Nexus - 1204 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Picture 4: A diagram of the temples housing the phurbas that nail down Srin-mo, the spirit of the land of Tibet This appears to indicate that the 1577 anti-shamanist edict still seems to be taken very seriously by the current Dalai Lama. The Shugdens find themselves victims of a true witch-hunt. They accuse the Dalai Lama of a flagrant breach of human rights and the right to freedom of religion and do not shy from drawing comparisons with the Chinese occupation force and the Catholic Inquisition. Houses belonging to the sect are said to have been illegally searched by masked bands of thugs who then have attacked defenceless Shugden believers. Images and altars to the protective god have been deliberately burned and thrown into rivers. Dorje Shugden practitioners claim that lists of members of their sect labelled "Enemies Of The People" have been drawn up and pictures of them and their children hung out in public buildings so as to defame them. Followers have been completely refused entry to the offices of the government in exile and they claim that the children of their families no longer have access to the official schools. This is certainly not the behaviour you would expect from a section of the global community that so loudly proclaims its own compassion, non-violence and enlightenment and con- demns other governments who behave in this way. Following a resolution of the Tibetan Cholsum Convention held between August 27 and 31, 1998 an emulation of the accusations tabled against the Chinese government was seen to have been made by the Buddhist government in exile. Shugden followers were unable to travel internationally or draw pensions, state child assistance or social security payments. In the resolution, Tibetans were forbidden to read the writings of the sect and they were called upon to burn them. The accusations are so very similar to those made by the Tibetan Buddhists about the ten years of reli- gious intolerance by the Chinese invaders. the indigenous shamans during the 400 years of the Tibetan inquisition. This is the story of the Shugden Oracle: "At the time of the fifth Dalai Lama a priest of Drepung monastery named bSod nams grags pa gained great fame through his learning and wisdom. He was held in high esteem by his countrymen and the number of his followers increased steadily. But... the Tibetan Government became jealous of his growing influence and thus decided to put an end to bSod nams grags pa's life... At last, weary of the incessant intrigues and plots, bSod nams grags pa decided to leave the world voluntarily. ...[His] disciple fell on his knees and implored the spirit of his teacher not to retire from the world, but to stay and take revenge on his ene- mies. Soon after this event great calamities befell the provinces of Central Tibet. ...[A]strologers and oracles soon discovered that... the cause of all the misfortune was the injustice they had done to bSod nams grags pa... [The Tibetan Government] decid- ed to request his spirit to make peace with them, and instead of causing further harm, to become a protective deity of the Yellow Hats. To this the spirit agreed, and under the name... Dorje Shugden, [which means the 'Bellower of the Thunderbolt" ” or "Noisy Spirit" which coincidentally is the meaning of the word poltergeist.]" Teenage poltergeist activity was watched for in the indigenous culture of Tibet, as an identifying sign of a new shaman. Dorje Shugden bears the title of "Dra-lha'i-rgyal-chen", "great king of the dra-lha". Gaining the co-operation of the dra-lha is the shaman's main skill. To be the king of the dra-lha would mean that this oracle is the best of the shaman. It is also interesting to note in this legend that the principle of the admission of misconduct by the Tibetan Government began the path of reconciliation. This fearsome martial spirit continued to prove his political worth and so his office was retained for the entire official 400-year theocratic rule of the Dalai Lamas until March 30, 1996. On this day, a ban on the worship of Shugden was pronounced by governmental decree issued in Dharamsala. The 14th Dalai Lama branded the Buddhist Shugden cult as "idolatry" and as a "relapse into shamanism".'* Again we hear the hollow ring of hypocrisy in these words from the leader of a religion that spe- cialises more than any other in the veneration of images of vari- ous deities via the use of stolen shamanic practices. The leader of this Buddhist sect has been officially declared to be an "enemy of the people." Picture 5: Dorje Shugden Tanka JUNE — JULY 2005 NEXUS = 43 www.nexusmagazine.com