14/06/2025 2

Definitive Proof of the Ban and Discrimination against Dorje Shugden

Reacting to a series of peaceful demonstrations staged by Western and Tibetan Dorje Shugden practitioners calling for His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to lift the ban on Dorje Shugden’s practice and give religious freedom, the Dalai Lama said:

The point I want to make here is that I haven’t banned the practice they are talking about. My duty is to make the situation clear, no more than that. Whether other people pay attention is up to them. I wave to them when I see them, and sometimes they wave back.

~ H.H. THE DALAI LAMA, Dharamshala, 25 August 2014

Source: http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=35226&article=Dalai+Lama+talks+about+secular+ethics+in+Hamburg&t=1&c=1

And, when questioned by Tibetan school children on what they perceived to be lies and discrimination against Dorje Shugden practitioners, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay said:

…they are accusing us for not giving religious freedom and committing discrimination … So, as I said earlier, politically, Tibetan association has never discriminated them, and besides, they have those ID cards … they live in Tibetan settlement camps, treat in settlement hospitals and attend schools; with RC, they travel around India, and with IC, they travel abroad. These are all supported by CTA, otherwise there is no way of achieving it. If we really want to discriminate then we have capacity or power to remove those rights but we have not done that.
~ SIKYONG LOBSANG SANGAY, Upper TCV School Dharamshala, 5 June 2014

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYXVNFhvOVk

The Dalai Lama has often spoken against the practice of Dorje Shugden on many public occasions. In the past, he has cited various reasons in support of his ban on Dorje Shugden, from saying that this practice shortens his life, that it encourages sectarianism, to linking the practice with the failure of the Tibetan administration to win independence for Tibet.

The Dalai Lama brings up the topic of Dorje Shugden at all available opportunities – during his teachings and empowerments, while making official visits to various Tibetan monasteries, even in meetings of the Tibetan Government in Exile. More often than not, any attempt to logically examine the topic of Dorje Shugden degenerates into cheap condemnation of the Buddhist deity and its followers; exhortations to enforce the ban on his practice follow as a matter of course.

In a twist of events, the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration now say that there is no ban at all on Dorje Shugden’s practice, while at the same time, insidiously claiming that Dorje Shugden practitioners are being funded by China, thus making them the de facto enemy of the Tibetan community.

To better elucidate the truth, DorjeShugden.com has compiled a never-seen-before collection of official letters, documents, threats, and other forms of evidence that (despite the best efforts of the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration to deny its existence) proves that the ban on Dorje Shugden’s practice does exist, was enforced, and that Dorje Shugden practitioners are discriminated against and segregated as a result.

Browse through the collection of documents to see with your own eyes how the ban is affecting the lives of Dorje Shugden practitioners, especially those living in Tibetan communities. From schools to hospitals, from monasteries to convenience stores, each document serve as a constant reminder to the Tibetan exile community to toe the official party line against Dorje Shugden and his followers. Many are coerced into giving up Dorje Shugden’s practice on pain of expulsion from their homes and communities, others are forced to resign from their jobs for sticking with their faith, and yet others are threatened with violence, loss of reputation, death threats and the like.

Basic needs such as identity cards, medical care, and travel documents are denied to Dorje Shugden practitioners by the Tibetan government, its departments, officials, and cronies. No matter how the Central Tibetan Administration tries to justify and explain, this is nothing but a clear abuse of human rights and loss of religious freedom. Yet when Tibetan and Western Shugden practitioners take to the streets in desperation to peacefully protest against the Dalai Lama (because all requests for dialogue have been denied), they are crucified by the Tibetan administration and the media for daring to defy a holy being who is supposedly none other than the Saint of Compassion incarnate.

This information has been compiled to help speak for the downtrodden Dorje Shugden practitioners whose voices are not heard and who cannot fend for themselves in fear of retribution from the community at large.

We at dorjeshugden.com appeal to you, the reader, to look at these documents and have a glimpse of what it feels like to live as a Dorje Shugden practitioner amongst Tibetans who consider you to be a demon worshipper of the worst kind. With a clear mind, unclouded and unfettered by anything else you may have read in the past, judge for yourself whether Dorje Shugden’s practice is banned and his followers discriminated against, or whether, as the Dalai Lama says, there is no ban, and everything is just peachy.

And if you find that these documents are proof of a gross betrayal of a country’s citizens by its supposedly-democratic government and Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader, please share this with others. Please create awareness of one of the most overlooked crimes of human rights abuse in modern times. And most of all, please appeal to the Dalai Lama and his government to lift the ban on Dorje Shugden’s practice for good and give the Tibetans true freedom of religion at last.