Western Shugden Society – unlocked

For the sake of neutrality and to promote understanding of this issue, a list of published scholarly papers and academic research about the Dorje Shugden Controversy and the New Kadampa Tradition:

The Dorje Shugden Controversy

• The New Kadampa Tradition and the Continuity of Tibetan Buddhism in Transition (1997) by David Kay, Journal of Contemporary Religion 12:3 (October 1997), 277-293
• The Purificatory Gem and Its Cleansing: A Late Tibetan Polemical Discussion of Apocryphal Texts (1998) by Matthew Kapstein, published in History of Religions, February 1989, Vol. 28, No. 3: 217-244, The University of Chicago
• The Shuk-Den Affair: Origins of a Controversy (1998) by Georges Dreyfus, Professor of Religion at Williams College, published in Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (Vol., 21, no. 2 [Fall 1998]:227-270) – (PDF-File)
• Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West (1998) by Donald S. Lopez, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 188-196
• ‘The Dorje Shugden Controversy‘ (1999) by Chryssides, George D., Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, in “Exploring New Religions“, published by Continuum International Publishing Group, 237-243
• The Tulkus and the Shugden Controversy (2001) by Prof. Dr. Michael von Brück, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, in Charisma and Canon: Essays on the Religious History of the Indian Subcontinent, published by Oxford University Press, 328-349
• This turbulent Priest – Contesting religious rights and the state in the Tibetan Shugden Controversy (2003) by Prof. Dr. Martin A. Mills, Senior Lecturer in the Anthropology of Religion, in Human Rights in Global Perspective: Anthropological Studies of Rights, Claims and Entitlements by Routledge, 54-70
• David N. Kay The Dorje Shugden Controversy (2004) in Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain published by Routledge, 44-52

In 1998 CESNUR suggested:

“for the background of this controversy, a good starting point is the scholarly paper by David Kay, “The New Kadampa Tradition and the Continuity of Tibetan Buddhism in Transition“, Journal of Contemporary Religion 12:3 (October 1997), 277-293. Essential for understanding the controversy is vol. VII, n. 3 (Spring 1998) of Tricycle The Buddhist Review, including a scheme of the principal players on the controversy (p. 59), the article by Stephen Batchelor “Letting Daylight into Magic: The Life and Times of Dorje Shugden” (pp. 60-66) and “Two Sides of the Same God” by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (pp. 67-69), introducing Lopez’s interviews of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (pp. 70-76) and of Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of the Dalai Lama (pp. 77-82). Also recommended is Donald S. Lopez, Jr.’s book “Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West“, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1998 (see pages 188-196 on Dorje Shugden).”

“Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West” by Lopez is reviewed by Tsering Shakya and in 2005 Dreyfus responded in an essay, “Are We Prisoners of Shangri-la? Orientalism, Nationalism, and the Study of Tibet” to it. Dreyfus’ essay “examines the consequences of Said’s critique of orientalism for Tibetan studies, particularly in relation to Lopez’s claim that we are all “prisoners of Shangri-la.”

The most recent (unpublished) but independent research is McCune’s thesis (2007). According to McCune: “Dreyfus’s work [The Shuk-Den Affair: Origins of a Controversy] has been the most thorough. It asks the most insightful questions and employs many diverse means of answering these queries…”. The essay by Dreyfus is used in different academic research and it is also listed in bibliographies of reputable scholars. Prof. Geoffrey Samuel also referred to it in his expert testimony: The Recognition of Incarnate Lamas in Tibetan Buddhism and the Role of the Dalai Lama (PDF) for a court case.

Furthermore there is a short piece by Prof. Paul Williams: A quick note on Dorje Shugden (rDo rje shugs ldan) (1996) and a thesis by Michael Nau (Miami Univserity) ‘Killing for the Dharma: An Analysis of the Shugden Deity and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism’ (2007).

Other scholarly sources covering range of Dorje Shugden Controversy or the nature and function of Dorje Shugden include:

• ‘Himalayan Dialogue : Tibetan Lamas and Gurung Shamans in Nepal’, 1989, by Stan Royal Mumford, pages 125-130, 261-264
• ‘Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies’, 1993, by Geoffrey Samuel, pages 545-548, 550, 605
• ‘Oracles and Demons of Tibet – The Cult and Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities’, 1996, by Rene De Nebesky-Wojkowitz, pages 4, 20, 134-144, 318, 343, 414, 418, 421, 432-439, 442, 445, 528
• The Bhutan Abbot of Ngor: Stubborn Idealist with a Grudge against Shugs-ldan by David Jackson, published by Amnye Machen Institute, 2001 in Lungta #14, Review by Mark Turin (excerpt see Tricycle Blog comment # 891)

Pico Iyer discusses the Shugden issue and some details in his book The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (pages 135-139). Jeff Watt from the Sakya Resource Guide explains the point of view of the Sakya Tradition: Do Sakyas rely upon Dorje Shugden?

New Kadampa Tradition

• Kay, David N. (1997) ‘The New Kadampa Tradition and the Continuity of Tibetan Buddhism in Transition‘, Journal of Contemporary Religion 12(3) (October 1997), 277-293
• Waterhouse, Helen (1997) “Buddhism in Bath: Adaptation and Authority“, Leeds: The Community Religions Project, University of Leeds (Reviewed by David Kay)
• Chryssides, George D. (1999) ‘The New Kadampa Tradition‘ in “Exploring New Religions“, Continuum International Publishing Group, 233-243
• Waterhouse, Helen (2001). ‘Representing western Buddhism: a United Kingdom focus‘ in: From Sacred Text to Internet. Religion today: tradition, modernity and change series. Ashgate Publishing Company, pp. 117–160.
• Cozort, Daniel (2003) ‘The making of the Western Lama’ in Buddhism in the Modern World; Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition, Steven Heine and Charles S. Prebish (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press: 221-248
• David N. Kay (2004) ‘The New Kadampa Tradition‘ in Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain, London: Routledge, 35-115
• David N. Kay (2004) ‘Geshe Kelsang Gyatso‘ in Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain, London: Routledge, 57-61
• Waterhouse, Helen (2005) ‘New Kadampa Tradition’ in the Encyclopaedia of New Religious Movement, P. B. Clarke ed., London: Routledge
• Bluck, Robert (2006) ‘New Kadampa Tradition’ in British Buddhism London: Routledge, 129-151

David N. Kay’s research “Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation – The New Kadampa Tradition (NKT), and the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (OBC)” (2004) was reviewed by

• Inken Prohl (PhD), Professor at the University of Heidelberg
  
• Georg Feuerstein (PhD)

There is a Book Synopsis and Book Extract available.

In 1995 Prof. Geoffrey Samuel published Tibetan Buddhism as a World Religion: Global Networking and its Consequences curtly discussing NKT’s split from FPMT (see The Problem of Stability).

The Guardian article of Bunting, Madeleine (1996), Shadow boxing on the path to Nirvana, is also used in Bluck’s, Kay’s, Lopez’s and other’s academic research.

In 2006 Routledge Curzon published Prof. Robert Bluck’s “British Buddhism” which includes some pages about the NKT. In general his interviewees denied or rejected the criticism NKT is faced with. Bluck suggested a number of different angles from which the NKT can be viewed:

• The NKT could be viewed from outside as a movement aiming at what Titmus (1999: 91) called ‘conversion and empire-building’, with a dogmatic and superior viewpoint, ‘narrow-minded claims to historical significance’, intolerance of other traditions and ’strong identification with the leader or a book’.
• A more scholarly external view might emphasize instead the enthusiasm, firm beliefs, urgent message and ‘charismatic leadership’ which Barker (1999: 20) saw as characteristic of many NRMs.
• An alternative picture from inside the movement would include a wish to bring inner peace to more people, based on a pure lineage of teaching and practice, with faith and confidence in an authentic spiritual guide.

About the possible ways how to picture the NKT, Bluck said: “Our choice of interpretation may depend on how we engage with the other viewpoint, as well as the evidence itself, and until recently the NKT’s supporters and critics have largely ignored each other.”

Other neutral sources

• Schisms, Murder, and Hungry Ghosts in Shangra-La: Internal Conflicts in Tibetan Buddhist sect (1999) by Mike Wilson
• Official Statement of Amnesty International (AI) (1998)
  
• It’s Dalai Lama vs Shugden – Leave It to Tibetans (1996) by Deepak Thapa
• Why the Dalai Lama Rejects Shugden (1996) by Gareth Sparham, a former Buddhist monk and now Lecturer at the University of Michigan
• The Battle of Buddhists by Andrew Brown, The Independent, London (1996)
  
• A Critical Newsweek Article and two open letters from Geshe Kelsang Gyatso from the CESNUR homepage
• Two Articles presenting both views (see left and right of page) (1998)

Other Sources

As researcher Mills puts it: “The Shugden dispute represents a battleground of views on what is meant by religious and cultural freedom.” The point of view of the Dalai Lama can be found here and the point of view of Shugden followers can be found here. There is also an Essay “Exiled from Exile” by Bernis, however it is neither used in any academic research nor has it been published by an academic publisher or newspaper, but can be found at the website of the Dorje Shugden Devotee’s Charitable & Religious Society, Majnu Ka Tilla, Delhi 54, India.

UK journalist Isabel Hilton wrote in The Search for the Panchen Lama (p. 297-298):

“It was not only inside Tibet, however, that the Dalai Lama’s religious status came under attack. He also had a number of serious difficulties in the exile world, which began, for the first time, to threaten to tarnish his image.

As far as the outside world was concerned, the trouble came to light through the activities of a Gelugpa dissident, Geshe Kelsang, who had left India to live in the UK. After a controversial passage he gained control of a spiritual centre in Cumbria in the north of England, from where he launched a campaign that appeared to be aimed at destroying the reputation and authority of the Dalai Lama.

The substance of the campaign was the right to worship a particular deity called Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden was a popular deity for many Tibetans. He had the reputation of being able to impart enormous good fortune to his devotees but also of being extremely vindictive and jealous. One of the Dalai Lama’s tutors had encouraged the Dalai Lama himself to worship Dorje Shugden, but the Dalai Lama had decided, as a result of several dreams, that the deity was harmful. He gave up the practice himself, then banned it in all institutions that were connected with his person. This included Gelugpa monasteries and, of course, the government in exile.

There was some resistance to this edict in the monasteries in India, but the most visible and virulent campaign against it was conducted in exile on the direction of the Cumbrian centre. From Cumbria came a stream of anti-Dalai Lama invective which accused him of violating the religious freedoms of Dorje Shugden followers. It was a damaging charge against the man who had spent forty years pleading his country and his religion’s case.

The origins of the Dorje Shugden dispute lie deep in Gelugpa politics and the controversy is too complicated to explore here. But the significance of it pertains to sectarianism in Tibetan Buddhism: the defenders of Dorje Shugden are characterized as Gelugpa fundamentalists who regard the Dalai Lama’s association with other Buddhist sects – an association greatly strengthened in exile – as a betrayal of the Gelugpa. By insisting on worshipping the deity, they attack the Dalai Lama’s authority as a true Gelugpa leader.

It was a controversy that the Chinese, of course, were happy to publicize inside Tibet, and although no direct connection between the Dorje Shugden campaign and the Chinese government can be proved, there is no doubt that it served Beijing’s purposes well. In February 1997, for instance, the magazine China’s Tibet published a two-page article in which the Dalai Lama was ridiculed as a ‘self-styled believer in religious freedom’ and attached for his rejection of what the author described as an ‘innocent guardian of Tibetan Buddhist doctrine’. The Dalai Lama had, the article claimed, ’declared a virtual war against a holy spirit of the Gelug sect’.”

last update: April 13, 2009