Western Shugden Society

January 19, 2009

Update on the Dalai Lama’s Court Case in New Delhi, India

Below is an update on the Dalai Lama’s Court Case which came from a valid source in New Delhi.

The Dalai Lama had finally sent a response through his advocate to the High Court of New Delhi, India, on the 19th of December, 2008. This was precisely 9 and a half months after he had received a Notice from the Court-questioning his actions behind the Ban and asking him to provide a response. His response has been inconclusive and irresponsible!

Samdhong Rinpoche

Samdhong Rinpoche

To begin with, it is Samdong Rinpoche, the supposed Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile, who has incidentally, responded on the behalf of the Tibetan leader. The Dalai Lama, on the other hand, has stayed aloof, apparently to demonstrate his sanctimonious position, which is probably even beyond diplomatic immunity! The response, in itself, is a ridiculous compilation of excessive lying and denials. It claims the court has no legal jurisdiction in matters of religion-the ban being a religious directive of the Tibetan leader-who has a mandate to guide the Tibetan people in the religious and political sphere.

On the other hand, as stated, there is a vehement denial of the fact that the Dalai Lama ever even placed a ban, or issued the referendum. Samdong claims that there has been no discrimination, no abuse of human rights, no suppression of religious freedom, no jobs have been denied, and no students have been expelled from schools! The 15, or so, monks who were denied entry to the settlement, were rejected due to the ban placed by the monasteries themselves,  not by the Dalai Lama.

The Prime Minister, would rather engage in mud-slinging, as he wants the court and the world, to take note of the unholy liaison, of Kundeling Rinpoche and Lama Gangchen Rinpoche with the Communist Chinese government. According to Samdong: It is to minister the misdeeds and animosity of this duo, that such vicious attacks have been made to the holy Dalai Lama.

To prove the immaculate antecedents of the Dalai Lama, almost all of  his ministries have attested letters to the effect. There even seems to be a letter from an obscure Indian minister.  The National Human Rights Commission of New Delhi (NHRC) claims to the effect that no objections had been raised against the Dalai Lama. A letter from a so-called press Union, calling itself UBO, alleged to be in Switzerland, claims that the Swiss TV Channel Documentary ‘10 vor 10′, was one-sided and biased in its interpretation of the on-going deity controversy, thus giving the Dalai Lama a clean sheet.

These, in substance, are clever ploys and face saving tactics on the part of the Dalai Lama and his Government. The Tibetan Government in Exile has even claimed, that under the leadership of the Dalai Lama there is harmony and good-will amongst all the Tibetan traditions, wherever Tibetans abide within and outside Tibet! And this, Samdong claims ”has never happened before in the history of Tibet”.

The ball is now back in the court of Shugden practitioners and a response is being prepared. Please make prayers for the success of this court case.

22 Comments »

  1. The DL is as slippery as a bucket of eels! It’s his usual tactic to make bullets and get other people to fire them. I hope the Delhi High Court won’t be taken in by the denials of this fraudster and that justice will be done on behalf of Dorje Shugden practitioners who have had to suffer the Dalai Lama’s oppression for thirty years.

    Comment by dorjeshugdentruth — January 19, 2009 @ 8:51 am | Reply

  2. Nowadays, some of HH the Dalai Lama’s followers have their own special pride. They claim that HH the Dalai Lama is so superior that they themselves should be considered superior.

    HH the Dalai Lama, it is true, is very great, but it does not necessarily follow that one who claims to be among His followers is also great. The greatness of a master depends upon his realization. Blind allegiance to a master cannot make a practitionner superior.

    It is common for them to look down on the practitionners of Dorje Shugden, thinking of them
    as ignorant practitionners whose practice is not supported by right understanding of the Dharma’s true meaning.

    Some of them claim that the Dorje Shugden practitionners don’t belong anymore to their Gelugpa tradition. Others, go as far as claiming that the Dorje Shugden practitionners are not to be considered as Dharma followers.

    These are attitudes commonly found among tibetan buddhist monks and lay people.
    They may be common attitudes, but they are not Buddhist attitudes.

    One who despises another Buddhist school despises the Buddha. He impairs the transmission of the Dharma. The presence of the Dharma is jeopardized by such an attitude, and one becomes cut off from its transmission. This is so because one’s refuge vows are based upon reliance on the Enlightened One, His Teachings, and the Holy Community. If one rejects Dharma one breaks one’s refuge vow and thereby becomes cut off from the Dharma. By rejecting this Dharma that is the only door to happiness for beings and oneself, one accumulates inexhaustible sin.

    Therefore, the Buddha taught that one should also not despise the Dharma of non-Buddhists for it is their source of happiness and benefit. One should not despise or harbour contempt for the doctrines of the Hindus, Christians, or other non-Buddhist religions because this attitude of attachment to one’s own side while rejecting the possibility of differences is harmful to one’s own spiritual career.

    Those people who harbour voiced or unvoiced contempt for the teachings and the lineage of other schools incur great sin and terrible consequences. Worst of all, this attitude is as unnecessary as it is harmful.

    Comment by Heartspoon — January 19, 2009 @ 11:35 am | Reply

  3. The King

    “Monarchs who do what is against the practices
    And senseless are mostly praised
    By their citizens, for it is hard to know
    What will or will not be tolerated.
    Hence it is hard to know
    What is useful or not (to say).
    If useful but unpleasant words
    Are hard to speak to anyone else,
    What could I, a monk, say to you,
    A King who is a lord of the great earth ?”

    Nagarjuna

    Comment by Heartspoon — January 19, 2009 @ 11:49 am | Reply

  4. Re:The King

    Statement by an ignorant person,

    “If He were a real King, He should protect the people. There may not be any King such as this, whose special pride needs to be protected by the people. Is it proper to disturb the peace and harmony by causing conflicts, unleashing terror and shooting demeanous words for the sake of politics ? Does this fulfill the wishes of our great masters? Try to analyze and contemplate on the teachings that had been taught in the Lamrim [stages of path], Lojong [training of mind] and other scriptural texts. Does devoting time in framing detrimental plots and committing degrading act, which seems no different from the act of attacking monasteries wielding swords and spears and draining the holy robes of the Buddha with blood, fulfill the wishes of our great masters?
    The Mahayana teachings advocate an altruistic attitude of saving all. Thus why is it not possible for one, who acclaims oneself to be a Mahayana, to stop worshipping these dubious politics for the sake of special pride and for the well-being of the King ?”

    Comment by Heartspoon — January 19, 2009 @ 11:50 am | Reply

  5. [...] Here’s a link: Update on the Dalai Lama’s Court Case in New Delhi, India [...]

    Pingback by Update on the Dalai Lama’s Court Case in New Delhi High Court « NKT Truth Blog — January 19, 2009 @ 4:15 pm | Reply

  6. [...] Neue Meldungen zum Gerichtsverfahren gegen den Dalai Lama in Neu Delhi, Indien Veröffentlicht in Januar 20, 2009 von weisheitsbuddhadorjeshugden Neue Meldungen zum Gerichtsverfahren gegen den Dalai Lama in Neu Delhi, Indien (auf der Grundlage eines Artikels im Shugden Society Blog [...]

    Pingback by Neue Meldungen zum Gerichtsverfahren gegen den Dalai Lama in Neu Delhi, Indien « Weisheitsbuddha Dorje Shugden Blog — January 20, 2009 @ 12:16 pm | Reply

  7. The Dalai Lama, a lifelong champion of non-violence on Saturday candidly stated that terrorism cannot be tackled by applying the principle of ahimsa because the minds of terrorists are closed.

    “It is difficult to deal with terrorism through non-violence,” the Tibetan spiritual leader said delivering the Madhavrao Scindia Memorial Lecture here.

    He also termed terrorism as the worst kind of violence which is not carried by a few mad people but by those who are very brilliant and educated.

    “They (terrorists) are very brilliant and educated…but a strong ill feeling is bred in them. Their minds are closed,” the Dalai Lama said.

    He said that the only way to tackle terrorism is through prevention.

    The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile left the audience stunned when he said

    “I love President George W Bush.” He went on to add how he and the US President instantly struck a chord in their first meeting unlike politicians who take a while to develop close ties.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — January 20, 2009 @ 11:32 pm | Reply

  8. Now the Dalia say ahimsal, will not work on Terrorist. Why does this Delusional Lama Befriend a Bi Polar Ex-President Bush?

    “The Dalai Lama, a lifelong champion of non-violence on Saturday candidly stated that terrorism cannot be tackled by applying the principle of ahimsa because the minds of terrorists are closed.

    “It is difficult to deal with terrorism through non-violence,” the Tibetan spiritual leader said delivering the Madhavrao Scindia Memorial Lecture here.

    He also termed terrorism as the worst kind of violence which is not carried by a few mad people but by those who are very brilliant and educated.

    “They (terrorists) are very brilliant and educated…but a strong ill feeling is bred in them. Their minds are closed,” the Dalai Lama said.

    He said that the only way to tackle terrorism is through prevention.

    The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile left the audience stunned when he said

    “I love President George W Bush.” He went on to add how he and the US President instantly struck a chord in their first meeting unlike politicians who take a while to develop close ties.

    Also:

    http://www.therightperspective.org/?p=1071

    If we can pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, as Obama exhorted, he believes we will feel a renewed sense of purpose. He also offered the promise of a moral reawakening by reaching out to the Muslim[Buddhist] world and breaking down “the lines of tribe” and old hatreds.

    It is impossible for the Dalia to hide the insidious injustice of his tenure as a make shift God King. There are no deceptions to weave from the shawdows of his mind that can withstand the brillance of the light of truth. The Anvil of Justice will hammer it home to his deluded state of mind that, no longer can one man decide the beliefs of another person. No longer will lies,bribes and murder be tolerated from the Dalia’s Tribal Cult of Medievalism and Magic to force their will on others.

    We will receive Justice from the Delhi Courts! There is no way the Dalia is on the right side of history and the Constitutions of India and the World clearly states as law of the rights of individuals to believe as they wish. The Dl legacy of lies follow him as closely as his shawdow.

    Contemplate and visulize the Victorious Strategy to reveal this Charlatan’s Deceits and share your solutions for the reply to the Delhi Courts for our Warriors in New Delhi to review as they formulate their response.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — January 21, 2009 @ 1:51 am | Reply

  9. Call to Words!
    Gathering Forces to defeat the hypocrisy of Dl and his TGIE for lying and deceiving the people.
    Carry the Battle to New Delhi Courts. This is our moment to clear away the obstructions of these Medievalist Thugs. Read the request below!

    Dear Thomas.
    I am always as usual amused with your robust reply and enthusiasm,Thank you.
    At this rate,I am not sure as to what the progress will have been in the court.
    There will of course be hitches,as it will be expected The DL’s clout may have not yet diminished! Moreover,the DL has not lost any of his enthusiasm for lying or even putting up a spirited fight to have his way.So,what we will require is powerful proof and evidence of his misdoings in all his antecedents.For example,we need to prove,that he is contrary to what he projects himself as,that is;his undemocratic policies,cruel orientation and inconsistency in his goals and objectives.
    In a nutshell,we need to prove that he does not in reality promote anything near to democracy and non-violence.And that far from being pragmatical and reasonable,he is fundamentalist-a true hardliner-and given to irrational reticense.You could begin to gather documents or any other evidences to prove this.
    With Regards& Best Wishes !
    Kundeling

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — January 22, 2009 @ 8:56 pm | Reply

  10. LIBERTY & JUSTICE FOR ALL

    I have been informed by our advocate that the Honourable Judge has commented on the first pages,to the reply of the Dalai Lama,expressing reservations,as to whether the issue in concern would actually be within the jurisdiction of the High Court.

    This is actually what the DL’s group had devised with the help of their advocate-a clever move indeed!
    However,the Judge had ruled that the response of the government of India was to be considered.

    It is understood,that this government has requested for time to formulate it’s reply and this is probably a positive
    development.
    The court had pronounced this on the 15th of January.
    It has also declared that a hearing will be held on the 26th of march 2009,during which a decision will probably be taken.

    In my understanding,the political enviorenment in the present circumstances within India is such,that some Chinese involvement is currently required,to probably get Pakistan take seriously the terrorist presence on it’s soil and,the international threat,that it poses thereof, to many other countries,besides India.
    Should there be a strategical understanding and an alliance on this issue in the long run,the perception towards the DL would undergo yet another change-something that has been happening in a rather very subtle manner.

    The government of India has been provided with a tool,if it so desires,to use that as an excuse,to discipline the DL with.

    In doing so,it pleases the Government in Beijing,thereby creating a positive atmosphere for itself in other sensitive issues that need to be solved,between itself and China.
    When China and India can indeed trust each other and work closely together they will be able to do many good things in the area of peace and economical development, thereby establishing peace in the Asian continent.

    This will also bring an end to the only surviving relic of the cold war-the CIA sponsered Dalai Lama-who in reality serves more as a war mongerer rather than a harbringer of harmony!
    Kundeling.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — January 25, 2009 @ 7:39 pm | Reply

  11. What will these fools do, when they begin to understand transparency is a vital stage of any governing body to successfully serve the people it is appointed to protect and serve.
    What would this arrogant fool do, if he actually had feed and clothe himself? Instead of strutting around like an old Rooster in the barnyard.This man is a Traitor to the Principles of Democracy and Freedom. Democracy Protects the Dharma! Look around, and you’ll see how important the Laws are that Protect Our Freedom, is the same that allows happiness upon happiness within our daily practice.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — January 28, 2009 @ 7:00 pm | Reply

  12. CHANGE IN TIBETAN VALUES- A CRISIS IN THE MAKING

    Having had the opportunity to live amongst Tibetans for a long time, I have had the advantage of having some understanding of the role that religion, social infra structure and traditions play in the psyche of the Tibetan people. Soon after the exodus from Tibet, the main concern was to acculturate into Indian society and yet maintain core Tibetan values and identity. The two Tutors, Khabje Ling Rimpoche and Khabje Trijang Dorje Chang played vital roles in outlining the basic structure of the TGIE, advising the Dalai Lama, laying down the foundations of the three great monasteries in South India, the tantric colleges and various smaller monasteries. Heads of other sects provided their leadership to their respective orders and people in general had vision and hope. Lay people were pious and although starting fresh themselves showed no hesitation in helping others out. Anyone wearing a monks robe was respected and held in high esteem, the monks on their part valued their vows and honored them. Respect towards teachers in schools and towards elders were strongly fostered.

    In the early days the teachings of the Dalai Lama had profound meaning. His advices were meaningful and could be easily taken to heart. He advised both the ordained and lay in a very practical way, stressing on ethics, morality, compassion and right conduct. The masses heeded to his teachings. These days in his teachings and meetings with Tibetans his advices mostly surround the practice of Dorje Shugden, little is mentioned about conduct, attitude, love, kindness and compassion. Tibetans in the west face many problems: extra marital affairs, divorces,youth adopting the gang banging lifestyle, alcoholism, drug abuse, gambling and breakup of the family. He does not address those basic issues. It appears his priorities have changed. The basic values of Tibetans have shifted with the shift in priorities.

    As time went by, the two tutors grew older and their teachings, advices and direction became rarer. Allegations of corruption in the TGIE became more frequent. People became more disenfranchised and as fractions increased conflicts grew. The once simple people who lived by the laws of Karma gradually distanced themselves from this principle. Crimes in the community grew- bootlegging liquor, smuggling illegal goods, black-marketing, cheating, fighting, murders and other illegal activities rose. Many of these illegal activities meant more money and more money meant more status in the society. Many of monasteries and Lamas did not care where the money came from as long as it meant the possibility of expansion and being grander. The majority psyche of the Tibetans had taken a dramatic change. Actions were designed only meet goals for the present lifetime, being able to accumulate good karma for next life began to make less sense. People started leaving the matter of accumulating good karma for next lifetime to merely attending teachings, giving alms and donating to a monastery. Real reflection, transformation or inner work was left at the back of the list of things to do. Tibetans generally think as a group, independent thinking occurs when it comes to individual well being. Selfishness, doing whatever it takes and at any cost became order of the day. This sets the stage for the present situation.

    Comment by CROUCHING TIGER — February 3, 2009 @ 11:49 pm | Reply

  13. Falling Grifters! Watch out now for soft shoe shufflers! The Light is shining ever brighter in the world of today.There is no place to run and no place to hide. The once coveted space of secrets is no longer a secret place for us to hide. The Whole World see through the illusion of those with power. Power over money or souls is at an end. No one is above the law and Tenzin Gyatso Norbu has finally beeen revealed to the world for his treacherous lying murdering of innocents. He is as cornered wild animal. He still growls and snarls with his fierce threats as he yet still tries to cover his eyes and demands that the world not see him as he really is, a pathtetic lonely little man coveting his stolen postion as his prize alone. None other than he deserves the Chalice of the All Mighty One and Only.
    Well the CIA has been brought under control and all the old tricks and ruses are tossed into the garbage dump outside the cooridor of idiotic stupid ideas.
    Secretary Of State, Hillary Clinton pronounced that Tibet was no longer a tool to interfere within the PPRC. Barack Obama will cement the fate of DL in April, when he meets with China.
    DL will be as a Hungry-Ghost in the world of Nations.
    He will no longer be an icon of anything real and he will no longer meddle in and divide the affairs of Nations and the People of the World they serve.
    China and America will forge the way to Save Our World from ourselves. Go home to China, Tibetans. You serve no purpose in outstaying your Welcome in India.
    Once this Man passes,you will have no support for a regent until this little dictator tries to reenter the human realm. He’ll be gone a long, long, long,
    long time.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — February 22, 2009 @ 12:34 am | Reply

  14. The Role of the CIA:
    Behind the Dalai Lama’s Holy Cloak

    The Dalai Lama has been on the CIA payroll since the late 1950s. He is an instrument of US intelligence.

    by Michael Backman
    (Global Research)

    Global Research Editor’s note

    This incisive article by Michael Backman outlines the relationship of the Dalai Lama and his organization to US intelligence.

    The Dalai Lama has been on the CIA payroll since the late 1950s. He is an instrument of US intelligence.

    An understanding of this longstanding relationship to the CIA is essential, particuarly in the light of recent events. In all likelihood US intelligence was behind the protest movement, organized to occur a few months prior to the Beijing Olympic games.

    M. C. 23 March 2008

    Rarely do journalists challenge the Dalai Lama.

    Partly it is because he is so charming and engaging. Most published accounts of him breeze on as airily as the subject, for whom a good giggle and a quaint parable are substitutes for hard answers. But this is the man who advocates greater autonomy for millions of people who are currently Chinese citizens, presumably with him as head of their government. So, why not hold him accountable as a political figure?

    No mere spiritual leader, he was the head of Tibet’s government when he went into exile in 1959. It was a state apparatus run by aristocratic, nepotistic monks that collected taxes, jailed and tortured dissenters and engaged in all the usual political intrigues. (The Dalai Lama’s own father was almost certainly murdered in 1946, the consequence of a coup plot.)

    The government set up in exile in India and, at least until the 1970s, received $US1.7 million a year from the CIA.

    The money was to pay for guerilla operations against the Chinese, notwithstanding the Dalai Lama’s public stance in support of non-violence, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

    The Dalai Lama himself was on the CIA’s payroll from the late 1950s until 1974, reportedly receiving $US15,000 a month ($US180,000 a year).

    The funds were paid to him personally, but he used all or most of them for Tibetan government-in-exile activities, principally to fund offices in New York and Geneva, and to lobby internationally.

    Details of the government-in-exile’s funding today are far from clear. Structurally, it comprises seven departments and several other special offices. There have also been charitable trusts, a publishing company, hotels in India and Nepal, and a handicrafts distribution company in the US and in Australia, all grouped under the government-in-exile’s Department of Finance.

    The government was involved in running 24 businesses in all, but decided in 2003 that it would withdraw from these because such commercial involvement was not appropriate.

    Several years ago, I asked the Dalai Lama’s Department of Finance for details of its budget. In response, it claimed then to have annual revenue of about $US22 million, which it spent on various health, education, religious and cultural programs.

    The biggest item was for politically related expenditure, at $US7 million. The next biggest was administration, which ran to $US4.5 million. Almost $US2 million was allocated to running the government-in-exile’s overseas offices.

    For all that the government-in-exile claims to do, these sums seemed remarkably low.

    It is not clear how donations enter its budgeting. These are likely to run to many millions annually, but the Dalai Lama’s Department of Finance provided no explicit acknowledgment of them or of their sources.

    Certainly, there are plenty of rumours among expatriate Tibetans of endemic corruption and misuse of monies collected in the name of the Dalai Lama.

    Many donations are channelled through the New York-based Tibet Fund, set up in 1981 by Tibetan refugees and US citizens. It has grown into a multimillion-dollar organisation that disburses $US3 million each year to its various programs.

    Part of its funding comes from the US State Department’s Bureau for Refugee Programs.

    Like many Asian politicians, the Dalai Lama has been remarkably nepotistic, appointing members of his family to many positions of prominence. In recent years, three of the six members of the Kashag, or cabinet, the highest executive branch of the Tibetan government-in-exile, have been close relatives of the Dalai Lama.

    An older brother served as chairman of the Kashag and as the minister of security. He also headed the CIA-backed Tibetan contra movement in the 1960s.

    A sister-in-law served as head of the government-in-exile’s planning council and its Department of Health.

    A younger sister served as health and education minister and her husband served as head of the government-in-exile’s Department of Information and International Relations.

    Their daughter was made a member of the Tibetan parliament in exile. A younger brother has served as a senior member of the private office of the Dalai Lama and his wife has served as education minister.

    The second wife of a brother-in-law serves as the representative of the Tibetan government-in-exile for northern Europe and head of international relations for the government-in-exile. All these positions give the Dalai Lama’s family access to millions of dollars collected on behalf of the government-in-exile.

    The Dalai Lama might now be well-known but few really know much about him. For example, contrary to widespread belief, he is not a vegetarian. He eats meat. He has done so (he claims) on a doctor’s advice following liver complications from hepatitis. I have checked with several doctors but none agrees that meat consumption is necessary or even desirable for a damaged liver.

    What has the Dalai Lama actually achieved for Tibetans inside Tibet?

    If his goal has been independence for Tibet or, more recently, greater autonomy, then he has been a miserable failure.

    He has kept Tibet on the front pages around the world, but to what end? The main achievement seems to have been to become a celebrity. Possibly, had he stayed quiet, fewer Tibetans might have been tortured, killed and generally suppressed by China.

    In any event, the current Dalai Lama is 72 years old. His successor — a reincarnation — will be appointed as a child and it will be many years before he plays a meaningful role. As far as China is concerned, that is one problem that will take care of itself, irrespective of whether or not Australia’s John Howard or Kevin Rudd meet the current Dalai Lama.

    http://www.mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=586331

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — February 25, 2009 @ 9:22 pm | Reply

  15. Gonpo Tashi meticulously dusts off furniture and ritual utensils every morning in a dark, 12-square meters chamber with a richly-embroidered cushion on bed that has been elegantly prepared for its supposed master.

    Just outside the chamber hangs a giant photo of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso as well as enshrines six Buddha statues and a yellow monk robe that Tenzin Gyatso used to wear.

    Gonpo said, “I’m ready every day for the Dalai Lama’s back home.”

    His aspiration reminded people of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s call for the return of the fled Dalai Lama. But the hope seems narrower as the Dalai Lama was denounced by the Chinese government as a “politician in monk’s robes” who is trying to split the country.

    He and his supporters were blamed for masterminding the deadly Lhasa riots on March 14 last year, which killed 18 innocent people.

    Gonpo, the 63-year-old stocky Tibetan, a nephew of the Dalai Lama, has patronized the birthplace of the Tibetan spiritual leader for at least three decades.

    The clean but thrifty residential court, consisting of a two-story wooden house and a bright yellow prayer hall, faces 4,000 meter-high snowy Tsongkha Gyiri, a widely-deemed sacred mountain which brought about good fengshui, or fortunate geomancy, to the family of the boy who was later believed the incarnate Dalai Lama.

    “Did you notice the continuous red hills within which our long and narrow valley is seated? — They are lotus petals and the house stands on one petal,” said the grizzled man, who splits time between his full-time vigil and serving the county-level people’s political consultative conference, or a political advisory body to the local government.

    Pointing at a small white pagoda about 200 meters away down from the residence’s front gate, Gonpo said, “You know what — that was an exact place where the Thirteenth Dalai Lama rested himself on his route from Kumbum Monastery to Labrang Monastery.”

    “A prophetical assertion of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama foretold reincarnation of his soul in this particular rural village,” said the former primary school teacher.

    THE MYTHS

    One reason why the Thirteenth Dalai Lama chose to stop over, Gonpo said, was the sound relationship between the Dalai Lama and Taktser Rinpoche, a senior lama in the Tibetan Lamaist hierarchy who happened to be the eldest brother of the reincarnated Dalai Lama, who was born on July 6, 1935, with a secular name of Lhamo Thondup.

    Lhamo’s poor farming family was exceptionally rich in high lamas. Altogether three out of seven siblings became top lamas, with the Dalai Lama atop the pyramid of Tibetan lamas.

    The boy ascended as a spiritual leader who mesmerized the faithful as well as gained mundane political celebrity in exile. He was granted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. He called himself “a simple Buddhist monk” but was accused by his homeland government of being the chief rebel and an ill-intentioned politician who promoted separatist movements in monk’s robes. In many Westerners’ eyes, he was no less than fodder for sound bites, photo-ops and newspaper front-page slots.

    Myths have fueled the mysticism and celebrity of the Dalai Lama. One myth is that Lhamo Thondup was the only candidate for the incarnation — the rationale of which was he inerrably identified belongings of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. Though with such gifted endowments, a handful of candidates should have been selected, in line with the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, for the final pick, or even after a ritual of casting lots from the Gold Bottle in the fiercest contesting cases.

    After his delegation signed with the central government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) the 17-Point Agreement on a peaceful settlement of Tibet in May 1951, the Dalai Lama telegraphed Chairman Mao Zedong to actively support the peace agreement in October, almost one year after he was enthroned. He now says the rapprochement was reached “under duress.”

    In September 1954, the Dalai Lama, together with another Tibetan Buddhist leader Panchen Lama, went to Beijing for voting China’s top legislature and was himself elected a vice speaker. He now asserts that this was a “visit (to) China for peace talks.” What the Dalai Lama did in “China” was documented much more than he now officially acknowledges as “meeting with Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders.” He in fact wrote a poem likening the paramount Chinese communist leader as “the Brahma,” the Hindu god of creation, and “the all-mighty sun,” wishing Mao “a life to eternity.”

    On the most intractable controversy on his falling out with the PRC central government, the Dalai Lama said, one day after the Lhasa riot on March 10, 1959, and a later publicized hand-written letter, “Reactionary, evil elements are carrying out activities endangering me on the pretext of ensuring my safety. I am taking steps to calm things down.” In his official Web site, however, he states that “Tibetan People’s Uprising begins in Lhasa.”

    The crisis led to his fleeing from Norbulingka Palace in Lhasa on March 17, 1959.

      THE TALE OF A VILLAGE

    As the religious leader, the Dalai Lama spent only one third of his life in the motherland and four years in the remote mud-and-stone village, formerly known as Taktser, on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

    Hongaizi Village, symbolic of the rough and sterile landscape of the plateau, shows little traces of the Shangri-La that filtered into Western minds since James Hilton created the surreal image of such a holy land.

    A total of 256 villagers are now living in the same place that the highest Tibetan spiritual leader was born. More than 70 percent of the 54 families own televisions and 61 percent have telephone landlines. The village also sees 10 cell phones, 16 motorbikes, one car but not a single Internet-linked computer. Gonpo purchased the village’s only private car, an economical 2003Daihatsu Charde.

    Tsering Kyi, mother of a nine-year-old school girl whose family is living 150 meters from the Dalai Lama’s old house, displays a picture of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in her spacious living room.

    She said, “It’s not unusual that we’re living here and our family’s fortune largely bets on what jobs that my husband is able to find out of the village.”

    Unlike Tsering, many villagers believe the surrounding red hills crouch themselves like a giant lion, one of the auspicious tokens in Ping’an, an overwhelmingly farming county which saw in 2007 gross domestic product per capita at 1,500 U.S. dollars against the country’s average of 2,600 U.S. dollars.

    Gonpo’s income comes from the public office he has served since1998 and donations from the Dalai Lama followers. Gonpo spent at least 500,000 yuan (73,200 U.S. dollars) in house maintenance in recent years.

    A “POLITICIAN MONK”

    As one leading figure of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, believed an incarnation of Chenrezig, stands as deity of compassion and a visible embodiment of Tibetan Buddhists’ faith.

    Only three of the 14 reincarnations meaningfully ruled Tibetans, and the throne of the Dalai Lama was historically bolstered by China’s central governments of various dynasties. The reincarnation conducted by Rinpoches and the accreditation from the imperial authority are inseparable parts of the whole system ensuring legitimacy of the Dalai Lama and his ruling in Tibet. An angry Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) once decreed to stop reincarnation of a rebellious Tibetan Buddhist lama, which left his sect dying out.

    Gradually rising as a regional spiritual and political leader, the Dalai Lama sweated for his long journey to the world stage, with his first trip outside China and India to two Buddhist countries of Japan and Thailand in 1967, the first European trip in 1973 and the first U.S. one in 1979, the year in which the United States and the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations.

    Going into exile subsequently made him a star. In all the 104 awards or honorary doctorates he has collected from around the world, 103 were granted after he fled China. Rubbing elbows with him somewhat became a fad or a manifestation of moral dignity.

    The “simple Buddhist monk,” who was said to wake up usually at 3:30 a.m. and spend his first four hours every day in meditation, frequently indulged his secular enjoyment in being interviewed by world top media outlets.

    An online U.S. Department of Justice document recorded the Dalai Lama’s visit to the United States from April 10 to 24 in 2008. During the two-week trip, the monk, often with his brand bigsmile and deep laugh, talked politics and China’s “crackdown” on the March 14 Lhasa riot in NBC, CBS and NPR, to just name a few. He also met with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula J. Dobriansky, who contributed to an op-ed piece to the Washington Post the day after their rendezvous.

    The spiritual leader’s “sideline” activities supplemented his full-time job, prayer offerings and religious teachings which were mainly arranged by the New York-based Office of Tibet and beefed up by lobbying of pro-independence groups.

    Such efforts paid off. The Dalai Lama said in his latest statement on March 10, “The fact that the Tibet issue is alive and the international community is taking growing interest in it is indeed an achievement.”

    Influenced by his highly politicized inner circle and interest groups, the Dalai Lama, willingly or not, interwove both religious and political faces. Before his fleeing half century ago, he consulted the Nechung Oracle for the Buddha’s advice. Before teachings in recent years, the self-claimed tolerant spiritual leader usually asked Dorje Shugden worshippers not to attend his ceremonies. Those who propitiated the particular Tibetan deity protested against the Dalai Lama’s discrimination, which was similar to political partisanship and runs against his announced commitment to “promoting religious harmony.”

    TIBETAN HERITAGE IN THE BIRTHPLACE

    Gonpo, who enjoyed two visits with the Dalai Lama — each lasting for one hour — in the 1990s in Dharamsala, India, decorated the prayer hall wall with delicate thangkas, or cloth painting scrolls bearing images of the successive Dalai Lamas and Tsong Kha Pa, the Gelug school founder back in the fifteenth century.

    “These beautiful thangkas cost me roughly 10,000 yuan,” Gonpo said.

    What he spent was ridiculously reasonable for the top paintings created by an artistic tribe that usually served top Tibetan clerics and noble families in the feudal era.

    The artists to whom Gonpo attributed were monk painters who cultivated artful skills while practicing Buddhism at Senggeshong Mago Monastery in Huangnan.

    Artist Konchok Tashi basked in an afternoon sunshine outside his lamasery, which harbors 160 monks.

    The 44-year-old Esoteric Buddhist splits every year into one half of esoteric studying and the other half of aesthetic painting.

    Learning from his late father, Konchok now trains five apprentices to hand down the Tibetan craftwork now designated by the government as one national intangible cultural heritage.

    “I’m the best of the best,” said the dark-skinned monk who enthusiastically displayed one of his artworks in his sunny living room. “I would ask for 30,000 yuan for the piece that I worked for two years.”

    Using a Samsung cell phone sometimes in chatting with his colleagues, Konchok often drove his 2006 Kia Cerato to buy daily necessities in a nearby town.

    “I still feel scared when driving to big cities like Xining because I cannot figure out Chinese characters on highway signs,” the monk said.

    Illiteracy of the written Chinese, nevertheless, did not hinder his outreach. He won three awards from national and provincial arts exhibitions and developed wealthy clients in Beijing and Guangzhou, for thangkas’ cultural and original uniqueness.

    He paid his own way to India in December 2004 to attend one of the Dalai Lama pray offerings and to visit his younger brother. The younger brother sneaked into the Indian borders ten years ago and is now studying Buddhist dialectics in a lamasery near Dharamsala.

    Amid thousands of followers at the humid event in Dharamsala, Konchok for the first time approached to the aura of the Dalai Lama. Months later, he was sick and obeyed his fellow monks’ advice on resorting to the mythical Medicine Springs, just ten kilometers downhill from the Dalai Lama birthplace.

    He siphoned raw water for consecutive seven days, with the largest one-time dose of seven kilograms, which left him lax.

    “The Medicine Springs are called the panacea but full recovery requires frequent visits in three years,” Konchok said, adding that his sickness offered him no mood in paying homage to the Dalai Lama house, though it was only ten kilometers away.

    REBIRTH AND EMPTINESS

    What Konchok really good at is painting Buddhas and the Sacred Lake, which are always themes of Tibetan cultural works. The Sacred Lake is Lhamo Lhatso in southern Tibet.

    After the Thirteenth Dalai Lama died, the regent, himself a high lama, looked into the waters of Lhamo Lhatso. Together with other auspicious signs, the regent allegedly saw a three-story monastery with a turquoise and gold roof and a path running from it to a hill. The direction the dead Dalai Lama faced indicated his reincarnate would be from northeast of Lhasa, the seat of the Dalai Lama.

    Lhamo Lhatso was believed vital to the most mythical reincarnation system in which high lamas claimed to be reborn and continue their important work. The reincarnated, also known as tulku, were usually searched within the Tibetan areas by senior lamas surrounding the deceased tulku.

    The gold-roofed monastery appeared in the Sacred Lake was Serdong Chenmo Hall at Kumbum, whose importance was decided by the status of the holy site where Tsong Kha Pa was born. Top clerics from Lhasa believed the soul boy would live within a one-day horseride from Kumbum.

    In explaining the sophisticated reincarnation system, Kumbum’s Dzongkhang Rinpoche said, “Tulku is reborn again and again in the life circle till the eternity of being Buddha.”

    “It’s inappropriate to call tulkus living Buddhas because Buddhas need not to be reborn,” said Dzongkhang Rinpoche, echoing similar remarks made by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

    “History tells that the search of the reincarnated soul boy was usually centered on Tibet and went no farther than Mongolia,” Dzongkhang Rinpoche said.

    The 67-year-old Rinpoche, however, ruled out possibility of soul reincarnation before the previous lama died.

    “There is but one soul that can find rebirth,” Dzongkhang Rinpoche said.

    “Every Tibetan aspires that continuous rebirth of great souls would lead to creation of Buddhas,” he said, adding that every Buddhist was terrified of going to Hell.

    A 35-year-old Rongwo monk said he was frequently haunted by the fear of Hell. “Go to Heaven, or go to Hell, no doubt on our choice. We have to do something for toeing lamas’ lines to avoid bad karma,” the man said.

    Li Bade, a 76-year-old Tibetan abbot who for 25 years has overseen Chorten Ki Monastery which was famed for the visit of the Third Dalai Lama, said he was satisfied with almost everything today, generous financial support from the faithful, enough food, good health service in community and effective communication.

    “The world is now more like what Buddha describes in sutras that all beings and events are relational and interconnected to a state of eternity, or emptiness,” he said.

    “The only discontent for me,” the abbot said, “is the hustling highway down the hill.”

    His hill-perched hut oversaw the trunk highway extended to the holy city of Lhasa.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — March 14, 2009 @ 6:02 pm | Reply

  16. Freak Out In The Garden Of Hell”
    (Translated from Tibetan)

    For three days, 2009 March 6 – 8, the leaders of Four Tibetan
    Traditions and Bon Tradition, Highly Lamas, Abbots, Tulkus, and
    representatives, gathered in the assembly hall of Thekchen Choeling,
    Dharamshala, for the 10th Religious Meeting, where the adopted
    resolutions:
    Agenda:
    5]
    As per the gistof the intention of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, International Genden council,
    and the resolutions of Three Great Seats regarding the evil spirit Dholgyal
    (Shugden), monasteries including the Three Great Seats are heading toward positive
    direction, cherishing it ones interest. However [we] will discuss what is the
    best to carry out concerning the activity on the whole and the impairment
    imposed by Dholgya adherents to Tibetan religion and politics, as well as their
    various actions of defamation carried out against His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
    Resolution:
    A) For the sake of Tibetan religion and politics, His Holiness the Dalai
    Lama, the overall head of all Buddhist Traditions on this earth, has given
    admonition not to worship the spirit Dholgyal. For the leaders who are High
    Lamas, Abbots, Tulkus, representatives, extend fully support on 10th
    meeting. Furthermore, through this meeting, they appreciates and praise the monks
    of Gelugpa monasteries for picking the vote-stick accorded the Vinaya and completely
    relinquishing the religious and material ties with Dholgyal worshippers.
    B)
    If you take refugee in the worldly god and ghost, particularly the
    evil spirit, it contradicts the taking-refugee which is the gateway to
    Buddhism. As such, this religious committee will make clear that Dholgyal
    worshippers, be it a private or organization, will not be accepted in any sect
    of Tibet .
    C)
    Tibetan Buddhist Sects will examine and file in chronological order
    the bans imposed on the nature, function and cause of Dholgyal by highly beings
    of Tibetan Traditions for last 370 years and the detrimental to Tibetan
    religio-politics as the result of worshipping the evil spirit Dholgyal. This is
    published through various channels such as Internet and foreign languages, and
    educates Tibetans and foreigners with explanation rich with many reasons.

    The Name and Signature of presiding participants on the 10th
    Religious Meeting:
    1
    Sakya Gongma Rinpoche

    2
    Karmapa Rinpoche

    3
    Menri Trizin Rinpoche

    4
    Sharpa Choeje Rinpoche

    5
    Representative of Penor Rinpoche

    6
    Representative of Drigung Chetsang
    Rinpoche

    7
    Representative of Drug Rinpoche

    8
    Tsering Phuntsok, Minister of Dept. of
    Culture and Religion, (Tibetan government in exile.)

    “Freak Out In The Garden Of Hell”
    (Translated from Tibetan)
    For three days, 2009 March 6 – 8, the leaders of Four Tibetan Traditions and Bon Tradition, Highly Lamas, Abbots, Tulkus, and representatives, gathered in the assembly hall of Thekchen Choeling, Dharamshala, for the 10th Religious Meeting, where the adopted resolutions: Agenda: 5) As per the gist of the intention of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, International Genden council, and the resolutions of Three Great Seats regarding the evil spirit Dholgyal (Shugden), monasteries including the Three Great Seats are heading toward positive direction, cherishing it ones interest. However [we] will discuss what is the best to carry out concerning the activity on the whole and the impairment imposed by Dholgya adherents to Tibetan religion and politics, as well as their various actions of defamation carried out against His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Resolution: A)For the sake of Tibetan religion and politics, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the overall head of all Buddhist Traditions on this earth, has given admonition not to worship the spirit Dholgyal. For the leaders who are High Lamas, Abbots, Tulkus, representatives, extend fully support on 10th meeting. Furthermore, through this meeting, they appreciates and praise the monks of Gelugpa monasteries for picking the vote-stick accorded the Vinaya and completely relinquishing the religious and material ties with Dholgyal worshippers. B)If you take refugee in the worldly god and ghost, particularly the evil spirit, it contradicts the taking-refugee which is the gateway to Buddhism. As such, this religious committee will make clear that Dholgyal worshippers, be it a private or organization, will not be accepted in any sect of Tibet . C) Tibetan Buddhist Sects will examine and file in chronological order the bans imposed on the nature, function and cause of Dholgyal by highly beings of Tibetan Traditions for last 370 years and the detrimental to Tibetan religio-politics as the result of worshipping the evil spirit Dholgyal. This is published through various channels such as Internet and foreign languages, and educates Tibetans and foreigners with explanation rich with many reasons. The Name and Signature of presiding
    participants on the 10th Religious Meeting: 1 Sakya Gongma Rinpoche2 Karmapa Rinpoche3 Menri Trizin Rinpoche4 Sharpa Choeje Rinpoche5 Representative of Penor Rinpoche6 Representative of Drigung Chetsang Rinpoche7 Representative of Drug Rinpoche8 Tsering Phuntsok, Minister of Dept. of Culture and Religion, (Tibetan government in exile.)

    Excommunicated!
    Oh Gosh! Oh Golly!
    What will we do?
    It’s the 19th of March, 2009. Hmmm! I wonder what news the day might bring?

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — March 19, 2009 @ 6:50 am | Reply

  17. “The Case Of The Missing Gerbel”

    NEW DELHI: The meeting between the Dalai Lama and Hollywood star Richard Gere, scheduled for March 21, will depend on the decision of the Supreme
    Court, which on Friday will hear the actor’s plea for stay of the arrest warrant issued against him by trial courts for his controversial kiss with Shilpa Shetty.

    Appearing for Gere, senior advocate Indira Jaising informed a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Altamas Kabir and J M Panchal that it would be difficult for the actor to come to India unless the warrants were stayed.

    She said the warrants had been issued against him in a “rather frivolous case for kissing an Indian woman” and argued that similar arrest warrants against Shilpa Shetty had earlier been stayed by the apex court. The SC fixed Friday for hearing Gere’s petition.

    Gere is wary of being nabbed either by the Rajasthan or UP police, who are still armed with arrest warrants issued by courts for his controversial kissing scene with Shetty at an AIDS awareness function last year.

    He has requested the apex court to stay the execution of the arrest warrants and a guarantee from the state governments that his exit from India, after the completion of his engagements, would be hassle free.

    First, he loved the Gerbels and then he found love in India.
    I think this byline portends of future events to come, i.e., ‘Dalia is wary of being nabbed either by the Rajastan or UP Police,Interpol, who are still armed with arrest warrant issued by the courts for …………………………….’

    [POS] POWER OF SUGGESTION

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — March 19, 2009 @ 7:30 pm | Reply

  18. A breach of Constitution under pretext of religion13:52,
    December 10, 2008
    In the “Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People”, the Dalai side claims that “the Tibetan government in exile represents the interests of the Tibetan people and speaks on their behalf”. It lists several “basic needs” (including religion) of “genuine autonomy”. All this is quite misleading.

    The Memorandum says,

    “We recognize the importance of separation of church and state, but this should not affect the freedom and practice of believers.” It also says, “An interpretation of the constitutional principle in light of international standard would also cover the freedom of the manner of belief or worship. The freedom covers the right of monasteries to be organized and run according to Buddhist monastic tradition, to engage in teachings and studies, and to enroll any number of monks and nuns or age group in accordance with these rules.

    The normal practice to hold public teachings and the empowerment of large gatherings is covered by this freedom and the state should not interfere in religious practices and traditions, such as the relationship between a teacher and his disciple, management of monastic institutions, and the recognition of reincarnations.”

    As a matter of fact, freedom of religious belief is one of the basic rights endowed to the Chinese citizens by the Chinese Constitution. Article 36 of the Constitution says, “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief. No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion. The state protects normal religious activities. No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state. Religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination.”

    In addition to the Constitution, other Chinese laws, including the Criminal Law, the Civil Code, the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, the Military Service Law, the Law on Compulsory Education, the Law on Education, the Electoral Law for the National People’s Congress and the Local People’s Congresses, the Organic Law of Village Committees, the Labor Law and the Law on Advertising all stipulate that citizens’ freedom of religious belief is protected and public organizations and individuals should not discriminate against citizens who believe in or do not believe in any religion.

    But one thing should be clarified. Freedom of religious belief does not mean religious activities are also free from government regulation or legal obligations. To believe in a religion or not is a personal issue and a free choice, but religious activities, which might affect other people, must be bound by law.

    To protect citizens’ freedom of religious belief, maintain social harmony and regulate religious affairs, the State Council issued the Regulations on Religious Affairs in 2004. Article 2 of the Regulations says that no organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in or not to believe in any religion. Nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in any religion or citizens who do not believe in any religion.

    Religious citizens and non-religious citizens shall respect each other and co-exist in harmony, and so shall citizens who believe in different religions.

    The provisions concerning protection of citizens’ freedom of religious belief in the Constitution and the laws have been implemented in earnest in Tibet. Tibet now has more than 1,780 religious sites, about 46,000 monks and nuns, four mosques and one Catholic church. Religious groups co-exist harmoniously and their religious activities are held in an orderly manner in Tibet.

    Without genuine freedom of religious belief, this would be impossible.

    What the Dalai side asked for was absolute religious freedom which was not bound by law. They asked to manage monasteries and enroll monks and nuns according to “religious tradition” and “religious rules”, which, in fact, meant that they wanted to resume the old “religion first” regime led by the Dalai before Tibet’s democratic reform. Then, Tibet had 2,676 monasteries and 120,000 monks and nuns, accounting for one tenth of Tibet’s total population.

    Monasteries, which owned more than one third of the means of production in Tibet, sustained the Tibetan feudal serfdom as one of the three major estate-holders. The other two were local bureaucrats and nobles.

    The old regime didn’t benefit Tibet. Instead, it impeded Tibet’s social development. According to the Tibetan Annals written in the Qing Dynasty, Tibet had a total population of 1.3 million in 1737. During the following 200 years, Tibet’s population didn’t increase. Instead, it declined to 1 million in 1951.

    Its economic situation was even worse. In 1951, Tibet was still a feudal serfdom with no modern industries and education. What the situation would be if the old system were restored in Tibet in which one tenth of the population were monks and nuns? By 2007, Tibet recorded a population of 2.83 million. If 280,000 people were monks or nuns and did not work, the pressure on laymen to support them would be crippling.

    Education is the foundation for social development. Article 2 of the Law on Compulsory Education says, “Compulsory education is the education which is implemented uniformly by the state and shall be received by all school-age children and adolescents. It is a public welfare cause that shall be guaranteed by the state.”

    Article 4 says, “All children and adolescents who have the nationality of the People’s Republic of China and have reached the school age shall have equal right and have the obligation to receive compulsory education, regardless of gender, nationality, race, status of family property, religion, belief, etc.”

    And Article 5 stipulates, “The people’s governments at all levels and their relevant departments shall perform all functions as described by this Law and shall ensure the right to compulsory education of all school-age children and adolescents. The parents or other statutory guardians of school-age children and adolescents shall ensure that school-age children and adolescents go to school to receive and complete compulsory education.”

    The Dalai side’s claim of enrolling any number of monks and nuns or age group in accordance with Buddhist monastic tradition violated the Law on Compulsory Education and will not help improve social development.

    Currently, religious followers in China enjoy full freedom of religious belief. Almost all Tibetan Buddhists have scripture halls or Buddha statue niches at home, and they can invite monks to hold scripture recitation and religious ceremonies at home. Lhasa receives more than 1 million Buddhist followers annually, and the Jokhang Monastery is full of believers worshipping or rolling their prayer wheels.

    By denying the fact that the Tibetan people enjoy freedom of religious belief and asking for an amendment to the Constitution with so-called ‘international standard’, the Dalai side is attempting to restore theocracy in Tibet.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — March 19, 2009 @ 7:59 pm | Reply

  19. People are often unreasonable, Illogical, and self-centred; Forgive them anyway.
    If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
    If you are honest and frank, People may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
    What you spend years building, Someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
    If you find serenity and happiness, They may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
    The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
    Give the world the best you have, And it may never be enough; Give the world the best you’ve got anyway. From the Internet

    If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut-off from other lands, but a continent that joins them. Francis Bacon

    Do all the good you can By all the means you can In all the ways you can In all the places you can To all the people you can As long as you ever can.

    Right intention is to the actions of a man what the soul is to the body, or the root to the tree.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — March 22, 2009 @ 4:53 am | Reply

  20. The hearing was on March 26, 2009. Indian goverment submitted the replies in the seven pages; its reply was sort of neutral.

    The court was not in hurry to pass a decision. So the court fixed next hearing in September, although our lawyers asked the date in May. However, we hope the court would decide in September, so that Shugden devotees enjoy religious freedom and human rights.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — March 29, 2009 @ 8:35 pm | Reply

  21. SAMDHONG RINPOCHE (PRIME MINISTER OF TIBETAN GOVT IN EXILE) HAS BEEN ONE OF THE PPL CHOSEN TO REPRESENT THE DALAI LAMA IN COURT RE HIS HEARING ON THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL BAN ON THE RELGIOUS WORSHIP OF DORJE SHUGDEN.

    IT IS UNHEARD OF ON INDIAN SOIL THAT ANYONE CAN BAN ANY TYPE OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. IT OUTRAGES THE INDIAN PSYCHE AS THEY DO THEIR BEST TO KEEP HARMONY WITHIN THE MULTITUDES OF RELIGIONS AND THEIR SUBSECTS AT COMMUNAL PEACE.

    INDIAN LAWYERS OF THE DELHI HIGH COURT DEMAND DALAI LAMA HIMSELF TO ATTEND THE HEARING.

    ANOTHER DATE HAS BEEN CHOSEN AS THE PRELIMINARY HEARINGS ARE COMPLETE.

    THE DELAY IS DALAI LAMA DOESNT WANT TO GO TO COURT, BUT THE LAWYERS INSIST. HENCE A RE-SCHEDULED HEARING.

    WHATEVER THE OUTCOME, IT WILL NOT BE IN DALAI LAMA’S BEST INTEREST TO BE TRIED IN COURT. THE FIRST DALAI LAMA EVER TO BE TRIED IN COURT. THAT WILL EMBARASS THE TIBETANS TO NO END AND HIS SUPPORTERS.

    TO ADD SALT TO THE INJURY, DALAI LAMA IS GOING TO COURT IN HIS HOST COUNTRY THAT HAS TAKEN CARE OF HIM AND TIBETANS FOR OVER 50 YEARS.

    INDIAN AUTHORITIES DID NOT WANT THIS BAN TO REACH SUCH A EXTREME SITUATION, BUT BECAUSE THE DALAI LAMA WOULD NOT BACK DOWN ON HIS ILLEGAL BAN, COURT IT MUST BE.

    THE TRIAL WILL BE IN DELHI HIGH COURT THIS YEAR.

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — April 6, 2009 @ 6:28 pm | Reply

  22. I can see that the new Resolution passed by the UN,is being
    perceived as an infringement on the rights to freedom of expression.Moreover it looks like it is more of the Islamic
    Organizations and those,that do not tolerate critical inquiry–or the likes of such–that may have influenced this decision!There is a double standard and phobic atmosphere in the west that allows caricatures of the prophet of Islam–which is a clear indication that the religion itself has been perceived as a threat–this is a travesty!It is the
    priests,or self proclaimed Messiahs of Religions and their anti-people proclamations,interpretation s and Decrees–that rob people of their free choice to believe and adhere,or not to–that should be condemned and not otherwise.
    I am of the belief that,if the new resolution defamation of religions’ is going to be abused by
    fundamentalists and neo-conservatists,a line has to be drawn,between those who
    question out dated theories and practices and,between those
    who simply draw abusive conclusions on the faith and
    practices of others–merely because of their own ignorance
    and fear of the ‘other.’I would say,that whereas,the concern for,the freedom of expression being jeopardized is a legitimate concern.Look at the way people in the west react–without the least consideration for the views of the other side –when that criticism is directed to their own dogmatic figures of adulations and conceptual Ideologies.This,then is what necessarily contributes to hypocritical standards,this is undesirable.
    In the case of the Defamation of the Shugden deity and
    it’s followers.I would dare say,that critical observations of the practice of Protector deities–in it’s mere superstitions and ritualistic jargon,may be correct. But,likewise,as an aid to reaching enlightenment,as a beginner and even an advanced adept a Protector is somebody,who assists you on the Path.This means that a Protector or a Dharmapala serves you,to quickly accomplish the goal of Enlightenment,and not just becoming a mere deity
    worshipper!
    Modern day Buddhists–like the Dalai Lama,for instance–rely on modern-day technology,gadgets and funds.

    Coming back to the highest of highs,reborn fourteen times
    as a Buddhist teacher and Icon of peace,he too,needs the support of world Politicians, Hollywood celebrities,the Press and CIA staged funds and intrigues,to maintain his high profile lifestyle and block buster Image–as the world’s most purest and altruistic politician–as if one such truly exists!My question is,how many people have actually contemplated or put their own beliefs–be it spiritual,political or even ideologies other than these–to test.In the context of the Mind-Training(Lojong)traditi on of Teachings, there are hardly a handful,that are willing to confront
    their self-cherishing and delusions.Similarly,making China
    the Devil and Dalai Lama the saint,is all too simplistic.
    It is just an enigmatic and pious
    delusion,which is stupendous, given,that we are already living in advanced countries in the third millennium!
    My point here is;there needs to be a consensus,amongst the
    astute and democratically oriented people,that,a Dalai Lama,the Pope or even widely accepted Leaders,no matter what their clout or massfollowings,should not be allowed a free hand to dictate,who is or,is not a believer.
    Democrasy, as we all know,is certainly not about numbers or decisions,that ought to arise from mass hysteria or euphoria.But,as you can see currently in the west,those who hail the DL’s decision,do so,because they conclude him to be the leader of all Tibetan Buddhists and on the the premises that the majority support his decisions,etc,etc!
    If an Ayuttolla,the spiritual leader of all Iranians,were to decree some law binding on all Iranians–regardless,of his being an mass leader–he would be condemned,by one and all in the west!

    To condemn the Pope in the west is all too easy.Indignation is a hobby with the self righteous and presumably,it is in the developed countries, where every body assumes all their faculties to be matured!Were there to be objectivity in the west,the voices of a minority of Shugden followers would defenitely find breathing space.I am hoping that the UNO will listen to the voices of those,who desire the freedom,to follow the practices as handed down to them by their spiritual masters.That the freedom to interpretate spirituality is an individual right.And even in the traditional surroundings of teacher disciple relationship,within organised practises,the neophytes do have the freedom to choose their practise and develop their own approach,modelled on the
    Heirophants guidelines.

    Greetings and Best Wishes.
    Kundeling

    Comment by Thomas Canada / Cedar City,Utah — April 17, 2009 @ 5:47 pm | Reply


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