The Worship of Shugden - Documents Related to a Tibetan Controversy


Foreword

In the spring of 1996, His Holiness the Dalai Lama advised the Tibetan people against the practice of propitiating a spirit, known as Dorje Shugden. He said that this practice fosters religious intolerance and leads to the degeneration of Buddhism into a cult of spirit worship.

Enraged by this statement, a small number of Shugden devotees in the exile Tibetan community and their vociferous Western supporters, mostly based in Britain, have launched vitriolic disinformation campaigns against His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. They have accused the Tibetan Government-in-Exile of having expelled Shugden followers from government jobs and schools, and of having denied them humanitarian assistance. This battle of words was reinforced by a campaign of terror against Shugden critics in the Tibetan community.

Beijing quickly saw in this an opportunity to damage the international image of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and, thus, undermine the Tibetan freedom struggle. Throwing the full weight of its propaganda machinery behind the Shugden activists, it painted the exile Tibetan community as a sad society, groaning under the shattering weight of "the Dalai Lama's religious persecution". Juxtaposing this "sad society" to the situation inside Tibet, one issue of China's Tibet, an official Chinese journal, said, "Tibetan compatriots residing abroad express amazement at the freedom of religious belief enjoyed by their counterparts (in Tibet)."

As a result of this smear campaign from three directions, Dharamsala receives messages voicing concern from wellwishers around the globe. We have, therefore, put together this compilation for all those interested in understanding the issue. Included in this compilation are letters of the Shugden society, our own clarifying statement, articles from the international media, and other documents. We hope this book will give an overall insight into the controversy over the cult of Shugden practice and its political significance at this time.

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Last updated: 10-Apr-1998