Those looking for enlightenment Saturday from the Dalai Lama at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena first had to maneuver past 400 monks and nuns protesting a 40-year-old arcane decree by the Tibetan-leader-in-exile that they said violates their religious freedom.
The monks and nuns of the Western Shugden Society weren't hard to miss. Dressed in gold and maroon robes and most of them with shaved heads, the protesters held up signs and chanted -- in Tibetan -- "Dalai Lama! Give religious freedom." And "Dalai Lama! Stop lying."
The beef between the society and the Buddhist leader centers on the worship of the deity Dorje Shugden and specifically a prayer of peace and love Buddhists have used for 400 years.
Kelsang Pema, a society spokeswoman whose given name in her native England is Helen Gladwell, said the Dalai Lama "outlawed the prayer back in the 1970s because he claimed the thousands of Shugden followers saying the prayer did physical and spiritual harm to him." More...
See also: Western Shugden members protest during Dalai Lama's speech in Germany...
And this: The Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden...
And this: The Dark Side of the Dalai Lama...
To find out more about this sad story, check out www.WisdomBuddhaDorjeShugden.org
ReplyDeleteI was there at the demonstrations. They were very peaceful but also very passionate and attended by many Tibetans, lay and ordained.