XPost: alt.philosophy.zen, alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan, soc.culture.china   
   XPost: talk.religion.buddhism   
   From: peter.terpstra7@gmail.com   
      
   The following is a short paper by Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Hartmann. Hartmann was   
   Professor of Tibetan Studies at the Humboldt   
   University in Berlin from 1995 to 1999. Since 1999 he has been Professor of   
   Indology and Tibetology at the Ludwig-Maximilians   
   University of Munich. His main focus is the study and research of the Buddhist   
   literature of India. During the first visit of the   
   Dalai Lama to Europe in 1973, he was involved in the organization of the   
   program in Munich.   
      
   In 1997, Professor Hartmann’s advice was sought by journalists producing a   
   somewhat distorted and sensationalist piece on the   
   Dolgyal issue for German TV. Without presenting all the facts, the journalists   
   created a rather one-sided presentation, one   
   which, as is the case with much current journalism regarding the Shugden   
   issue, failed to investigate adequately the history   
   and nature of the sectarian conflict. The programmers also failed to recognize   
   that they had allowed themselves, albeit   
   unwittingly, to be used as a mouthpiece for the dissemination of Chinese anti   
   Dalai Lama propaganda.   
      
   As a result, Chinese-backed anti-Dalai Lama campaigners have repeatedly   
   utilised the original program as evidence to support   
   their cause, in particular, the media-distorted opinions of Professor   
   Hartmann. Here, he presents his current understanding of   
   the Dolgyal issue and its implications, while at the same time distancing   
   himself from the dishonest misrepresentations of his   
   views that occurred in both the original program and in subsequent pro Shugden   
   propaganda.   
      
      
      
   For several centuries, Tibetan Buddhism has been repeatedly shaken by   
   confrontation, at the center of which stands a so-called   
   protector deity, called Dorje Shugden. A few decades ago, this conflict again   
   surfaced in the exile community in India, but it   
   remained for the time largely an internal Tibetan matter, solely because the   
   relevant writings of the pro and con factions were   
   published exclusively in Tibetan.   
      
   Since 1997, however, this conflict has increasingly attracted worldwide   
   attention, and it has now drawn in Western followers as   
   well. Normally, a dispute about the cult practice of a protector deity in   
   Tibetan Buddhism would remain alien and puzzling,   
   however the Shugden issue has had the ability to polarize groups to an   
   excessive degree. In the West, this dispute feeds on the   
   fact that the followers of Dorje Shugden have found their declared enemy in   
   the personage of the Dalai Lama. This enables   
   them to generate media attention and effective public appeal. If a spiritual   
   figure of such prominence as the Dalai Lama is   
   accused of religious suppression, one can be sure of public interest.   
      
   In addition, the sensitive term “religious freedom” is moved to the   
   forefront of this dispute; it is connected with the issue of   
   Human Rights with which one can rouse heightened emotion in the West. As such,   
   there are virtually no more visits of the   
   Dalai Lama to the West at which a larger or smaller group of Western Shugden   
   followers does not demonstrate with chants,   
   posters and leaflets against the Dalai Lama and calls for religious freedom   
   for the members of their cult. This was observed   
   during the recent visit to Frankfurt, and the International Shugden Community   
   will certainly be present again during the next   
   visit to the West. Therefore, it is once more time to bring to mind  the   
   conflict and, above all, it’s background.   
      
   A Protector Deity Can Be a Troublemaker   
      
   Among the many features of Buddhism in the Tibetan tradition are the so-called   
   ‘protector’ deities. Such deities are not a   
   Tibetan accretion, but were already known in Indian Buddhism. However, it was   
   only in Tibet that they gained a special   
   importance, which can at least partially be explained by its fusion with   
   elements of pre-Buddhist religious ideas. According to   
   this view, the world is populated by all sorts of supernatural beings,   
   supernatural beings which are very important in Tibet.   
      
   Such beings are usually attributed with an ambivalent nature: they can be   
   sympathetic to people, but they can also act in a   
   hostile manner towards them. There are accounts of how even the Buddha himself   
   converted such beings and placed them as   
   protectors in the service of his teaching and his followers. Tibetan Buddhism   
   also follows this model. Therefore, protector   
   deities play an important role in the religious world view and religious   
   practice of Tibetan Buddhists.   
      
   One such protector deity is Dorje Shugden (rDo-rje shugs-ldan) or Dolgyal   
   (Dol-rgyal, pronounced Dölgyel).According to my   
   impression, When the conflict over the cult practice of this protector deity   
   again flared up in the exile community in India,  it   
   was initially deliberately concealed from Western followers. I remember how,   
   in the 70s I was given an off-the-record, very   
   cautious, whispered hint about it, with the clear expectation that I would   
   keep this information to myself.   
      
   Wider publicity concerning this problem in Germany came to the fore in a   
   report on Tibet by Panorama-Magazine of ARD (First   
   National TV Channel) on November 20, 1997. The target of the program was the   
   Dalai Lama. He was attacked for his stance   
   in the conflict over Dorje Shugden. To illuminate the “contradictory”   
   nature of his personage, he was first introduced as the   
   world’s most highly respected Nobel Peace Laureate. In light of the Shugden   
   conflict, it was then intended to demonstrate that   
   an entirely different person lay behind this façade, namely one who, together   
   with the Tibetan government-in-exile,   
   uncompromisingly suppressed the religious freedom of his countrymen. In this   
   context, a mysterious murder case that had   
   shaken the exile community in the beginning of 1997 was cited. At that time,   
   Geshe Losang Gyatso, a resident of Dharamsala   
   and a close confidante and supporter of the Dalai Lama, and his two students   
   had been murdered. (Editor’s note: See the   
   detailed study of this triple murder, and the arrest warrants issued by   
   Interpol at request of Indian police for two Shugden   
   monks who escaped back into China after the murder, The Dalai Lama and the   
   King Demon, by R. Bultrini)   
      
      
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