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Dalai Lama controversy
This is a new version of a video I posted previously. This version is a little better. Below are links to the articles and news videos included.
The Dalai Lama: Front Man for a Feudal Clique, Darling of Wealthy Mystics and Cold Warriors
World News Briefs; Dalai Lama Group Says It Got Money From C.I.A.
Deity banned – Outrage as Dalai Lama denounces Dorje Shugden
Behind Dalai Lama’s holy cloak
Is the Dalai Lama a religious dictator?
PEOPLE & POWER – The Dalai Lama: The devil within
The Dalai Lama’s Buddhist Foes
Protest at Dalai Lama prayer ban
Who Destroyed the Dalai Lama’s Reputation?
The article below was written by Ron Cook.
With the release of the book ‘A Great Deception – The Ruling Lama’s Policies’ many will conclude that the Western Shugden Society is intent on destroying the reputation of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Such a conclusion is both specious reasoning and absurd. This is because the Dalai Lama has completely savaged his own reputation. His innumerable contradictory words and activities are the poison that is solely responsible for any downfall. Like any self-destructive celebrity the Dalai Lama need only look in the mirror to find the source of all his problems.
If one does a little research it is easy to find example after example of conflicting statements coming from the mouth of the Dalai Lama. For example, is the Dalai Lama a religious leader or politician? The Dalai Lama provides his answer: “To be interested in religion you have to be involved in politics.”1 He has also said things like, “Political institutions and religious institutions should be separate; it is safer if they are kept away from each other.”2 Then during the same interview, and only moments later, he contradicts himself by saying “…politics and religion should be combined.”3 How does advocating blending ‘church and state’ foster a good reputation? Historically the combination has only produced intense suffering and injustice. His advocacy is no doubt due to his previous stewardship of Tibet prior to his 1959 exodus. “We are punished for feudalism. Every event is due to one’s karma.”4 This was the Dalai Lama’s response to a question as to why Tibetans had lost both their independence and why they were having no success in regain it. Does he remember who the feudal lord of Tibet was?
Does being on the CIA’s payroll enhance or discredit the reputation of a supposed fully omniscient Buddha of Compassion? Is collecting millions of dollars for a ‘free Tibet’ while at the same time abandoning independence and instead seeking autonomy within China not a contradiction? Why was their no referendum from six million Tibetans? Again, does this enhance or discredit his reputation? Does being a spokesperson for Apple Computers or guest editor of the fashion magazine Vogue, help increase his reputation as a pure spiritual practitioner? How does saying that Shoko Asahara, [leader and convicted murderer of the Japanese AUM Cult] has a ‘mind of a Buddha’ provide him with a credible reputation? Does attending Hollywood parties and staying in the world’s most luxurious hotels accord with the vows and commitments of a ‘simple Buddhist monk?’ Does supporting India’s testing of nuclear weapons an admirable quality of a Nobel Peace Prize recipient? Does saying ‘I am half Marxist, half Buddhist’ win favour with Marxists, Buddhists, or anyone for that matter?
The Dalai Lama said the following at a speech at the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies, Dharamsala, May 29, 1991:
“Now, when we try to become a complete democracy, the present election system becomes a bit of a problem. We have used the word ‘secularism’ in our draft charter. Experts interpret this word differently. But in our Charter the word is defined in Tibetan as remey …(it roughly means that the state will not discriminate among different religions). Therefore, if our constitution is based on this principle, it, for all practical purposes, incorporates the essence of all religions, whether we give it the name of religion or not. However, if we use the word religion, we will be narrowing the scope of this constitution. On the contrary, if we use the phrase ‘natural and innate spiritual qualities of human beings,’ it will embrace the whole of humanity.”
In a speech to the Lithuanian Parliament, October 1, 1991 the Dalai Lama said:
“Of course, sometimes religion has been used to create divisions and problems between people. That is very unfortunate and sad because I believe religion should do the opposite: it should develop harmony, compassion and understanding among people. The fact that there are differences should not create conflict. It is useful to have different religions so that people can practice the religion that best fits their mental disposition.”
Apparently such altruism applies to all of humanity except Dorje Shugden practitioners. How does expounding such noble policies like this (and then invoking a systematic persecution and attempted purge of Dorje Shugden adherents from the Tibetan and Buddhist communities around the world), enhance his reputation? Considering the fact that at the time of these speeches he had already been advising his followers not to practice Dorje Shugden for over a decade, makes these words particularly hypocritical.
Writing two autobiographies and consulting on a movie revolving around his early years in Tibet has certainly enhanced his reputation. Unfortunately no authentic Buddhist spiritual leader would ever consider wasting their time fawning about themselves because it directly contradicts Buddha’s teachings on self-centeredness. Similarly, does including on his official website lists of both his honors and awards and all the politicians he has met, indicate anything more than an egotistical proclamation?
The unsavory words and actions of the Dalai Lama are so extensive that the book A Great Deception could not possibly explore them all. It only focuses on some of the most egregious contradictions. Followers of the Dalai Lama may be outraged by what they read but they merely suffer from the self-deception of seeing the emperor’s new clothes. No doubt it is unbearable to entertain the thought that they have been utterly deceived by a master political and spiritual illusionist. No matter what evidence is presented they will likely choose to remain in denial, and apply blind faith. However, they should keep in mind that the Western Shugden Society and others would have no justifiable or corroborated basis for criticism had the Dalai Lama not provided it in overabundance. The undeniable truth is that Dalai Lama destroyed his reputation many years ago.
1 Interview by Paul Vallely, ‘The Independent’ Saturday, 9 December 2000
2 Extract from All You Ever Wanted To Know From His Holiness The Dalai Lama On Happiness, Life, Living, and Much More: Conversations with Rajiv Mehrotra, 23 January, 2010.
3 Ibid.
4 Interview by Johan Hari, ‘The Independent’ 7 June, 2004.
Reviews of ‘A Great Deception – The Ruling Lama’s Policies’
Below are some of the best reviews of A Great Deception – The Ruling Lama’s Policies from Amazon.com. The book is now available in the US from the Independent Publishers Group. If you’ve read the book, feel free to post your own review in the comments section below or better yet write your own review on Amazon.com
Review by Michael-James B. Weaver
This book advocates a spiritual solution to a political problem that has plagued Tibetan society for the past 15 years, the Dorje Shugden controversy. Walking in the footsteps of the Buddha, high Lamas should renounce involvement in political affairs. Buddha spoke of his renunciation in this way: “Bodhisattvas should follow my example. I renounced my kingdom and attained complete enlightenment. You must be aware of how close the relationship between renunciation of the world and the eventual attainment of supreme enlightenment is.” Buddha’s father offered to abdicate the throne in favor of his son’s rule, to which Buddha replied, “Father, I am no longer the son of one family, one clan, or even one country. My family is now all beings, my home is the Earth, and my position is that of a monk who depends on the generosity of others. I have chosen this path, not the path of politics. I believe I can best serve all beings in this way.”
It is readily apparent throughout this book that the Western Shugden Society is *no* fan of Communist China, a “totalitarian regime” that “invaded” Tibet and has now “occupied” it for more than 50 years. Still, primary blame for the “catastrophic decline” of Buddhadharma in Tibet over the past few hundred years, which ultimately precipitated the loss of the country to the Chinese, rests solely on the unholy mixing of religion and politics which the book calls ‘Lama Policy’. The current Dalai Lama’s political ambition to become the unprecedented spiritual head of all Tibetan Buddhists, his unfailing adulation of Mao, and his fascination with ‘half-Buddhist, half-Marxist’ communism (seriously retarding his exile government’s democratization) are all given heavy treatment in the book. Many Tibetans feel personally betrayed by the Dalai Lama, who unilaterally handed over the cause of Tibetan independence to the Chinese as early as the 1980s, without consulting either the Tibetan parliament or his people. Once Tibetan nationals started to realize that their hopes for a ‘Free Tibet’ had been ruined, the Dalai Lama’s scapegoating of Dorje Shugden practitioners began… and for the past 15 years this clintonesque misdirection has worked amazingly well, albeit to the detriment of the Tibetan exile community’s internal trust, peace, and harmony.
The book puts forth a most intriguing thesis, which is touched on throughout various chapters as it retraces the history of the Dalai Lamas; the implications will be earth-shattering for many Tibetan Buddhists, yet liberating for many others including myself. That is, “a great deception” has been perpetrated since the death of the Fourth Dalai Lama, in that no one who has carried this title since–from the Fifth to the current Fourteenth–has actually fulfilled the First Dalai Lama’s promise to his root Guru, Je Tsongkhapa, who was the founder of the Gelugpa tradition: “From now until I attain enlightenment I shall seek no refuge other than you… I pray that, with my mind free from the influence of attachment and hatred, I may strive to maintain your doctrine and cause it to flourish without ever giving up this endeavor” (translation in the book Heart Jewel by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso). The first four Dalai Lamas are presented as pious, holy men who lived “exemplary lives of pure moral discipline and spiritual practice,” and so there is no doubt about their authenticity.
In sharp contrast, the so-called Fifth Dalai Lama’s military escapades (including sectarian suppression of the Jonang, Kagyu, and Bön traditions), political intrigues (including the assassination of his spiritual ‘rival’, Dragpa Gyaltsen), and abhorrence of his root Guru the Panchen Lama call into doubt whether he was really the reincarnation of the Fourth Dalai Lama at all. Rather, “Many Gelugpa lamas believe that Dragpa Gyaltsen, and not Losang Gyatso, was the actual incarnation of the Fourth Dalai Lama and that when Dragpa Gyaltsen died he became a Protector of Je Tsongkhapa’s Ganden tradition” (i.e., he manifested as Dorje Shugden). Indeed, it would be interesting to know how pervasive this interpretation is amongst contemporary Shugden Lamas, because it helps to explain so much, for example, why the earliest rituals to Dorje Shugden identified him as an emanation of Avalokiteshvara (see the Dorje Shugden History website), and why it is that the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Dalai Lamas weren’t particularly noteworthy, to say the least.
The book is a damning account of the Fifth, Thirteenth, and current Dalai Lamas’ theocracies and their failures as political and spiritual leaders. And, although the book is heavily sourced, it is intended merely as a starting point for journalists and scholars to dig even deeper. In a sense, exposing the Dalai Lama’s “open secrets” to the world in this way is like giving us permission to look past the facade and not feel blasphemous for doing so: the authors invite the world again and again to scrutinize the Dalai Lama’s actions just as they would any politician, and not be mesmerized by the celebrity of this ‘simple Buddhist monk’. For these Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama can no longer hide behind the mask of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, for his actions simply do not merit it: even the current Dalai Lama’s militant campaigns, political intrigues, and abhorrence of his root Guru (whom he never acknowledges) are laid bare, a haunting replay of the Great Fifth’s samsaric life.
Nevermind the fact the Dalai Lama has never had the ecclesiastical authority to ban prayers to Dorje Shugden, what this book makes transparent is that neither does he have the *moral* authority. Of course, the Dalai Lama’s Buddhist teachings and lectures are spectacular, which is a testament more to the wisdom and kindness of his unsung Spiritual Guide, Trijang Rinpoche, a Dorje Shugden practitioner who arguably was the greatest Tibetan Buddhist master of his generation. The Dalai Lama often says that we have to choose between himself or Dorje Shugden, which in effect amounts to choosing either the Dalai Lama or the late Trijang Rinpoche; for many Shugden practitioners this has been a difficult but clear choice, and this book makes it crystal clear.
Review by Aaron Pearson
What a fantastic read. I couldn’t put this book down. Once you get past the first couple of chapters, which makes some quite strong accusations against the Dalai Lama and his `religious ban’ on a group of Buddhists, the book starts to unravel the background behind these claims – and there’s a lot of information to back them up. The book has almost 400 references to various resources so it does seem pretty credible after all.
The book gives a lot of interesting facts about the previous Dalai Lamas, a lot of which I didn’t know about. Particularly interesting was the chapter on the present Dalai Lama, with new information about his escape from Tibet, about his dealings with the CIA, and other things like the fact that members of his family are part of his Government – it’s quite an eye-opener.
The main point of the book is to put pressure on the Dalai Lama to stop his ban against Buddhists who follow a deity called Dorje Shugden. I understand that he claims there is no ban, but when I looked into some of the references in the book I found some video footage of the Dalai Lama referring to the ban as `his’ – see the Western Shugden Society website, under ‘videos’. On the same website I also found some footage from a TV News Channel of a Buddhist monk being refused entry to a local shop because he is a follower of Dorje Shugden. With all these claims I read saying that there is no ban, this type of evidence seems pretty hard to ignore. It seems like a pretty clear cut case of religious discrimination when you can’t even go into a shop and buy some groceries because of your religious beliefs!
What I came away with was a feeling that the image of the Dalai Lama I had previously was a bit superficial. I knew he’d won the Nobel Peace Prize, that he is the head of the Tibetan Government etc. and on that basis I had him down as a good guy, fighting for World Peace, but I now realise I didn’t really have anything to back this up with. This book takes things to a whole new level. There are pictures of him shaking hands with Chairman Mao, with ex-Nazi SS soldiers, with the Aum Cult leader (responsible for the Japanese train gassing) and more. Now I’m not saying I think he’s a Nazi, but when you put all of this together, my image of him being a ‘holy man’ is now looking a bit dubious. Well, that’s my take on it anyway.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a bit of controversy and to anyone who is interested in finding out about the Dalai Lama’s background – everything other than what he would want you to know of course. And to anyone who won’t read the book because they don’t feel comfortable that the ‘holy’ Dalai Lama is finally being brought into disrepute, if this information is true, you might want to think about the suffering of the Buddhists in Tibet who are being discriminated against – if we continue to turn a blind eye to these types of reports, then maybe no one will ever find out the truth behind these claims?
Review by C. Poulengeris
I read this book really carefully and I think it is excellent. For a long time Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama) has been doing whatever he likes with very little scrutiny from Western observers. Anyone who should dare to criticise the Dalai Lama is usually just attacked. Far better to investigate the complaints to see if they hold water. In this book the Dalai Lama’s most serious failings are exposed. It is a little bit like the story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.
In any case, I would recommend this book because it is very well researched with a lot of documentary evidence. It has cast iron evidence of
1. His links to the CIA
2. His shady, shady finances. This guy has received hundreds of millions of dollars over the years for “Tibetan Independence”. Everyone knows that the Dalai Lama (against the wishes of many Tibetans themselves) gave up on Tibetan Independence years ago. What has happened to the money. It certainly hasn’t been used for the benefit of alleviating poverty amongst Tibetans!
3. How he is attempting to divide and weaken the Gelugpas (by attacking the worship of a popular deity called Dorje Shugden) so that they will then join his “Rime” (Ecunemical) movement. (The Rime movement by the way never existed until recent times, invented by, yes the 14th Dala Lama)
4. His utter failure to do anything whatsoever either for Tibet or for Tibetans in general (above and beyond some serious nepotism regarding his close family)
5. His disrespect for his own Spiritual Guide (His Holiness Trijang Dorjechang). There is documentary evidence where he says that HH Trijang Dorjechang was wrong to worship Dorje Shugen. According to Mahayana Buddhism ANYONE who directly criticises their own Spiritual Guide is creating heavy negative karma.
It is, I believe, very well researched and accurate.
Anyone who may find it hard to believe that the Dalai Lama is fallible should read this book. It exposes the Dalai Lama’s failings. As Abraham Lincoln said: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
An excellent book.
The Attempted Coup in Bhutan
Thimpu, Bhutan
This is one of Open Secrets Concerning the Fourteenth Dalai Lama presented in the book A Great Deception by the Western Shugden Society. I found more details about the Attempted Coup in Bhutan in the book The Making of Modern Tibet By A. Tom Grunfeld. Below are a few excerpts from page 206.
In April 1973, just months before the official coronation of the current monarch, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the government of Bhutan announced the arrest of more than thirty individuals, almost all of them Tibetan refugees. The arrests were said to be in response to a plot that had begun a year earlier with the fatal heart attack of the previous monarch. During the latter years of this king’s reign, one of the most influential people was his alleged mistress. This woman, Ashi Yanki, was accused of being the ringleader of a group that had plotted to kill the young heir to the throne, set fire to the capital of Thimpu, and, in the resulting confusion, carry out a coup that would have effectively put Bhutan under the control of Tibetan refugees. The purpose of this coup, it was claimed, was to turn Bhutan into a military camp and a staging area for raids into neighboring China. It was further alleged that Ashi Yanki’s major source of support and encouragement was none other than Gyalo Thondup [the Dalai Lama’s brother]. …
The Dalai Lama must maintain the absolute and undivided loyalty of the refugees in order to preserve his secular power. He is opposed to assimilation, and is especially opposed to the acquisition of citizenship in the settelment countries. In 1979, it was rumored that representatives of the Dalai Lama were warning Tibetans not to choose Bhutanese citizenship, lest they be barred from any future “independent” Tibet. …
In response, the Bhutanese, wanting all Tibetans to assume citizenship and profess their political loyaties solely to their king, have promised the refugees that they are free to renounce Bhutanese citizenship any time in the future – as are all Bhutanese.
The Dalai Lama and the CIA
This clip shows the details of the state department documents highlighted in the new book A Great Deception – The Ruling Lama’s Policies by the Western Shugden Society.
Here is a sample of the section entitled The Dalai Lama’s Involvement with the CIA and the Tibetan Guerillas:
In 1974, the Dalai Lama claimed: ‘The accusation of CIA aid has no truth behind it.’ But gradually as more and more US State Department documents have been declassified he has been forced to admit the truth.
In 1999, discussing the early CIA operations involving his people, he said: ‘They gave the impression that once I arrived in India, great support would come from the United States.’ The CIA provided $1.7 million dollars annually to train and support guerrillas, including setting up training camps in the US (Camp Hale, Colorado) and elsewhere, flying the guerrillas there and parachutting them back into Tibet, and providing weapons, equipment and intelligence. The Dalai Lama himself received $180,000 annually to maintain himself in India, a grant for which he did not have to account.
In the above video clip the Dalai Lama says ‘Violence and telling lies these I believe basically against human nature.’
The Dalai Lama inspecting troops at Chakrata. He authorized the Tibetan units of the Indian Special Frontier Force to fight the war in East Pakistan in 1971.
The Tibetan Government in Exile
The above video clip helps to illustrate this point made in the new book A Great Deception by the Western Shugden Society.
The Tibetan government is the Dalai Lama, and the Dalai Lama is the Tibetan government. Behind the trappings of government with its illusion of democracy, the Dalai Lama’s position, with its central tenet, ‘L’etat, c’est moi’ (‘I am the State’), extends its domain of authority over all aspects of policy and decision-making. There is no decision of government that is not the Dalai Lama’s decision.
Free Tibet – Where has all the money gone?
One of the sections of the new book A Great Deception – The Ruling Lama’s Policies asks the question “Where has all the money gone?” with regard to the Campaign for a Free Tibet.
Here’s a quote from the book:
The amount of money raised for the Tibetan causes over the last few decades – which most contributors in the West have been led to believe is for a free Tibet – probably runs into hundreds of millions, in not billions of dollars. If these funds are not being used for a free, independent Tibet (because the Dalai Lama stopped aiming for a this as early as the 1980s), then what is this money being collected for?
This is a section of the article Selling Tibet to the World printed on June 5, 2008 by Michael Backman which is featured in A Great Deception:
GUCCI, iPod, Facebook, Tibet – these are among the world’s hot brands, for which brand integrity is everything.
Tibet, as a brand, works particularly well. It brings in millions, and Hollywood A-listers queue to endorse it. What’s more, they do it for free. Creative director and brand chief executive, the Dalai Lama, will visit Australia again next week. He will preside over a five-day Tibetan prayer instruction course in Sydney. A company has been set up to handle the visit – Dalai Lama in Australia Limited.
Tickets for the event can be bought online even from The Age’s own Box Office website along with tickets for Bjorn Again and The Pink Floyd Experience. But few are as expensive as the Dalai Lama experience, with tickets ranging from $800 for front seats to $450 for seats at the back. Tickets for good seats for the Sunday session alone are $248. Lunch is extra – between $18 and $27 for a pre-ordered lunch box. A clothing range has even been created. There are polo shirts, baseball caps – even men’s muscle tees emblazoned with the endless Buddhist knot. From street chic to urban cool, baby, this monk has funk.
Saving Tibet, like Saving Private Ryan, is a good earner. Everyone’s into it, even China. Back in April, a factory in China’s Guangdong province was exposed as one of the manufacturers of the Free Tibet flags so prominent in the anti-Olympic torch protests in Britain, France and the US. The factory workers claimed they had no idea what the colourful flags represented. Blame China’s state-controlled media for that.
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Western Shugden Society 