Ban on worship of Dolgyal spirit to continue, says Dalai Lama’s office

The Dalai Lama’s office has issued a clarification that it has not changed its position regarding the propagation of the Dolgyal spirit. It has stated that Dolgyal’s followers were spreading misinformation that the Dalai Lama had reversed his guidance regarding the worship of the Dolgyal spirit. This is an effort to sow discord among Tibetans. The Chinese government had recently used it to exploit the issue and create divisions within the Tibetan community, the clarification stated.

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Confusion arose from a brief comment made during online teachings to the Tibetan youth on June 2, 2021, when the Dalai Lama said that Dolgyal’s followers “should be the object of compassion and love”. This statement was misconstrued by some as a retraction of his previous position, the clarification stated.

The statement clarified that the Dalai Lama was emphasising the importance of cultivating compassion towards all beings while still maintaining his stance against the practice itself. He renounced the Dolgyal practice in 1975 after discovering what he described as historical, social and religious problems associated with it. He has consistently discouraged followers from propitiating the spirit based on three main concerns — the risk of Tibetan Buddhism degenerating into spirit worship, obstacles to genuine non-sectarianism and the practice being particularly inappropriate in relation to the well-being of the Tibetan society.

The enmity between the Dalai Lama and the Shugden followers started in 1975 when the former issued diktats to Tibetans against offering prayers to Shugden.

The trouble with the followers of the sect with the present Dalai Lama began in 1975 when a yellow book was published. In the book, a message was given to Ge-Luk Lamas that they should not practise the teachings of other schools or otherwise they would incur Shukden’s wrath and die prematurely. After the publication of the book that was perceived as a direct challenge to the authority of the Dalai Lama, he banned the Shugden practices.

One million followers

• The worshipers of the Dolgyal spirit in the Tibetan community are known as Shugden’s followers.
• The Tibetan government-in-exile alleges that Shugden followers are acting at the behest of China.
• Dorje Shugden is considered to be a wrathful spirit of a deceased Lama, now working as a worldly protector.
• Shugden is believed to be a spirit of murdered Gelukpa Lama, who had opposed the 5th Dalai Lama both in debate and politics.
• There are about one million Dorje Shugden practitioners worldwide
• They have filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court against the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile alleging that they were not allowing them to follow their religious beliefs.