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I wish the Dalai Lama would wake up one morning and say ‘I was wrong’.
T.D. is a Tibetan living in India and is a Gelug Buddhist by birth. She has felt first hand the effects of the Dalai Lama’s religious discrimination as her family of Gelug Buddhists is torn apart. DalaiLamaNews.com spoke to T.D. via Facebook.
A Father’s Struggle to Protect His Children
Like many parents, T.D.’s tried to protect her from the harmful attitudes of others. In her case, her father’s attempt to protect her meant that she never realized the kinds of problems he faced over his Dorje Shugden practice.
“My family experienced a lot of problems in the village but never told us,” she said. “When my father died, I went down to my village. I was taken aback the whole settlement’s reaction. They denied to attend his funeral and even the offerings of the Puja performed for his peaceful soul.”
A Mother’s Isolation
In 2003 and 2004, her mother, living alone in the village, faced many difficulties. She was told to declare in public that she was not a Shugden Buddhist if she wanted a peaceful life in the settlement.
T.D. recounted what life was like for her mother after T.D.’s sister and brother-in-law left their village.
“She went through all the difficulties. I remember my cousin’s brother asking my mother to sign the sheet declaring that we are not Shugden followers. My mother stood strong and denied to do so.”
A Brother’s Difficult Choice
Chillingly, T.D.’s younger brother was ostracised from the community because of his mother’s refusal to abandon her Dorje Shugden practice.
As T.D. explained, “After few years, even my younger brother was not allowed to play in the village football team because he is presumed to be a child of Shugdenpa.”
In order to have a normal childhood and fit in with his peers, her brother secretly renounced his family’s religion.
‘Without our knowledge, he wrote a letter declaring he is not Shugdenpa and submitted it to the local Tibetan representative’s office,” T.D. said. “It is not that I would have ruled over his decision. But since we are staying in the land of secularism, I wonder why he needed to prove anybody of his beliefs.”
A Family Divided
In T.D.’s family, the ban has resulted in more than religious discrimination and ostracism from members of the community; the ban has ripped her family apart from within.
“My family is divided into two,” she told us. “The ones who stood by the parents and were labelled Shugdenpa and anothers who went against. The village started to horrify my mother. She said she was even threatened to leave the village. She informed the local Indian police, but they could not help her. Kundeling Rinpoche helped her and now she is staying in Shar Gaden [Monastery] at Mundgod.”
Unfortunately, the divisions within T.D.’s family are not unique among Shugden Buddhists. Families that used to be united and harmonious have split over this issue, with sisters refusing to speak, wives divorcing husbands, children denying their family’s heritage.
All this, simply because they wanted to practice the Gelug teachings they received from their Spiritual Guides.
Religious Discrimination Persists Even in Larger Tibetan Settlements
Some supporters of the Dalai Lama have claimed that the ostracism against Shugden practitioners is an isolated occurrence that only happens in a few of the smaller exile communities.
T.D.’s experiences suggest otherwise. Even though she has now left the village and feels safer living in a larger city, she still faces discrimination.
“Here in Shillong, we are not allowed to enter the monastery which was build by all the Tibetans from the state including my father-in-law who was a Shugdenpa long ago,” she said.
“Now when the issue is raised, they lock the monastery every time we go there. So, we do the prayers outside the monastery. I even heard that few decided not sell the apparel to us.”
“The Dalai Lama’s One Word Could Break the Peace and Unity in His Community”
She believes the problem is caused by the Tibetan Government in Exile (now called the Central Tibetan Administration, or CTA) and the Dalai Lama, as well as the Indian Government for letting it happen.
“What deity you follow was not in question in my family and in our neighbourhood till the issue was raised. Then, slowly as the politicians started to play their game with the issue, I could feel my father was getting affected by the issue. I blame the entire scenario on poor governance by Tibetan Exile Government, Indian Government who never tried to solve the issue and yes of course Dalai Lama. I wish he knew his one word could break the peace and unity in his community.”
According to T.D., there were no problems before the Dalai Lama began his campaign against Shugden Buddhists.
“There is a small Buddhist temple which has all the deities in our village. Everyone in locality used to go there to pray. All the oldies do Kora there in the temple every morning and evening. But when the issue was raised, people stopped going over there. That’s wrong I felt. Even a few local people planned to demolish the temple. Monks were called from the Bylakuppe Sera Pompara Monastery to safeguard the temple. It was a pathetic time. How drastic and pathetic the situation they created for us.”
It is clear the Dalai Lama’s actions has caused many problems in the refugee Tibetan Communities in India, and it is a cause of great sorrow for T.D.
“I Want a Solution Instead of Crying and Arguing”
“I hate the issue which broke the Tibetans into two parts, which broke the peace in our community and which was legally a crime%2
