Dorje Shugden Controversy - Claims of Violence/discrimination - Claims of Violence/discrimination Against Shugden Practitioners

Claims of Violence/discrimination Against Shugden Practitioners

David Van Biema reports: "Addressing charges of shunning, threats and even physical abuse against Shugdenites, American Dalai Lama adviser John Ackerly admits that 'there have been cases of harassment,' all condemned by the High Lama."

Dorje Shugden worshippers say the ban and its implementation are in direct conflict with the proposed constitution of a free Tibet, laid down by the Dalai Lama in 1963, which states that all religious denominations are equal before the law, and every Tibetan shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. But when Dorje Shugden worshippers challenged the ban on these grounds, the TGIE responded: "Concepts like democracy and freedom of religion are empty when it comes to the well-being of the Dalai Lama and the common cause of Tibet." Lama Zopa of the FPMT explains that the main reason he stopped the practice of Dorje Shugden himself and among his students was to support the Dalai Lama's political efforts on behalf of Tibet. Brendan O'Neill argues that the extreme idolization of the Dalai Lama by his followers only serves to undermine democracy in a future free Tibet. Ursula Bernis commented that second-guessing any pronouncement made by the Dalai Lama is "sacrilege among religious Tibetans."

The Dalai Lama claims that Dorje Shugden conflicts with government-approved Dharma Protectors, so Al Jazeera asked one of the Tibetan government's Members of Parliament, Tsultrim Tenzin, whether there had been any parliamentary debate about Dorje Shugden. He replied that there had been no debate simply because there was no opposition, adding "We do not have any doubt about Dalai Lama's decisions. We do not think he is a human being. He's a supreme human being and he is god, he is Avalokiteshvara."

According to PK Dey, a human-rights lawyer from Delhi, Dorje Shugden worshippers are suffering harassment from the Dalai Lama's followers and his government, citing door-to-door searches and wanted posters as examples. In 1998, Dey stated that he had gathered 300 statements from Tibetans living throughout India who claimed to have been subject to harassment or attack because of their worship of Dorje Shugden.

Shugden practitioners claim that they have been subjected to violence while protesting the ban, both in the 1990s and in the present-day. They state that in 1996, outside a monastery in southern India, a group of pro Dalai Lama supporters (including monks) surrounded hundreds of monks who had gathered to demonstrate against the Dalai Lama's ban on Dorje Shugden and threw stones and bricks. Chryssides reported that "it is certainly true that, in July 1997, 200 of the Dalai Lama's followers physically attacked Shugden supporters."

Deccan Herald reported on Monday, September 11, 2000:

Three police officers and more than 30 persons were injured in stone pelting incident in Lama camp of Tibetan settlement, Mundgod on Sunday morning. More than 2000 Lamas including 200 women who are said to be the followers of Dalai Lama took out procession under the leadership of Prema Tsering and tried to destroy Shugden temple and started pelting stones on Shugden devotees. Police personnel resorted to lathi charge and later bursted teargass shells.

On July 17, 2008, a large mob of Dalai Lama supporters, who had been attending one of the Dalai Lama's teachings at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, clashed with Shugden protestors after the event, spitting, screaming, and throwing money at them, indicating that they believed that the Shugden protestors were paid by the Chinese government. The New York riot police led the protestors away to safety.

Jamphel Yeshe, the President of the Dorje Shugden Society, stated that information about he and his family were posted on "wanted posters" in Tibetan communities in India and Nepal. Yeshe said in an interview that these posters had resulted in threats being made against himself and his family.

Wanted posters described people believed to be Shugden leaders as the "top ten enemies of the state". The posters were put up in monasteries, settlements and in Dharamsala by the TGIE. In Clementown, India, "the house of a family of Shugden worshippers was stoned and then firebombed."

Shugden supporters say that in July 2008, wanted posters of several monks involved in the WSS protests appeared in Queens, New York. Al Jazeera reported about public shunning via posters of Dorje Shugden practitioners displayed in public, adding "No Shugden worshipper has ever been charged or investigated for terrorism, and yet the monks that continue to worship Shugden remain victims of a campaign of name and shame." Dorje Shugden practitioners have also received other warning and death threats since the 1990s.

In October 2008, Radio Free Asia reported that some Tibetan monks had been convicted by the Chinese government for fire-bombing the residence of a Dorje Shugden practitioner, the Shugden deity being "regarded with suspicion by those loyal to the Dalai Lama."

The Tibetan exile government began saying in 2009 that the Dorje Shugden issue is not even religious, that it is entirely political. Samdhong Tulku claimed that Shugden practitioners are tools being used by the Chinese government and is quoted as saying "...it is not a question of religion; it falls under the situation of politics only."