Cult Mystery
Newsweeks
April 28 1997
Did an obscure Tibetan sect murder three monks close to the Dalai Lama?
BY TONY CLIFTON
This murder mystery seems earthly to be set in the monastic
palace of the God King of Tibet. Yet the facts are inescapable.
Three members of the Dalai Lama's inner circle were brutally
slain on the night of Feb 4 in a bedroom just a few hundred
yards from His Holiness's exile residence in the northern Indian
city of Dharmsala. The next morning monks found the Dalai Lama's
close friend and confidant 70-year-old Lobsang Gyatso, dead on
his bed. Two young monks, Nagawang Lodoe and the Dalai Lama's
Chinese-language interpreter, Lobsang Nagwang, died within hours
of the attack. Each victim had been stabbed 15 to 20 times,
leaving the walls of the small monk's chamber splattered with
blood. Police believe it was the work of five to eight
attackers. But who, exactly? Cash and gilded Buddhist statues
were left at the scene, ruling out robbers. And what kind of
criminal would commit such carnage in this famed sanctuary of
the gentlest religion?
The savagery of the attack immediately steered police to search
for fanatics of some kind. So did the death threats that
followed against 14 more members of the Dalai Lama's entourage.
Now Indian police believe the murders were committed by an
obscure Buddhist sect that takes its name and inspiration from a
minor but ferocious Tibetan deity: the Dorje Shugden. The
Shugdens consider themselves guardians of Tibetan Buddhism, and
particularly their branch of the faith, known as Gelugs, or the
Yellow Hats, for their ceremonial headdress. They can be harshly
doctrinaire, and have branded the Dalai Lama a traitor to the
Yellow Hats for befriending other branches of Buddhism. In the
last year the Dalai Lama has retaliated, denouncing one Shugden
order in particular as a hostile and crass, commercial cult -and
providing what police suspect maybe the motive for brutal
retaliation against His Holiness's inner circle. Indian police
have formally questioned at least five Shugden followers, and
were canvassing Tibetan-refugee neighborhoods in New Delhi last
week, seeking clues to what they describe as a well organized
murder plot. "I think there's no doubt that Shugden was behind
the killings," says Robert Thurman, America's foremost Buddhist
scholar and an old friend of the Dalai Lama's. "The three were
stabbed repeatedly and cut up in a way that was like an
exorcism."
The Shugdens worship a god who is often depicted wearing
necklaces of human heads - symbols of conquered vices and
transgressions. He is a sword-wielding warrior figure, riding a
snow lion through a sea of boiling blood. As one of the minor
Dharmapala, or protectors of the faith, Dorje Shugden has had an
underground following among Tibetans obsessed with doctrinal
purity for centuries. "It would not be unfair to call Shugdens
the Taliban of Tibetan Buddhism," says Thurman, referring to the
Muslim extremists of Afghanistan, who believe in swift and
brutal justice. As early as the 1600s, the Dalai Lamas were
trying to curb worship of Dorje Shugden. About 15 years ago, the
current Dalai Lama began to voice concern that the sect was
gaining strength, sowing discord.
Then, in 1991, a senior monk named Kelsang Gyatso established a
new Dorje Shugden order based in England and called the New
Kadampa Tradition (NKT). The NKT soon flourished by promising
spiritual rewards for cash-an unholy sales pitch that helped
trigger confrontation with the Dalai Lama's circle. Through a
spokesman, Kelsang insisted to NEWSWEEK that his followers had
nothing to do with the grisly murders in Dharmsala and that
their idol's "wrathful aspect" is only symbolic: "Even if my
best friend did the murders, I would condemn it," he said.
Nonetheless, the followers of the NKT have painted a hostile
portrait of the Dalai Lama that is unrecognizable to mainstream
Buddhists-indeed, to millions around the world who revere the
Nobel Peace Prize winner and champion of Tibet. The NKT accuse
him of selling out Tibet by promoting its "autonomy" within
China rather than outright "independence." In fact, the Dalai
Lama's global campaigning on behalf of Tibet may have made him
an obvious target, like any other world leader. Since the
Dharmsala murders, security has been tightened around the Dalai
Lama, who was traveling last week in France and Spain under the
careful watch of bodyguards.
The dispute with Dorje Shugden is rooted mainly in ancient
struggles within Buddhism. Above all, the Shugdens are angry
that the Dalai Lama is promoting dialogue between the Yellow
Hats and another major branch of Tibetan Buddhism, Nyingma, or
the Red Hats. The Shugdens consider it a sin even to talk to Red
Hats, or to touch Nyingma religious works. The police believe
that one of the reasons the men were killed was that the old
sage, Lobsang Gyatso, was a particularly active intermediary
between the Dalai Lama and the Red Hats. His obituary describes
him as an outspoken critic of Yellow Hat conservatives. And in
an interview with NEWSWEEK earlier this month, the Dalai Lama
expressed his worries about the Dorje Shugden. "That cult is
actually destroying the freedom of religious thought," he said.
"Say I want to practice Nyingma. They say this Protector will
harm me. Now, that's an obstacle to religious freedom. I am
trying to promote the tradition of coexistence, but the Shugdens
say you should not even touch a Red Hat document. That teaching
totally contradicts my efforts.
The split grew angry early last year. The Dalai Lama issued a
call to all Tibetan Buddhists to avoid the Shugdens. He warned
against the cult's extremism and against public worship of their
idol. Soon after, the NKT in London claimed that the Dalai
Lama's remarks had inspired Tibetans to harass Shugden followers
in Dharmsala. It claimed that mainstream Tibetan groups were
searching homes and temples for Shugden devotees and burning
images of the Dorje Shugden. The NKT began protesting on the
streets of London last May, accusing the Dalai Lama of
suppressing their religion. They carried a picture of His
Holiness over the slogan YOUR SMILES CHARM, YOUR ACTIONS HARM.
Then the threats began. A letter to the Tibetan Women's
Association in Dharmsala warned, "If there comes a division
among prominent persons in the [Yellow Hat] sect, there will be
bloodshed in the monasteries and settlements [across India]."
The threats were among the clues that set police on the trail of
the Shugdens soon alter the murders. On Feb. 8 the five Shugden
followers were questioned in New Delhi and ordered to be
available again on May 3; police said the five are not suspects
but suspected witnesses of a well-organized murder plot. The
leader of the Dorje Shugden devotees, Geshe Dragpa Gyaltsan,
said police are intensely questioning innocent Shugden
followers. "We are supposed to have a hit list of 14 men," he
said. "We don't have a hit list, and it would be completely
against the advice and guidance of Dorje Shugden if we did." He
described the Dalai Lama as a good man led astray by his
advisers and the Tibetan exile government in Dharmsala, which he
accused of banning Shugden followers from official posts and
higher education. At this rate, he suggested, Shugdens "will end
up being the Jews of Tibetan Buddhism." Then he offered a peace
plan: the Dalai Lama could speak "face to face" with Dorje
Shugden himself through one of the sect's "three or four"
mediums. "I have spoken to Dorje Shugden many times this way,"
said Geshe, "and we could easily arrange for him to talk to the
Dalai Lama."
The religious conflict at the heart of this mystery goes back to
the early 15th century, when a reformer named Tsongkhapa founded
the Yellow Hats. The nephew of Tsongkhapa became the first Dalai
Lama, establishing an unbroken line of God Kings. Each was
believed to be a reincarnation of his predecessor, and ruled
supreme over older orders, including the modest and scholarly
Red Hats. The Yellow Hats were far more grand than the austere
Red Hats in their clothes and magnificent palaces, but the Dorje
Shugden sect would become grander still. They were always among
the most fervent defenders of Yellow Hat supremacy, and in
London today they celebrate Kelsang as their "peerless"
spiritual guide.
Shugden followers always believed their god could grant earthly
favors, and NKT has richly exploited this belief. Though barely
known in the East, the NKT has slickly and successfully promoted
Dorje Shugden in Europe. It's the fastest growing Buddhist sect
in Britain, where it now has about 3,000 members, a thriving
publishing business in London and mansions that double as
"Dharma Centers" all over the country. It has also been
denounced by the London press and the Dalai Lama as a cult that
fleeces its own followers. "Nobody would pray to Buddha for
better business, but they go to Shugden for such favors - and
this is where it has become like spirit worship," the Dalai Lama
told NEWSWEEK. "This is a great pity-a tragedy."
NKT founder Kelsang has publicly retreated from his
confrontation with the Dalai Lama. Through his spokesman he told
NEWSWEEK that the NKT had abandoned its demonstrations last July
alter realizing they were less and less appropriate. Elsewhere
he has denied allegations that he is a fraud of a monk who never
went on a religious retreat and who has made a personal fortune
in the "millions of pounds." He insists that any profits go to
his Dharma Centers and that he lives modestly on a stlg250 stipend
each month. Ye there is no denying the crude mix of spiritual
and commercial themes pitched on the sect's Internet Web site. A
current bulletin explains that "accumulating merit" is vital to
"become an enlightened being" and that helping the Dharma
Centers "flourish" is a great way to accumulate merit. "So," the
bulletin offers, "if you are in the market for some merit (and
who isn't) here is a perfect opportunity." There follows a price
list: 23,000 ($4,800) for an NKT shrine cabinet, 22000 for an
NKT Buddha statue, 230 for "a teacup and saucer for Geshe-La"
(Kelsang's honorific title). "Shugden appeals to crazies by
offering instant gratification," says Thurman. "Once you get
involved, you're told you have to devote your lives to the cult,
because the god gets very angry if you don't attend to him every
day. It's really bad stuff, the way they're draining money out
of people."
The suspicion now is that the savvy these Shugdens apply to
business could have been put to more nefarious ends in
Dharmsala. But Kelsang insists his idol and his order are
peaceful. No one saw the attackers slip in and out of the
monastery chamber on the frosty night of Feb. 4. There are no
real suspects in hand, only suspicions, potential witnesses and
the suggestive tale of an angry split in Tibetan Buddhism. As
much as anything, the Shugdens are suspect because no
alternative theory has emerged to explain this unholy crime. But
the mystery of the Dharmsala murders is far from solved.
With SUZANNE MILLER in London
