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UNVEILING BLOODY BUDDHISM UNVEILING BLOODY BUDDHISM Far from the western perception of a peaceful religion, the history of Tibetan Buddhism tells a story of oppression and bloodshed, comparable with the Chinese occupation of Tibet. THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN INTRODUCED BUDDHISM AND PRE-BUDDHIST INDIGENOUS SYSTEMS he idea that Buddhism may have been involved in assignations, political intrigues, matricide, fratricide, infanticide, sibling rivalry for the throne, witch- hunts, inquisitions, large-scale torture and genocide may shock many westerners. It shocked me too when I first realised that the political history of Tibet is just like every other nation in this regard. The idea thrown out by the proliferation of Buddhist literature is something I wanted to believe in. I wanted to believe the official Buddhist account of how Buddhism became the ruling theocracy in Tibet—that it was a conquest solely by ideology and debate. I wanted to believe that Shakyumani Buddha, the year after his enlightenment (approximately 460 BC) publicly debated the virtues of the Kalachakra Tantra with the King of Shambhallah, Dawa Sangpo, a Shivite also known as Sucandra. Convinced by the inspiring discourse, both king and country and eventually the whole of Tibet gave up its previous warlike ways and began to practice meditation and loving-kindness." By this official story, we have been lead to believe that Buddhism became the theocracy in Tibet by a peaceful takeover of the hearts and minds of a savage, war-weary, uneducat- ed people that had no spiritual beliefs. This is simply not the historical case. Buddhism's ascension to power is just as bloody as the Catholic Church. The Kalachakra had nothing to do with Buddhism's introduction into Tibet. Historically a Brahmin boy, Tsi-lu-pa was teaching the Kalachakra as a Hindu instrument in India AD 966. This unconverted Brahmin boy taught his chronological system to the Indian Buddhist Na-ro-pa, who even- tually introduced it into Tibet in AD 1026.> That means the Kalachakra Tantra did not reach Tibet until 1,486 years after the time stated in the official Buddhist propaganda story as quoted above. In fact Buddhism only became the official state religion of Tibet 400 years ago. That is not very long when compared with many other governments. Buddhism has only been the state religion of Tibet for the same period of time as the Church of England has been a state religion. If this much of the official Buddhist story is incorrect, should we in the west continue to accept such syrupy stories without question, and without corroborating evidence? FIRST HAND ACCOUNT I first began to question the official Buddhist line after meeting Kushog, a very old Tibetan woman. She was a disenfranchised Tibetan shaman from the Kham provinces. She had become a refugee from Buddhist persecution and had fled Tibet about 60 years ago, before the Chinese occupation. She fled to Kashmir and finally to Australia. She told me tales of how the practitioners of the indigenous belief system she sometimes called Dong-ba, were imprisoned or skinned alive en masse by the Buddhist monks and how the skins were hung to dry in the streets of Lhasa. The indigenous shamans there were not as we would view shaman from a western perspective. Kushog described a time when they were the literati. They educated the children of wealthy families. They were the mathematicians, the scribes, the scientists, the astronomers, the chronographers, the historians, the oracles, the public celebrants, the psychiatrists and healers, whose job it was to restore the natural balance to the wheel of life and time (different to the Kalachakra which is an imported Indian belief) whenever things became too lopsided. They gave advice on law, agriculture, architecture, and a style of what we call in the west feng-shui. Local officials often patronised them. by Rev. Dr S. D'Montford © 2004 Extracted from her book Unveiling Tibetan Buddhist Propaganda and Atrocities. A Way For Progress In The Tibet/China Conflict Email: shambhallah@yahoo.co.uk by Rev. Dr S. D'Montford © 2004 JUNE — JULY 2005 NEXUS = 39 www.nexusmagazine.com