The Dalai Lama and religious freedom

The Dalai Lama and Religious Freedom

The Dalai Lama is renowned as great advocate of, and activist for, putting human rights into practice, especially religious freedom. After its introduction from India in the 8th century, Buddhism was the predominant religion in old Tibet, but the pre-Buddhist Bön was widely practiced and there were also some Tibetan Moslims. Usually these groups co-existed peacefully with one another.

In exile, the Dalai Lama has worked to promote mutual respect between religions, not only among the different Tibetan traditions, but also among the other religions in the world. He has initiated and attended many inter-religious gatherings. He always emphasizes that the core message of all religions is the same: compassion, love and forgiveness. The Dalai Lama has close relationships with rabbis, priests, ministers and Hindu yogis, as well as masters from Buddhist countries such as Japan, Mongolia, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam. In his book ‘The Good Heart’, the Dalai Lama gives a series of commentaries on the New Testament, which shows a surprisingly deep understanding of the human values that are present in all religious traditions. “My religion is kindness” is something that the Dalai Lama often says.

In his Buddhist lessons, the Dalai Lama often warns Westerners not to embrace a religion like Buddhism too quickly. It is better to be faithful to the religious culture in which one has grown up. Of course, Westerners are free to study and practice Buddhism, but only after a thorough study and initiation should one convert to Buddhism. There is no pressure to make converts in Buddhism.

A few decennia ago, a Tibetan Buddhist group came out with a lot of criticism of the Dalai Lama. This group, seen as a sect by other Tibetan Buddhists, are devotees of ‘spirit’ named Shugden, who is said to be the incarnation of a Tibetan priest from the 17th century. Just as the previous Fifth Dalai Lama had done, the present Fourteenth Dalai Lama views Shugden as a ‘wordly’ spirit, something that Buddhists should not worship. A Buddhist works towards liberation from the cycle of birth and death, towards a state of consciousness beyond physical and mental suffering: the state of Buddhahood. A worldly spirit has not achieved this state of consciousness and thus cannot be an object of refuge. Moreover, the Shugden followers feel themselves superior to other Tibetan Buddhist traditions, whereas the Dalai Lama stresses mutual respect as one of the core values in Buddhism.

The Shugden group views criticism of their way of thinking and practicing as a limitation of their religious freedom and accuse the Dalai Lama of maintaining a double standard. The Dalai Lama has, however, repeatedly stated that he respects their rights: Shugden followers can do whatever they like, but he does ask them to choose - either they are students of the Dalai Lama and follow the tradition of the historical Buddha, or they follow Shugden. You cannot follow both, is what the Dalai Lama says.

This conflict has become quite serious in the Tibetan world, especially because it has become apparent that the Shugden followers receive support from Chinese institutions. The Shugden temples in Tibet have more privileges and receive more financial aid than the other Buddhist temples there. It appears that this controversy is being used by the government in Beijing for its own political aims.