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Vested interest group up in arms against the Dalai Lama (DIIR)
Ian S. Bruce has done a hatchet job (Re: The Scotsman, March 10, 1999), and
jumped on the bandwagon of those who deliberately cast aspersions on a
respected international figure to sell their stories. Drawing on rumours
spread by disgruntled elements, he has tried to tell the world that His
Holiness the Dalai Lama, and by implication the cause of Tibet, may not,
after all, be worth supporting. What's more, he has not even bothered to
present the views of both sides.
His story is highly prejudicial. He says that "native Tibetans patiently
wait for their leader to return and free them." First of all, it is wrong
to call us "native". We are a nation. The Tibetans in Tibet do not merely
"patiently wait" for the Dalai Lama to free them. These brave people have
staged over a hundred independence demonstrations during the past decade.
Thousands of Tibetans have gone to jail and many suffered torture and
death. Political prisoners still make the bulk of prison population in
Tibet. (Ask Amnesty International.) No patient waiting this. Of course, the
Dalai Lama is the inspiration and hope of all Tibetans.
=46urthermore, any discerning visitor to Lhasa, for example, would tell him
that the place is teeming with plainclothes Chinese informers and police.
What is the reason for this if the Tibetans are merely waiting patiently?
=46ar from this, many of them show signs of desperation and frustration. The=
y
are restless and itching for violence. In fact, there were a number of bomb
blasts in Tibet. It is only the restraining influence of the Dalai Lama
that has kept the Tibetan struggle in Tibet from turning violent.
The only Tibetan Ian Bruce quotes to show the "cracks in the Dalai Lama's
impeccable image" is the man, who arrogates to himself the title of "Lama
Kundeling". Despite having no recognition from any well-known spiritual
authority, he insists on calling himself Lama Kundeling. The amused Tibetan
people thought that the more fitting title for him is "Nga Lama" (I am
Lama). Today, he is best known as "Nga Lama".
Nga Lama has reasons to dislike the Dalai Lama. Years ago, he requested His
Holiness the Dalai Lama to accord him recognition as the reincarnation of
Kundeling Tagsha Jetung Rinpoche. His Holiness the Dalai Lama could not
grant his wish arbitrarily against the time-honoured traditional procedure
of recognising re-incarnated lamas. This irked Nga Lama, who has ever since
nursed a grudge against His Holiness.
Later, when His Holiness spoke against mixing the cult of Shugden with the
rich and deep practice of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism, some
staunch advocates of the cult were angered. This was a god-sent for Nga
Lama. He joined forces with them and launched a vitriolic smear campaign
against His Holiness
The Chinese government quickly seized this opportunity to undermine the
Tibetan people's freedom struggle. An unholy alliance was forged between
the Tibetan superstition and an atheist ideology. China and the Shugden
supporters started supporting each other, both openly and clandestinely. In
an interview given to an Indian daily, Star of Mysore, Nga Lama supported
the Chinese government's action to foist the fake Panchen Lama on the
Tibetan people. The irony of an atheist regime recognising the
reincarnation of a Tibetan spiritual figure seems to have been lost on him.
He went on to support the Chinese claim of sovereignty on Tibet and by
alleging that many Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas were appointed through the
"Golden Urn Lottery System =8A decreed by the Chinese emperor", the exact
words used by the Chinese government.
Nga Lama's claim of having received death threats is brazen and outrageous,
to say the least. It is his own outfit of Shugden supporters who beat up a
number of critics, burned the barns of Jangtse college in Mungod, South
India, and even murdered the director of the Institute of Buddhist
Dialectics and his two students, just about 100 paces from the Dalai Lama's
residence in Dharamsala. Six young men, who carried out the murders, were
later identified and their connection was traced to the Shugden society in
Delhi. This is the finding of the Indian police. The Indian police also
discovered that all the murderers had all fled to Tibet. The Chinese
government protects them now.
This, then, is the source quoted by Ian Bruce to discredit His Holiness the
Dalai Lama. Helmut Gassner and Ursula Bernis, the two westerners quoted by
him, are also supporters of the Shugden cult. They have vested interests
and can by no means be called objective observers. Ian Bruce is not the
only person to whom these same people have gone to sell their stories. They
have lobbied a number of journals, of which The Guardian and The
Independent of London, to name just two, decided to conduct their own
research instead of publishing the read-made story fed to them. Their
findings, as published in the 6-July-1996 issue of The Guardian and the
15-July-1996 issue of The Independent did not support the Shugden
supporters' claim. Instead, the two dailies found the seedy nature of the
Shugden outfit. The Amnesty International, London, also published a
statement in June 1998 and declared that it had not found any evidence of
human rights abuse, as claimed by the Shugden activists.
If Ian Bruce had not been in such a hurry to sell a sensational story, he
would have found the real facts as did the hard-working and serious
journalists. Some of the facts he got wrong are so plain that they can be
obtained with the least bit of effort. Every Tibetan and foreigners having
contact with Tibetans know that the Dalai Lama nominates only three members
to the Tibetan parliament in exile. 43 members are elected directly by the
Tibetan people in exile. As for the "two faces" of the Dalai Lama, I would
only like to point out that all his statements to the Tibetan people are
well-documented, some in English, but most of them in Tibetan. Compare them
to what His Holiness says in the West. The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan
community live in India, an open democratic country and with free press.
Anyone can come that see the facts for themselves.
=46inally, naming some international star supporters of Tibet, Ian Bruce say=
s
if 'these hipsters =8A had heard some of the whispers =8A they might have
considered moving on to next year's fad". I must tell Ian Bruce that they
have heard more than just whispers. They have had real, solid facts. They
just didn't spend a day to make snap judgement.
Secretary
Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan
Administration
Dharamsala, India
Articles in this Issue:
Other articles this month -
WTN Index -
Mail the WTN-Editors
World Tibet Network NewsThursday, September 2, 1999 |
1. Vested interest group up in arms against the Dalai Lama (DIIR)
Ian S. Bruce has done a hatchet job (Re: The Scotsman, March 10, 1999), and
jumped on the bandwagon of those who deliberately cast aspersions on a
respected international figure to sell their stories. Drawing on rumours
spread by disgruntled elements, he has tried to tell the world that His
Holiness the Dalai Lama, and by implication the cause of Tibet, may not,
after all, be worth supporting. What's more, he has not even bothered to
present the views of both sides.
His story is highly prejudicial. He says that "native Tibetans patiently
wait for their leader to return and free them." First of all, it is wrong
to call us "native". We are a nation. The Tibetans in Tibet do not merely
"patiently wait" for the Dalai Lama to free them. These brave people have
staged over a hundred independence demonstrations during the past decade.
Thousands of Tibetans have gone to jail and many suffered torture and
death. Political prisoners still make the bulk of prison population in
Tibet. (Ask Amnesty International.) No patient waiting this. Of course, the
Dalai Lama is the inspiration and hope of all Tibetans.
=46urthermore, any discerning visitor to Lhasa, for example, would tell him
that the place is teeming with plainclothes Chinese informers and police.
What is the reason for this if the Tibetans are merely waiting patiently?
=46ar from this, many of them show signs of desperation and frustration. The=
y
are restless and itching for violence. In fact, there were a number of bomb
blasts in Tibet. It is only the restraining influence of the Dalai Lama
that has kept the Tibetan struggle in Tibet from turning violent.
The only Tibetan Ian Bruce quotes to show the "cracks in the Dalai Lama's
impeccable image" is the man, who arrogates to himself the title of "Lama
Kundeling". Despite having no recognition from any well-known spiritual
authority, he insists on calling himself Lama Kundeling. The amused Tibetan
people thought that the more fitting title for him is "Nga Lama" (I am
Lama). Today, he is best known as "Nga Lama".
Nga Lama has reasons to dislike the Dalai Lama. Years ago, he requested His
Holiness the Dalai Lama to accord him recognition as the reincarnation of
Kundeling Tagsha Jetung Rinpoche. His Holiness the Dalai Lama could not
grant his wish arbitrarily against the time-honoured traditional procedure
of recognising re-incarnated lamas. This irked Nga Lama, who has ever since
nursed a grudge against His Holiness.
Later, when His Holiness spoke against mixing the cult of Shugden with the
rich and deep practice of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism, some
staunch advocates of the cult were angered. This was a god-sent for Nga
Lama. He joined forces with them and launched a vitriolic smear campaign
against His Holiness
The Chinese government quickly seized this opportunity to undermine the
Tibetan people's freedom struggle. An unholy alliance was forged between
the Tibetan superstition and an atheist ideology. China and the Shugden
supporters started supporting each other, both openly and clandestinely. In
an interview given to an Indian daily, Star of Mysore, Nga Lama supported
the Chinese government's action to foist the fake Panchen Lama on the
Tibetan people. The irony of an atheist regime recognising the
reincarnation of a Tibetan spiritual figure seems to have been lost on him.
He went on to support the Chinese claim of sovereignty on Tibet and by
alleging that many Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas were appointed through the
"Golden Urn Lottery System =8A decreed by the Chinese emperor", the exact
words used by the Chinese government.
Nga Lama's claim of having received death threats is brazen and outrageous,
to say the least. It is his own outfit of Shugden supporters who beat up a
number of critics, burned the barns of Jangtse college in Mungod, South
India, and even murdered the director of the Institute of Buddhist
Dialectics and his two students, just about 100 paces from the Dalai Lama's
residence in Dharamsala. Six young men, who carried out the murders, were
later identified and their connection was traced to the Shugden society in
Delhi. This is the finding of the Indian police. The Indian police also
discovered that all the murderers had all fled to Tibet. The Chinese
government protects them now.
This, then, is the source quoted by Ian Bruce to discredit His Holiness the
Dalai Lama. Helmut Gassner and Ursula Bernis, the two westerners quoted by
him, are also supporters of the Shugden cult. They have vested interests
and can by no means be called objective observers. Ian Bruce is not the
only person to whom these same people have gone to sell their stories. They
have lobbied a number of journals, of which The Guardian and The
Independent of London, to name just two, decided to conduct their own
research instead of publishing the read-made story fed to them. Their
findings, as published in the 6-July-1996 issue of The Guardian and the
15-July-1996 issue of The Independent did not support the Shugden
supporters' claim. Instead, the two dailies found the seedy nature of the
Shugden outfit. The Amnesty International, London, also published a
statement in June 1998 and declared that it had not found any evidence of
human rights abuse, as claimed by the Shugden activists.
If Ian Bruce had not been in such a hurry to sell a sensational story, he
would have found the real facts as did the hard-working and serious
journalists. Some of the facts he got wrong are so plain that they can be
obtained with the least bit of effort. Every Tibetan and foreigners having
contact with Tibetans know that the Dalai Lama nominates only three members
to the Tibetan parliament in exile. 43 members are elected directly by the
Tibetan people in exile. As for the "two faces" of the Dalai Lama, I would
only like to point out that all his statements to the Tibetan people are
well-documented, some in English, but most of them in Tibetan. Compare them
to what His Holiness says in the West. The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan
community live in India, an open democratic country and with free press.
Anyone can come that see the facts for themselves.
=46inally, naming some international star supporters of Tibet, Ian Bruce say=
s
if 'these hipsters =8A had heard some of the whispers =8A they might have
considered moving on to next year's fad". I must tell Ian Bruce that they
have heard more than just whispers. They have had real, solid facts. They
just didn't spend a day to make snap judgement.
Secretary
Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan
Administration
Dharamsala, India
Articles in this Issue:
- Vested interest group up in arms against the Dalai Lama (DIIR)
- Dark side of the Dalai Lama (SM)
- Meston back in Hub after China ordeal (BG)
- Tibetan scholar, 29, is bound for Boston (BG)
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T: (514) 487-0665 F: (514) 487-7825 ctcoffice@tibet.ca
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