Dorje Shugden controversy

Dorje Shugden (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན, Wylie: rdo-rje shugs-ldan), "Vajra Possessing Strength" is a Deity in Tibetan Buddhism, especially its Gelug school. Dorje Shugden's precise nature — enlightened tutelary deity (Yidam) and emanation of the wisdom of all enlightened beings, bound Dharma protector (Dharmapala) or a malevolent force (known derogatorily as "Dhol-rgyal") is disputed among adherents of Tibetan Buddhism. The practice of Dorje Shugden was banned by the 14th Dalai Lama, and this has led to ongoing segregation in the Tibetan community in exile and disharmony amongst Western Buddhist centers.

Today's controversy

On April 22, 2008, the newly-founded Western Shugden Society began a campaign directed towards the 14th Dalai Lama, claiming he is "banning them from practicing their own lineage of Buddhism". The campaigns accuse him of being "a hypocrite" who is "persecuting his own people". Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done.

According to the Western Shugden Society and Dorje Shugden Devotees Charitable Trust in India, on the orders of the Dalai Lama the ban was and continues to be enforced by the Tibetan Government in Exile and all other Tibetan Exile associations such as the Tibetan Youth Congress and the Tibetan Women’s Association: Specifically:

• Monks and nuns are forbidden to do the practice and are unconstitutionally expelled from their monasteries and nunneries if they do not comply
• Thousands of Shugden practitioners among the Tibetan lay people are being forced to abandon the practice or lose the support of their government and face orchestrated public humiliation and intimidation
• People who refuse to renounce the practice are losing their jobs, their children are being expelled from schools, and their travel papers, which require prior authorization from the Tibetan Government in Exile, are not being endorsed
• Statues have been smashed, temples destroyed, books burned, practitioner’s houses attacked, and even death threats issued

In a recent article (June 2008), Michael Backman says: "Shugden supporters claim that the Dalai Lama took advantage of the worldwide groundswell of support that accompanied the Olympic torch protests earlier this year to move against them. They claim that on his orders hundreds of pro-Shugden monks were expelled from Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, mostly in India, leaving them without financial support and shelter. They now argue it is the Dalai Lama who is breaching human rights when it comes to freedom of worship."

One version of the reasons for the ban focus on a particular brand of Gelugpa diversity that emerged in Central and Eastern Tibet during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where the deity was considered to demarcate the boundaries of Gelugpa religious practice, especially in opposition to growing influence of Ri-me, literally "non-sectarian" or "non-lineage". Many Gelugpas, as well as many Kagyupas, Sakyapas and Nyingmapas, began to follow the ideas of the Ri-me movement, but conservative Gelugpas, especially Pabongkha Rinpoche, became concerned over the "purity" of the Gelug school and opposed the ideas of Ri-me and encouraged a special Gelug moderate exclusivism. Different sources state that disciples of Pabongkha Rinpoche destroyed Nyingma monasteries or converted them to Gelug monasteries and destroyed statues of Padmasambhava, although there is debate about the reliability of this information.

As Lama Zopa, the founder and head of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), explained:

"Another thing is that some Tibetans and others severely criticize Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo because he practiced Shugden, making him out to be some kind of demon. However, Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo wrote incredible teachings on sutra and tantra; on Heruka, Tara Cittamani and many other topics. All these amazing teachings were written purely from his experience. So it’s impossible that he can really be some kind of evil being as those extremists accuse him of being. There’s no way he could have done the negative things they say he did."

Those who have followed the practice of Dorje Shugden are some of the most famous Gelug teachers of the 20th and 21st centuries including the Junior Tutor and root Guru of the 14th Dalai Lama, Trijang Rinpoche, Song Rinpoche, Ling Rinpoche (Senior Tutor of the 14th Dalai Lama) Gangchen Rinpoche, Gonsar Rinpoche, Dagom Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, Lama Kundeling, Tomo Geshe Rinpoche, Trijang Choktrul and many others. According to present-day Dorje Shugden practitioners, numbering hundreds of thousands worldwide, when the Dalai Lama says, "I now practice all Tibetan religious traditions [Ri-me] and think you should too", he is following a political agenda to unite and therefore control all Tibetan religious traditions under him; and this is a principal reason for the ban and subsequent segregation and persecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners.Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done.

As Michael Backman says: "Why is the Dalai Lama so hell-bent on moving against Shugden supporters? A reason might be that he genuinely believes Shugden worship is wrong. Another seems to derive from his desire to unite the four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism - the Ny[i]ngma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelugpa. This has always been one of the Dalai Lama's problems. He is not the head of Buddhism; he is not even the head of Tibetan Buddhism. Traditionally, the Dalai Lamas are from the Gelugpa sect. But since leaving Tibet, the current Dalai Lama has sought to speak for all Tibetans and particularly all overseas Tibetans.

To enhance his authority, he has sought to merge the four traditions into one and place himself at its head. But Dorje Shugden presents a roadblock. One aspect of Shugden worship is to protect the Gelugpa tradition from adulteration, particularly by the Ny[i]ngma tradition. Ny[i]ngma followers respond by not wanting anything to do with Gelugpa followers sympathetic to Dorje Shugden. So to allow a proper merger of the four traditions, the Dalai Lama needs to get rid of the Shugden movement. If the Dalai Lama can claim to represent all Tibetans, it will increase his political prestige and clout with overseas Tibetans and with governments."

The Dalai Lama also says that Dorje Shugden is a spirit who causes harm to his own life and the cause of a free Tibet. However, Shugden practitioners reply:

"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."

This on-going tension has reached new heights in the Tibetan exile context, where the Fourteenth Dalai Lama first began to distance himself from Shugden 20 years ago and later, in 1996, used his position as the political and religious head of Tibet to stop the growing influence of the worship of Shugden by banning the practice. In January 2008 the Dalai Lama started a campaign to destroy the practice once and for all and accounts of persecution and ostracism are now reported almost daily.

This ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden has caused a large rift in the Tibetan community. Tibetan and Western practitioners are currently organizing demonstrations against the Dalai Lama's ban wherever the Dalai Lama appears, accusing him of denying them religious freedom. The representative of the Dalai Lama, Tashi Wangdi, appeared in Hamilton, New York to say that from a legal standpoint there is no ban. However, he was contradicted by the practical examples and stories of Dorje Shugden practitioners which clearly indicate that followers are being persecuted because there is clearly a ban in effect and it comes from the Dalai Lama’s words. Human rights legal experts have held that claiming 'people have choice' is not enough if the individual is not able to exercise that choice freely without social, economic or political penalties. Shugden practitioners argue that they are not free to make their choice to rely upon the deity withoug being branded a 'traitor' and being denied jobs and basic social services, such as medical care. The representative said that he would look into all the evidence of human rights abuse within the Tibetan community in India and agreed that such abuses were wrong.

Subsequent demonstrations with placards and chants requesting the Dalai Lama to "Stop Lying" and to "Give Religious Freedom" have taken place with thousands of demonstrators in Germany, London, Nottingham and Oxford. Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done.The Western press is taking an increasing interest in the issue. In response to these demonstrations, the Dalai Lama and his Office have issued a hand-out outlining his reasons for discouraging the practice of Dorje Shugden.

Chronology of the dispute

A dispute began in the 1970s when the Dalai Lama started to speak out against the veneration of Dorje Shugden, engaged in by approximately 1 million Buddhists in India, China, Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal and the West. In the 1990s he banned the practice.

On May 8, 1996 in a public address in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama said, "It has been twenty years since I first mentioned the Dorje Shugden public restriction".

Also, in an address on May 5, 1996, the Dalai Lama said, "It may have been about ten years ago. While giving a lam.rim teaching at Drepung, I once gave my reasons for issuing the ban."

And "In this way came the reasons, on account of which I have issued the ban in recent times."

By 1998, two years after the Dalai Lama described Dorje Shugden as ‘evil’ and instructed monasteries to collect the names of those disobedient Buddhists who continued worshipping it, an Indian human rights lawyer, PK Dey, had collected 300 statements from Tibetans in exile in India who had been either threatened or attacked for failing to comply with the Dalai Lama’s orders. ‘Those worshipping Shugden are experiencing tremendous harassment’, said Dey. ‘This is not in any particular part of the country but everywhere there are Tibetans.’

The Dalai Lama remarked to members of the Cholsum Congress on March 4

It is good that paying attention to my health you have passed a resolution regarding this matter. Danger to health does not exclusively mean an armed attack. This type is extremely rare in Tibetan society. If there is continued indifference to my injunctions, then there would not be any point in my continuing to live silently as a disappointed man.

The Dalai Lama claims that Dorje Shugden is in discord with government approved protectors.

Whether outside of Tibet or within it, a deity in discord with [government deities] whose relationship with the origin of this [exile] government at the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama [is discordant] whatever may be the ultimate reality this is serious in the context of the common cause of Tibet. Therefore, unless I remind you once again there are those who pretend they have not heard it. It will be the last resort if [we] have to knock on [their/your] doors. It would be good if [they/you] can heed this without [us] having to resort to this last step.

During the fifth session of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE), which began on March 4, 2008, the Speaker, Karma Chophel, delivered the opening address. According to the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration, he lauded the bold initiative of Tibetan monastic communities in their resolve to end the Dolgyal (Shugden) worship, following the long life offering to the Dalai Lama held at Drepung monastery in south India in February.

This session will present motions to strengthen the present resolution adopted by the TPiE against the propitiation of Shugden, he added.

The dispute developed international dimensions in the 1990s, when the Dalai Lama's statements against the practice of Shugden challenged the British-based New Kadampa Tradition to oppose him. Geshe Kelsang said that Tibetan practitioners of Dorje Shugden asked him to help them. As a result, Kelsang Gyatso sent a public letter to the Dalai Lama, to which he did not receive any response, and subsequently created the Shugden Supporter Community (SSC), which organised protests and a huge media campaign during the Dalai Lama's teaching tour of Europe and America, accusing him of religious persecution, denying freedom of religious practice, and spreading untruths. According to Tashi Wangdi, Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done. Representative to the Americas of the Dalai Lama, there was no suppression of Shugden worship. "Officially there has never been any repression or denial of rights to practitioners," said Wangdi. "But after His Holiness’ advice [against worship] many monastic orders adopted rules and regulations that would not accept practitioners of Shugden worship in their monastic order." However, a Swiss TV documentary made at the time of the first abuses of Dorje Shugden practitioners in 1997 paints a different picture. The documentary shows evidence of violence and even death threats towards Dorje Shugden practitioners with 'wanted' posters of Dorje Shugden adherents being posted in Dharamsala, encouraging violence towards practitioners.

In India, some protests and opposition were organised by the Dorje Shugden Religious and Charitable Society with the support of SSC.

The SSC tried to obtain a statement from Amnesty International (AI) that the Tibetan Government in Exile (specifically the 14th Dalai Lama) had violated human rights. However, AI replied in an official press release:

None of the material AI has received contains evidence of abuses which fall within AI's mandate for action – such as grave violations of fundamental human rights including torture, the death penalty, extra-judicial executions, arbitrary detention or imprisonment, or unfair trials. This neither asserts nor denies the validity of the allegations against the CTA (Central Tibetan Administration), nor finds either side culpable. Amnesty International regards "spiritual issues" and state affairs as separate, whilst seeing the command-based nation-state as the fundamental framework for understanding the category of "actionable human rights abuses". Fundamental to this were linked criteria of state accountability and the exercise of state force, neither of which could clearly be identified within the CTA context.

At the peak of the conflict, in February 1997, three anti-Shugden Tibetan Buddhist monks, including the Dalai Lama's close friend and confidant, seventy-year-old Lobsang Gyatso (the principal of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics), were brutally murdered in Dharamasala, India, the Tibetan capital in exile. The murdered monks were repeatedly stabbed and cut up in a manner resembling a ritual exorcism. According to Tony Clifton (in the same Newsweek article from 1997):

No one saw the attackers slip in and out of the monastery chamber on the frosty night of February 4. There are no real suspects in hand, only suspicions, potential witnesses and the suggestive tale of an angry split in Tibetan Buddhism. As much as anything, the Shugdens are suspect because no alternative theory has emerged to explain this unholy crime. But the mystery of the Dharamsala murders is far from solved.

According to a disciple of Geshe Lobsang Gyatso, before he was killed, Lobsang Gyatso had to face many death threats, but refused any personal security.

Helmut Gassner, an Austrian Buddhist monk who was a translator for the Dalai Lama for seventeen years, spoke about the murders in a talk he gave to the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation Hamburg, on March 26, 1999:

The Director of the Dialectics School was well known for his slanderous writings in which he would drag through the mud anything that veered even slightly from the course established by the government-in-exile: famous masters, the big monastic universities and even the Tibetan guerilla were his targets. In one of his last articles he wrote, "...these people will not cease to criticize the Dalai Lama until blood flows from their bodies...."

Given the character of the assassination and the humiliations the Tibetan guerilla movement had been subjected to in earlier years, one could have assumed that the search for the murderer would eventually also lead to them. But that obviously did not occur; already the next day, Dharamsala's local newspaper claimed that the murderer would certainly be found among the Dorje Shugden Society in Delhi. Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done. Aside from who committed the murders, this gruesome act was exploited to the hilt by the government-in-exile with only one aim in mind: Resorting to all possible means they tried to incriminate the Dorje Shugden Society in Delhi in order to put its leading monks behind Indian bars. For the benefit of the press, the image of a Dorje Shugden sect with bloodthirsty, cultish, terrorist and fundamentalist attributes was successfully established linking it effectively with the traditionally depicted wrathful appearance of the deity while cleverly neglecting to mention that many wrathful Buddhist deities are represented in considerably more terrifying ways.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso also made reference to other suspects for the murders in his reply to the Newsweek article:

Robert Thurman is quoted as saying: "I think there's no doubt that Shugden was behind the killings." Of course, killing people is very bad, and I utterly condemn these appalling murders, but by reading the letter addressed to HH the Dalai Lama known as the 'Mongoose Canine Letter', we can clearly understand that HH the Dalai Lama has many enemies, so why are only Shugden supporters suspected? It is a great pity that Lobsang Gyatso who was a 70-year old Geshe died in the most horrible of circumstances, seemingly because HH the Dalai Lama has many enemies.

The Shugden Society in New Delhi denies any involvement in the murders and after an investigation by the Indian police, were found to have no involvement in the murders. The only piece of circumstantial evidence found by the police, a supposed "threatening letter" found in Lobsang Gyatso's office, was found upon translation from Tibetan into English by an unbiased third party to contain no threat and was dismissed. These facts have been ignored by the Tibetan government in Exile, which continues to make the accusation on its website and elsewhere.

Origin of the dispute

The Shugden dispute represents a battleground of Views on what is meant by religious and cultural freedom.

According to researcher Mills:

"The object of the controversy - the deity Dorje Shugden, also named Dholgyal by opponents of its worship - had been a point of controversy between the various orders of Tibetan Buddhism since its emergence onto the Tibetan scene in the late seventeenth Century, and was strongly associated with the interests of the ruling Gelukpa Order.

... The deity retained a controversial quality, being seen as strongly sectarian in character, especially against the ancient Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism: the deity was seen as wreaking supernatural vengeance upon any Gelukpa monk or nun who 'polluted' his or her religious practice with that of other schools. Most particularly those of the Nyingmapa.

... This placed the deity's worship at odds with the role of the Dalai Lama, who not only headed the Gelugpa order but, as head of State, maintained strong ritual relationships with the other schools of Buddhism in Tibet, particularly the Nyingmapa. The deity thus became the symbolic focus of power struggles, both within the Gelukpa order and between it and other Buddhist schools."

Geshe Kelsang, holding the view of those who rely upon Dorje Shugden, says in his full commentary to the practice of Dorje Shugden: "Dorje Shugden does not help only Gelugpas; because he is a Buddha he helps all living beings, including non-Buddhists."

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso disagrees with the analysis of Mills, saying it is simple superstition with no basis in fact. In an interview in Tricycle he says:

"Some people believe that if Gelugpa practitioners practice Nyingma teachings, Dorje Shugden will harm them, but this is completely wrong. We never believe this. Impossible. Besides Dorje Shugden, there are many Tibetan stories of other Dharmapalas killing people. There is even a lama called Ra Lotsawa who killed thirteen tantric masters including Tarma Dode, Marpa’s son. This is not just superstition. Many monasteries, maybe including Namgyal Dratsang (His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s private monastery), engage in the practice of Yamantaka that comes from Ra Lotsawa’s instructions. So shouldn’t they stop this practice because Lama Ra Lotsawa was a murderer? This would be meaningless. It is similar with Dorje Shugden, but there is no evidence of Dorje Shugden harming anyone. It is just superstition. For example, if a Gelugpa lama who practices Nyingma teachings has an accident, then some people think, Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done. "Oh, this is Dorje Shugden’s fault." This is stupid. Then they write a book about these things, but this is not real evidence.

The confusion arises as the function of Dorje Shugden is to protect the Gelug lineage, and especially the Ganden Oral Lineage. According to anti-Shugden proponents who believe the words of the Dalai Lama, the practice of Dorje Shugden includes a promise not even to touch a Nyingma scripture and that he will kill those who violate this vow. Dorje Shugden practitioners cannot find one mention of these words in the collected praises to him. On the contrary Dorje Shugden's function is to protect all living beings from their own delusions and can never harm any living being – as it says in the extensive fulfilling and restoring ritual of the Dharma Protector, the great king Dorje Shugden, in conjunction with Mahakala, Kalarupa, Kalindewi and other Dharma Protectors:

Even though you display the manner of a fearsome being
Amidst a mass of turbulent, blazing fire,
You never move even slightly from the peaceful state of love and compassion.

— Extensive Prayers to Dorje Shugden

and

You said "I will protect as a wealth of merit for all beings
The sublime, stainless essence of the Buddhas' teachings."

— Extensive Prayers to Dorje Shugden

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso points out that Dorje Shugden is an enlightened being who could never harm any living being:

"Some people believe that if Gelugpa practitioners practice Nyingma teachings, Dorje Shugden will harm them, but this is completely wrong. We never believe this. Impossible."

He adds:

HH the Dalai Lama says: "That cult is actually destroying the freedom of religious thought. Say I want to practise Nyingma. They say this Protector will harm me." This is also completely untrue. We would like to ask HH the Dalai Lama: who are these Shugden practitioners saying these meaningless things? His words are causing disharmony between Shugden practitioners and Nyingma practitioners. Why is HH the Dalai Lama creating this new problem? Until now there have been no problems between Gelugpas and Nyingmapas, and there has been no arguing or criticism. Some scholars debate with each other, such as the well-known Gelugpa scholar Yonten Gyatso and Dongthog Tulku, a scholar from another tradition, who conducted a debate by letter over a number of years. They have written many books replying to each other’s assertions, but this does not mean they are criticising each other. They are simply clarifying the doctrines of their own traditions, with good motivation. There is nothing wrong with this. I would like to ask: what is the problem between the Nyingma and Gelug traditions? There is none. The majority of people from both traditions naturally live in harmony, so why is HH the Dalai Lama destroying this harmony by saying things like "Shugdens say you should not even touch a Nyingma document"? Although we concentrate on our own tradition we respect all other Buddhist traditions, including the Nyingma, and we rejoice very much in their sincere practice.

"Conservative" Gelugpas may find such language congenial to their views, while "liberals" are more likely to stress the arbitrary nature of such sectarian divisions.

Dorje Shugden practitioners have never been considered sectarian. According to Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, the words in the Dorje Shugden prayers are not directed at living beings themselves, nor at other traditions, but at the delusions or negative minds of living beings:

The stainless sun of Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition
Shines throughout the sky of samsara and nirvana,
Eliminating the darkness of inferior and wrong paths;
Please cause its light to spread and bring good fortune to all living beings.

— Brief Prayers to Dorje Shugden

In this context, ‘paths’ do not mean external paths that lead from one place to another. We do not need to study external paths as we can see them directly with our eyes. ‘Paths’ here refer to internal paths, which are by nature our actions. Actions of body, speech and mind that are motivated by ignorance are wrong paths because they lead to suffering, and actions that are motivated by wisdom are correct paths—or spiritual paths—because they lead to happiness. Because there are different levels of happiness, such as the happiness of liberation and enlightenment, there are different levels of spiritual paths, such as the path to liberation and the path to enlightenment... Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done. Moreover, because there are different levels of suffering, such as the sufferings of humans, animals, and hell beings, there are different levels of wrong paths, such as those that lead to rebirth as a human being, animal or hell being. By studying the different types of paths presented by Buddha we can distinguish between correct and incorrect paths, and thereby avoid incorrect paths.

— Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Though the roots of the Dorje Shugden controversy are more than 360 years old, the issue surfaced within the Tibetan exile community during the 1970s. After Zemey Rinpoche published the Yellow Book, which included stories passed by Pabongkha Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche, members of the Gelugpa sect who also practiced Gelug and Nyingma teachings and were killed by Shugden. According to Mills: "in defence of the deity's efficacy as a protector, [this book] named 23 government officials and high lamas that had been assassinated using the deity's powers." According to Mumford: Dorje Shugden is "extremely popular, but held in awe and feared among Tibetans because he is highly punitive." After the publication of the Yellow Book, the current (fourteenth) Dalai Lama expressed his opinion in several closed teachings that the practice should be stopped, although he made no general public statement.

The Yellow Book however is not believed by the majority of Dorje Shugden practitioners but considered by them to be a collection of superstitious tales for the uneducated. Geshe Kelsang says:

Also, about the source of this present problem, it is not Zemey Tulku’s Yellow Book because in reality no-one believes the stories in this book, with the possible exception of some of his disciples. In itself this book has no power to destroy harmony, but the Dalai Lama believed the stories in this book to be true and he then spoke out against this practice in public. It was this reaction from the Dalai Lama that was the real cause of the problem, upsetting many Nyingma practitioners and causing disharmony. Because the Dalai Lama believed these superstitions, people also believed them, and this is how the present problem arose.

As you know Chattral Sangay Dorje and Geshe Yonten Gyatso engaged in a written debate on Dorje Shugden, both of their books have been published. These books have never been the cause of disharmony between Nyingmapa and Gelugpa practitioners. Chattral Sangay Dorje’s book is very beneficial for Nyingmapa practitioners, giving them encouragement and confidence for their practice, while Geshe Yonten Gyatso’s book is likewise beneficial for the Gelugpa practitioner. So here there is no problem, they are scholars debating with each other to clarify certain issues with a good motivation. If the Dalai Lama had just ignored Zemey Tulku’s book, there would be no basis for any problem.

— Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Use of oracles

According to Mills:

In 1978, His Holiness spoke out publicly against the use of the deity as an institutional protector, although maintaining that individual should decide for themselves in terms of private practice. It was not until Spring 1996 that the Dalai Lama decided to move more forcefully on the issue. Responding to growing pressure - particularly from other schools of Tibetan Buddhism such as the Nyingmapa, who threatened withdrawal of their support in the Exiled Government project - he announced during a Buddhist tantric initiation that Shugden was 'an evil spirit' whose actions were detrimental to the 'cause of Tibet', and that henceforth he would not by giving tantric initiation to worshippers of the deity (who should therefore stay away), since the unbridgeable divergence of their respective positions would inevitably undermine the sacred guru—Student relationship, and thus compromise his role as a teacher (and by extension his health).

— Martin Mills

The source of the demonization was oracles (mediums in trance) of the Tibetan exile government whom many Tibetans believe to be unreliable. Their prophecies declared Dorje Shugden to be an evil spirit intent on harming the Dalai Lama and the cause of Tibet.

The 14th Dalai Lama states:

"Since the time of the Victorious Gedun Gyatso, the second Dalai Lama, Nechung has been one of the two state protectors referred to as the Red and Black protectors, who have had special connection with Tibet's Ganden Potang government."

Although the Ganden Potang government was established by the Fifth Dalai Lama, and not the second, this shows that Nechung became a government protector through the Dalai Lama.

Elsewhere the fourteenth Dalai Lama has described Dorje Shugden as an evil Chinese spirit. He holds the view "This is not an authentic tradition, but a mistaken one. It is leading people astray. As Buddhists, who take ultimate refuge in the three jewels, we are not permitted to take refuge in worldly deities." The Dalai Lama came to his conclusion to give up his practice of Dorje Shugden by relying upon the Nechung oracle, the Tibetan government's state oracle. No one disputes the nature of Nechung, everyone views him as a worldly spirit or deity. The Dalai Lama has therefore banned the practice of what he now considers to be a worldly deity (he previously considered Dorje Shugden to be an emanation of the wisdom Buddha Manjushri) on the advice of someone whom everyone considers to be a worldly deity.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso points out that the view holding Dorje Shugden to be a worldly spirit is entirely erroneous and is based on superstitious reliance on a worldly oracle. It also slanders the great Gelug masters of the 19th and 20th centuries such as Trijang Rinpoche, the Junior Tutor of the 14th Dalai Lama who taught this practice to the Dalai Lama. This is because all Buddhists know that no Buddhist goes for refuge to a worldly spirit or gods or they break their refuge vows.

If we recognize that worldly gods are not suitable objects of refuge and then make the promise, ‘I will not go for ultimate refuge to objects other than the Three Jewels’, this is going for refuge by abandoning going for refuge to other objects. If we go for refuge to teachers whose instructions contradict those of Buddha we shall be led onto wrong paths; and if we go for refuge to worldly gods, although we may receive some short-term benefits we shall be diverted from perfect paths leading to liberation and enlightenment. However, when we abandon going for refuge to other objects we should not do so out of sectarianism. Our motivation should be simply to keep our refuge vows purely and avoid the harm we would inflict upon ourself by breaking our commitments. If we have perfect faith in Buddha there is no reason why we should ever need to go for refuge to other objects.

— Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune

The worship of Dorje Shugden became under Pabongkha Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche a widespread practice in the Gelug school, and many Gelug lamas practised it and spread the worship of Dorje Shugden. According to the 14th Dalai Lama, the practice became so widespread that only very few, like Gen Pema Gyaltsen (the ex-abbot of Drepung Loseling monastery) opposed it:

"For some time he was the only one - a lone voice against the worship. Even I was involved in the propitiation at the time. Ling Rinpoche did go through the motions, but in reality, his involvement was reluctant. As far as Trijang Rinpoche was concerned, it was a special, personal practice and Zong Rinpoche was similarly involved."

Therefore, the Dalai Lama gave up and banned a practice that he received from one of his teachers, Trijang Rinpoche. This has provoked the criticism of many Gelug practitioners. Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa lineage, taught that reliance upon the spiritual teacher is the root of the path. They argued that he has failed to observe the vows given by one of his teachers and has "broken with his Guru" and that he has used his political power to force others to do likewise.

The Dalai Lama opposes that view and cites many examples of Buddhist history which show that there are many lineage masters who disagreed with or corrected their own teacher's false assertions or views, after giving evidences he concludes "Even if something is or was performed by great spiritual teachers of the past, if it goes against the general spirit of the teachings, it should be discarded." However, Shugden practitioners point out that in all of these historical examples of the student correcting the teacher, the teacher then agreed with the correction of the student. In contrast, in the present case, when the Dalai Lama presented Trijang Rinpoche with his view, Trijang Rinpoche did not agree and "was disappointed". Therefore, Shugden practitioners feel the examples cited by the Dalai Lama are not valid. Additionally, Shugden practitioners agree that relying upon Dorje Shugden for worldly purposes should be discarded, but that does not mean relying upon him for one's own spiritual development should be abandoned.

Further the Dalai Lama stresses the importance that people should not follow his advise blindly but instead they should thoroughly investigate; "Others of you may be thinking, "well I am not sure of the reasons, but as it is something that the Dalai Lama has instructed, I must abide by it". I want to stress again that I do not support this attitude at all. Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done. This is a ridiculous approach. This is a position that one should come to by weighing the evidence and then using one's discernment about what it would be best to adopt and what best to avoid." At the same time, his words carry great weight amongst Tibetans, many of whom have expressed that they have in fact had no choice but to give up the practice or go underground:

"Therefore, unless I remind you once again there are those who pretend they have not heard it. It will be the last resort if [we] have to knock on your doors. It would be good if you can heed this without us having to resort to this last step."

For a Tibetan, this is very strong language. The phrase "it would be good, if..." is culturally understood to be an order with a strong warning of very serious consequences if not followed. Shuguden practitioners claim that this issue ceased to be a simple spiritual disagreement when the Dalai Lama began using the instruments of government power to enforce his spiritual view (forcing people to abandon their practice of Dorje Shugden for fear of losing their job, facing social ostricization or being denied basic social services).

The political dimension

Brendan O'Neill argues that:

"Campaigners' unquestioning support for the Dalai Lama suggest they see Tibetans as an immature people who need a godlike figure to lead them. The Dalai Lama was never elected by anybody; rather, in a process that makes Britain's House of Lords seem almost modern and democratic (I said almost), he was handpicked by a tiny sect of monks who believed that he represents one of innumerable incarnations of the Buddhist entity Avalokitesvara. Indeed, some writers on Tibet have pointed out that the idolisation of the Dalai Lama by western activists and officials, and of course by some Tibetans, might actually undermine the development of democracy in Tibet.

In her book The Tibetan Independence Movement: Political, Religious and Gandhian Perspectives, Jane Ardley writes:

"It is apparent that it is the Dalai Lama's role as ultimate spiritual authority that is holding back the political process of democratisation. The assumption that he occupies the correct moral ground from a spiritual perspective means that any challenge to his political authority may be interpreted as anti-religious."

Brendan O'Neill continues:

"In elevating the Dalai Lama to the position of unquestionable representative of the Tibetan people, pro-Tibet activists are helping to stifle "the opportunity for opposition and the expression of different views" - the very lifeblood of democracy."

Dreyfus argues that although the political dimension forms an important part of that dispute it does not provide an adequate explanation for it. He traces back the conflict more on the exclusive/inclusive approach and maintains that to understand the Dalai Lamas point of view one has to consider the complex ritual basis for the institution of the Dalai Lamas, which was developed by the Great Fifth and rests upon "an eclectic religious basis in which elements associated with the Nyingma tradition combine with an overall Gelug orientation" This involves the promotion and practices of the Nyingma school. The 5th Dalai Lama was criticized by and has been treated in a hostile manner by conservative elements of the Gelug monastic establishment for doing this and for supporting Nyingma practitioners. The same happened when the 14th Dalai Lama started to encourage the devotion to Padmasambhava, central to the Nyingmas, and when he introduced Nyingma rituals at his personal Namgyal Monastery (Dharamsala, India). Whilst the 14th Dalai Lama started to encourage the devotion to Padmasambhava for the purpose of unifying the Tibetans and "to protect Tibetans from danger", the "more exclusively orientated segments of the Gelug boycotted the ceremonies", and in that context the sectarian Yellow Book was published.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso completely disagrees with those who say Dorje Shugden's nature is sectarian.

Considering the NKT’s position regarding the Tibetan traditions in general, Geshe Kelsang has stated on innumerable occasions that he deeply appreciates all four Tibetan Buddhist traditions, praises Buddhist masters from all four schools in his books, and teaches that all four schools provide a complete and valid path to enlightenment. The nearly 4,000 pages of his collected writings contain not a single criticism of any other spiritual tradition, Buddhist or non-Buddhist.

Kelsang Gyatso has made it clear that he does not agree with any of the sentiments in the Yellow Book and that Zemey Rinpoche was not speaking for Trijang Rinpoche or Pabongkha Rinpoche when he wrote it. Following one's own set of teachings is not sectarian. Sectarianism arises when one group imposes their religious beliefs on another. Dorje Shugden practitioners have an actual commitment to respect all other religious traditions while practicing their own purely. The Dalai Lama has been imposing his view on others with the use of government sanctions for non-compliance. The Dalai Lama has taught many times that religious harmony exists when everyone respects the right of others to follow the beliefs of their choosing. Shugden practitioners feel this should also be extended to Shugden practice.

Some analysts argue that it is the Tibetan Government in Exile which seeks to create a homegenity of belief. Wilson argues that the TGIE is a theocracy which he identifies by the following features, "religious freedom is restricted because state power is marshaled in favour of a particular set of religious beliefs (and, by extension, against others), the intention being to eradicate alternative beliefs and pursue national homogeneity of belief.".

According to Wilson the pursuit of religious homogeneity have been illustrated during "The last thirty years" which have "witnessed the growing ascendancy, both in exile and within Tibet, of the Dalai Lama as either the direct root–guru of all those firmly interested in Tibetan independence (often through the numerous mass Kalachakra empowerments he has given since 1959) or, more commonly, the indirect apex of an increasingly unified pyramid of lamaic (guru-disciple) relationships, many of which transcend the sectarian divides which became entrenched within Tibetan Buddhism during the centuries following the 5th Dalai Lama’s establishment of centralized Gelugkpa rule in Central Tibet." Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done. In this context, by criticising the practice of Shugden, the TGIE is asserting "the functional role of religion within the constitution for a sacral political life centered on the Dalai Lama and held together primarily by acts of ritualized loyalty." or as Helmut Gassner (Swiss), a former interpreter of the Dalai Lama and a Shugden follower, argues "...for most Tibetans nothing is more important than the Dalai Lama's life; so if one is labelled an enemy of the Dalai Lama, one is branded as a traitor and therewith 'free-for-all' or an outlaw."

Wilson argues that "the Dalai Lama’s request that Shugden worshippers not receive the tantric initiations — the foundation of the ‘root-guru’ relationship — from him, effectively placed them outside the fold of the exiled Tibetan polity." He establishes this view by arguing that the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) is a theocracy and that the Dalai Lama's statements in Spring 1996 "during a Buddhist tantric initiation that Shugden was an "evil spirit" whose actions were detrimental to the "cause of Tibet"" reflect the Dalai Lama's decision to "move more forcefully" in response "to growing pressure – particularly from the Nyingmapa, who threatened withdrawal of their support in the Exiled Government project".

Jane Ardley writes, concerning the political dimension of the Shugden controversy. "...the Dalai Lama, as a political leader of the Tibetans, was at fault in forbidding his officials from partaking in a particular religious practice, however undesirable. However, given the two concepts (religious and political) remain interwoven in the present Tibetan perception, an issue of religious controversy was seen as threat to political unity.

The Dalai Lama used his political authority to deal with what was and should have remained a purely religious issue. A secular Tibetan state would have guarded against this."

Ardley references the following directive published by the Tibetan Government in Exile to illustrate the "interwoven" nature of the politics and religion:

In sum, the departments, their branches and subsidiaries, monasteries and their branches that are functioning under the administrative control of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile should be strictly instructed, in accordance with the rules and regulations, not to indulge in the propitiation of Shugden. We would like to clarify that if individual citizens propitiate Shugden, it will harm the common interest of Tibet, the life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and strengthen the spirits that are against the religion.

In his concluding remarks, Wilson observes that "...the debate surrounding Shugden was primarily one of differing understandings of the constitution of religious rights as an element of state life, particularly in the context of theocratic rule. As an international dispute, moreover, it crossed the increasingly debated line between theocratic Tibetan and liberal Western interpretations of the political reality of religion as category." In particular he sees the main crux of the Shugden Supporters Campaign as arising from their assertion of "the separation of religion and state as the basis for the understanding of religious freedom and denied any legitimate functioning role to Buddhism within the constitution of that state." Shugden supporters reply the question boils down to what one wants: a modern, democratic Tibet or a theocratic one.

Whereas Kay states "The Dalai Lama opposes the Yellow Book and Dorje Shugden propitiation because they defy his attempts to restore the ritual foundations of the Tibetan state and because they disrupt the basis of his leadership, designating him as an "enemy of Buddhism" and potential target of the deities retribution."

According to Mills:

Tibetan Buddhist political and institutional life centres round the activities of its four principal schools - the Nyingmapa, the Kagyud, the Sakya and the Gelukpa - the last of which was politically dominant in Tibet from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries; the four schools had the Dalai Lamas as their political figure-heads.

Mills puts the struggles the Dalai Lama, as well as those involved, have into perspective, describing e.g. "Shugden was a protector deity - a choskyong - whose historical role served to bolster the symbolic distinction between the ruling Gelukpa order and the influence of other school of Buddhist institutional thought in Tibet. As a choskyong, however, the deity's role was more than a question of personal belief: it existed as an element within the functioning structure of state law and practice. As such, the continuity of the deity's institutional worship within the diaspora supported a State that was institutionally sectarian at a symbolic level. This consequence of continued Shugden practice was so strongly felt, for example, that during the early 1990s the Nyingmapa school threatened to remove their presence from the Tibetan Assembly of People’s Deputies - they sought to secede from a State structure whose very form and functioning was antagonistic to their presence." As a part of his conclusion from investigating the issue of human rights in that dispute Mills states: "Whilst there was clearly also a strong issue of the actual ‘facts of the case’ the debate surrounding Shugden was primarily one of different understandings of the constitution of religious rights as an element of State life, particularly in the context of theocratic rule. As an international dispute, moreover, it crossed the increasingly debated link between theoretic Tibetan and liberal Western interpretations of the political reality of religion as a category. By this, I do not mean to imply that the CTA slipped through a loophole in human rights law. Rather that it by denaturing relationships of religious faith to the extent to which they are merely 'individually held beliefs' and 'private practices'. Western social and legal discourse may have blinded itself to the role that such relationships play in the constitution of states as communal legal entities."

Shugden practitioners agree that using state power to maintain the political dominance of Gelugpa beliefs at the expense of the Nyingmapa is incorrect. However, the correct solution is not to repeat the mistake by using state power to ban a particular religious belief (namely the practice of Dorje Shugden), rather the solution is to remove the political enforcement of spiritual beliefs by protecting the religious freedom of all beliefs, including reliance upon Dorje Shugden.

Another point of the political dimension is the involvement of the Chinese, interested to use this conflict to undermine the unity of the Tibetans and their faith towards the Dalai Lama. So for example when the official Xinhua news agency said 17 Tibetans destroyed a pair of statues at Lhasa's Ganden Monastery on 14 March 2006 depicting the deity Dorje Shugden, the mayor of Lhasa blamed the destruction on followers of the Dalai Lama. On the other side, according to BBC, analysts accused China of exploiting any dispute for political ends. According to BBC "...some analysts have accused China of exploiting the apparent unrest for political gain in an effort to discredit the Dalai Lama. Tibet analyst Theirry Dodin said China had encouraged division among the Tibetans by promoting followers of the Dorje Shugden sect to key positions of authority. 'There is a fault line in Tibetan Buddhism and its traditions itself, but it is also exploited for political purposes'..."

Shugden practitioners point out that the Chinese are only able to exploit this division due to the existence of the ban on Dorje Shugden practice by the Dalai Lama in the first place. Absent the ban, there would be nothing for the Chinese to exploit. The Chinese are using this ban to show that the Dalai Lama is a hypocrite when it comes to religious freedom, with the result of undermining his credibility. If the Dalai Lama removed the ban, he would restore his credibility and show that he is for the religious freedom of all people - including Dorje Shugden practitioners. Shugden practitioners claim that a free Tibet is not enough, Tibet itself needs to be free (enjoy religious freedom for all).

Background of the conflict in the Gelug tradition

Historically the Gelug tradition, founded by Je Tsongkhapa, has never been a completely unified order. Internal conflicts and divisions are a part of it and are based on philosophical, political, regional, economic, and institutional interests. In the 17th century the Gelug order became politically dominant in central Tibet. This was through the institutions of the Dalai Lamas. Although he is not the head of the Gelug school — the head is the Ganden Tripa, the abbot of Ganden Monastery — the Dalai Lama is the highest incarnate Lama of the Gelug school, comparable to the position of the Karmapa in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Because of his responsibility as the theocratic and sole political leader of the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama's duty is to balance the different interests and be sensitive towards the different traditions and relationships. "It is necessary also to reflect on what the development of such a sectarian cult has meant and continues to mean for the Dalai Lama and for all the Tibetans in exile (and also for the Tibetans in occupied Tibet, for whom the repercussions of this matter are many and of more than secondary import)." Opponents of the ban argue that there was never conflict between the different schools of Tibetan Buddhism and that the conflict has been initiated by the ban of Dorje Shugden itself and the undermining of the Gelug school. There were power struggles from the 14th century onwards "competing for political influence and economical support" and a tendency of a strong sectarian interpretation of the Buddha's doctrine. This sectarian attitude was encountered in the open approach of the Dalai Lamas, especially the 5th, 13th and 14th, and through the development of the Rimé movement at the end of the 19th century, which some Gelug lamas also followed.

Trijang Rinpoche, as the Junior Tutor of the Dalai Lama introduced the Dorje Shugden practice to the Dalai Lama in 1959. Some twenty years later the 14th Dalai Lama decided on his own that this practice is in conflict with the state protector Pehar and with the main protective goddess of the Gelug tradition and the Tibetan people, Palden Lhamo (dPal ldan lha mo), and that this practice was also in conflict with his own open and ecumenical (Rimé, literally "non-lineage") approach and religious and political responsibilities. After the publication of Zemey Rinpoche's text The Yellow Book on Shugden, he began to speak publicly against Dorje Shugden practice and distanced himself from it.

The Conflict in the West

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and New Kadampa Tradition

These ideological, political and religious views on an exclusive/inclusive approach or belief were brought to the west and were at large expressed in the west by the conflicts (1979–1984) between Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, who for practical spiritual reasons encouraged his students to not mix the teachings of the different traditions, called by some an 'exclusive' approach, and Lama Yeshe, who had a more 'inclusive' approach. Lama Yeshe had invited Geshe Kelsang in 1976 to Manjushri Institute, which was a FPMT centre at the time. Later this centre came under the management of Geshe Kelsang and his followers, and has since become the mother center of the New Kadampa Tradition.

However, these conflicts didn't appear to the public. But the issue about the nature of Dorje Shugden became visible to the broader public by the New Kadampa Tradition's (NKT) media-campaign (1996–1998) on Dorje Shugden against the 14th Dalai Lama's ban of Dorje Shugden practice. He has described Shugden as a malevolent force, and an evil Chinese spirit, and argued that some other Lamas before him had also placed restrictions on the worship of this deity. Geshe Kelsang teaches that the deity Dorje Shugden has been a Dharma protector of Je Tsongkhapa's doctrine for more than 300 years and continues to do so today. Geshe Kelsang explains that Dorje Shugden is a manifestation of the wisdom Buddha Manjushri and commented that this practice was taught to him and the Dalai Lama by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche. Amongst other reasons, this is why they can not give up the practice, otherwise they would break their Guru commitments.

In 1996 Geshe Kelsang and his disciples started to denounce the Dalai Lama in public of being a "ruthless dictator" and "oppressor of religious freedom", they organized demonstrations against the Dalai Lama in the UK (later also in the USA, Swiss and Germany) with slogans like "Your smiles charm Your actions harm". Geshe Kelsang and the NKT accused the Dalai Lama of impinging on their religious freedom and of intolerance, and further they accused the Dalai Lama "of selling out Tibet by promoting its autonomy within China rather than outright independence, of expelling their followers from jobs in Tibetan establishments in India, and of denying them humanitarian aid pouring in from Western countries." Newspapers like The Guardian (Britain), The Independent (Britain), The Washington Post (USA), The New York Times (USA), Die TAZ (Germany) as well as other newspapers in different countries picked up the hot topic and published articles, reported about the conflict and especially the Shugden Supporters Community (SSC) and NKT.Almost all of the information that follows in this article is quoted verbatim from WSS's own documentation. This article should be reviewed by scholars and/or deleted until such a review is done. Besides these, CNN, the BBC and Swiss TV reported in detail about these conflicts. The Guardian: "A group calling itself the Shugden Supporters Community - the majority of whose members are also NKT - has mounted a high-profile international campaign, claiming the Dalai Lama's warnings against Dorje Shugden amount to a ban which denies religious freedom to the Tibetan refugee settlements of India. And NKT members have been handed draft letters to send to the Home Secretary asking for the Dalai Lama's visa for the UK to be cancelled, arguing that he violates the very human rights - of religious tolerance and non-violence - which he has spent his life promoting." According to the Independent: "The view from inside the Shugden Supporters Community was almost a photographic negative of everything the outside world believes about Tibet and the Dalai Lama." Regarding the facts the SSC spread, the Independent said: "It was a powerful indictment, flawed only by the fact that almost everything I was told in the Lister house was untrue." In support of the NKT, the SSC published a directory of supporters ("Dorje Shugden Supporter List"), which included monasteries in India and other non-NKT Western-based centers, associated with known Tibetan Buddhist teachers. This list was part of the second press pack, released on 10 July 1996. The listing of western-based groups and their Buddhist teachers elicited a few clarifications from some of the lama's listed. Lama Gangchen Rinpoche for instance did not express his support for the campaign and was concerned to be listed as a supporter. Also Dagyab Kyabgön Rinpoche was put on the list without having been consulted. After he had mentioned this to Geshe Kelsang Gyatso individually, his name and his organisation's name weren't removed from the list. According to a German Buddhist Magazine there were a number of names of Tibetan teachers and their organisation on the list who never gave their support or even were asked for it. These individuals were supporters of the practice of Dorje Shugden, just they were not, for a variety of reasons, official supporters of the campaign of the SSC against the Dalai Lama’s ban.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and his followers are convinced that the actions of the Dalai Lama in that dispute are solely politically motivated. In November 2002 he wrote in an open letter to The Washington Times: "in October 1998 we decided to completely stop being involved in this Shugden issue because we realized that in reality this is a Tibetan political problem and not the problem of Buddhism in general or the NKT." However, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, in September 2002 Dorje Shugden supporters held a news conference in Kathmandu at which they said: "The Dalai Lama and his soldiers in Dharamsala are creating terror in Tibetan society by harassing and persecuting people like us. We cannot take it lying down for long.". However, this quote is misattributed as there are no NKT Centres and no activity by the New Kadampa Tradition in Nepal.

A main feature of the approach of some Shugden practitioners is to follow the teachings of one Spiritual Guide and one tradition purely without mixing, while respecting all other traditions. This was fortified by Pabogkha Rinpoche by the granting of the Life Entrusting (srog gtad) empowerment of Shugden. "Pa-bong-ka had an enormous influence on the Ge-luk tradition that cannot be ignored in explaining the present conflict. He created a new understanding of the Ge-luk tradition focused on three elements: Vajrayogini as the main meditational deity (yi dam), Shuk-den as the protector, and Pa-bong-ka as the guru." The instruction of following one tradition purely without mixing, while respecting all other traditions was later also taught be Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in the west - although the Life Entrusting (srog gtad) ceremony is not given by him. According to Geshe Kelsang, in the context of Tantric practice and after having conducted a thorough investigation of the qualifications of one’s teacher, built up through a relationship over many years, can in some circumstances if they choose "be like a wise blind person who relies totally upon one trusted guide instead of attempting to follow a number of people at once". However, in general, he advises his students to not take things on blind faith, but to investigate the validity of the instructions for oneself through reasoning, contemplation, analysis and so forth, as one would assuage gold when purchasing it. He has also stated that "Experience shows that realizations come from deep, unchanging faith, and that this faith comes as a result of following one tradition purely relying upon one Teacher, practicing only his teachings, and following his Dharma Protector."

In 2006 Geshe Kelsang taught during the annual NKT summer festival, that:

Dorje Shugdän is a Dharma Protector who is a manifestation of Je Tsongkhapa. Je Tsongkhapa appears as the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugdän to prevent his doctrine from degenerating. Je Tsongkhapa himself takes responsibility for preventing his doctrine from degenerating or from disappearing...To do this, since he passed away he continually appears in many different aspects, such as in the aspect of a Spiritual Teacher who teaches the instructions of the Ganden Oral Lineage. Previously, for example, he appeared as the Mahasiddha Dharmavajra and Gyälwa Ensapa; and more recently as Je Phabongkhapa and Kyabje Trijang Dorjechang. He appeared in the aspect of these Teachers.

Other Tibetan lamas

There are other Tibetan Gelug-Lamas in the west who follow the Dorje Shugden practice like Gonsar Rinpoche (Swiss), Dagom Rinpoche (Nepal/USA), Panglung Rinpoche (Germany), Gyalzar Rinpoche (Swiss), Kundeling Rinpoche (India/Netherlands), and Lama Gangchen Rinpoche (Italy), all of them with their own approach and attitude on the issue. Except Kundeling Rinpoche who is not official recognized by the Dalai Lama as a Tulku, some of the other Lamas do still respect the 14th Dalai Lama but cannot accept his reasoning. A main argument of Dagom Rinpoche and Gonsar Rinpoche is they do not really understand the Dalai Lama advising against the practice. Gonsar Rinpoche said,

I have spent many years in exile and have a great reverence for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, but now he is abusing our freedom by banning Shugden. It makes me very sad... We are not doing anything wrong; we are just keeping on with this practice, which we have received through great masters. I respect His Holiness very much, hoping he may change his opinion... I cannot accept this ban on Shugden. If I accept this, then I accept that all of my masters, wise great masters, are wrong. If I accept that they are demon worshippers, then the teachings are wrong, everything we believe in is wrong. That is not possible.

Geshe Cheme Tsering received an Acarya degree from Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies, Sanskrit University, Sarnath, where he studied in the Nyingma Division and got the highest qualification of a Lharampa Geshe. He said in Delhi, October 22, 1997:

The Tibetan exile government is now perceived as experimenting with a democratic form of government. The long term aim is to transform Tibet itself into a democratic country. But when it gets challenged to test the democratic principles, it does not stand up to the challenge at all. This was demonstrated by how they handled the ban.

Usually in democratic countries issues are introduced through the parliamentary process and then taken up by the upper house and then the President. In this case and in many other cases it was brought up unilaterally by the Dalai Lama himself.

In 1995 the oracles (mediums) advised him that continued worship of Dorje Shugden is not constructive for the Dalai Lama or the Tibetan government's work towards freedom. On March 10 and 21st, 1996, he publicized these oracular prophecies in a public teaching. Neither the Assembly, the Cabinet nor the heads of the four Tibetan Buddhist traditions, not even the head of the Gelugpas were consulted.

After the announcement was made, it was endorsed by the Cabinet and the Assembly and became policy. That is how the Tibetan government works. Before we did not know these things, because we were not inside the problem. Now we are. So this is not theoretical to us.

— Geshe Cheme Tsering

Geshe Kelsang also argued against the reasons for the ban:

If the practice of Dorje Shugden is bad, then definitely we have to say that Trijang Rinpoche is bad, and that all Gelugpa lamas in the Dalai Lama’s own lineage would be bad.

Contrary to this point of view the Dalai Lama stated: {{I am of the opinion that Phabongkha and Trijang Rinpoche's promotion of the worship of Dholgyal was a mistake. But their worship represents merely a fraction of what they did in their lives. Their contributions in the areas of Stages of the Path, Mind Training and Tantra teachings were considerable. Their contribution in these areas was unquestionable and in no way invalidated by involvement with Dholgyal... My approach to this issue (i.e. differing on one point, whilst retaining respect for the person in question) is completely in line with how such great beings from the past have acted.}}

However, from the point of view of many of the Shugden followers it is an unresolvable contradiction. If the Dharma taught be Trijang Rinpoche and Je Phabongkhapa is unquestionably good, then surely the protector of those teachings must also be good and cannot be an evil spirit. Although some have said that Pabongkha Rinpoche "married the cult of the protective deity Dorje Shugden to the idea of Gelug exclusivism and employed against other traditions as well as against those within the Gelug who had eclectic tendencies", lamas like Lama Gangchen Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe (who in the past also practiced Dorje Shugden) nevertheless follow an inclusive approach.

It has to be further stated that an exclusive approach does not necessarily include the idea of having a sectarian view. Shugden practitioners are encouraged for pragmatic spiritual reasons to follow one tradition purely while respecting all other traditions. Their choice to not practice the teachings of other traditions is not in any way understood as a rejection of the validity of other traditions for their respective practitioners. Rather, it is understood as each person practices the teachings of their own tradition while respecting everyone else. For Shugden practitioners, if some wish to practice the Rie-me, then that is their choice. For those who wish to rely only on the teachings of Je Tsongkhapa, that is also their choice. So while their practice is exclusive, their view of other traditions is not sectarian. There is a difference between ‘being exclusive’ and ‘following an exclusive approach in one’s individual practice.’ The former is a sectarian attitude, whereas the latter is considered by Shugden practitioners for numerous reasons to be spiritually pragmatic. Shugden practitioners additionally argue that it is the Dalai Lama who is acting in a sectarian way by imposing his way of practicing on all through his ban of Dorje Shugden practice. They argue that the truly tolerant approach would be to allow each person to practice according to their individual wishes.

Kay states: "Examples of such lamas, who have taught in the West, include Geshe Rabten, Gonsar Rinpoche, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Lama Thubten Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Thubten Loden, Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, Lama Gangchen and Geshe Lhundup Sopa. It should be remembered that their association with this particular lineage-tradition does not necessarily mean that they are exclusive in orientation or devotees of Dorje Shugden. Some lamas, like Geshe Kelsang and the late Geshe Rabten, have combined these elements, whereas others, like Lamas Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Gangchen, came into exile with a commitment to the protector practice but not to its associated exclusivism." Lama Gangchen Rinpoche for instance, a Gelug Tulku and close disciple of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, had been called even, metaphorically, the "motherland of syncretism".

Arguments for and against the practice

Views of the 14th Dalai Lama

Summary of the Dalai Lama's "Three Main Points" against Dorje Shugden (from the Dalai Lama's official website):

1. The Dalai Lama believes that Dorje Shugden practice amounts to spirit worship: Rather than viewing Dorje Shugden as a Buddha, the 14th Dalai Lama views Dorje Shugden as a spirit, and feels that those who venerate Dorje Shugden "promote the spirit as more important than the Buddha himself".

2. The Dalai Lama believes that Dorje Shugden practice promotes sectarianism.

3. The Dalai Lama believes that Dorje Shugden harms the Tibetan cause: He cites the 5th Dalai Lama as seeing Dorje Shugden as a "malevolent spirit that arose out of misguided intentions and is detrimental to the welfare of beings in general and the Tibetan government headed by the Dalai Lamas in particular".

The 14th Dalai Lama is asking people who want to take initiation from him to let go of this practice and this deity, and gives three main reasons for advising against the propitiation of Dholgyal (Shugden):

#Although he himself engages in protector worship on a daily basis with the deity Palden Lhamo, the Dalai-Lama says that such practices degenerate the profound and vast teachings of Buddhism, wherein our ultimate refuge is the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. While the profound teachings of the Buddha are based on the two truths and the Four Noble Truths, the appeasing and propitiating of Dholgyal, to the extent it is done by those who do this practice, degenerate the Buddhist practice into a form of spirit worship.

1. Although most Gelug Lamas who practice Dorje Shugden are non-sectarian}, the Dalai-Lama says that this practice goes against His Holiness' non-sectarian approach especially within the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. His Holiness himself practices teachings from the other traditions such as Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu simultaneously with the Geluk tradition and encourages others to do the same. However, the practice of Dholgyal is extremely sectarian.
2. Although there is neither historic nor scriptural proofs to support his claim, the Dalai-Lama says that the Dholgyal spirit has a long history of antagonistic attitude to the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetan Government they head since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. Throughout that period, it has also been very controversial in both the Geluk and Sakya traditions. In fact, the Great 5th Dalai Lama and the Great 13th Dalai Lama, as well as many other prominent Tibetan lamas have categorically stated the harmful effects of this practice and have advised against the practice and propitiation of Dholgyal.

He is stating further:

The ones who want to keep their practice of Shugden should not attend any further events or ceremonies in which a teacher-disciple relationship is established with me. This is something each person has to decide for him/herself. Each person has to take care of this themselves. From my side, I don't want this relationship to be established if it is the case that the person is keeping up the Shugden practice. I myself would engage in contradiction to the commitments I have had towards the previous Dalai Lamas, especially toward the 5th Dalai Lama, and therefore I request that if any of you are practicing Shugden for you not to attend the initiations. I have explained the reasons why I am against the veneration of Shugden and given my sources in a very detailed manner.

— 14th Dalai Lama

Arguments by followers of Dorje Shugden

Refuting claims against Dorje Shugden practice identified by the research of Dr. Ursula Bernis

Dr Ursula Bernis has summarized the main accusations of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in her book ""Condemned to Silence: A Tibetan Identity Crisis" excerpted in the article "Exiled from Exile". These accusations can be refuted as follows:

1. Claim: Dorje Shugden harms the cause of Tibet.

Objection: First, for Tibetans, "the cause of Tibet" means "a free Tibet", while their leader has long since abandoned this goal. It is difficult to see how, then, Dorje Shugden could harm this cause. Second, the Dalai Lama's ban of this practice has created a division within the Tibetan Buddhist community, which has weakened the unity of Tibet. Third, the Dalai Lama's ban is being used by the Chinese to show the hypocricy of the Dalai Lama and undermine his credibility. Absent the ban, the Chinese would not be able to undermine the Dalai Lama in this way. Fourth, the Dalai Lama is encouraging Tibetans to do to Dorje Shugden practitioners what the Chinese have done to the Tibetans, namely deny their religious freedom and force them into exile. Shugden practitioners do not believe that the way to advance the cause of Tibet is to engage in the same actions that will create the karma for the same thing to happen to the Tibetans again in the future. Fifth, the only reason why he claims the practice undermines the cause of Tibet is due to conflict with the oracles Nechung and Palden Lhamo. If such a conflict exists, then either the practice of all of these beings (Dorje Shugden, Nechung and Palden Lhamo) should be banned or the Dalai Lama should encourage all sides to resolve their conflict. By him exclusively taking the side of the state oracles he is making this conflict between the protector deities even worse. For all of these reasons, it is in fact the ban on Dorje Shugden practice that is undermining the cause of Tibet, not the practice of Dorje Shugden itself.

2. Claim: Dorje Shugden harms the life and health of the Dalai Lama.

Objection: First, the Dalai Lama is ostensibly a manifestation of the Buddha of Compassion and cannot be harmed by spirits. It is difficult to see how Dorje Shugden, even if he were an evil spirit, could do so, according to Buddhist doctrine. Second, the reason why he claims it undermines his life and health is he loses the desire to live if people spurn his advice. Under this case, any opposition to anything he says would be considered a threat to his life and health, so in effect any opposition to him should ostensibly be banned, which is absurd. Third, if he has bodhichitta, the wish to become a Buddha for all living beings who suffer from delusion, then surely this would overwhelm any discouragement he would feel from people spurning his advice.

3. Claim: Dorje Shugden harms the institution of Dalai Lama.

Objection: First, that institution, i.e. the Ganden Potang government, is defunct. It lacks any legal basis or official recognition at this point. It exists today only in the person of the Dalai Lama. How can Dorje Shugden then harm that institution? The future of the Dalai Lama's personal religious lineage is put in question only by the Dalai Lama himself, not Dorje Shugden. Second, no explanation is given as to how Dorje Shugden harms the institution of the Dalai Lama, there is just the claim. Third, if the Dalai Lama is supposed to be the political leader of all Tibetans, then his persecution of a million of his own people surely harms the institution more than a private practice of individuals.

4. Claim: Dorje Shugden is sectarian.

Objection: First, all Tibetan Buddhist traditions are "sectarian", in the sense of representing and upholding one particular sect of Buddhism and not others. There is no reason to single out Gelugpas if it were not for their historical proximity to political power. Second, an individual practicing exclusivly the teachings of one tradition is not sectarian, it is a personal choice. Sectarianism arises when one tradition imposes its views on other traditions. Shugden practitioners respect the freedom of others to practice according to their wishes. It is the Dalai Lama who is acting in a sectarian way by using the instruments of state power to enforce others to practice according to his view.

5. Claim: Buddhism degenerates into spirit worship as a result of propitiating Dorje Shugden.

Objection: First, Buddhists who rely on him do not see Dorje Shugden as a harmful spirit but as a Dharmapala whose nature is the Wisdom Buddha. It is the Dalai Lama who is claiming that Dorje Shugden is a spirit, and then claiming those who rely upon him are spirit worshipers. Second, if the Dalai Lama were genuinely concerned with Buddhism degenerating into spirit worship, why is everyone else in the Tibetan community permitted to worship spirits? Third, it is the Dalai Lama himself who is relying upon spirits through his continual reliance upon Nechung and Palden Lhamo, the state oracles of Tibet, who are universally recognized as spirits. Fourth, the Dalai Lama himself has been promoting spirit worship by replacing Dorje Shugden temples with temples dedicated to Nechung and Palden Lhamo. Fifth, it is the Dalai Lama who is degenerating Buddhism by taking the view of the state oracles that Dorje Shugden is an evil spirit over the view of his own root guru, Trijang Rinpoche, who says Dorje Shugden is an enlightened being.

6. Claim: Precedent: the 14th Dalai Lama cites the 5th and 13th Dalai Lamas, as well as two or three other influential Lamas as having banned Dorje Shugden.

Objection: First, the historical references are problematic in each of these cases. At the very least, they are open to interpretation, which still puts in question the Dalai Lama's dogmatic stand. Second, the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Dalai Lama's did not ban the practice, so the preponderance of precedent is towards allowing the practice. Third, if the Dalai Lama can correct his spiritual guide, why can he not correct the mistakes of the past Dalai Lama's by changing policy. Fourth, previous presidents in the US supported slavery, does that mean that the current president must as well? Fifth, just because something was done in the past doesn't mean that it should be done now. Sixth, if Tibet wants to modernize, then it should protect religious freedom for all, not stick to the policies of old Tibet. Seventh, in order to have greater credibility in the Dalai Lama's demand for religious freedom from the Chinese, the Dalai Lama should protect religious freedom himself, not undermine it. Eighth, at a karmic level, perhaps it was the actions of persecution and ostricization of Dorje Shugden practitioners in the past which created the causes for the Chinese to invade Tibet. What better reason to lift the ban than to avoid continuing to create the karma for the similar situation to return again in the future?

7. Claim: Dorje Shugden harms Nyingmapas and practitioners of other traditions.

Objection: First, a Dharma protector of a particular tradition protects that tradition, it does not attack others. This goes for all traditions. Why apply this mistaken view to only one protector? Second, no proof is provided that Dorje Shugden does this, there is just the claim that it is the case. Third, it is the historical political dominance of the Gelugpas that harms Nyimgmapas, so the solution is to share political power more equally, not ban an unrelated centuries-old practice.

8. Claim: Dorje Shugden destroys those who rely on him.

Objection: First, the function of all protectors is to prevent the practitioner from going against one's commitments and the Buddhist way. If anyone is harmed, the cause is a violation or other negative actions, not the Dharma protector. Second, according to Buddhist teachings, our existence within samsara is by nature suffering. It is incorrect to claim because people experience problems that it is the cause of Dorje Shugden, rather they experience suffering because they have been reborn in samsara. Third, those who do rely upon him feel that he provides them invaluable protection and support in their practice. If he was harming those who rely upon them, why would a ban be necessary? Everybody would stop relying upon him on their own accord.

Pro-Dorje Shugden Gelug teachers have asked the Dalai Lama to present valid reasons supporting these claims and, in the absence of any response, have continued to engage in the practice.

Kyabje Trijang Dorjechang's reasons why Dorje Shugden is a Buddha

In this text 'Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors', Trijang Rinpoche gives three main reasons why Dorje Shugden is a Buddha:

1.Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen was the final incarnation of a lineage of realized masters who were already recognised as fully enlightened. Therefore, how could the incarnation of Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen as Dorje Shugden be a spirit?

Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, as is taught in the lineage, was the final birth in a reincarnation lineage that included the mahasiddha Birwapa, the great Kashmiri pandit Shakya Shri, the omniscient Buton, Dultzin Dragpa Gyaltsen, Panchen Sonam Dragpa, and so forth; this is proven by valid scriptural quotation and reasoning. These great beings, from a definitive point of view, were already fully enlightened and, even to common appearances, every one of them was a holy being that attained high states of realization. What worse karma could there be than denying this and asserting that he was reborn in the preta realm?

2. Since these incarnations had practised pure moral discipline for centuries, to say that Dorje Shugden is a spirit is to deny Buddha's teachings on the law of karma.

Therefore, for holy beings it is not at all far-fetched that they might show themselves in a wrathful form out of the power of compassion and prayer for the sake of a special purpose, and it should be recognized that they are emanations of Buddha's inconceivable secret qualities. But for them to take birth as a sky‐ wandering preta through the force of negative throwing karma like an ordinary preta would be utterly impossible. To say it were possible would be to deny the validity of the natural law of cause and effect. Why? From the definitive point of view those holy beings are fully enlightened. Moreover, even from the common point of view, they attained high states of realization in reliance upon guarding their moral discipline as they would their eyes, from youth onwards throughout their lives. To say that a causal factor of pure ethical discipline could result in rebirth in a lower realm of existence would be to assert that actions performed could be wasted; that one could experience the results of actions not performed by oneself; and that such scriptural statements as 'From generosity, wealth, from ethics, happiness' are invalid, and so forth. As a consequence, one would be turning ones back on Buddha's teachings as a whole.

3.Since the previous incarnations of Dorje Shugden were enlightened beings, if you asserted that Dorje Shugden was a spirit you would be asserting that degeneration from enlightenment was possible, or you would have to accept that the stories of these earlier incarnations were lies.

Furthermore, the definitive point of view, that these holy beings were already fully enlightened innumerable ages ago, is clear if one examines the accounts of their lives, and if one were to say that a fully enlightened being could take birth as an ordinary gyalpo or tsen spirit, then one would be asserting that degeneration is possible from the state of full enlightenment or that someone could be both fully enlightened and an ordinary preta at the same time! Or else one would have to say that the accounts of those great beings' lives are worthless. A mountain of absurd consequences, previously non‐existent distorted ideas, would have to be accepted.

Banning of Shugden practitioners

Shugden supporters accuse the Dalai Lama of "banning" them, with the following specifics:

(1) Such practitioners are discouraged from attending initiations given by the Dalai Lama.

(2) Practitioners of Dorje Shugden are not allowed to hold public office within the Tibetan Government in Exile.

(3) Many monasteries and individuals publicly engaging in the practice have been pressed to stop.

(4) The official ban on this practice has sparked debate within the Tibetan community and widespread public pressure upon those maintaining the practice.

(5) Dorje Shugden practitioners are banned from receiving material help from the Tibetan community. All those who have sworn against the Protector carry a yellow identification card which has to be shown before they can buy food, eat at a restaurant or get a visa to travel abroad, as a result of which Dorje Shugden practitioners are 'untouchables' in their own community where they cannot even buy food.

In their documentary produced several years ago the Tibetan Government in Exile rejects the claims (2)-(4). However, Shugden-followers claim there is ample past and recent documentary evidence to support these accusations.

See also

• Dorje Shugden
• Dalai Lama
• Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
• Kelsang Gyatso
• Religious discrimination

External links

Dorje Shugden critics

• Dorje Shugden critic
• Articles and Speeches by the Dalai Lama Detailed History of the Shugden Affair (Including a Documentary Film)
• Speech by the Dalai Lama
• Survivors support forum
• Collection of Statements by the Tibetan Government in Exile
• Collection of Advice Regarding Shugden

• It's Dalai Lama vs Shugden - Leave It to Tibetans by Deepak Thapa

Common links on Dorje Shugden

• Dorje Shugden & The Dalai Lama Spreading Dharma Together
• A Critical Newsweek Article and two open letters from Geshe Kelsang Gyatso from the CESNUR homepage
• Letting Daylight into Magic by Stephen Batchelor, from Tricycle
• Two Articles presenting both views (see left and right of page)
• Speech by a previous interpreter to the Dalai Lama, Helmut Gassner

Supporters of Dorje Shugden

• The Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden at the New Kadampa Tradition's site
• The Nature and Function of Dorje Shugden explained by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, NKT-Summer-Festival Videos 2006
• Western Shugden Society
• Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden Blog Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden Blog contains the latest updates of this controversy.
• Dorje Shugden Informational Site according to the website impressum, compiled by some US supporters in the Western Shugden Society
• "Condemned to Silence: A Tibetan Identity Crisis (1996–1999)" by Dr Ursula Bernis, 1996-1999
• Standing Up for the Middle Way Explains Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's middle way between sectarianism and syncretism
• Autobiography of Kuten Lama, a Dorje Shugden Oracle
• Interview with Lobsang Yeshe (Kundeling Rinpoche) - described as a self-proclaimed Lama [24], [25]
• Dorje Shugden: A Protector Whose Time Has Come - A website devoted to the practice of Dorje Shugden and information on the current crisis in India

Dorje Shugden critics

• Dorje Shugden critic
• Articles and Speeches by the Dalai Lama Detailed History of the Shugden Affair (Including a Documentary Film)
• Speech by the Dalai Lama
• Survivors support forum
• Collection of Statements by the Tibetan Government in Exile
• Collection of Advice Regarding Shugden
• It's Dalai Lama vs Shugden - Leave It to Tibetans by Deepak Thapa