China blames Dalai Lama for violence

HONG KONG: China has accused the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama of masterminding a clash at a Lhasa monastery in March, at which two idols of a leader of a Buddhist sect were pulled down.

Xinhua agency reported that about 20 lamas had on March 14 stormed into the Gandain monastery in Lhasa and pulled down two clay idols of Dorje Shugden, a deity worshipped by a sect of Buddhists, claiming that the idols were of “evil spirits”. There was a bit of a skirmish on that day, and there are reports that punitive action had been initiated against the lamas. 

Lhasa mayor Norbu Dunzhub on Tuesday described the event as “another attempt to sabotage the unity of Tibet” that had been masterminded by the Dalai Lama.

“It may seem to be an internal affair within a monastery,” the mayor said. “But it is by no means an isolated event or an accident.” On a fundamental level, he said, the incident was “provoked by the Dalai clique” whose purpose, he said, was “to arouse conflict between different sects of Tibetan Buddhism, thereby sabotaging the unity of Tibet.”

In March 1996 the Dalai Lama had banned the worship of Dorje Shugden, ostensibly on the consideration that the sect worship was leading to sectarianism and fundamentalism in Tibetan society and creating obstacles to the “Tibetan cause”.

The Dalai Lama has on other occasions branded Dorje Shugden as a “Chinese demon helping the Chinese government”, and that the worship of Dorje would impair his health.