Buddhism, Dorje Shugden Controversy, HH the Dalai Lama, Religion

by tenpelAugust 27, 20143:59 pm

The Benefits of the Anti-Dalai Lama protests by the Shugden group (NKT/ICS)

DALAI LAMA GIVE PATIENCE!

DALAI LAMA STOP ANGER!

I think it is important to reflect from different angles about the NKT/ICS protests. On a mundane and spiritual level you can establish many good reasons why the protests bring more harm than benefit. Such a situation might lead easily to a rejection or to ignoring the protests and the protesters. Especially this blog focuses strongly on the negative sides of the NKT/ICS and the protests – an approach that can easily lead to aversion, anger or hate. However, this is not the aim of the blog. The aim of this blog is to correct the misinformation being spread by the Western Shugden group (NKT) since 1996.

When I was just in Hamburg attending the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama – which were very inspiring and moving – I realized that my strategy just to ignore the protesters might be good for my own mind only from a short term perspective. This strategy helps me to prevent to think negatively about the protesters / NKT (or the few Tibetans who joined the protests) and to get upset or disturbed. Though this is a functioning strategy (like Shantideva suggests in his Patience Chapter of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara: “be like a piece of wood”), in the long run ignoring others is not a very powerful training for the mind.

Embed from Getty Images

Many reported that they feel that the protesters are very aggressive and that this in turn disturbs their own mind. I made a test in Hamburg by walking through the protesters without ignoring them and I have to agree, not ignoring them but opening up for the noise and what they shout disturbed also my mind.

However, these protests are a very rare and useful opportunity to practice patience and different Dharma methods to increase the positive mental energy by being mindful of the content of the mind (aversion, anger) and just observing it or by actively cultivating an antidote of non-hatred or an understanding of dependent arising etc.

If the protesters were just Christian fundamentalists, I would generously accept them, so why do I take them so seriously? From a dharmic perspective they are my best friends. They offer the rare chance to practice patience, they help me to learn to be at peace and calm, not getting disturbed. The protesters are my sponsors, donors and friends; no!, they are better than my sponsors, donors and friends because they serve as a basis to cultivate the quality of patience and love, precious gems not even my sponsors, donors and friends can offer me. So they are the best thing I can meet or encounter in order to train my mind! Instead of ignoring them I should appreciate their presence and make the best use out of this opportunity which soon may cease.

The protests remind me also of the Four Trainings of a Trainee in Virtue (of a Buddhist monk) that are included in the Bodhisattva vows*:

not to respond to being chided by chiding
not to respond to anger by expressing anger**
not to respond to being struck by striking back
not to respond to insult by insulting

So, I would like to commit myself to use the protests in a more powerful way for training my mind and I would like to encourage others to do so too. Actual it is a very precious opportunity which should not be left unused. Thank you, dear protesters!

Geshe Langri Tangpa

When I see ill-natured people,
Overwhelmed by wrongdoing and pain,
May I cherish them as something rare,
As though I had found a treasure-trove.

– Geshe Langri Tangpa

* “Buddhist Ethics” by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, Snow Lion, 1998, p. 189. The training is not only meant with respect to the own person but also to those close and dear to yourself.

** I understand this also as an advice not to allow even the slightest anger in my mind if someone is attacking me or someone dear to me angrily.

63Comments

Add yours

1

jigmeyeshe on August 27, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Reply

This was posted on the Facebook group TalkAboutShugden today…(not my post)

For me, it is easy to get hooked by anger in the course of these discussions and analysis. My favorite text in terms of undermining these afflictive tendencies is the Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva. I find the chapter on patience an indispensable part of my very tiny Buddhist practices and there were a few lines of it that I have come to think about as I watched the awful way the NKT/ISC people were acting while his Holiness was in Hamburg. I thought I would share these lines in the hopes that they will be beneficial to anyone out there feeling negative thoughts about the people protesting and making fools of themselves.
“Even those who vilify and undermine the Sacred Doctrine, images, and stupas are not proper objects of our anger. Buddhas are themselves untouched thereby”
“And even if our teachers, relatives, and friends are now the object of aggression, all derives from factors, as we have explained. This we should perceive and curb our wrath.”
“Some do evil things because of ignorance, some respond with anger, being ignorant. Which of them is faultless in such acts? To whom should error be ascribed?”
May these verses have some benefit to sentient beings.
2

Khedrup on August 27, 2014 at 7:08 pm
Reply

What was humbling for me was that several of the Tibetans (who have every reason to be upset, as refugees seeing their culture rubbished once again through NKT’s antics) were more patient with the protests than I was.
The Geshe I traveled to the teachings with made a point of asking me to walk with him towards the protesters and take a moment to observe them twice during HH’s Hamburg teachings. He did not tell me why he encouraged this. But I see now it was an opportunity to observe my own mind, and how I handled a difficult situation- did I use my practice.
As I observed those protesters I did not feel hate but I did not feel love either- more like a disregard. Geshe la very clearly still saw them as human beings, creating causes of future suffering, and looked at them with compassion. This humbled them, and they could not meet his gaze, while they looked at me (as I showed them disregard) with absolute anger.
That was a useful lesson.
Still, I don’t think these lessons should override our condemnation of the protests, which are undermining the extremely fragile situation of the Tibetan people, who are very dear to my heart.
- 3
  
  jigmeyeshe on August 27, 2014 at 7:19 pm
  Reply
  
  I spend a lot of time praying for them to have good teachers. Like a mandala. It is the only way forwards. It may not happen for lifetimes but seeing my own struggle and how difficult it has been to come ‘out’ of that mindset and how easily, like you Khedrup, it is to ‘not love’ them, (and they are people I know very, very well in some cases) then I know they have a hard struggle ahead to sort out the confusion they have…it’s awful. So, projecting a good future for them is my ‘best’ method so far. I wish I could have seen your Geshe with them – what a profound and moving and beautiful thing to do. He may well be their teacher in the future!
- 4
  
  Sam Hoff on August 27, 2014 at 7:28 pm
  Reply
  
  A good read on western people interfering with eastern cultures is Rajiv Malhotra’s “Breaking India”.
- 5
  
  tenpel on September 8, 2014 at 11:08 am
  Reply
  
  Khedrup, here is an interesting piece of Neil Elliot – the former successor of KG – where he twists thoughts, events and observations of what happened in Hamburg until it fits the party line of the NKT leadership. It might be interesting for you because it shows how he interprets the warmheartedness and patience of the Tibetans as an expression of approval of their actions. Funnily, if he would consequently apply this interpretation he must also see the Dalai Lama’s smiles, hand waving to the protesters (which he did different times at locations where there was an opportunity) as an approval of their actions 😉
  
  Neil Elliott
  August 27 · Edited
  
  Pondering the emptiness of the eight extremes in Hamburg
  
  The other day while we were waiting in a park to demonstrate against the Dalai Lama when he returned to his hotel I watched as a group of Tibetan families passed their time listening to the children singing traditional Tibetan songs and then forming a large circle, adults and children together, to perform traditional dances.
  
  They all seemed so happy, as if lost in their revelry without a care in the world.
  
  But the sad truth is that they had brought along their amplifier to drown out our protests when the Dalai Lama arrived.
  
  These happy, carefree people had been poisoned by the Dalai Lama’s venomous speech into thinking that fellow Buddhists are their enemy, to be opposed and vilified at every turn. And when the Dalai Lama arrived their happy faces melted into the aspect of anger as they tried to drown out our calls for religious freedom.
  
  But as we discovered during those extraordinary days, the Tibetans are generally good natured people with kind hearts. Many of the protesters found themselves in the same hotels as Tibetans attending the Dalai Lama’s teachings, and the Tibetans would show them respect and cordiality. Some even told us that although they were followers of the Dalai Lama, they supported our right to protest and our wish to preserve our tradition.
  
  Sometimes as they walked past the line of protesters on their way to and from the teachings they would smile kindly at us and even give a surreptitious thumbs up. The Dalai Lama might think his ban is effective but it doesn’t look to me as if he is winning the hearts and minds of his people. He is simply bullying them into showing support for something they do not truly believe in.
  
  So what of those Tibetans who during their counter demonstration reacted so aggressively to us? To my mind their behaviour was the direct result of the Dalai Lama’s actions. Without his divisive speech and destructive actions there would be no problem, and no Tibetan, nor anyone else, would think of Je Tsongkhapa’s followers as their enemies.
  
  In truth, those who oppose us are our kind mothers who in their hearts wish for the same as we do – a life of peace and contentment. Only the Dalai Lama does not want this. Only he wants to foment division and discrimination.
  
  I was reminded that day in the park of how easy it is to generalise and stereotype people out of ignorance, and how wisdom protects us against this mistaken way of thinking. I thought of Venerable Geshe-la’s teachings on the emptiness of the eight extremes in Modern Buddhism, and especially his teaching on the emptiness of singularity and plurality where he says:
  
  ‘We tend to project the faults or qualities of the few onto the many, and then develop hatred or attachment on the basis of, for example, race, religion or country. Contemplating the emptiness of singularity and plurality can be helpful in reducing such hatred and attachment.’
  
  How wonderful it would be if all Dharma brothers and sisters could abide in this wisdom and live in peace and harmony with each other, free from division, discrimination and enmity.
  
  This is exactly what we pray for every day when we make prayers to the Wisdom Protector Dorje Shugden
  
  An EX-NKT friend replied to this:
  
  I’d like to share this as a very good example of NKT ‘double-speak’ or rather, an example of how the NKT ‘view’ twists even ordinary morality using the Dharma. Notice that Neil Eliot credits the NKT when Tibetans smile at the protesters and credits the Dalai Lama with bad intentions when Tibetans are upset. He fails to realise that no Tibetans are forced to listen to His Holiness. He fails to understand that the Tibetans may well be practising patience. He shows a deep ignorance of how karma works if he blames only His Holiness for the problems the NKT are creating. I think this, more than anything should be translated into Tibetan. It is typical of the NKT that anything good is attributed to their own actions and anything bad they experience is attributed to others!!
  The man who writes this is now the main teacher of the NKT – he teaches ALL of the Resident Teachers via the internet on the ‘Special TTP’. He was the monk, Gen Thubten Gyatso, Deputy Spiritual Director of the NKT who resigned for having sex with nuns in 1996. The first demos against His Holiness ‘about Shugden’ started as this was happening. His protege, Kelsang Norden, was ‘reordained’ by Kelsang Gyatso after her experience with Neil and was the nun who accosted His Holiness in the hotel corridor to tell him he was ‘lying’. Like our friend from Hamburg, she also could not listen to His Holiness.
  This is the ideology we need to counteract. It is how you are ‘taught’ to think in the NKT.
  - 6
    
    Khedrup on September 8, 2014 at 6:17 pm
    Reply
    
    There is a real lack of understanding of what is going on from the side of the NKT members. When some people shouted back at them (it is funny they complain when the Tibetans shout at them, when they shout for a solid three, four or five days continuously!) they label the video they take as “angry Tibetan mob attacks peaceful Shugdens after Dalai Lama speech”. Then there are earnest comments from NKT internet heroes like vajra master “Genla Khyenrab”, Peter and Atisha’s Cook asking “what the hell was he teaching in there”. Actually, in most cases HHDL didn’t mention Shugden at all during his talks to the Tibetans, or if he did only in response to a question about the history of the practice (you can find the talks on youtube, but of course none of the NKT members speak Tibetan). Similarly, HHDL never mentions NKT at all at these Western teaching events-he takes the high road and decides not to make things personal, even though NKT tries to hijack all of his international teachings by deliberately yelling as loudly as possible so that people inside the teaching hall hear them, and when that fails sending in geniuses like Kelsang Jangdom (a junior monk and Buddhist for all of 6 years) to disturb the Tibetans.
    
    When the Tibetans ignore the shouting NKT hate brigade, or show politeness the NKT misreads this as them somehow respecting their “tradition”. This shows a real ignorance of Tibetan culture in particular and Asian culture in general. The Asian way is to avoid public conflict whenever possible, and showing proper politeness does not in any way indicate support for the NKT’s actions. One Tibetan man told me his strategy was “kill their campaign with kindness”- that he and his friends hoped by showing a polite example, the NKT would be shamed into examining their hurtful and abusive behaviour, the shouting and sending people into the teaching hall to yell at His Holiness.
    
    I also find it so sad that Neil Elliott, erudite as he may be with words , has the gall to present himself as the voice of NKT’s moral conscience, and someone of sufficient moral stature to challenge and organize a campaign to degrade an internationally respected figure like His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He should remember the many occasions where he abused power- sleeping with nun students decades younger than himself while still a monk (one of whom a few years later accosts the DL at his hotel!), kicking people out of dharma centres where they’d lived for decades simply because they had lamas other than Kelsang Gyatso, and introducing a culture of absolute obedience into the NKT that has damaged so many people.
    
    I also find his hint at challenging racism, and not labeling an entire ethnic group based on the actions of a few hilarious, since the NKT literature such as the ridiculous book “A Great Deception” (which “Kadam” Neil is said to have authored) contains all sorts of racist generalizations about the backwardness and lack of education of the Tibetan people. Combine this with the “Saffron Robed Muslim” slur about the Dalai Lama coined by the NKT and one laughs at these militant white convert Buddhists now trying to portray themselves as politically correct liberals.
    
    There is something deeply, deeply disturbing to me about the nature of the online capaign and the protests. Peter, the prolific NKT poster, uses the term “Tibetans” on FB as an insult. He tries to play victim by framing himself (he lives in a large Western city) as a victimized minority because he recites Heart Jewel at his local Kadampa centre. Guess what? No one cares, and no one would know. YOu have lived your entire life in a Western country enjoying the position of a white male, and trying to use your daily Shugden puja as a way to frame yourself as a disenfranchised minority is an insult to all of the people of colour who struggle against institutionalized racism while you have enjoyed a life of white privilege and disposable income enough to fly around the world to attend multiple NKT “festivals”.
    
    I wonder if this is not part of the appeal of the protests, that white people can have a go at being a disenfranchised minority. It is deeply disingenuous and a joke considering the people hurt and often in tears due to their antics are an oppressed minority- a community that have been refugees for more than 50 years and endured horrible racism and abuse that no person growing up in our privileged Western societies could even comprehend.
    
    They are just so arrogant and offensive on so, so many levels.
    - 7
      
      tenpel on September 8, 2014 at 6:36 pm
      Reply
      
      Its a culture of brainwashing oneself and others. Similar to what happens in all dictatorships e.g. ‘Communist’ China or the former East Germany etc.
    - 8
      
      Joanne on September 8, 2014 at 11:15 pm
      Reply
      
      Yes, Khedrup, you are right– and sometimes I want to just hold my head listening to all their foolishness. But it seems like the NKT are traveling so very far from any semblance of truth or decency that it’s become impossible they could ever scratch the surface of HH and the work he’s doing in the world. The gulf is HUGE between what happens at his teachings, talks etc.– and the sordid business happening within the NKT. People who go to see HH will see through the NKT foolishness very quickly I think (as soon as they are told that the Dalai Lama is really a Muslim intent on taking over the world haha). They are intelligent people who won’t bite.
      
      I also think the racial slurs are becoming more and more blatant– as is the connection with China. The ISC don’t even acknowledge that Tibetans suffer under Chinese occupation. People will also see through all that.
      
      I think that the only serious harm to His Holiness that could come of these pranks and mischief would be if serious Buddhist students, such as ourselves, were to become overly embroiled. Elliot and the others are just shouting themselves hoarse from a stinking gutter– our job is to stay out of the gutter and be prepared to give them a hand if they ever decide they want out into some clean air. Hearing about those calm, patient Tibetans has inspired me today. I picture an enormous, powerful army of silent, calm, patient, loving Tibetans and other Dalai Lama supporters, just walking past the protesters and smiling kindly– I imagine that army just rocking the world.
      
      And meanwhile, my call to Elliot remains: When are you going to fix your serious errors in the Shantideva translation?
      - 9
        
        Khedrup on September 9, 2014 at 11:09 am
        Reply
        
        You are right, Joanne. Kindness is always the way to go.
        
        Though the comments of Peter, Atisha’s Cook and so forth on facebook are racist and hurtful to the Tibetans (I know because I work with them nearly every day), I don’t respond to any of their comments even when I can correct misinformation because I know that my mind is not tamed enough to ensure a skillful interaction with them. For now, a bit of space from their nasty lies seems to be the way to go, though I will continue working on trying to use it as a way to train my mind 😉
        
        10
        
        tenpel on September 9, 2014 at 11:16 am
        Reply
        
        11
        
        Khedrup on September 9, 2014 at 12:18 pm
        
        LOL Tenzin la, is this inspired by the song sung by Jewel, the American singer?
        Sometimes I don’t know if you are being serious or if you have a wicked sense of humour (which is a quality I appreciate, maybe more than I should.)
        
        12
        
        tenpel on September 9, 2014 at 1:11 pm
        
        This was just my illustration to your sentence: “Joanne. Kindness is always the way to go.” I found this image somewhere and at times I share it with friends.
        
        13
        
        Joanne on September 9, 2014 at 4:49 pm
        
        Yes, Khedrup, Tenzin likes to bring out those kindness illustrations when we least expect them…!
        
        But also I want to add that for me, as for you, the hardest thing is to remain patient and quiet when the attack is not against ourselves, (who are relatively fortunate in this life), but against a people who have already suffered enough. For myself, I find that really despicable and horrid and so I need to speak out as well….So this requires both things, I think, both the need for kindness, patience, quiet– and the need for speaking out strongly as well. As HH says often, reality is complicated. Life is only black and white inside of cults.
14

Ani Tsultrim on August 27, 2014 at 7:32 pm
Reply

I do love Geshe Langri Tangpa.
I struggle with this constantly, Tenzin. Whenever the anger starts to arise, I feel a tingle on the back of my neck, and a tightening in my chest. Anger interacting with my body, as it were. Noticing those signs makes it easier for me to back away and get ‘centered,’ and settle into a more peaceful state–all this while I’m posting something to counteract the negativity of the NKT. So
, my dilemma is this: How to counter these protests and demonstrations? I was a child of the 60’s, and I can tell you that putting a flower into the hands of an angry policeman would only get you bashed with a stick, or tear-gassed. I haven’t found that balance between being an activist, and being a nun. Sometimes, the two seem antithetical to one another, and if I followed the precepts to the letter, I wouldn’t be doing anything about the protests. Any advice?
- 15
  
  tenpel on August 28, 2014 at 8:32 pm
  Reply
  
  Thank you Ani Tsultrim. Good that you watch your body and learn from this. I check from time to time if my body is tense and relax it and the mind. The body can tell a lot.
  
  I have not any advice.
  
  From my perspective, the most important thing is to counter my mind poisons. This is the key task. These phenomena (protests etc) come and go and will finally cease so what matters more is what spiritual benefit I get out of it … and, if it is possible to help others or not. The latter is not always the case and helping others can be a huge issue of the own ego and it can carry one far away. So, from my understanding, I have always critically to investigate my mental state, capacity and decide based on that if I act or if I don’t act. I should not act in a way that it harms me or others. If there is benefit for others, this is most often not so clear or predictable. I think it is a matter of inner balance, critical introspection, honesty where I am and what I want. The answer must come from ourselves and our own wisdom to understand what drives us, what is useful. This is so different for every individual. That’s why I think the mind training advice “be your own witness” is very good. I cannot give any advice, I think. But if you investigate with an open mind, unbiasedly and if you build your analysis on your own experiences and knowledge, a good advice will come. As the mind training says “be liberated by investigation & analysis.”
  - 16
    
    Ani Tsultrim on August 28, 2014 at 11:25 pm
    Reply
    
    Dearest Tenzin:
    What good advice, even though you might not call it that! I think that somewhere in the recesses of my mind I have a little ‘clog’ which says, “you’re going against the 300 some-odd rules for nuns of the Vinaya,” many of which make absolutely no sense in the 21st century. The one for nuns about not ‘swimming across a wide river naked” tickles my funny bone every time I think of it. It presumes two things: 1) that I can swim and 2) that I would ever be caught naked in a wide river. (Only if I had lost my mind completely). There is a wide river that runs through Albuquerque, but the water is so low that one can walk across it. Does that count?
    
    As for constantly watching my mind: The subtleties of that are enormous. When I really look carefully at what I’m doing by my activism I find that it is the “right thing” for me to be doing. I feel strongly that what the NKT are doing is so negative that I have to speak out, one way or another. And, yes, when I look even more carefully, I find compassion for the people of the NKT. I simply should not lose sight of it, although I admit that I slip, sometimes.
    Thank you, Tenzin. You are a good friend.
17

Joanne on August 27, 2014 at 8:47 pm
Reply

Thank you for this post, Tenzin. I know I became agitated when I saw that horrid banner on ISC “news”–my heart was beating fast and it was hard to calm down. I have definitely found compassion my best friend through all of this. Each night I’ve been giving some thought to their disturbed minds and wishing they could be free of their disturbance.

But I do this knowing that I wasn’t physically present at those protests and so it’s easier– and that I don’t know the protesters, like Carol does– and also that I will be physically present in November in Boston and New York, where I might become more disturbed by the protests. I find it hard to look at people who are doing things that are so negative, I find it a little scary and that’s why I want to look away. I don’t think I could help them by coming too close or looking them in the eye.
- 18
  
  Sam Hoff on August 28, 2014 at 3:43 am
  Reply
  
  If I wasn’t scared of the NKT, I would hold a sign that says “Stop NKT Ban on traditional dharmapalas”
  - 19
    
    jigmeyeshe on August 28, 2014 at 10:50 am
    Reply
    
    What ‘exactly’ are you frightened that the NKT might do, Sam? That’s very sad. You could do a placard saying ‘I would protest against the NKT but I feel too intimidated to do so – NKT please give me freedom of speech!’ [Chuckle…]
20

tenpel on August 28, 2014 at 8:20 pm
Reply

Thank you all for the discussion – especially the quotes from the patience chapter and the honest and inspiring story by Khedrup!
- 21
  
  jigmeyeshe on August 28, 2014 at 8:45 pm
  Reply
  
  Somewhere in Tibet in a cave there was a very good lama in retreat. He was practising, when suddenly something appeared in front of him. He saw it as a negative, obstructing spirit. So he tried to say some mantras to drive it away. But it did not go away. It said mantras back. Then he visualised himself as a very strong, wrathful deity and again said mantras. In return, that spirit became even more strong and wrathful and said mantras back. After that, the lama realised that this was the spirit of someone who had practised all those wrathful deities and mantras. When he understood that, he became very sad, and genuine concern and compassion arose for the person who had become this evil spirit after practising the Vajrayana methods. Within this genuine concern and compassion, he forgot about his visualisation of the wrathful deity, the mantras, and all those things, and his compassion overtook him. At that moment, the spirit began disappearing in front of him. It became smaller and smaller, until in a very weak voice it said, “ That I did not have,” and disappeared.
  From Ring Tulku, ‘Daring Steps – Traversing the Path of the Buddha’, p.119, Chapter on ‘Vajrayana’.
22

john6747 on August 30, 2014 at 9:02 am
Reply

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038c0f6
23

john6747 on August 31, 2014 at 9:05 am
Reply
24

Sam Hoff on September 2, 2014 at 5:33 am
Reply

Tenpel,

What happened to your Dolgyal friends such as Kelsang Pagpa?

I have questions to ask them.
- 25
  
  tenpel on September 2, 2014 at 8:51 am
  Reply
  
  After Pagpa realized that he cannot spread his propaganda here without being corrected he and the other NKT editors withdrew. When I remember correctly at one point I also warned him that I will block all further comments because he was not able to accept any correction but repeated like robot already corrected false claims which consumed our time and made the comment section a part of his and NKT’s propaganda network. It was something like this. But it was he who withdrew from posting. I don’t know why.
26

john6747 on September 9, 2014 at 8:03 am
Reply

This video on Dalai Lama Truth is being used as proof that the Dalai Lama is a fake. I think someone has missed the point.

https://www.facebook.com/dalailamatruth
- 27
  
  tenpel on September 9, 2014 at 9:53 am
  Reply
  
  The call a FB site that is libelous an “educational site”. Crooked minds … Black is white and white is black for them …
- 28
  
  tenpel on September 9, 2014 at 10:00 am
  Reply
  
  Their sites and accounts are just a mirror for their narcissism, how “pure” they are compared with the “evil and false Dalai Lama” and the world who is “fooled” by this “celebrity monk”. What they write here and there sounds like a lot of envy and hate:
  
  The False Dalai Lama
  – a new book exploring the hidden, dark side of everyone’s favourite “celebrity monk”. This explosive book overturns the myth of the Dalai Lama, revealing the scheming political mind behind the media-friendly smiles …
29

Jetsun on September 9, 2014 at 1:12 pm
Reply

Now that it has come to light that the 14th Dalai Lama freely admits that he is the false Dalai Lama;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUedS5qlWUE (Video quote begins at 14 minutes 19 seconds)
That he has no idea what the word reincarnation means;
That he justifies his authenticity with absurd nonsense;
That Reting Lama deceived the Tibetan people in identifying a person completely unqualified to be either the temporal or spiritual leader of Tibet;

Will you demand that that this charlatan immediately resign or continue to support this imposter?
- 30
  
  tenpel on September 9, 2014 at 1:19 pm
  Reply
  
  Hi Jetsun,
  are you Kelsang Jetsun who I know from Berlin? I think I saw you somewhere recently in the circle of the protesters at a railway station or so. But you looked so seriously, that I couldn’t identify you at that moment. If it is useful for you to believe that the Dalai Lama is the false Dalai Lama, that’s fine. But it doesn’t help to slander him. He is a very nice, wise and compassionate guy. I don’t have even a fraction of his qualities but I wish I had! Wishing you all the best. tp
- 31
  
  tenpel on September 9, 2014 at 1:26 pm
  Reply
  
  Dear Jetsun, I think you accept Trijang Rinpoche as a vaild source, do you? He says on page 125 of his Shugden commentary:
  
  Some who are narrow minded, not understanding this point, consider this Dharmapala to be like an ordinary worldly being and, with supposed faith in the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, disparage him; or else they indeed admire this great Dharmapala but criticize the Dalai Lama or Panchen Lama. Using either one as a reason not to admire the other and speaking badly about either in any way is the conduct of an ordinary being who, under the influence of attachment and hatred, just tries to help friends and hurt enemies; it obscures the increase of these great holy Aryas’ deeds and creates the karmic cause to experience unbearable suffering in the future.
- 32
  
  Khedrup on September 9, 2014 at 2:11 pm
  Reply
  
  Now if we can only get Kelsang Gyatso to show the same humility regarding his (non-) geshe degree 😉
- 33
  
  dharmaanarchist on September 9, 2014 at 3:30 pm
  Reply
  
  Well, it shows that at least he is a very humble person.
  Unlike some of you folks….
  
  By the way, if you had any idea about high lamas (which you have not, never having been exposed to any of them) you would know that the authentic ones will ALWAYS downplay their archievements, qualities and qualifications, apart from maybe some very private situations.
  
  A lot of dharma texts by highly accomplished masters are signed with this sort of self humiliations. For example the great Patrul Rinpoche signed his work on the vajrayana preliminaries with:
  
  “This was written by the one whom Rigdzin Changchub Dorje gave the name Orgyen Jigme Chokyi, Wangpo – but who, behind the embellishment of such a name, is really just a ragged abu, rough mannered, and burning with the fires of the five poisons”
- 34
  
  Joanne on September 9, 2014 at 5:06 pm
  Reply
  
  Yes, Trijang Rinpoche says it very well. And Jetsun, humility has been practiced by many of the greatest lamas in the Kadampa lineage. Humility is what I saw evident in His Holiness’s statements, when he said clearly that he didn’t possess the qualities of his predecessor. If he was the “evil dictator” you and your friends claim him to be, do you think he would be humble about his qualities? Is that the sign of a dictator or a great bodhisattva?
- 35
  
  Sam Hoff on September 9, 2014 at 5:23 pm
  Reply
  
  Hi Jetsun. Can you please answer these questions for me?
  
  Questions for Jetsun:
  
  1. Why is there an oracle of Shugden like Nechung, if Shugden is a Buddha?
  
  2. Why is there no picture of Kelsang Gyatso and Trijang Rinpoche together?
  
  3. Do you admit that Kelsang Gyatso BANS from NKT centers most tibetan buddhist teachings and even the traditional Gelug protectors?
  
  4. Why does Kelsang Gyatso disagree with Trijang Rinpoche’s position that Shugden’s outward visual appearance is that of a worldly gyalpo?
  
  5. Why do you downplay Trijang Rinpoche’s teachings in the Yellow Book which indicate the sectarian nature of Dorje Shugden?
  
  6. Why don’t you understand the main teachers of the Dalai Lama are Dilgo Khyentse and Trulshik Rinpoche, who are anti-Shugden?
  
  7. How does the Dalai Lama control the government of India?
  
  8. Why don’t you understand that Gelug monasteries are private property just like NKT centers?
  
  9. Why don’t you understand that the Kagyus, Nyingmas and, yes even the Sakyas, are against Dolgyal and thus the issue has nothing to do with blind faith in the Dalai Lama?
  
  10. Why do SEVERAL western scholars specifically reject the claims of Dolgyalpas?
  
  11. Why did Pabongkha and Trijang Rinpoche refer to Shugden as Dolgyal?
  
  12. Why did Pabongkha place Shugden under the control of Vajrabhairava?
  
  13. Why was the abbot of Drepung monastery and the previous Dalai Lama, the 13th, opposed to Pabogkha’s propagation of Shugden?
  
  14. Why did Pabongkha apologize and promise never to propagate Shugden again?
  
  15. Why did the Eighth Karmapa and Gorampa criticize Tsongkhapa?
  
  16. Isn’t the NKT propagating an extension of colonialism?
36

Jetsun on September 9, 2014 at 1:41 pm
Reply

I should have expected that when confronted with the Dalai Lama’s own words you would choose to ignore them. Since this is your chosen method of defense it should be clear to all observers that you follow in your master’s path of absurdity, deception, obfuscation, and irrelevance.
- 37
  
  tenpel on September 9, 2014 at 9:43 pm
  Reply
  
  Dear Jetsun,
  maybe you didn’t understand me …
  I don’t care if the Dalai Lama is true or false.
  
  What I care is if the Dalai Lama has qualities or not. And the Dalai Lama has abundant qualities – no matter if he is false or true. What helps me on the path is a person who really has qualities, who is the expression of love, wisdom and compassion and the values I strive for, and who lives what he preaches. There is so much I can learn from him that I simply don’t care if he is true or false. He is a human being with a true richness of qualities.
  
  I fear this must sound horrible in your ears but these are the facts 😉
- 38
  
  Khedrup on September 10, 2014 at 6:36 am
  Reply
  
  Actually no, we discuss things instead of burying our heads in the sand.
  I’m on the same page as Tenzin regarding this- whether the 14th Dalai Lama is of the same continuum as all of the other Dalai Lama’s really isn’t my concern. I choose him as one of my several teachers based on his teachings and his qualities- like his humility and sense of humour, even about his position (I really a sense of humour about religious titles is difficult for oh so earnest NKT members, who have to bring in enough bodies to fill the seats for four long years to get called “Gen” or “Kadam”).
  This lack of a any semblance of joy or sense of humour and the constant need to disparage someone (even whom you see as your enemy) shows that NKT is a actually a pretty depressing organization to be a part of. If you are K. Jetsun, I googled you and saw your google plus page. There is nothing on it except hateful tirades against the DL and ISC videos.
  Nothing about Buddhism, spirituality, hope, joy or benefiting others. It shows how myopic this vision of the NKT has become. You are all permanently mobilized in this political war using fueled by the afflictions, and think that you are somehow benefiting others. It’s sad.
  Honestly, if not for the hateful, Islamophobic and disruptive campaign you’ve all launched, I wouldn’t even put any mental energy into this issue, much less reply to the bizarre posts of ISC members.
  - 39
    
    tenpel on September 10, 2014 at 6:55 am
    Reply
    
    It is really sad what the NKT makes out of people who once started honestly for a spiritual journey. The NKT messes people up. This is why I run this blog and my websites. On the other hand, everybody within NKT can keep or turn back to spiritual integrity, honesty and dignity. It’s in the hand of every single person to change but it would need self-confidence, critical thinking and honesty. These are all qualities the NKT gradually undermines. In a way it’s a vicious circle. However, some can break free.
- 40
  
  dharmaanarchist on September 10, 2014 at 8:56 am
  Reply
  
  Nope, we don’t ignore it.
  
  We know it’s the standard display of humility you will find with all the great lamas. A pity that you have never met any of them.
  
  The only thing your posts here point to is your own ignorance about Tibetan buddhism.
41

Jetsun on September 9, 2014 at 3:22 pm
Reply

‘I should have expected that when confronted with the Dalai Lama’s own words you would choose to ignore them. Since this is your chosen method of defense then it should be clear to all observers that you follow your master’s path of absurdity, deception, obfuscation, and irrelevance.’

The fact that you have previously deleted the above comment indicates that you must be afraid to comment on the Dalai Lama’s confession of being a charlatan. Are you embarrassed and frustrated that your master says things that are impossible for you to defend?
- 42
  
  tenpel on September 9, 2014 at 9:47 pm
  Reply
  
  Dear Jetsun,
  nothing has been deleted. The comment was in the waiting queue and I was outside my room. We had a nice and inspiring discussion about faith and what faith is …
  
  Don’t worry, I am not embarrassed, not frustrated, everything is fine, thank you.
  I send you warm regards. Are you the Jetsun from Berlin?
- 43
  
  dharmaanarchist on September 10, 2014 at 8:51 am
  Reply
  
  LOL
  
  Now if I wrote ANYTHING at all critical about NKT or the spirit you worship on a NKT board it would probably be deledted in 0.64 seconds.
  
  So much for hypocritical double standards…
- 44
  
  laughingdaquini on February 23, 2015 at 3:04 am
  Reply
  
  Jetsam Kelsang,
  I think Betrand Russell hits the nail on the head regarding this issue:
  “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wise people so full of doubts.”
  It’s clear which category you and the rest of the KelsangBots fall into, and clear which category the Dalai Lama falls into.
45

Sam Hoff on September 9, 2014 at 10:39 pm
Reply

Jetsun, please answer my above questions to you.

Also Tenpel has to approve each comment, so there is usually a few hours delay.

Lastly, as a Kagyu, if you believe that tulkus are the reincarnation of the last guy then you have no understanding of Tibetan Buddhism at all. That wouldn’t even begin to make sense.
46

tenpel on September 10, 2014 at 12:00 am
Reply

How embarrassing: Poor Morten Clausen feels hurt by the fact that he lives in a cult … If you want to see the perfected art of NKT how to “victimize yourself and blame others”, here is an example:
- 47
  
  Khedrup on September 10, 2014 at 6:23 am
  Reply
  
  Morten has nothing to feel sorry for himself about. He enjoys living in Manhattan, a jetset lifestyle, and the royal treatment received by a guru at large NKT centres.
  BTW, what happened to his brother Bjorn?
  - 48
    
    tenpel on September 10, 2014 at 6:49 am
    Reply
    
    I am somewhat amazed to see that the NKT leadership and NKT followers who proudly think they are the inheritors of the ancient Kadampas behave like stalkers projecting faults onto others instead of seeing their own, missing really the point. Just as a Kadampa saying goes:
    
    Do not look for faults in others, but look for faults in yourself, and purge them like bad blood.
    
    What a hypocrisy. All their accusations against others fall back on them but they are so blind that they don’t see that nor that they don’t see how embarrassing such a behavior is.
    - 49
      
      dharmaanarchist on September 10, 2014 at 9:02 am
      Reply
      
      They have simply never been taught real Kadampa teachings, all they got is a bizarre travesty of it. But then, if you believe the travesty is “the real thing” how are you going to know?
      
      Now if they would look into other tradtions for their kadampa teachings they would be able to see this, but when they are forbidden to do this (which is a trick that ALL cults implement to keep the followers dumb and docile), they CAN`T know it.
- 50
  
  dharmaanarchist on September 10, 2014 at 10:23 am
  Reply
  
  I guess they confuse “loving the enemy” with “looking away and not doing something when harmful acitivities are going on”.
  - 51
    
    tenpel on September 10, 2014 at 10:34 am
    Reply
    
    Yes. Thank you very much for this thought.
    
    Morten and NKT protesters want to be loved for their wrong actions and complain if people are straight forward and reject their actions and strange “logic”. They miss the point that love means you wish others well and happiness but it does not mean to approve others’ wrong actions. The correct discrimination in Buddhism is to wish happiness and well being for Morten and the NKT devotees (including their leadership Kelsang Gyatso, Dekyong/Elliot) but to reject their wrong actions. Morten seems to wrongly expect that love would mean to agree with their wrong actions, false allegations and propaganda. Yes, it seems he is confused about this topic of love.
    - 52
      
      tenpel on September 10, 2014 at 10:36 am
      Reply
      
      BTW the Buddha called Devadatta a “Speichellecker” (lickspittle) but he said he loves him like his own son, Rahula. The Buddha strongly criticized Devadatta and his actions respectively, but he had still genuine love for him.
- 53
  
  laughingdaquini on February 23, 2015 at 4:23 am
  Reply
  
  What is surprising is Morten Clausen allows himself to be interviewed by Len Foley – the renowned snakeoil salesman who also promotes KevinTrudeau in online videos. Kevin Trudeau who was recently jailed for 10 years for fraud. Here’s Len promoting his Kevin, one of his favorite conmen – the other two favorites being David Wolfe and Kelsang Gyatso. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMyiquxBiRk.
  
  Or there’s Len Foley, who gives conference seminars on How to Get Away with Black Hat Marketing – that is marketing that relies on unethical deceptive and manipulative tactics to con people into buying into a false image of a product or company that it creates. That’s why if you log into Len Foley’s company websites like “Longevity Now” you will get a big warning sign come up on your computer – Warning: This is a Scam. Why would anyone in their right mind trust anything such an unethical snakeoil salesman like Len Foley is involved in? http://www.ungagged.com/speaker/Len-Foley
  
  Why would anyone believe what is written on the propaganda websites Len Foley and Co cook up? Just the other day they were blatantly peddling lies with an image of a Tibetan woman brutally beaten by the Shugdenpas themselves, claiming she had been beaten by Dalai Lama supporters. Such liars! And then they have the barefaced hypocrisy to call the Dalai Lama a liar. Looks to me that Shugden worship turns people into lying fraudsters and psychopaths, if they weren’t already.
  - 54
    
    tenpel on February 25, 2015 at 3:36 pm
    Reply
    
    Very interesting, thank you. We have here also a post about him on a celibacy book:
    The Authors of “The Celibate – Sex. Lies. Salvation.” are NKT Teachers
  - 55
    
    tenpel on March 1, 2015 at 9:15 am
    Reply
    
    Len Foley dealing with deer antler blood products:
    
    http://www.longevitywarehouse.com/dragon-herbs-deer-placenta-60-capsules
    
    http://www.longevitywarehouse.com/dragon-herbs-deer-antler-drops-2oz
    
    http://www.longevitywarehouse.com/jing-herbs-deer-antler-essence-2-oz
    
    More:
    
    facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152541852082030&set=pcb.780026198734422&type=1&theater
    
    facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152537806407030&set=pcb.779025065501202&type=1&theater
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmv-tyxBS70
56

Khedrup on September 10, 2014 at 8:57 am
Reply

Usually I come to your page when I am reading the news on my phone or tablet while traveling by train. When I read the angry comments of Jetsun and the like, I find it useful (whilst trying to manage typing a response on a tiny screen) to look up and observe the people in the train. I imagine what the the reation of the “average Joe” would be if I read the comments to them- they would likely find them fundamentalist and angry, maybe even silly. Then I realize, through their current mobilization, though they may harm HHDL’s to a small degree, in the end they will reveal themselves for the type of organization they really are- which is what you mentioned- an organization that takes honest spiritual seekers and turns them into judgemental haters through selling a myopic vision of a very complex issue.
It is indeed very sad and if this website protects one person from wasting years of their life by dedicating to such a depressing vision (which, from the people I have spoken to, has a harmful effect even years after leaving) and spending time and money on a destructive organization, your efforts are well worth it.
Unfortunately for people like Morten, so many years have been wasted that he has to pull stunts like the one with Bob Thurman in order to ensure he can maintain his comfortable position as the RT of a major centre, with all the devotion and perks that entails. He knows the price of not toeing the party line- he saw his friend Lucy booted out with zilch in terms of support, and allowed to return only after kowtowing and agreeing to help run the ISC hate campaign. As for his brother, well, he was never reinstated, neither was Nick Gillespie come to think of it. After dedicating over 25 years to such an organization, what prospects does one have in ordinary society.
I believe Morten’s actions are motivated by fear of losing his privileged position in the NKT organization, just like his brother did.
- 57
  
  tenpel on September 10, 2014 at 9:18 am
  Reply
  
  Thank you. I like your approach you describe in the beginning of the comment. It is so easy to fall into cynicism and polemics …
  
  I think, in general, for those long term NKT leaders (like Morten, Elliot, Khyenrab, Rabten, Dekyong, Kunsang etc) there is no hope to get out of the cult, except being expelled by KG himself. They are by far to entangled and part of the web that catches and weavers over time an NKT devotee just like a spider weavers its victim into its web. However, with respect to the motivation that might drive Morten, this is diffi-cult to say. He might also believe in what he says, and he could think that indeed Bob Thurman is a hypocrite based on improper mental attention (fault finding) and his own projections. You can be driven by a very deluded holier-than-thou attitude that is also the result of the indoctrination an NKT follower will undergo.
  - 58
    
    Joanne on September 10, 2014 at 1:19 pm
    Reply
    
    I had a lot of trouble with the reference Morten kept making to Thurman as an “academic” who should “know better”. With their own record of citing mysterious anonymous sources to back their wild claims– or citing no sources at all– or simply deceiving others in the name of “reporting” they are really out on a limb with that one.
    - 59
      
      Joanne on September 10, 2014 at 1:25 pm
      Reply
      
      And in that regard, Jetsun, if you’re still here: where is your source for this statement:
      
      “That Reting Lama deceived the Tibetan people in identifying a person completely unqualified to be either the temporal or spiritual leader of Tibet;”
      
      If you say your source is the ISC publication “False Dalai Lama: Worst Dictator in Modern History,” then who is the author of that text? And what is the source cited in that text for their wild story about how His Holiness was recognized and how he is really, secretly a Muslim? If you answer “Ocean of Truth Explained,” then who is the author of that text? Do you have a copy of it? (I haven’t located one yet).
      
      How can you malign a teacher of Dharma under such shoddy, inadequate, childish evidence?
      - 60
        
        Joanne on September 10, 2014 at 1:29 pm
        Reply
        
        And one more thing, Jetsun: Are you friends with that scholar called Anonymous? Can he be trusted? Is he a good researcher and Dharma student? Or maybe he’s a she? Have you counted how many times he/she is cited in that ISC publication?
        
        61
        
        Sam Hoff on September 10, 2014 at 5:53 pm
        Reply
        
        I am more convinced than ever, that the so called anonymous scholars of the ISC/WSS is Rabten.
        
        I noticed he has been playing that game since 2002 when he is cited in Jane Ardley’s book.
    - 62
      
      tenpel on September 10, 2014 at 3:16 pm
      Reply
      
      very true 😉
      
      one of their brochures they spread in Hamburg relies totally on an anonymous source in order to establish the idea that it is the wrong Dalai Lama. The other brochure had no source at all. (But even if they would use a source like at Wikipedia, they either cannot discriminate reliable from non reliable sources and they don’t hesitate to misrepresent sources, to state with a quote the opposite of what the author said, to take them out of context to misguide the reader …)
      
      All what they do is an insult to the intellect. Cheap propaganda of fools.
      - 63
        
        Namkhah on September 10, 2014 at 6:10 pm
        Reply
        
        a short exchange with ‘Lineageholder’ on the Tricycle blog today (comments now closed) http://www.tricycle.com/blog/dorje-shugden-deity-or-demon

	tenpel on Karmapa Agrees to Multimillion…
	Stardust on Whitewashing, Dishonesty &…
	tenpel on Whitewashing, Dishonesty &…
	anonymous on Whitewashing, Dishonesty &…
	Alan J.W. on Whitewashing, Dishonesty &…
	tenpel on Karmapa Agrees to Multimillion…
	anonymous on Whitewashing, Dishonesty &…
	Tim on Whitewashing, Dishonesty &…

DALAI LAMA GIVE PATIENCE!

DALAI LAMA STOP ANGER!

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Related