Talk:Dorje Shugden controversy/Proposal

Dorje Shugden, "Vajra Possessing Strength", or in his regional appellation Dolgyal Shugden , "Shugden, King of Dhol" is a deity in Tibetan Buddhism, especially its Gelug school. Dorje Shugden's precise nature &mdash; an emanation of Buddha Manjushri, either a transcendent or a worldly Dharma Protector, or a malevolent spirit &mdash; has been the subject of controversy among some adherents of Tibetan Buddhism since the 1970s when the Fourteenth Dalai Lama started to speak out against the practice and its adherents, and then issued a "ban"  in the 1990s.

Overview of the controversy
The practice of Dorje Shugden began at the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso (1617–1682 AD) and continued unbroken until the 1970s. Those who have followed the practice of Dorje Shugden most recently in the 20th and 21st centuries include the majority of the most famous Gelug teachers, including Pabongka Rinpoche, Ling Rinpoche (senior tutor to the Dalai Lama), |Trijang Rinpoche (junior tutor of the Dalai Lama), Zong Rinpoche, Gangchen Rinpoche, Gonsar Rinpoche, Dagom Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa, Kundeling Rinpoche, Tomo Geshe Rinpoche, and Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche.

Trijang Rinpoche, the "root Guru" of the 14th Dalai Lama, introduced the Dorje Shugden practice to the Dalai Lama in 1959. Some twenty years later the 14th Dalai Lama stated that the 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. In the West, he also stated that the practice was in conflict with his eclectic religious approach as well as his political responsibilities.

After the publication of Zemey Rinpoche's supposedly sectarian text The Yellow Book on Shugden, in 1978, the Dalai Lama began to speak out against the use of the deity as an institutional protector. He stated that individuals should decide for themselves if they want to practice it privately. From Spring 1996 onwards the Dalai Lama decided to move more forcefully on this issue. By doing this he responded "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." The Dalai Lama stated during Buddhist Tantric initiation that Shugden was 'an evil spirit' whose actions were detrimental to the 'cause of Tibet'. The Dalai Lama concluded that henceforth he won't give Tantric initiation to worshippers of Shugden, because 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)." This introduces a contradiction on the Dalai Lama's part, as Von Bruck explains: Many of the present Lamas of the Gelukpa tradition have received their teachings from |Trijang Rinpoche or Zong Rinpoche. In those cases where he is the 'root Lama' (rtsa ba'i bla ma) who has handed down all three aspects of the tradition (oral transmission of texts, commentaries, the empowerments), the relationship to him is absolutely binding. This is an essential part of Vajrayana practice. Otherwise, according to Tantric tradition he might be regarded as a person who has broken the Tantric vow (dam-nyams) and this would concern the Dalai Lama himself as having been initiated by Shugden practice.

According to news reports by Al Jazeera and France 24, the words and actions of the Dalai Lama constitute a ban on the practice. Others allege that such "deity discrimination" is illegal according to both the Constitution of Tibet and the Constitution of India, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Views of the 14th Dalai Lama and replies from Shugden practitioners
The 14th Dalai Lama is asking people who want to take Tantric initiation from him to let go of the practice of Dorje Shugden, giving three main reasons:


 * 1) The Dalai Lama identifies Dorje Shugden as a "spirit", and claims that tradition of propitiation associated with Shugden elevates this spirit to being equal or superior to the Buddha. He states that encouraging the worship of Dorje Shugden could contribute to reducing Tibetan Buddhism to a form of superstitious spirit worship.
 * 2) The Dalai Lama states that there is an "acknowledged link" between worship of Dorje Shugden and sectarianism between the various Tibetan Buddhist schools. The Dalai Lama believes non-sectarianism is "his most important commitment", and that the worship of Dorje Shugden may be a barrier to this commitment to non-sectarianism.
 * 3) The Dalai Lama says that Dorje Shugden has a long history of antagonistic attitude to the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetan Government they have headed since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. He identifies the 5th and 13th Dalai Lamas as having specifically spoken out against Dorje Shugden as a threat "to the welfare of beings in general and the Tibetan government headed by the Dalai Lamas in particular".  He states that in light of the current difficult situation endured by the Tibetan people, it is particularly important to resist the worship of Dorje Shugden as a potentially divisive practice.

Responding to the above three points, the Western Shugden Society replies:


 * 1) The practice of Dorje Shugden is not spirit worship because Dorje Shugden is viewed as the embodiment of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom and because Dorje Shugden practitioners practice the complete Dharma of Buddha Shakyamuni. Moreover, if the Dalai Lama's reason were true, it would meant that the teachings he is giving himself are non-Buddhist as many of these come from his teachers who were faithful Dorje Shugden practitioners.
 * 2) There is no evidence to support the claim that they are promoting sectarianism. All they are requesting is the freedom to practice the tradition without being ostracized. For example, Muslims, Catholics and even actual spirit worshippers are permitted to attend the "formal religious teachings" of the Dalai Lama, but Buddhist Dorje Shugden practitioners are excluded.
 * 3) If another political leader were to say someone's spiritual practice was affecting the government headed by that leader and so should be stopped, this would be considered dictatorial and unacceptable. In the same way, it is not correct to say that those who pray to Dorje Shugden for the protection of their Dharma realizations in any way is detrimental to the government headed by the Dalai Lama.

Pro-Dorje Shugden Lamas have asked the Dalai Lama to present valid reasons supporting his claims and, in the absence of any response, have continued to engage in the practice. They continue to rely on teachers such as Trijang Rinpoche, who taught that Dorje Shugden is a Buddha.

However, the Dalai Lama stated conclusively, "I have explained the reasons why I am against the veneration of Shugden and given my sources in a very detailed manner."

1970's statements by DL

 * initial response

Retrospectively, we can say that the whole affair started from this book and the Dalai Lama's reaction to it. Prior to its publication, there was no controversy concerning Shuk-den.

The controversy -- that is, the Dalai Lama and others pitting themselves against Shugden practitioners -- surfaced within the Tibetan exile community during the 1970s. Zemey Rinpoche published the Yellow Book, which supposedly included cautionary tales passed down by Pabongkha Rinpoche and |Trijang Rinpoche of 23 members of the Gelugpa sect who also practiced Nyingma teachings and were supposedly "killed" by Shugden. According to Mumford: Dorje Shugden is "extremely popular, but held in awe and feared among Tibetans because he is highly punitive."

Some Dorje Shugden followers claim that the Yellow Book is not to be taken literally, and that it is considered by them to be a collection of superstitious or cautionary tales. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso stated in 1996: "Because the Dalai Lama believed these superstitions, people also believed them, and this is how the present problem arose."

Georges Dreyfus and other researchers, like David Kay, trace back the conflict more on the exclusive/inclusive approach and maintain that to understand the Dalai Lama's 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.

Whilst the 14th Dalai Lama started to encourage the devotion to Padmasambhava for the supposed purpose of unifying the Tibetans (perhaps by bringing the four traditions into one under his rule) and somehow "to protect Tibetans from danger", the "more exclusively orientated segments of the Gelug boycotted the ceremonies", and in that context the Yellow Book was published.

Paul Williams states that "The Dalai Lama is trying to modernize the Tibetans’ political vision and trying to undermine the factionalism. He has the dilemma of the liberal: do you tolerate the intolerant?" Various Shugden supporters assert that there was no factionalism before the ban, and that it is the Dalai Lama who is being intolerant and adhering to a theocratic model of government by banning their 400-year old religious practice.

1996 Re-emergence

 * Statements by Government in Exile
 * protest by NKT and others

In the Spring of 1996, responding to increasing political pressure (especially from the Nyingma school, who threatened to withdraw from the TGIE), the Dalai Lama announced that Dorje Shugden was "an evil spirit" detrimental to the cause of a free Tibet, and so he began to request that those who worshiped Shugden no longer attend tantric initiations from him, which "effectively placed them outside the fold of the exiled Tibetan polity." In remarks to members of the Cholsum Congress on March 4, 1996, the Dalai Lama expressed satisfaction that the Congress had passed a resolution addressing the worship of Dorje Shugden, implying that Tibetan Buddhists ignoring his restrictions might hasten his own death, since "then there would not be any point in my continuing to live silently as a disappointed man." The TGIE passed a resolution forbidding governmental and monastic institutions from propitiating Dorje Shugden. Although the TGIE said that individuals must be free "to decide as they like," it asked that monks in the refuge community sign an agreement in support of the ban, in particular requesting the names of any monks at Sera monastery who continued to worship Dorje Shugden.

Previously confined primarily to the Tibetan exile community, the dispute over Dorje Shugden developed international dimensions that same year, when the British-based New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) began to publicly oppose the Dalai Lama's position. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, founder of the New Kadampa Tradition, was a devotee of Shugden, and the nephew of a man who had previously served as a medium for Shugden in Tibetan refugee communities. Unlike other Gelug teachers, some of whom privately worshiped Shugden but did not teach the practice to their Western students, Gyatso made Shugden practices central to the teachings he imparted to non-Tibetan students in England and abroad.

When the Dalai Lama visited England later in the summer of 1996, members of the New Kadampa tradition staged pickets outside venues where the Dalai Lama was speaking, holding placards accusing the Dalai Lama of repressing religious freedom. At the time, the NKT was the largest Buddhist organization in in the United Kingdoms. Gyatso also founded the Shugden Supporters Community (SSC), which distributed press releases to news outlets covering the Dalai Lama's trip to England. The SSC also initiated a letter-writing campaign to petition the British Home Secretary to revoke the Dalai Lama's visa.

In August of 1996, Sera Je monastery in India formally expelled Kelsang Gyatso, citing his opposition to the Dalai Lama.

The NKT claimed that the Dalai Lama's remarks had inspired the harassment of Dorje Shugden worshippers among the Tibetan exile community in India. Martin Mills, a lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen, observed while in India that those who did not worship Dorje Shugden seemed to feel that they should "endeavor to eradicate its practice amongst their peers, neighbors an co-workers as an act of loyalty to the Dalai Lama." The alleged abuses included searches of the homes and temples of Shugden devotees, and the destruction of images of Dorje Shugden. In 1996, the TGIE began a campaign to "subdue Dorje Shugden propitiation amongst government employees and Gelug monasteries." Speaking to the press in England, the SSC therefore stated that Shugden worshippers had been dismissed from their jobs and expelled from monasteries.

The numerous denials on the part of TGIE officials between 1996 and 1998 of any kind of "ban" on Dorje Shugden practice were "clearly" and "in all probability simply disingenuous," according to Martin Mills. Tashi Wangdi, representative to the Americas of the Dalai Lama, denied there was official 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 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.

According to Sara Chamberlain in the New Internationalist, in 1996 the Dalai Lama announced that worship of Dorje Shugden was banned and explained that the Tibetan state oracle, Nechung, had advised him that the deity was a threat to his personal safety and the future of Tibet. . The Dalai Lama stated in 1996: "All final decisions have been concluded only through divination."

In India, some protests and opposition were organised by the Dorje Shugden Religious and Charitable Society with the support of the SSC. In, 1996 the SSC attempted to obtain a statement from Amnesty International (AI) that the TGIE (specifically the 14th Dalai Lama) had violated human rights. However, the AI replied that the SSC "has yet to substantiate its allegations." Two years later, the AI stated in an official press release that "None of the material AI has received contains evidence of abuses which fall within Al'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." In itself, the statement neither asserted nor denied the validity of the claims made against the TGIE, just that they were not actionable according to AI's mandate. While the AI report effectively exonerated the TGIE of human rights abuses, Jane Ardley adds that the Dalai Lama was at fault for using his political authority to infringe upon others' religious freedom, saying that "While the Dalai Lama’s stated concern, that worship of the deity threatened the Tibetan struggle, is entirely valid from a political perspective, this was not cause enough to ban it as a religious practice... The Dalai Lama used his political authority to deal with what was and should have remained a purely religious issue."

2008 Re-emergence

 * Expulsions from monastery
 * Creation of new Shugden monasteries

In January 2008 the Dalai Lama started a campaign to destroy the practice once and for all. The actions of monasteries in expelling Dorje Shugden monks are in effect a unilateral decision made by the Dalai Lama: "Recently monasteries have fearlessly expelled Shugden monks where needed. I fully support their actions. I praise them. If monasteries find taking action hard, tell them the Dalai Lama is responsible for this."

The opening address of the fifth session of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE), which began on March 4, 2008, was delivered by Karma Chophel. According to the official website of the TGIE, 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.

Critics of the ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden say that it has caused a large rift in the Tibetan community and is increasing disharmony in the Tibetan diaspora. For example, Dorje Shugden practitioners have been pelted with stones in India and a mob of Dalai Lama followers also threatened Dorje Shugden practitioners in New York.

On April 22, 2008, the newly-founded Western Shugden Society (WSS) began a campaign directed towards the 14th Dalai Lama, claiming he is "banning them from practicing their own lineage of Buddhism". The WSS claims that the Dalai Lama and the TGIE have not responded to any of their attempts to dialogue on the subject and supporters say that the TGIE have simply discredited the opposition. According to France 24, Al Jazeera, the WSS and the Dorje Shugden Devotees Charitable Trust in India, on the orders of the Dalai Lama the ban was and continues to be enforced by the TGIE and all other Tibetan Exile associations such as the Tibetan Youth Congress and the Tibetan Women’s Association. Specifically, the WSS claims that:


 * 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 TGIE, are not being endorsed
 * Statues have been smashed, temples destroyed, books burned, practitioner’s houses attacked, and even death threats issued

Sara Chamberlain reported that the TGIE will not employ those worshipping Dorje Shugden, keeping a blacklist of those who do. The TGIE is also accused of labeling Shugden supporters as "terrorists," as reported by Al Jazeera: "Shugden worshippers have been turned away from jobs, shops and schools. Posters with the message 'no Shugden followers allowed' cover hospital and shop fronts."

Because of perceived religious discrimination, the founder of Kundeling Monastery, Lobsang Yeshe, who lives in South India, has filed a complaint against the Dalai Lama at the Indian High Court on the grounds of religious persecution. The prosecuting lawyer, Shree Sanjay Jain, argues that when the Dalai Lama excommunicates Dorje Shugden worshippers from Buddhist society, "then it is discrimination of the worst kind." Such discrimination has taken material form in the newly erected nine-foot wall at Ganden monastery, used to divide Shugden practitioners from non-Shugden monks.

The TGIE accuses Lobsang Yeshe of being paid by the Chinese and state that he has visited China at least twice. He however denies working for the Chinese, but does confirm that he has Chinese friends and he praises the Chinese "for what they are doing in Tibet," claiming that if Tibetans who followed Dorje Shugden had to live under the Dalai Lama in Tibet, they "would have possibly been crucified".

Since the monks who practice relying upon Dorje Shugden were expelled from Ganden and Sera monasteries in 2008, they have been constructing new premises near these monasteries, called Shar Gaden Monastery and Serpom Norling Monastery respectively.

According to the Dalai Lama and the TGIE

 * Historical views
 * DL/TGIE claims regarding DS @ time of 5th DL, other historical teachers
 * Reasons for abandoning practice in 20th century

According to the TGIE's Dolgyal Research Committee, a government organization involved in this religious dispute, prominent opponents to the practice have included not only the 5th, 13th and current Dalai Lamas but also the 5th and 8th Panchen Lamas, Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, the 14th and 16th Karmapas among others. However, these claims are denied by the followers of Dorje Shugden. For example, in 1921 the 13th Dalai Lama’s biography refers to Dorje Shugden as an enlightened Protector (jam mgon bstan srung pa) and explains that the 13th Dalai Lama subsequently restored the Potala and Ganden stupas as an offering to him. The Dolgyal Research Committee gives no evidence to support its claims that the 5th and 8th Panchen Lamas were in opposition to the practice. According to adherents, the Fifth Dalai Lama started off in opposition but then changed his mind. Phelgye Ling monastery (now in Kathmandu) was transformed to a Gelug monastery by the 5th Dalai Lama, who gave the monastery a statue (about 20 cm high) of Dorje Shugden riding on a black horse, which still exists in the monastery in Kathmandu.

According to NKT/Pro-shugden sources (how to identify non-NKT pro-Shugden sources?)

 * Historical views
 * Views on lineage of Shugden, historical origin
 * Rebuttals to DL/TGIE rationale for abandoning shugden practice

According to Tagpo Kelsang Khedrub, although the Fifth Dalai Lama and others tried to destroy Dorje Shugden, they were not able to because Shugden is enlightened: Then, although four undisputed powerful Tantrikas with concentration, began wrathful rituals to strike you down, through the power of having completed Guhyasamaja's two stages, you would not be silenced, and showed signs of heroism; praise to you!

According to some Gelug Lamas, there is evidence to show that the 5th Dalai Lama realized he was mistaken in considering Dorje Shugden a spirit, and then composed a prayer praising Dorje Shugden as a Buddha and crafted a statue to show his respect for Dorje Shugden. However, 14th Dalai Lama has denied that the 5th Dalai Lama composed such a prayer. Also von Brück denies the historical evidence of such a claim, stating "The problem is that this position has no historical evidence, neither in the biography of the 5th Dalai Lama or elsewhere."

According to McCune, the story about his being a wandering spirit was said by followers to be disseminated by those who murdered Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, not by his followers who viewed him as the reincarnation of a highly realized being. According to Trijang Rinpoche:

Yet all this talk is nothing but babbling speculation. Why? Because this great guardian of the teachings is well known to be the precious supreme emanation from Drepung monastery's upper house, Dragpa Gyaltsen, arising in a wrathful aspect. The proof is unmistaken. Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, as is taught in the lineage, was the final birth in a reincarnation lineage that included the Mahasiddha Birwawa, the great Kashmiri Pandit Shakya Shri, the omniscient Buton, Duldzin 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 born in the preta (spirit) realm?

Trijang Rinpoche, one of the teachers of the 14th Dalai Lama (one of his junior tutors), and, according to one account by the Dalai Lama, his "root Guru" seen by some as "[o]ne of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist masters of our time," anticipating this kind of debate, refuted this point of view in his text on Dorje Shugden, Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors:

Furthermore, from 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.

According to Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (a proponent of Dorje Shugden, following the view of Trijang Rinpoche) and many other Gelugpa Lamas who rely upon Dorje Shugden, it is correct to consider Dorje Shugden as an emanation of Manjushri but not one who shows the aspect of a worldly being. He says that the form of Dorje Shugden reveals the complete stages of the path of Sutra and Tantra, and such qualities are not possessed by the forms of worldly beings. He goes on to say that Dorje Shugden appears as a fully ordained monk to show that the practice of pure moral discipline is essential for those who wish to attain enlightenment.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's view is also held by other Gelug Lamas past and present who are or were considered great masters, including: Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche (root Guru of many highly regarded Gelug Lamas of the early 20th century), Kyabje |Trijang Rinpoche (junior tutor of the 14th Dalai Lama). Among those who practised Shugden in the Gelug school were not only the Dalai Lama but also Geshe Rabten, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe (founder of the FPMT), and Tomo Geshe Rinpoche. It is also said that some of the Panchen Lamas (e.g. the 9th and 10th) practised Shugden, as does the current Panchen Lama Gyenkyen Norbu. Trijang Rinpoche claims that the view that Dorje Shugden is an emanation of Manjushri has also been held by the Fifth Dalai Lama and the Eleventh Dalai Lama. According to Trijang Rinpoche, the Eleventh Dalai Lama "enthroned Gyalchen Dorje Shugden as the principal protector of the Yellow Hat teachings".

Views by scholars not connected with DL or NKT- Paul Williams, Martin Mills, etc
There are differing views regarding Dorje Shugden's origin, nature and function that have been debated increasingly vigorously since the Dalai Lama's initial decree in the 1970s. According to David Kay, there are two main opposing conceptions:


 * a Dharma Protector, an enlightened being who is a deity that has been worshipped as a Buddha ever since the seventeenth century as the chief Protector of the Gelug Tradition
 * a worldly protector whose relatively short existence over only a few centuries and inauspicious circumstances of origin make him an inappropriate object of veneration and Buddhist refuge.

According to Kay: "the position which defines Dorje Shugden as an enlightened being is both a marginal viewpoint and one of recent provenance... The likelihood is that it emerged gradually as the Dharma-protector grew in prominence. This belief seems to have been in place by the time the young Fourteenth Dalai Larna was introduced to the practice by Trijang Rinpoche prior to the exile of the Tibetan Buddhist community in 1959." Also Nebesky-Wojkowitz defines Dorje Shugden as a worldly protector. However, according to Tibetan translator Trinley Kalsang, many religious texts written by Lamas in the last few centuries indicate that Dorje Shugden has been considered as an enlightened being and as a principal Protector of Je Tsongkhapa's tradition since the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama.

According to Von Bruck, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, after examining Dorje Shugden based on three methodological devices (1) historical evidence, (2) political reason, (3) spiritual insight, changed his view and now considers Dorje Shugden to be a worldly spirit. Von Bruck concludes: "It is clear that by historical evidence the authenticity of that tradition on Shugden cannot be decided."

Views of non-Gelugpa Tibetan Buddhist groups/schools
A number of Lamas outside the Gelug tradition also have views Dorje Shugden practice, some favorable and some unfavorable.

Sakya Trizin, head of the Sakya lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, notes that at one time followers of his school did make offerings to Shugden but that, in this context, Shugden was regarded as a worldly deity. He also mentions two Lamas of pre-occupation Tibet, Dorjechang Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and Ngor Kangchen Dorjechang, who limited the practice in their monasteries, confirming the existence of the practice within that tradition up to that time.

Tai Situpa Rinpoche, one of the highest Lamas in the Kagyu tradition, has said that the practice of Shugden "causes fear." He adds the practice is considered to create obstacles to spiritual practice.

There is some evidence of latter day Nyingma practitioners in Nepal having received and propitiated Dorje Shugden via a patriarchal rather than traditional lineage. Mumford writes based on his anthropological studies in Nepal in the late 1970s: "In Gyasumdo the lamas are Nyingmapa, yet most of them honor Shugs-ldan as a lineage guardian picked up in Tibet in the past by their patriline."

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu considers that Shugden can cause devotees to become "nervous, confused and upset." Minling Trichen Rinpoche, late head of the Nyingma tradition, said that, from his personal understanding, "Shugden is a ghost. We Nyingma practitioner do not follow him. We propagate only those protectors that were bound by Padmasambhava. Shugden came after Padmasambhava."

By the NKT/pro-Shugden groups
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."

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. Approximately 60 Dorje Shugden monks were hospitalized with serious injuries.

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 mob of Dalai Lama supporters surrounded Shugden protestors after the Dalai Lama's teachings at Radio City in New York, spitting, screaming, and throwing water bottles and coins. 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 the wanted posters saying, "No Shugden worshipper has ever been charged or investigated for terrorism and yet the monks that continue to worship Shugden remain victims 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 the residence of a Dorje Shugden practitioner had been firebombed by Tibetan monks "loyal to the Dalai Lama."

By the DL/TGIE - death of Lobsang Gyatso
In 1997, Geshe Lobsang Gyatso, a who had been a vocal supporter of the Dalai Lama's position on the worship of Dorje Shugden, was murdered in India, along with two of his students. Though no arrest was made in the murder, many within the CTA assumed that it had been carried out by supporters of Dorje Shugden. Indian police interviewed several men they identified as worshippers of Dorje Shugden. Kelsang Gyatso denied the involvement of any of his followers in the murder, and condemned the killings.

The Tibetan government in exile continues to maintain that the murder of Lobsang Gyatso was carried out by followers of Dorje Shugden. In June 2007, the Times stated that Interpol had issued a Red notice to China for extraditing two of the alleged killers.

Supporters of Dorje Shugden

 * Dorje Shugden & The Dalai Lama Spreading Dharma Together
 * Official Western Shugden Society website
 * Why is the Dalai Lama Suppressing Religious Freedom?
 * Dorje Shugden Charitable Society (Delhi)
 * Dorje Shugden History by Trinley Kalsang

Critics of Dorje Shugden

 * Official Website of His Holiness the Dalai Lama - Advice Concerning Dolgyal (Shugden)
 * Official Web TV Station of the Central Tibetan Administration - includes BBC documentary "An Unholy Row" and Second Shugden Documentary filmed by Swiss TV in 1998
 * Collection of Advice Regarding Shugden by the FPMT
 * The Central Tibetan Administration on Controversy Surrounding Dorjee Shugden Practice

Controverse Dordjé Shougdèn Dorje Shugden-controverse