Protesting Against the Dalai Lama?? May 27, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany,Politics , trackbackI’d been expecting Chinese protests at the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Nottingham, but not a row of about 20 monks and nuns carrying placards saying ‘Stop Lying’ and ‘Dalai Lama Give Religious Freedom’. Shouting loudly, they weren’t getting much attention from people going into the teachings. I went up and asked one what he was protesting about. He kept shouting and pointed at a nun standing at the end of the line. She claimed that the Dalai Lama was making it impossible for Tibetans to carry out a particular religious practice, for political reasons.
This is about the worship of a Tibetan deity, Dorje Shugden. And here we delve into the opaque world of Tibetan religion and politics. Dorje Shugden may, or may not, be a manifestation of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva (saint) of Wisdom. He may, or may not, be a 17th century lama who remains as a protector spirit of some sort. It’s a long way from the rarefied world of Nagarjuna’s ideas on the nature of reality and the philosophical text His Holiness has been teaching this week.
In Bodhgaya in 1998, I heard His Holiness teach 100,000 people, most of them Tibetans. At that time, he explained that he believed that the Dorje Shugden practice was a large part of the karmic cause of the problems now facing Tibet, and would also shorten his own life. He asked people not to do it. He also said that if people wanted to do it, they could, but please would they not attend his teachings or religious ceremonies.
That is a lot more powerful than it sounds. Many Tibetans, and westerners who are Buddhists in the Tibetan tradition will do whatever the Dalai Lama asks them to do. His political power may be limited, but his influence is huge. There are reports that Tibetans who continue to carry out Dorje Shugden practice are ostracised, unable to get jobs and suffer persecution, though Amnesty International do not think this is bad enough for them to get involved.
So where does that leave this woolly liberal then? A man who is revered world-wide, champion of a cause for which I have the utmost sympathy, who I admire greatly, is accused of something like this.
It strikes me that if you really believe in karma and the efficacy of religious practice to influence the world outside your own mind, then you have to bear the consequences. One of those consequences surely has to be a limitation on freedom to practice anything, no matter how harmful it might be to others. Clearly enough Tibetans agree that the Dalai Lama is right that this practice is harmful, and those doing it at least believe that it is worth doing. If you operate in that sort of worldview, continuing to do the harmful practice is a bit like playing your stereo very loud all weekend – you might enjoy it, but the neighbours don’t, and eventually, if they are more powerful or have greater authority than you, you will have to stop.
Religious freedom has its limits, and those limits have to be felt when the religious practice has harmful consequences beyond the practitioners. I wouldn’t agree, say, with the re-imposition of parish tithes in the name of religious freedom. It’s just that in this case it operates inside a worldview where karma is a law of nature and religious practices have real effects. It seems that both sides of this argument share that worldview, but the dispute is over the nature of the effect of the practice. The stakes are high, and is it really unreasonable for the Tibetan authorities to try to do something about it?
Comments
When I knew him, Lama Gangchen Rinpoche was a strong practicioner of Dorje Shugden, and a close friend of His Holiness – they just agreed not to make an issue over their diagreements on this issue.
http://www.lgpt.net/indexen.htm
I find it sad that politics is being played out in the world of Tibetan Dharma. Especially the way China is trying to apoint its own Rinpoches, and the way that some Buddhists are agreeing.
PS is the signature no. 65 on the petition.westernshugdensociety.org site the same Niel Elliot,as Gen Tubten, the former Heart Desiple of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso?
Hi CamdenKiwi, the Dalai Lama has yet to justify with logical reasons any of the claims he has made about Dorje Shugden practice such as it shortening his own life and it harming the cause of Tibetan independence. Making these statements without valid reasons is not acceptable in this age of science and rationality. He is simply playing on the superstitious fears of Tibetans for political purposes while at the same time removing the basic human rights of Shugden practitioners to get education, food, and support from their families.
This is shameful behaviour for someone who preaches about love and religious tolerance. I think he needs to practise what he preaches, stop lying and give religious freedom.
@Steve Barker – I’ve no idea who Neil Elliot is, sorry.
@Lineageholder – Actually, worshipping supernatural beings is a bit odd in this age of science and rationality. For this to be an issue at all, you have to buy into the worldview of karma and effective religious practice. I can’t see that you can accept that religious world when you carry out the practice, and then invoke the age of science and rationality when someone tells you your practice is harmful.
It’s interesting that you say the Dalai Lama is lying, rather than just claiming that he is wrong. I don’t see why the Dalai Lama would lie about this. The controversy causes a level of disharmony in the Tibetan community that, as he himself said, it surely does not need right now. Why would he lie and create that controversy?
I’m closing comments on this.
I’ve had a couple of quite vitriolic ones, a very long post from a Shugden practitioner, and two more from a former member of the NKT which that person has asked me to remove. I’m not having vitriol, and have removed the comments as requested. Unfortunately, that would leave the comments dominated by the Shugden practitioner and in the end I have little choice but to take a call on who I believe, and I’m not prepared to be a platform for supporters of a practice which the Dalai Lama believes could cause him or Tibetans harm.
If you want to find the Shugden practitioner side of the story, google will get you there quickly.
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