(TibetanReview.net, May10, 2014) – The exile Tibetan administration at Dharamsala, India, on May 8 rejected the allegations of persecution being made by the mostly Western followers of a controversial 17th century Tibetan spirit called Dolgyal, or Dorje Shugden, as entirely untrue and accused them of working in tandem with the Chinese government. In Particular, the administration “strongly” condemned the protests the followers had been holding against Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, during his overseas visits.
The Dalai Lama has advised Tibetans and Buddhist followers that propitiating the spirit will lead to sectarianism and spirit/cult worship, which is fundamentally against the teachings of the Buddha, the administration said in a statement. Nevertheless, it added, the Dalai Lama had made it clear on numerous occasions that it was entirely for the concerned individuals to decide whether to accept or ignore his advice.
However, the statement said, there was not a shred of evidence for the Dolgyal followers’ claims of persecution, pointing out that they continue to go to monasteries, send their children to schools run by or under the exile administration, and travel abroad on travel documents issued by the government of India with endorsement from the exile administration.
The statement also pointed out that the followers’ claims were found to be entirely baseless by Amnesty International in June 1998, while a Delhi High Court had, in 2010, dismissed a case filed by the Delhi-based Dorjee Shugden Devotees’ Charitable and Religious Society against the exile administration and the Dalai Lama.
The statement pointed out that the Indian police had found that the suspects in the murder at Dharamsala in 1997 of a prominent Tibetan Buddhist teacher were directly linked to such groups, including those named as the London-based New Kadampa Tradition, Delhi-based Dorjee Shugden Devotees’ Charitable and Religious Society, and the North American Gelug Buddhist Association.
The statement also said the Indian and US governments had stated that the Dolgyal organisations and their agents posed serious threat to the security of the Dalai Lama.