Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Al Jazeera Top Story -- Revisits Court Case against the Dalai Lama

Al Jazeera’s People and Power has named ‘The Dalai Lama: The Devil Within’ one of their top two stories of 2008. As a result, Al Jazeera is now featuring it again.



The reporter has added at the end of the updated report:
"The case against the Dalai Lama is still with the courts. We hope to bring you an update later in the year."
As the lawyer for the persecuted Shugden practitioners, Shree Sanjay Jain, explains:
"It is certainly a case of religious discrimination in the sense that if within your sect of religion you say that this particular Deity ought not to be worshipped, and those persons who are willing to worship him you are trying to excommunicate them from the main stream of Buddhism, then it is a discrimination of worst kind."
Al Jazeera adds:
"No matter what the outcome of the court case, in a country where millions of idols are worshipped, attempting to ban the Deity is an uphill battle. One in which many Buddhist monks have lost their faith in the spirit of the Dalai Lama."
For a full transcript, see Al Jazeera News Documentary, October 2008.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd like to leave the same comment I left back in October on this news documentary.

This persecution has been going on for years. Why has nothing been done about it? When the evidence of persecution is now everywhere, why are people not questioning the Dalai Lama?

From an article in the New Internationalist ten (yes ten) years ago:

Deity banned
Outrage as Dalai Lama denounces Dorje Shugden

Buddhists picketed the Dalai Lama’s recent visit to the United States and Europe. They protested against the ban on the worship of the 350-year-old deity, Dorje Shugden, whom they say is one of the most revered in the Buddhist religion. In 1996 the Dalai Lama announced that worship of Dorje Shugden was banned and explained that his oracle, Nechung, had advised him that the deity was a threat to his personal safety and the future of Tibet.

The Tibetan Government-in-exile said its employees must stop worshipping the deity or be sacked. The office of the Dalai Lama told the superiors of the Sermey Monastic College in Bylakuppe, India: ‘If there is anyone who continues to worship Dorje (Shugden), make a list of their names, birthplace and class... Keep the original and send us a copy of the list.’

According to PK Dey, a human-rights lawyer from Delhi: ‘Those worshipping Shugden are experiencing tremendous harassment. It is not in a particular part of the country, but everywhere there are Tibetans. Dalai Lama supporters are going from house to house searching.’ For example, in Clementown, India, the house of a family of Shugden worshippers was stoned and then firebombed. Wanted posters describe people believed to be Shugden leaders as the top ten enemies of the state. The posters have been put up in monasteries, settlements and in Dharamsala by the Government-in-exile’s Department of Security.

Dorje Shugden worshippers say the ban and its implementation are in direct conflict with the proposed constitution of a free Tibet, laid down by the Dalai Lama in 1963. The constitution states that all religious denominations are equal before the law, and every Tibetan shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. But when Dorje Shugden worshippers challenged the ban, the Tibetan Government-in-exile stated that: ‘Concepts like democracy and freedom of religion are empty when it comes to the well-being of the Dalai Lama and the common cause of Tibet.’

During recent peace vigils a petition with 15,000 signatures was handed to the Dalai Lama stating the need for all Tibetan traditions to flourish. Protesters asked him to sign a declaration of freedom to worship Dorje Shugden. The Dalai Lama refused.

He says that he banned the worship of Dorje Shugden because it is a divisive deity that causes sectarianism among his followers, and is leading to the degeneration of Buddhism. But in doing so he has left many Tibetans confused. Gonsar Rinpoche, a Tibetan Lama who has worshipped Dorje Shugden throughout his life, says: ‘I cannot accept this ban on Shugden. If I accept that all my wise and great masters are demon worshippers, then their teachings are wrong, everything they believe in is wrong. That is not possible.’

Sara Chamberlain

Anonymous said...

Politics and Religion are a mismatch and it's past time for the Tibetans to actually vote for a true political leader. Instead we have a reicnarnate Warlord , who resembles Al Capone more and more with the passing years.

He is solely responsible for dividing nations and people and the courts will reveal his deceits this next year with details of his betrayals to the people.

Anonymous said...

Considering the TGIE,TYC,DL and Sam dung accuse the devoted of working for and receiving aid from the People's Republic Of China. That we are even more of an enemy of Tibet than the Chinese.
Well then hold on to your hats. I'm going to seek direct aid and financial assistance from the Chinese Governemnt. Aid for the monks, housing, food, money and others essentials.
I hope to talk them into making a movie about the true history of Tibet and reveal the treachery of this Dalia lama as the 5th, 13th and 14th Dalia lamas.

Anonymous said...

Check out this blog:

http://dorjeshugdentruth.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/the-twelfth-samding-dorje-phagmo-admonishes-the-dalai-lama/

to see who is quoted as saying:

“The sins of the Dalai Lama and his followers seriously violate the basic teachings and precepts of Buddhism and seriously damage traditional Tibetan Buddhism’s normal order and good reputation,”

Anonymous said...

See below. Now the Dalia lama has become a financial consultant with resounding insights to increase one's income. I always take financial advice from a man who walked out on an entire country of six million and left them to deal with the conquest themselves. Here in America, we call such acts, Cowardice! It is amazing people consider this coward of a man as some type of hero. He ran away in fear. He left 5,880,000 Tibetans in the lurch.

First its sex advice. Now it's financial advice.
Does he even know what a monk does or is?

Dalai Lama Blames Financial Crisis on Spiritual Fall
By Michael Heath, Bloomberg, Jan 13, 2009
Varanasi, India -- The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, blamed a lack of spirituality among people today for the global financial crisis.

The Buddhist monk, speaking during a weeklong religious seminar in the Indian holy city of Varanasi, told followers that “rampant corruption in the world” is due to a decline in culture and spirituality.

“People have become selfish and materialistic, which has led to the economic slowdown,” the 73-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said in an address at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies yesterday, Indian state-run broadcaster Doordarshan reported.

The U.S. housing slump that began in 2007 has developed into a worldwide crisis that forced central bankers to cut interest rates to near zero to unlock credit markets, pushed governments to bail out their biggest banks amid $1 trillion of writedowns, and sent titans like General Motors Corp. and American International Group Inc. begging for bailouts.

Thom said...

Dorje Shugden Society noted from the:Bodkyi-Bangchen
(Tibetan Language Newspaper
January 14, 2009, Dharamshala
Advice to the devotees from Himalayan regions
Excerpt: How the fifth Dalai Lama banned the worship of Dholgyal, which emerged at his time;
How the Dalai Lama even imposed a ban, with knowledge that worshipping Dholgyal is detrimental, after his investigation starting around 1974 and 1975;
He also added, “If individual continue to worship, seeing benefit in its worship, there is nothing to do. It is personal freedom. If one eats poison knowingly, it is ones freedom; there is nothing to do.”

(If it is a personal freedom, then why did he say? “if one eat poison knowingly” So there is no freedom; it means you should not worship Shugden.)

Thom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thom said...

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