Foundation. NKT claims no formal connection
to the political Western Shugden Society, yet
most activists in WSS are NKT members.
The book’s authors claim to have uncovered
evidence of NKT and its leader conspiring with
Chinese Communist authorities, “each of whom
are equally intent on promoting Shugden
worship so as to undermine the reputation of the
Dalai Lama.” The Dalai Lama in 1996 instituted
prohibitions against Shugden worship, which
was established within Buddhist tradition
sometime after 1655 CE. Unnamed Chinese
officials attended a Shugden oracle session in
2004. An oracle approved by the Chinese
“played corporeal host to (Shugden) for a time.”
It appears that Chinese atheists view Shugden as
one of the pantheon of Chinese deities, thus
absorbing a religious side of Tibet into China, as
well.
Shugden means “powerful thunderbolt,” and the
spirit is believed to be that of a learned monk,
Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen (1619–1655), who was a
candidate as a child to become the 5th Dalai
Lama. Instead, he was chosen to be the 3rd
incarnation of the Panchen Lama. A rivalry
developed between devotees of the Dalai Lama
and Panchen Lama—a complicated story about
whether Tulku Drakpa committed suicide or was
murdered—but the result was the appearance of
Shugden through an oracle with attendant signs
and wonders that threatened the Dalai Lama
faction.
Shugden worship bases its reality on what
oracles do, similar to modern New Age
mediums who channel a spirit, god, or angel,
and to Pentecostal evangelists who “prophecy”
while possessed by the Holy Spirit of
Christianity.
Lopez writes (p. 188): “The source of the
difficulty (threatening signs and wonders) was
identified, and a series of lamas and magicians
were called in to exorcise the wrathful spirit.”
The exorcists failed. A compromise was
reached, the Dalai Lama’s Geluk sect or faction
“propitiated” the demon through rituals and
offerings, the demon agreed to desist from harm,
and since then, more than three centuries ago,
Shugden has been a “protector” of Geluk monks
and monasteries (a kind of St. Michael the
Archangel for Buddhists).
The Dalai Lamas including the 14th continue
this tradition of consulting a spirit—the primary
one for a Dalai Lama is the Nechung oracle, not
Shugden. The Dalai Lama is on slippery ground
here, as the authors of Dolgyal Shugden point
out. He is essentially bucking three centuries of
traditional acceptance of Shugden by aspects of
his Geluk sect. Rivals among the NKT also are
quick to point this out. However, according to
the book, the NKT has no ground to claim that
Shugden is an established Bodhisattva, or
enlightened being. That myth is perpetrated only
by the Shugden cult. Deities or demons such as
Shugden have no enlightened status in the
tradition despite having special qualities—sort
of like Catholic saints who specialize in healing,
chastity, protection, or finding lost things, yet
who are in no way equal to God. In fact,
Shugden shrines were already being dismantled
in the 1700s and later because, the book says,
many lamas noted that Shugden was “evil” and
mischievous and anything but an enlightened
spirit.
The NKT however, continues to propagate,
training “teachers” in the naïve West, teachers
who claim to have achieved some kind of
enlightened status based on having passed
courses in the General Program (GP), the
Foundation Program (FP), and the Teacher
Training Program (TTP) designed by NKT. The
GP begins with a “transmission” of the tradition
by a brief reading of one of the leader’s books.
The GP is similar to teaching and initiation
rituals of other hybrid new religions such as
Transcendental Meditation with its watered-
down version of Vedic tradition and success at
making a business or franchise out of Eastern
religion for Western consumption. The GP is the
“McDonaldization” of Tibetan Buddhism, a
term the authors borrow from sociologist George
Ritzer (1995), in which religious experience
becomes quantifiable, controlled, and
predictable. The authors of Shugden: A History
add that NKT devotees involved in the Western
Shugden Society (WSS) as the political arm of
NKT may be unwitting pawns in a political
game, an ongoing power grab for control of the
Tibetan homeland.
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015 109
to the political Western Shugden Society, yet
most activists in WSS are NKT members.
The book’s authors claim to have uncovered
evidence of NKT and its leader conspiring with
Chinese Communist authorities, “each of whom
are equally intent on promoting Shugden
worship so as to undermine the reputation of the
Dalai Lama.” The Dalai Lama in 1996 instituted
prohibitions against Shugden worship, which
was established within Buddhist tradition
sometime after 1655 CE. Unnamed Chinese
officials attended a Shugden oracle session in
2004. An oracle approved by the Chinese
“played corporeal host to (Shugden) for a time.”
It appears that Chinese atheists view Shugden as
one of the pantheon of Chinese deities, thus
absorbing a religious side of Tibet into China, as
well.
Shugden means “powerful thunderbolt,” and the
spirit is believed to be that of a learned monk,
Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen (1619–1655), who was a
candidate as a child to become the 5th Dalai
Lama. Instead, he was chosen to be the 3rd
incarnation of the Panchen Lama. A rivalry
developed between devotees of the Dalai Lama
and Panchen Lama—a complicated story about
whether Tulku Drakpa committed suicide or was
murdered—but the result was the appearance of
Shugden through an oracle with attendant signs
and wonders that threatened the Dalai Lama
faction.
Shugden worship bases its reality on what
oracles do, similar to modern New Age
mediums who channel a spirit, god, or angel,
and to Pentecostal evangelists who “prophecy”
while possessed by the Holy Spirit of
Christianity.
Lopez writes (p. 188): “The source of the
difficulty (threatening signs and wonders) was
identified, and a series of lamas and magicians
were called in to exorcise the wrathful spirit.”
The exorcists failed. A compromise was
reached, the Dalai Lama’s Geluk sect or faction
“propitiated” the demon through rituals and
offerings, the demon agreed to desist from harm,
and since then, more than three centuries ago,
Shugden has been a “protector” of Geluk monks
and monasteries (a kind of St. Michael the
Archangel for Buddhists).
The Dalai Lamas including the 14th continue
this tradition of consulting a spirit—the primary
one for a Dalai Lama is the Nechung oracle, not
Shugden. The Dalai Lama is on slippery ground
here, as the authors of Dolgyal Shugden point
out. He is essentially bucking three centuries of
traditional acceptance of Shugden by aspects of
his Geluk sect. Rivals among the NKT also are
quick to point this out. However, according to
the book, the NKT has no ground to claim that
Shugden is an established Bodhisattva, or
enlightened being. That myth is perpetrated only
by the Shugden cult. Deities or demons such as
Shugden have no enlightened status in the
tradition despite having special qualities—sort
of like Catholic saints who specialize in healing,
chastity, protection, or finding lost things, yet
who are in no way equal to God. In fact,
Shugden shrines were already being dismantled
in the 1700s and later because, the book says,
many lamas noted that Shugden was “evil” and
mischievous and anything but an enlightened
spirit.
The NKT however, continues to propagate,
training “teachers” in the naïve West, teachers
who claim to have achieved some kind of
enlightened status based on having passed
courses in the General Program (GP), the
Foundation Program (FP), and the Teacher
Training Program (TTP) designed by NKT. The
GP begins with a “transmission” of the tradition
by a brief reading of one of the leader’s books.
The GP is similar to teaching and initiation
rituals of other hybrid new religions such as
Transcendental Meditation with its watered-
down version of Vedic tradition and success at
making a business or franchise out of Eastern
religion for Western consumption. The GP is the
“McDonaldization” of Tibetan Buddhism, a
term the authors borrow from sociologist George
Ritzer (1995), in which religious experience
becomes quantifiable, controlled, and
predictable. The authors of Shugden: A History
add that NKT devotees involved in the Western
Shugden Society (WSS) as the political arm of
NKT may be unwitting pawns in a political
game, an ongoing power grab for control of the
Tibetan homeland.
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015 109
