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PEOPLE & POWER
The Dalai Lama: The devil within

Watch part two

The Dalai Lama has imposed a ban on the worship of a 500-year-old deity called Dorje Shugden.

Across the world 4 million Buddhist Tibetans worship this particular deity. The ban has created tension and dissent amongst the one million Tibetans living in India and in May 400 monks were thrown out of monasteries because of their religious beliefs.

In the Tibetan refugee camps, Shugden worshippers have been turned away from jobs, shops and schools. Posters with the message "no Shugden followers allowed" cover hospital and shop fronts.

The tension has been fueled by the Tibetan exile government who brandish Shugden worshippers as terrorists closely linked to China.

Shugden followers in India have decided to take matters into their own hands, taking the Dalai Lama to court for religious discrimination.

Tibetans in Nepal

Nepal has used a heavy hand to crack down on Tibetan protestors
When China cracked down on protests in Tibet earlier this year thousands of Tibetans in Nepal gathered outside the Chinese embassy and UN offices in Kathmandu to show their anger. These demonstrations were the first of many.

Nepal, which borders China's Tibetan region, is home to some 20,000 Tibetan exiles, refugees and asylum seekers.

It has seen numerous protests against China by the Tibetans before but this year, with Beijing's growing influence and pressure, the Nepalese government has curtailed their right to demonstrate, and with a heavy hand. From batons to teargas, surveillance to illegal detentions, Beijing's active interference can be felt at every level of the Tibetan communities in Kathmandu.

Protestors have been beaten, rounded up and held without charge, stopped from reaching their protest destination, spied on and threatened with deportation. 

Nepal justifies its actions by saying it will not tolerate demonstrations against 'friendly countries'. China says the demonstrators are exploiting the media to gain sympathy, but Tibetans, old and young, are as determined as ever to get their voices heard.

In this film we see the Tibetan movement, the security response, and China's impact through two characters: Kelsung, a 24-year-old tourist guide who has been to every single protest, and Ngawang Sangmo, the president of the Tibetan Woman's Association, who was held by police for a month, accused of undermining the relationship between China and Nepal.

This episode of People & Power aired from Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
 Source: Al Jazeera
Feedback Number of comments : 14
 
Herbert Rusche
India 		02/10/2008
Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden
Dorje Shugden is a worshiped ghost that has a very bad influence on the unity of tibetans. It is seperating the different branches of tibetan buddhism. The Dalai Lama told his diciples, that they should not worship this spirit when they follow his advise. Everybody is free to worship dorje shugden but he or she cannot be diciples of the Dalai Lama in the same time. It was Dorje Shugden that had a very bad influence on tibetan unity in the past. Please read also www.tibet.com about it.

Nicholas Keeble
United Kingdom 		02/10/2008
The Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden
I am an English Buddhist who has been engaging in the practice of this deity for nearly 10 years.In Buddhism deities represent the practitioner's own inner enlightened qualities and Dorje Shugden, representing the protecting power of wisdom, has been a very beneficial influence in my life. Because of the Dalai Lama's celebrity position, many people take his words as true without checking. Thank you for illustrating the position of those who are suffering on account of his actions.

Thomas Canada
United States 		05/10/2008
Dalia Lama is a Fraud
Some of us realize that Tenzin Gyatso Norbu is a deceitful self cherishing incarnate of a Feudal War Lord, that slaughtered his own people to seize and maintain control of the different approaches to the Teachngs Of Lord Buddha. Some of us realize that he is the antithesis of a man who trampels daily by his ignorance or attempts to undermine the underpinning of the Bill Of Rights and Civil Liberties of the People. The Dharma Flourishes because, it has a home that respects and protects freed

John Brown
United Kingdom 		02/10/2008
Ironic Censorship
It is a bit ironic that the Dalai Lama and his followers are accusing China of oppression for not allowing religious freedom, when they are actually doing the exact same thing. It is the same old story of “you are either with us or against us”. Used today to brand as a “terrorist” anyone who expresses a different opinion to that of the main stream. It is also ironic that they are fighting for democracy when the “Tibetan government” is actually nothing more than a theocratic autocracy.

Tsering Dorjee
India 		04/10/2008
We Tibetan are lost
I am a Tib and I don't believe in any religion. I think we lost Tibet because of DL reincarnation system and his corrupted administration. While China invaded Tibet, Dalai Lama was too small to do anything. I Don't consider he is God but he was a king like position back then. Time has changed. We should move on from this obsolete system.Dalai Lama's ban on this Shugden's followers was a mistake that Dalai Lama must admit and apologize them. Lets fight for our country Tibet not for religion.

John Robb
New Zealand (Aotearoa)		 04/10/2008
Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden
With respect I think the Dalai Lama knows more about Buddhist practice and tradition than a Buddhist from England who has come to Buddhism a mere 10 years ago. His wisdom in these matters is unimpeachable. Tashi Delek.

Thomas Canada
United States 		06/10/2008
Dalia Lama, Samdong, Tenzin Peljor, It's Time to Mend your Ways! Right Away Without Delays! Because as they say, "A pig with lipstick, Is Still a pig!" A man in robes is not a monk nor a lama! Just a man in robes! Unless a Man in Robes , Is Actually Practicing the Precepts of Lord Buddha He is just a man in robes, neither a monk, nor a lama. Just a Man! This Makes All of You! Just Men, In Robes, Lying! As you are!

Jack
Canada 		06/10/2008
The Dalai Lama
Its a matter of interpretation. Whats opression and whats strict guidance? Can I practice animal sacrifice for example and still call myself a Budhist? I'm not trying to be flipant but to point out that at some point a religous leader must direct the practices of his followers. Otherwise you risk having the practice muddied, blurred and made useless by people doing whatever they want in its name. Looks to me like guidance and not opression.

onix
Netherlands 		06/10/2008
politics and the consience of belief
this is a fascinating story, de lama decission is obviously political, it is very counterintuitive because the effective resistance in tibet has been religious. the "protective function of wisdom' should be considered a political aspect of a religious development, i wonder if we are missing the point. I admire religious developments that make straight political points, because i think such is the means of ethics.

Rabten Datsang
United States 		06/10/2008
The Devil Within ??
1. It is not true that Dalai Lama has "banned" the worship of the deity rather he discouraged it. He thinks that the deity has done more harm than good to the people of Tibet. I have heard it from Dalai Lama's mouth. 2. Tibetan exile Govt has not brandished Shugden worshipers as terrorists, it is just some rouge elements within the Tibetan community (after some murders). 3. Dalai lama has no moral authority to ask people who they can worship but he can advice his followers the path he chooses.

Serialny
United States 		06/10/2008
Religion
This is a very complicated issue. The Dalai Lama had asked the shugden followers to not attend his teachings because of many reasons dating back to the 5th Dalai Lama. The followers are free to practice it. On the contrary, the Chinese govt. has encouraged its practice in Tibet. What surprises me the most is foreign conversts have been the most vocal of this issue. I witnessed a protest where there were few Tibetans, recently from tibet and the rest were foreigners against the Dalai lama.

Khedrup
Canada 		13/10/2008
Shugden
Please visit this site www.westernshugdensociety.wordpress.com If you go to the translation of the Yellow Book, you can see that the practice of Shugden was used by Gelug purists to frighten monks who combined Gelug teachings with elements of practice from other lineages. The accounts show how monks who did so were made sick by Shugden, and in some cases died. These accounts came from leading Shugden teachers. This Yellow Book is what started the trouble, not HH Dalai Lama

Duldzin
United Kingdom 		23/10/2008
Dalia Lamas religious persecution!
I applaud Al Jazeera's exemplary piece of journalism! Welldone for your brave and balanced coverage of this issue! Well done for not be swayed by the Dalai Lama Holly wood celebrity status and PR! Isn't it ironice that the Dalai Lama continues to campaign for support to seek religious freedom from the Chinese. Yet, millions of Shugden practitioners worldwide are also seeking religious freedom - from the Dalai Lama.

Tsering Dorjee
India 		26/10/2008
The dalai lama: devil
We need to be updated on the court that the Dalai lama supposed to attend. What happended??? Free Tibet from China and free Tibet from Religion as well. We need to convert all the monasteries into school in Tibet.

 
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