Saturday, May 31, 2008

Latest update of persecution May/June 2008

May/June 2008 in brief

Reports are coming through that:

Agents of the Dalai Lama are trying to destroy Palgyeling Monastery in Nepal.

Mobs supportive of the Dalai Lama’s ban burnt down the house and hotel of Tenzing Choegyal (Zongkar Choede) in New Delhi last Thursday.

A doctor who was helping Dorje Shugden practitioners was attacked yesterday at a clinic in a Tibetan settlement (Ooti) that was giving out medicines for tuberculosis.

The Dalai Lama’s sister Pema is in Paris starting the forced signature campaign of Tibetans in France.

The forced signature campaign is being arranged for Madison, US, in July 2008.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama has been in England talking about tolerance, religious harmony and the need for dialog with one’s enemies. He has still refused every single request to discuss the unlawful ban on the worship of Dorje Shugden.

Dalai Lama: Nottingham Protest

Hundreds of Buddhist monks and nuns gathered in the Old Market Square yesterday afternoon to protest against the Dalai Lama.

Members of the Western Shugden Society chanted and demonstrated against what they say was religious repression as the Tibetan leader has banned a traditional Buddhist prayer and Deity.

One placard read 'Dalai Lama Give Religious Freedom'. In 1996 the Dalai Lama advised Tibetans against using the Dorje Shugden prayer and worshipping Shugden, saying it could lead to Buddhism becoming a cult of spirit worship.

Although he had previously used the prayer and worshipped the Deity himself, he said he later realised it had been a mistake.

According to the protesters in Nottingham, Buddhists found practising Shugden worship in India, where the exiled Dalai Lama now lives, were being expelled and abused.

Organiser Kelsang Pema said: "People are suffering - people are having their houses burned and people are denied food and material things in monasteries if they are practicing this prayer."

Kelsang Pema said she was delighted with the turn-out and people had come from as far as New Zealand, Mexico and Brazil. She said: "Hopefully we will be able to get a meaningful discussion from the Dalai Lama from this."

The Dalai Lama was giving five days of teaching at the Nottingham Arena. He leaves the city today.

From This is Nottingham

Protest on Dalai Lama for banning Dorje Shugden - Nottingham

Monks protests against Dalai Lama

Hundreds of Buddhist monks gathered in the centre of Oxford this morning to protest loudly against a visit by the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader.

The Dalai Lama is speaking at the Sheldonian Theatre and about 1,000 members of the Western Shugden Society turned up outside.

The protesters chanted "Dalai Lama stop lying" and other slogans as he arrived for the talk and 9.30am.

The chanting reached fever pitch as the Dalai Lama arrived in a chauffeur-driven vehicle and was escorted into the building.

The society claim the Tibetan leader has banned a traditional Buddhist prayer, while his followers are abusing the human rights of Shugden Buddhists.

The Sheldonian Theatre was cordoned off to members of the public who are not invited to the talk and there was a strong police presence including officers on horseback.

Supporters of the Western Shugden Society are thought to have come to Oxford from as far away as Brazil, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

Many of the demonstrators have been following the Dalai Lama around the UK and protested at his engagements in London and Nottingham in recent weeks.

Kelsang Pema, spokesman for the Western Shugden Society, said: "The demonstration is very loud and we hope the Dalai Lama hears our message.

"When the Dalai Lama was 50, he decided that one very simple and pure spiritual prayer should not longer be regarded as Buddhist.

"But even if he experienced a change of heart himself, he should not have inflicted this on Buddhist communities throughout the world.

"We have tried to petition him peacefully since the 1990s but he will not listen and now people are being expelled from monasteries and schools for trying to practice this prayer."
The demonstration is expected to last until shortly after midday.

From Oxford Mail

Why is the Dalai Lama suppressing religious freedom?

Do you know that the Dalai Lama...

* the Nobel Peace Prize winner and supposed champion of human rights is busy at work removing the religious rights and freedoms of one section of his own Tibetan people and persecuting all those who are trying to stand up for these rights;

* and that he is using all his political power to destroy a well-loved and centuries-old religious tradition, causing huge confusion and pain among thousands of Tibetans;

* and that this religious tradition he is trying to destroy is the one taught to him by his own Spiritual Guide, His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (1901-1981), the Junior Tutor of the Dalai Lama;

* and that in a world where the Western and American ideal is the separation of politics and religion to prevent such abuses of power, the Dalai Lama is the very embodiment of the union of politics and religion;

* and that his actions are illegal and unlawful, directly contravening the Declaration of Human Rights, the Indian Constitution, and even the Tibetan government-in-exile's own constitution;

* and all this makes the Dalai Lama's actions contradictory and hypocrital - if you go around preaching non-violence and religious tolerance, it is hypocritical to then actively suppress religious freedom to advance your own political agenda of keeping control of the Tibetans:
...From the AP reports, Seattle, April 14, 2008: Inside the (University of Washington) arena, the Dalai Lama received an honorary degree and spoke of the importance of employing dialogue and mutual respect to solve problems. "You will make this century of peace," the Dalai Lama told students. "Today's world (is) heavily interdependent. Destruction of your neighbor or enemy is destruction of yourself."

...From The Washington Post, April 20, 2008: Dalai Lama Urges Religious Tolerance. ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Dalai Lama encouraged people gathered at the University of Michigan on Saturday to preserve their own religious traditions while respecting others with differing beliefs. "As you know, I always believed, since all different traditions have the same potential to bring inner peace, inner value, . . . it is important to keep one's own tradition," he told about 8,000 people at Crisler Arena.
* and when the Dalai Lama says "I now practice all Tibetan religious traditions and think you should too", what he really means is "I want to control all Tibetan religious traditions";

* and that the Dalai Lama's "spiritual" reasons for repressing the practice of Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden comes across as both superstitious and incompatible with basic Buddhist teachings:

For example, the Dalai Lama says that Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden is a spirit who causes harm to his own life and the cause of a free Tibet. However, every Buddhist knows that if you go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, you are protected from harm from spirits. So how can such a spirit harm a supposed Buddha? How can such a spirit affect the cause of a free Tibet? It makes no sense, but of course these reasons are designed to produce a powerful emotional response in the intensely nationalistic, devout and loyal exiled Tibetans.

* and that, because of the Dalai Lama's calculated and uncompassionate political campaign of religious oppression, many Tibetans in India are now outcasts within the exiled;

* and that even Western followers of the Dalai Lama are blindly repeating his claims that those who are following this tradition are spirit-worshippers and a sectarian cult, despite all evidence to the contrary (in this way deliberately setting out to destroy the reputation of Western Dorje Shugden practitioners and prevent people attending their Centers);

* and that no matter how many peaceful representations, letters and petitions have been sent to him over the last ten years begging him to reconsider, he has ignored every single one and refused to engage in any dialogue;

* and that just because the Dalai Lama is a media darling of the West does not mean that he is infallible and above reproach, and that just because he is a supposed God King and Nobel Peace Prize winner does not make him above the law or immune to grave mistakes;

If you now read points 1-30 about Dorje Shugden, you will see actions and behaviour that are contradictory and hypocritical. If you say one thing to everyone in the West, but in your own backyard you engage in systematic calculated political religious repression, then what is the world to think?

The purpose of this website is not to slander the Dalai Lama, but to point out a grave mistake that he is making. We urge him, yet again, to lift his ban on the practice of the Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden and to ask his followers to stop persecuting Dorje Shugden practitioners right now.

We don't like hypocrisy. We hope you don't either.