This Thursday, 600 Tibetan and western Buddhists from around the world, including 200 monastics, join with one voice to demonstrate against the Dalai Lama outside of Radio City in NYC where he will be speaking. In this unprecedented event, more than 100 Tibetans will participate in the Western Shugden Society (WSS) organized protest to speak out against the man who has been touted as an icon of peace and tolerance. Impassioned Buddhist Protest the Dalai Lama on the Streets of NYC
Many Tibetans are now feeling very encouraged by the success of the Western Shugden Society demonstrations. Most Tibetan Shugden practitioners are too intimidated by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile to protest against the Dalai Lama. However, the number of Tibetans at the demonstrations is increasing rapidly. A Tibetan Geshe at the recent protests at Lehigh University said “In the Tibetan settelments in India if Tibetans were to protest like this, they would be killed.” So it’s no wonder that many Tibetans are still too intimidated to join the protests. But as these protests continue to gain momentum more Tibetans are joining in to request the Dalai Lama to give religious freedom.
By banning Dorje Shugden practice is the Dalai Lama abandoning his own Spiritual Guide and all the lineage gurus of the Gelugpa tradition? Would his Spiritual Teachers approve of his removal of over 900 monks from their monasteries, because of their reliance on Dorje Shugden? You decide.
The Dalai Lama and Guru Devotion
From Music Delighting the Ocean Of Protectorsby Kyabje Trijang Dorjechang
Root Guru of most Gelugpa Lamas alive today, including the Dalai Lama, who relied upon Dorje Shugden as his Protector until his death
“Some, who have fallen under the influence of the demon of the partisanship, think and say that this supreme Deity, the great emanated Dharmapala, is no different than an ordinary gyalpo or tsen spirit who has an inferior form as a result of being a monk or lay person who died with bad karma. Leave aside relying upon him as a Protector, they even deride others who do so. There are some, indeed, who echo such claims knowing nothing about it.
“Yet all this talk is nothing but babbling speculation.Why? Because this great guardian of the teachings is well known to be the precious supreme emanation from Drepung monastery’supper house, Dragpa Gyaltsen, arising in a wrathful aspect. The proof is unmistaken. Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, as is taught in the lineage, was the final birth in a reincarnation lineage that included the Mahasiddha Birwawa, the great Kashmiri Pandit Shakya Shri, the omniscient Buton, Duldzin Dragpa Gyaltsen, Panchen Sonam Dragpa, and so forth; this is proven by valid scriptural quotation and reasoning. These great beings, from a definitive point of view, were already fully enlightened, and even to common appearances, every one of them was a holy being that attained high states of realization. What worse karma could there be than denying this and asserting that he was born in the preta (spirit) realm?
‘Therefore, for holy beings it is not at all far-fetched that they might show themselves in a wrathful form out of the power of compassion and prayer for the sake of a special purpose, and it should be recognized that they are emanations of Buddha’s inconceivable secret qualities. But for them to take birth as a sky-wandering preta through the force of negative throwing karma like an ordinary preta would be utterly impossible. To say it were possible would be to deny the validity of the natural law of cause and effect. Why? From the definitive point of view those holy beings are fully enlightened. Moreover, even from the common point of view they attained high states of realization in reliance upon guarding their moral disciplines as they would their eyes, from youth onwards throughout their lives. To say that a causal factor of pure ethical discipline could result in rebirth in a lower realm of existence would be to assert that actions performed could be wasted; that one could experience the results of actions not performed by oneself; and that such scriptural statements as “From generosity, wealth, from ethics, happiness, are invalid and so forth. As a consequence, one would be turning ones back on Buddha’s teachings as a whole.
“Furthermore, from the definitive point of view, that these holy beings were already fully enlightened innumerable ages ago, is clear if one examines the accounts of their lives, and if one were to say that a fully enlightened being could take birth as an ordinary gyalpo or tsen spirit, then one would be asserting that degeneration is possible from the state of full enlightenment or that someone could be both fully enlightened and an ordinary preta at the same time! Or else, one would have to say that the accounts of those great beings lives are worthless. A mountain of absurd consequences, previously non-existent distorted ideas, would have to be accepted.”
The Dalai Lama has labeled Dorje Shugden practitioners as worshippers of an evil spirit and is currently persecuting Shugden practictioners in the Tibetan in Exile communities. Even though the Dalai Lama’s own teacher Trijang Dorjechang and all the Gelugpa lineage gurus of the last 400 years strongly encouraged the practice of Dorje Shugden and regarded him as the wisdom Buddha Manjushri. The Dalai Lama himself relied upon Dorje Shugden for 40 years. Now he is saying that all the great masters of the Gelugpa lineage are wrong and that he was wrong for 40 years. Of course, he has freedom to have this view and to change his mind about relying upon Dorje Shugden. But, he does not have the right to force his view onto others and persecute those who choose to follow the great masters of the Gelugpa lineage rather than him. So who is Dorje Shugden? Below is a video of interviews with Western Buddhists who rely upon the Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden.
