The Dorje Shugden Controversy
A Wrathful, Evil Spirit or a Fully Enlightened Buddha?
In his wrathful form he could be the terrifying star of a Japanese horror film. His three eyes are burning with anger. His fangs protrude from a twisted smile. In his right hand he holds a razor-sharp sword—perhaps ready to slice up anyone or anything that approaches. Equally terrifying is the snow lion he rides. A ring of fire (or is it boiling blood?) surrounds the lion and the angry three-eyed monster. Not exactly the stuff sweet dreams are made of.
It is perhaps easy to understand why, based on appearance, Dorje Shugden has been depicted as a bad guy. He has been called a “hungry ghost,” or evil worldly spirit and the Dalai Lama, political and spiritual leader of Tibet in exile, has said Shugden is a “Spirit of dark forces,” and that he is harming Tibetan independence and his life.
Shugden has even been blamed for brutal murders of three monks that were committed in India’s Dharmsala in February 1997.
Dharma Protector
But there are people all over the world who have devoted a lifetime to the practice of Dorje Shugden, who swear he is an important Dharma Protector, a manifestation of Je Tsongkhapa, and an emanation of the peaceful Wisdom Buddha, Manjushri. In other words, Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419; founder of the Ganden Oral Lineage) and Dorje Shugden are different aspects of one person who share the same mental continuum—if that makes things any clearer.
In the book Heart Jewel by Buddhist teacher Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, it is written that the snow lion Shugden is riding is a “symbol of the four fearlessnesses of a Buddha… The single eye in the center of his forehead symbolizes his omniscient wisdom, which perceives directly and simultaneously all past, present, and future phenomena…His wrathful expression indicates that he destroys ignorance, the real enemy of all living beings, by blessing them with great wisdom; and also that he destroys the obstacles of pure Dharma practitioners.”
This seems to be a slightly different take on the image of Shugden, but one many Buddhists have made their own, particularly Gyatso’s students who fall under the New Kadampa Tradition, a tradition that has been rapidly growing in the West since 1991.
Shugden practitioners say it is insulting to be accused of worshipping an evil spirit because they, like other Buddhists, also go for refuge to the three Jewels— Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. They maintain that the teachings they follow are the of a pure lineage passed down the line from Buddha Shakyamuni.
Though Shugden practice has been controversial for decades because of the influence of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, this January marked a turning point and things seem only to be getting worse for those who practice the “prayer of Dorje Shugden."
The Western Shugden Society alleges that the Dalai Lama has forced a ban on Shugden practitioners in Tibet. It says the ban comes in the form of a signed oath to abandon Shugden practice as well as everyone they know who practices it. If what the WSS says it has witnessed is true, it seems religious "cleansing" is taking place in the East. Cleansing that will inevitably reach Shugden practitioners in the West.
Latest Articles