhists hold to be true.
Tenzin Gyatso appears to be particularly troubled by the prospect of China determining the next Dalai Lama. In November 2007 he indicated that the people of Tibet should be involved in selecting his reincarnated successor — breaking with centuries of monastic methods through divination and oracles. The remark was undoubtedly made in response to Beijing’s enactment of a law dictating that all high lamas of Tibet must be approved by the Chinese government.
The mere possibility of a Chinese-appointed Dalai Lama seems so repugnant to the current Dalai Lama that he declared in an interview he would not reincarnate in a Chinese-controlled territory.
Perhaps, this is the meaning behind his claim that the worship of Dorje Shugden is detrimental to Tibet and his own well-being: a Tibet fragmented by different religious schools may not sufficiently resist the Chinese after he is dead. Notwithstanding the reasons behind his ban on Shugden, Tenzin Gyatso may want to revisit his own legacy in Tibetan Buddhism. His main accomplishment may not be a Tibet free from Chinese rule, but it is an international reputation of humility, compassion and religious tolerance — for which he is much admired.
Johannes Nugroho is a writer and businessman based in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Dalai Lama has a well-deserved image as the embodiment of the Buddha of Compassion? Really?
I find your article to be very balanced reporting thank you. Just on one note of detail – the Dalai Lama has never been the head of any Tibetan Buddhist order; though he did belong to Gelugpa he is not the head…that position is held by the Ganden Tripa. However, nowadays the Dalai Lama is promoting himself as the leader of all Tibetan Buddhists – an unprecedented step which is causing great schism within Buddhism worldwide unfortunately.
Kelsang: Yes, technically speaking Ganden Tripa is de jure leader of the Gelugpa. Dalai Lama, however, due to his political position as leader of the Tibetans, has been seen as de facto leaderof the school. To the outside world, he might as well be.
Thank you for taking up this issue. Your article, I believe, presents fairly both sides of this issue. However, I would like to clarify one point: Shugden practitioners do not in any way impose their religious views or practices on others. They simply wish to practice their own tradition without mixing it with any other tradition. What others do is their choice. We have our bread, others have theirs, let’s all get along.
Additionally, we are of the view that there is no contradiction between advancing the Tibetan cause and respecting religious freedom. The only reason why the Chinese can exploit this issue is because of the Dalai Lama’s own hypocritical stand (calling for religious freedom for everyone on one hand and then restricting the religious freedom of his own people on the other). Absent the ban, there would be nothing for the Chinese to exploit. Shugden practitioners would be happy to support him in his political efforts. This is purely a self-created problem for him.
For more information on how the Dalai Lama’s ban on Dorje Shugden violates the very human rights and religious freedom conventions he relies upon in his case against the Chinese, please read the following article.
http://kadampaworkingdad.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/contradictions-examining-the-legal-political-and-spiritual-consistency-of-the-dalai-lamas-ban-of-dorje-shugden-practice/
Great article. One must deeply consider why the Dalai Lama thinks he is correct in banning Dorje Shugdan when all his previous 9 reincarnations practiced with devotion to Him, all of the Dalai Lamas teachers practiced Dorje Shugdan as well. How does one turn his back on his very teachers?
Embracing religious diversity is the path to national unity and peace, not trying to make everyone conform to a single set of beliefs. How well do you think enforced religious conformity would work in other countries such as the United States, which was founded on the concept of religious freedom? How well did it work in Ireland? If the Dalai Lama chooses not to follow the path of his teachers, that’s fine, but it is unreasonable to expect all people in Tibet-in Exile to do the same. Shugdan belief has been practiced for centuries and the Dalai Lama practiced it himself when he was younger. There can be unity around the China issue without religious conformity – the two have nothing to do with each other. Granting religious freedom would be the best act of “humility and compassion” that the Dalai Lama could do for his own people.
In my humble opinion this is a reasonably balanced well written article, thank you. I think it doesn’t identify one reason for the ban – and that is HH Dalai Lama’s preference for the Nechung Oracle’s view on Shugden to that of his holy teacher Trijang Rinpoche. Another reason for the ban (and systematic exclusion of Shugdenpa’s) is the wish to maintain political unity over religious tolerance. This has very seriously and sadly backfired.
Many Sakya Lamas and Gelugpa Lamas (and even Nyingmas) have, over the centuries relied upon Shugden prayers and devotion – maintaining that as an emanation of Manjushri the practice is 100% reliable. This is well documented amongst highly realised practitioners such as Lama Yeshe, Dromo (Domo) Geshe, Zong Rinpoche, Ribur Rinpoche and many others.
Today, the Tibetan community is torn over this issue and this has been the cause of much suffering and unnecessary prejudice. Understandably as evidence of this filters through to the rest of the world (and I mean hard evidence) many are now quite rightly questioning HH Dalai Lama’s wisdom on the matter. His angry responses when challenged on the issue further cast doubt on his ability to safely guide his followers and his exiled nation to the next steps on their journey and his own (rather extreme) reasons for the ban and exclusion are perplexing, somewhat illogical and certainly impossible for most Westerners to understand.
Certainly several Tibetans have spoken out against his actions – and there has not been a satisfactory response from him, as yet. Saying the practice of Shugden is “wrong” and then proceeding to exclude them from his own teachings, monasteries and CTA employment simply is not good enough in today’s world. With so much scrutiny these days how will he respond to this challenge? – with anger and intolerance or with genuine compassion and humility in the face of so much distress created by his own hands?
I pray that he will respond with humility, wisdom and importantly action. Just a few sentences from him would be enough to restore harmony.
That’s right, Matthew, only the Dalai Lama can restore the peace. I do hope he can see that. His ban has been interpreted by his supporters in the Tibetan exile community as a justifiable excuse to oppress Shugden devotees by literally denying them entry to religious shrines, medical care, etc. The suffering can stop if the Dalai Lama wills it.
Hi, I was with Ribur Rinpoche for the last 15 years of his life, his chief translator and manager as well.
I would like to make clear that Ribur Rinpoche never, I say never advocated the practice of Dogyel. On the contrary, he stopped the practice when he was in Tibet, at the beginning of the seventies, when His Holiness first remarked on the practice was not appropriate. Ribur Rinpoche was a very strong supporter of His Holiness the Dalai Lama view on Shugden until his death in 2007. Thank you, please do not use the names of the Lamas without knowing what you are doing.
I find that very strange that Ribur Rinpoche had deep devotion to Je Pabongkhapa. Did he also think that his Guru was a wrong-minded spirit worshipper like the Dalai Lama does about Ling Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche? I doubt it very much.
Dear Fabrizio, sorry if perhaps I made a mistake. I believe the last 12 years of his life were spent in strict solitary retreat. As a disciple of Je Pabongkhapa I would have thought he was almost certainly a Shugden practitioner. But if I am wrong I apologise.
Please read: “The False Dalai Lama” by http://internationalshugdencommunity.com/ to gain a better understanding of the Dorje Shugden debate
What unites Tibetans is a beautiful experience of the 4 Buddhist schools.
To create one Buddhist school is to destroy 4 Buddhist schools. Just the Dalai Lamas attempt to revise one of those 1 schools has met with massive infighting where their once was harmony.
The equivalent is to say lets remove confession from Catholicism, a few portestant traditions and unite these 2 forms of Christianity. Because Christianity is becoming smaller to do these actions will bring new strength? NO it will damgae protestants & Catholics everywhere and weaken both. You will end up with more sects not less. You will have:
1: Catholics who do confession & reject reform
2 Catholics who took on the reforms and formed a new group
3: Protestants who refused to reform
4: Protestants who practice the revised version
Basically the ultimate result of removing traditions from a religion and enforcing a new version is a great deal of devision, weakness & the source of power & unification is gone- the enjoyment of harmony between sects, friendships, love, & fulfillment of following what your spiritual fathers & grandfathers did. Following your role models instead of abandoning them is gone. All that hero worship is replaced by a claim that the masters of old gave incorrect teachings so now we have to remove those incorrect teachings.
In a father son lineage that spans over centuries he who abandons his own spiritual father breaks the bond with all those ancestors. But it is worse to ask everyone else to abandon their spiritual fathers & grandfathers too. Especially for a political objective. Even if the political objective is noble, to destroy & modify spiritual texts & teachings is to say that the political objective is more important than Buddhism itself.
In England many times the bible was tampered with to achieve political objectives. Now for all time the original bible is lost. And it will never come back. What has happened in Tibet is terrible. But Tibets gift to the world is Buddhism. We must not modify that Buddhism. We must not lose the pre invasion teachings. We must practice what the masters taught 100 years ago.
There is more danger in these times of great societal movement for Buddhism to be changed & ‘new’ versions given. This time is crucial. We must decide if Buddhism is of enough worth to fight to keep the teachings as they were 100 years ago. I say no to the Dalai lamas Changes. Tibets power is that it held Buddhism in its original state without modifying it since the 10th century when Atisha brought it from India. Keeping the traditions is what will keep the whole world gazing upon the Tibetan people with eyes filled with tears of gratitude & love until Buddhism vanishes from this earth.
the Dalai Lama certainly is not “technically the leader of the Gelugpas”; this position is held by the Ganden Tripa, the Ganden Throne-holder. interestingly, the most recent but one Ganden Tripa, the 101st, Jetsun Lungrik Namgyal, who stepped down in Jan 2010, immediately revealed on stepping dopwn that he had been practising Dorje Shugden all along, albeit secretly owing to the intense pressure put on high lamas by the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration.
the Dalai Lama isn’t even the *second* highest lama in the Gelugpa tradition. this is traditionally held to be the Panchen Lama. unfortunately, the current, 11th, Panchen Lama is presently in custody in China along with his family, after the Dalai Lama – in an apparent power-play – ensured that the six-year old reincarnation was publicly recognised in 1995, before he and his family had time to escape from Chinese-held territory.
in reality, while Dorje Shugden is certainly seen as the principal Protector of the Gelugpas today, this in no way implies any kind of segregation or separation. many of the highest Gelugpa lamas today, and of the last century, relied and continue to rely whole-heartedly on Dorje Shugden, whilst at the same time respecting, and being very great friends with, high lamas of all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and leaders of other religions. this idea that Dorje Shugden practice engenders sectarianism is a straw-man, created by the Dalai Lama in order to destroy this honorable Buddhist lineage for his own political gain.
This situation is incredibly sad.
Mr Nugroho’s article is a very clear, concise and accurate statement of the basics of the, so-called, Shugden Affair. Unfortunately the Dalai Lama’s concern is strictly political and he is not at all concerned with Buddhist Dharma.
Good to see people are thinking for themselves. This Dalia Lama is caught in his own trap and will reincarnate wherever his actions prescribe he must endure, His brother choose to reincarnate as a Burro in Tiajuania to avoid the stuff he had to endure being the brother of this hypocrite.
Dear Thomas Canada, your remark is really not helping this debate.
Thank you for the article but mixing politics with Buddha’s teaching is not pure Dharma.
Thank you Johanes for writing about the Dorje Shugden issue. This is not a commonly known issue due to it being usually confined to the boundaries of Tibetan Buddhism. Nevertheless the practitioners of this practice have been blamed for being Chinese spies and capable of being a threat to Tibetan autonomy or any kind of independence.
This ban of Dorje Shugden is rife with controversy one of them being despite the Dalai Lama banning this practice he allowed the current Trijang Rinpoche to practice Dorje Shugden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWi1fJkTA9Q
And the Dalai Lama is not a fool having stood head and shoulders with world leaders and quantum physicists on more than one occasion. Why would he fumble so easily?
If the Dalai Lama could so easily deny his teachers Trijang Rinpoche and Ling Rinpoche because they practice Dorje Shugden then wouldn’t that invalidate all the teachings he has received from them?
If Dorje Shugden is a spirit, and the 14th Dalai Lama and the entire experience and capability of the Tibetan Lamas cannot subdue Dorje Shugden then what is left with we call as ‘Buddhism’ ? Buddhism has no more potency or the capability to realise ultimate truth hence a mere spirit cannot be overcome?
The 5th Dalai Lama was lord over Tibet during the emergence of Dorje Shugden.
He made a statue of Dorje Shugden, dedicated a prayer and also converted a monastery to house Dorje Shugden during his tenure as the head of the Tibetan government.
http://www.dorjeshugden.com/places/dorje-shugden-chapel-lhasa-tibet-built-by-the-dalai-lama/
http://www.dorjeshugden.com/prayers/dorje-shugden-prayers/prayer-by-the-fifth-dalai-lama-to-gyelchen-dorje-shugden/
So it took an enlightened being like the Dalai Lama 9 lifetimes from the 5th Dalai Lama till the 14th Dalai Lama to recognise Dorje Shugden as a spirit?
Here is the link to a resolution passed by the Tibetan parliament from March 17, 2014 – it calls shugden practitioners ‘criminals in history’ and that the issue has nothing to do with religious freedom. Nice!
http://tibet.net/2014/03/20/tibetan-parliament-passes-resolution-concerning-dolgyal/
I found it interesting that the Dalai lama sided with the Chinese government in the selection of the Karmapa… And caused all sorts of confusion in a tradition that he doesn’t even belong to…
And banning the spiritual practice of Dorje Shugden (which all of his lineage gurus practiced ) in the name of bringing unity to Tibet, seems to have caused a greater disharmony. If his intention is to bring harmony, peace and love to his country and all beings, how come the opposite is happening instead?
Politics and religion really don’t mix well.
As a student of Buddhism, we are encouraged to question our doubt, and find our wisdom pertaining toward the truth. Faith is very personal thing. I can understand if people are inclined to follow a leader’s action to stop certain practice.
However to place a ban as an action of a politic leader is rather thoughtless. To people outside the Tibetan world, Dalai Lama is seen as a religious leader more than a politic leader. It is unfortunate to say most people do not understand what this ban of the practice mean to the Tibetan people. People are being ostracised for their practice, villages are divided because of this ban. The problem on the ground is very real. This ban is not just affecting Tibetan but also international Buddhist community. Other Buddhist who do not do the practice see Shugden practitioner as devil worshipper. This is a rift in a peaceful community.
Thank you highlighting this issue and bringing more understanding to the public. If only more people will ask Dalai Lama to lift the ban …
Thank you for writing this article.
It is good to see a balanced and neutral report.
I’d like to add that I believe the Tibetan cause is still in quandary because the end points of politics and Dharma are diametrically opposite and therefore, cannot mix. Dharma is directed at developing permanent happiness for all living beings that will ultimately destroy samsara; whilst politics serve to perpetuate samsara. This is just the nature of Dharma and politics. The Dalai Lama is being pulled in opposite directions by mixing politics with Dharma. Although he might believe that he can change the nature of both, the results of his work in the last 40 plus years had shown it to be otherwise. Instead, many Tibetans are still suffering and living on borrowed land.
If you are interested in researching more into this issue, you might want to consider reading the book, “The False Dalai Lama” at[http://internationalshugdencommunity.com]. The digital copy is available for free download.
This book was not written by any individual, but is a collection of information received from a number of Tibetans. It also contains appendices detailing the deceptive activities of the Dalai Lamas as well as extracts of newspaper and magazine articles.
Kind regards,
Winson
The article is truly interesting. Johannes Nugroho is so very subtle and perceptive! As a well-wisher of Tibetan Buddhism he wants the Dalai Lama to re-visit his own legacy.
Tibetan Buddhism is traditionally divided in four schools or orders, and not sects, who wear different colour hats. A religious order splits into two sects when a difference in opinion or interpretation crops up. Asian religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism etc rarely see sectarian strife which is common in Abrahamic faiths originating in West Asia, namely Samaritanism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Tibetan orders have always been tolerant of each other and lived in harmony. Also there is an unwritten hierarchy – Dalai Lama, the head of the Gelugpa or Yellow hats, is considered the first and Panchen lama, the head of the Nyingmapa the second and Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu or Kagyupa, is the third and so on. Except this notional hierarchy the four schools are more or less independent and do not interfere with each other. In that sense, worship of a particular deity by a certain school has never created problem in the past and should not do so even now. After all worship of Dorje Shugden is nothing new. Then why this is an issue between schools now? The answer lies in the successful machination of China and Beijing’s interference in religious affairs of Tibetan Buddhism. It started with the Panchen lama’s refusal to leave Tibet with the Dalai lama and associated controversy. Thereafter there was that huge controversy in India in the Tibetan Diaspora involving escape to India by the 13th Karmapa, Trinlen Dorje, culminating in Indian army’s shooting spree in the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim.
Traditional harmony has been losing ground and differences have been cropping up since China’s takeover of Tibet. Now there is a new controversy around worship of deity Dorje Shugden. It is clear that the old harmony among different schools is going and would be gone, no matter how hard the Dalai Lama tries. The Tibetan Diaspora will inevitably divide and their struggle will surely diffuse. The next generation wants to get on with life rather that getting stuck in a never-ending moral struggle without any tangible result. All that China has to do is sow division and wait.
Like Nelson Mandela of South Africa the Dalai Lama should have understood the limitation of a purely non-violent struggle. (Mandela tried Gandhian nonviolence for a while and then gave it up in favour of an armed struggle.) Now it is too late. Except the fashionable elite and a small group of sincere Buddhists, the power brokers of the world do not care a fig for the Tibetan cause. They care much more for a share of the rapidly growing huge Chinese market. The Dalai Lama should read the writing on the wall and not resort to desperate means and sully his image. Let the world remember him as a world figure of religious tolerance, harmony and nonviolence.