Dalai Lama news
Events of 1997 - 2008
1997
6 June 1997
An amendment to the Tibetan constitution is made:
Original Version: 'The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court should be a Tibetan national, and in a court of law ... need not be referred to ... .'
New Version: 'The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: The Chief Justice and the two other justices of the Supreme Court, in addition to being a Tibetan national, should not be a devotee of Gyalchen Shugden and in a court of law ... need not be referred to ... .'
1998
January 1998
Tashi Wangdu, president of the Tibetan Regional Council, states on Swiss TV:
'There are governmental and non-governmental gods. To worship gods that are not recognised by our government is against the law.'
2 January 1998
During the Dalai Lama's inauguration of a new debating courtyard of Sera-Mey Monastery, the monks of Pomra Khangtsen (a section of the monastery), who constitute about three-quarters of the monastery and who all rely on Dorje Shugden, are prohibited from attending the ceremony. Under instructions from the Tibetan exile government in Dharamsala, these monks are prevented from leaving their rooms and kept under virtual house arrest by the local police. The Tibetan exile government allege that the monks are a threat to the Dalai Lama's security.
During the inauguration ceremony, there is on display a large thangkha painting of Tha-wo, the monastic protective Deity, who looks like Dorje Shugden. The Dalai Lama, mistakenly thinking that the Deity is Dorje Shugden, bitterly attacks the practice of Dorje Shugden in his talk to the monks. Later he calls the abbots together and begins to chastise them for displaying the thangkha, until it is pointed out to him that it is not of Dorje Shugden.
During this talk the Dalai Lama announces that the monks have to choose between the Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden.
5-8 January 1998
The Swiss TV SFI news programme '10 vor 10' features four consecutive daily news reports on the Dorje Shugden issue, entitled Dalai Lama: Discord in Exile. These reports reveal the suffering and conflict within the Tibetan exile community caused by the ban on Dorje Shugden practice, as well as the hypocrisy of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile government in seeking to suppress evidence of its persecution of Shugden practitioners.
22 March 1998
There is a public meeting in Delhi on the 'religious crisis precipitated by the Private Office of the Dalai Lama'. Participants number about 200, including Shri Rathi Lal Prasad Verma, Member of Parliament (BJP Party), Mrs. Dolly Swami, President of Delhi Mazdoor (Laborers), Prof. Dr. P. R. Trivedi, Chairman of Indian Ecological and Environment, Shri Dev Anand Mishra, prominent Human Rights Activist, Prof. Ashwani Kumar, Faculty of Law at Delhi University, and other dignitaries. Mr. Rathi Lal expresses genuine pain over the religious ban. He says this is a clear attack on religious freedom as guaranteed by the Constitution of India. He offers to discuss this issue with his colleagues in government, and to bring it on the floor of the parliament. Dolly Swami notes that as long as Tibetans live in India, their leadership has to live by Indian law. Every Indian leader or academic who speaks on the occasion expresses deep sympathy with all those Tibetans who worship Dorje Shugden, and offers their encouragement.
23 March 1998
In Tages Anzeiger (Switzerland's largest newspaper) the Dalai Lama says:
'I think that this Shugden-worship has been for 360 years like a painful boil. Now I have – like a modern surgeon – made a small operation that hurts for a moment but is necessary to solve this problem.'
19 May 1998
A letter is sent from the Department of Religion and Culture, Central Tibetan Administration of the Dalai Lama, signed by Tenzin Topgyal, Assistant General, and directed to all Tibetan 'Settlement and Welfare Officers' in India:
'Concerning monks and nuns who wish to travel to foreign countries, after obtaining recommendation letter from the local settlement and welfare officer on the strength of authorisation letter from their monasteries, after these are received at this office, (this office) has to obtain authorisation from the Cabinet Secretariat after verifying whether or not the candidate meets the following requirements ...
'3. Attestation from their monastery and the abbot, that neither the host, whether private or organisation, as well as the invitee is a devotee of Dolgyal, that neither the host nor the invitee has any connection with Dolgyal.'
This requirement directly contravenes Article 13(2) of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 12(2) of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, and Article 18 of the Tibetan Constitution adopted by the Tibetan exile government.
1999
13 January 1999 The Dalai Lama pays a visit to Trijang Labrang (in Ganden Shartse Monastery), the residence of His Holiness the late Trijang Rinpoche (1900-1981), his root Guru. At a gathering of the Labrang's monks, the Dalai Lama says:
'... during my visit to Switzerland, Lobsang [Chief Steward of Trijang Labrang] asked that the current Choktul Rinpoche [the Dalai Lama's recognised reincarnation of Trijang Rinpoche] be allowed to worship Dorje Shugden like his predecessor, without a decision through the dough ball divination. He also told me that the ban on Shugden practice is causing widespread suffering to everyone, and that it should be revoked. This is ridiculous talk. My reason for banning the Shugden Protector is in the interest of Tibetan's politics and religion, as well as for the Gelug tradition. In our face-to-face meeting, I also told Rinpoche to understand that we may be meeting each other for the last time.'
During this private audience with the Dalai Lama, Ven. Choezed-la, the eldest official at Trijang Labrang, humbly points out that the religious ban has created an unprecedented atmosphere of hostility against both Shartse Monastery and Trijang Labrang, which is not very different from the atmosphere of the Cultural Revolution in Tibet. He requests that, to end the suffering within the Tibetan public arising from this atmosphere, the Dalai Lama would kindly consider revoking the ban. To this the Dalai Lama angrily replies,
'There will be no change in my stand. I will never revoke the ban. You are right. It will be like the Cultural Revolution. If they [those who do not accept the ban] do not listen to my words, the situation will grow worse for them. You sit and watch. It will grow only worse for them.'
14 January 1999
During the first public address of a visit to Drepung Monastery, the Dalai Lama touches briefly on the Tibetan issue, and dwells on his ban on the practice of Dorje Shugden. An excerpt reads: 'The Dorje Shugden Society plays games with me wherever I go. They have published an announcement. They think that I will back off. That I will never do. If not in this life, a successor will be appointed to sustain this ban.'
15 January 1999
In Mundgod, representatives of the Dorje Shugden Society call on Mr. Pema Choejor, Tibetan Minister for the Department of Security in Dharamsala, and Mr. Khedrup, Secretary of the same department. The Society's representatives, in their face-to-face meeting, explain their situation in detail. Excerpts include:
'The exile government has already taken away both our political rights and religious rights. The Tibetan public has been induced to hate us even more than [they hate] the Chinese, with discrimination, defamation, abuse and baseless allegations. This has gone on for three years now. From our side, time and again, we have approached the Dalai Lama and the exile government through personal representation and delegations, as well as numerous petitions. To this date, however, there has been no sympathetic solution from the exile government's side. Today the Dalai Lama spoke out so angrily, violently and so abusively against us, and our faith in front of the entire settlement.
'According to you, the practice of Shugden in Tibetan society harms the well-being of the Dalai Lama and the cause of Tibet. We do not have any intention to undermine the well-being of the Dalai Lama; at the same time we cannot compromise our religious principles for the sake of political expediency.'
To these representations, the exile government officials respond:
'We understand your difficulty. We will convey your grievance clearly to the Kashag in Dharamsala. What you say is true, but since the ban comes from His Holiness, we are put into a very difficult situation. H.H. the Dalai Lama is taking a rock-like stand, and if you also take an equally rigid stand, we [the exile government] are caught helpless in between.'
First week of May, 1999
In an informal meeting of local Tibetan organisations in Darjeeling with a new representative Officer of the Dalai Lama, these groups unofficially announce to the local Tibetan people that henceforth no one is permitted to invite any member of the following three local monasteries to any Tibetan gatherings or Buddhist festivals in the area: Samten Choeling Monastery (established in 1952), Tharpa Choeling Monastery (1922) and Kharshang Monastery (1919). All three are Gelug monasteries that follow the practice of Dorje Shugden.
24 July 1999
An anonymous poster appears in Tibetan settlements in Nepal, reading:
'The Mahayana Gelug Monastery in Kathmandu sent around 152 monks to Pomra of Sera-Mey and Dhokang of Ganden Shartse monasteries.' The posters go on to ask Tibetan families in Nepal not to send children to these monasteries, because these monasteries practise Dorje Shugden.
2000
12 September 2000
Around 3,000 Tibetans descend on Dhokhang Khangtsen at Ganden Shartse Monastery, attacking the monastery and its monks with stones and bricks.
14 December 2000
The Delhi High Court directs the Delhi Police Department to investigate complaints of torture of Dorje Shugden practitioners by agents of the Dalai Lama.
2001-2008
During this period many Shugden practitioners escape from India and Nepal to various other countries as refugees. Other Shugden practitioners choose to stay in India, but in places where there are no supporters of the Dalai Lama. However, members of their families and relatives who still live within the Tibetan communities continue to suffer.
2006
14 February 2006 In Lhasa, Tibet, a statue of Dorje Shugden is forcefully removed from Ganden Monastery and destroyed along with a statue of Setrab (another Buddhist Deity) by a few monks in the Nyakri section of Ganden Monastery. Unrest occurs inside Tibet due to strong denouncements by the Dalai Lama at a Kalachakra empowerment (in India), and because of sending people to Tibet with the mission to spread allegations that the Deity Dorje Shugden is harming Tibetan freedom and is a danger to the Dalai Lama's life. The houses of practitioners of Dorje Shugden and their relatives are attacked.
19 July 2006
In Lhasa, Tibet, the house of a family of well-known Dorje Shugden practitioners is attacked by four Tibetans wearing masks and claiming to be the Dalai Lama's messengers. The only person in the house at that time is their 20 year old son, who is tortured by having his fingers cut off. He is threatened that next time they will cut his hands off and then they will cut his head off if his family doesn't listen to the Dalai Lama.
January 2008
In a speech at a Tibetan monastery in South India, the Dalai Lama says with reference to Shugden monks: ‘These monks must be expelled from all monasteries. If they are not happy, you can tell them that the Dalai Lama himself asked that this be done, and it is very urgent.’
