Dalai Lama news
Before 1996
Early 1950s
The Dalai Lama composes Melody of the Unceasing Vajra: A Propitiation of Mighty Gyalchen Dorje Shugden, Protector of Conqueror Manjushri Tsongkhapa’s Teachings.
1978
The Dalai Lama speaks publicly for the first time against the practice of Dorje Shugden.
1980s
18 July 1980
During an address at Sera Monastery (near Bylakuppe, Karnataka State, South India), the Dalai Lama says ‘To summarise my views, I am not saying Gyalchen [Dorje Shugden] is not an authentic Deity, but in any event, for those who mainly rely on Palden Lhamo or Gyalpo Kunga [Nechung], whether it be a great master or a monastery, it does not bode well to worship Gyalchen.’ The Dalai Lama orders the closure of a small Shugden Temple near the main hall of Sera Monastery. Lamas and senior monks from Sera-Jey and Sera-Mey monasteries have attended this temple. By command of the Tibetan exile government, a small new temple of the Nechung spirit is erected in the courtyard of the monastery, and similarly in all Tibetan settlements.
1983
The Dalai Lama orders the removal of the Dorje Shugden statue from the main prayer hall of Ganden Monastery (in Mundgod, Karnataka State, South India), the main monastery of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. When the Dalai Lama is told that the statue is too large to get through the door, he replies that the statue should be broken into pieces.
1986
The renowned Mongolian Lama Guru Deva Rinpoche, then living in Clementown near Dehra Dun, is forced to leave India because his printing press published a letter questioning the Dalai Lama’s actions regarding Dorje Shugden. Guru Deva donates his house in Drepung Gomang Monastery to the monastery itself. The abbot of the monastery manages to persuade a Tibetan mob not to destroy the house. Under increasing pressure from Tibetans in Nepal, Guru Deva is forced to return to Mongolia, where he remained isolated from the Tibetan community until his death in 2009 at the age of 101. In the past, he had made very generous offerings and donations to the Dalai Lama, the two tutors and the great monasteries of Sera, Drepung and Ganden at a time when the Tibetan exile community was experiencing serious shortages of everything.
