Western Shugden Society and The New Kadampa Tradition
There have been claims that the WSS is organised and run by the NKT. However, during the 2008 International Spring Festival the Spiritual Director of the NKT, Kelsang Gyatso, explained that in order for the NKT itself to be a part of the WSS, the board of Directors would have had to vote on it. A vote, though, never took place as the NKT itself states that it is not directly participating in the activities of the WSS. Individual Dorje Shugden practitioners from the NKT have joined the WSS in their capacity as Dorje Shugden practitioners. Any involvement by the NKT directly in the politics of Dorje Shugden would represent a u-turn, after Geshe Kelsang Gyatso said in an open letter in 2002:
| “ | However 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. We made our decision public at this time -- everyone knows the NKT and myself completely stopped being involved in this Shugden issue at all levels. | ” |
The WSS does not deny that prominent NKT students have taken part in the demonstrations in their capacity as concerned Dorje Shugden practitioners. Both the NKT and the WSS state that no NKT funds have been used to fund the activities of the WSS, but that WSS activities have been funded by donations from both Westerners and Tibetans, with some, they claim but by no means all, from individual NKT practitioners acting in their private capacity. Also, whilst many of the demonstrators are NKT members, some have come from other Tibetan Buddhist groups in the West such as Dagom Tensung Ling and Gaden Samdrupling in the United States.
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