Impassioned Buddhists Protest Dalai Lama on the Streets of NYC – In Response to Religious Persecution

This Thursday, 600 Tibetan and western Buddhists from around the world, including 200 monastics, join with one voice to demonstrate against the Dalai Lama outside of Radio City in NYC where he will be speaking. In this unprecedented event, more than 100 Tibetans will participate in the Western Shugden Society (WSS) organized protest to speak out against the man who has been touted as an icon of peace and tolerance.

New York, NY (EMWNews) July 15, 2008 — This Thursday, from 12:30-5:00 p.m., 600 Tibetan and western Buddhists from around the world, including 200 monastics, join with one voice to demonstrate against the Dalai Lama outside of Radio City in NYC where he will be speaking. In this unprecedented event, more than 100 Tibetans will participate in the Western Shugden Society (WSS) organized protest to speak out against the man who has been touted as an icon of peace and tolerance.

The demonstrators hope to bring to the attention of the West the hidden persecution taking place in the Tibetan community in exile and increasingly in the west through the newly imposed oath and identity card campaign.

Kelsang Pema, western Buddhist nun and spokesperson for the Western Shugden Society (WSS), an umbrella organization made up of Shugden practitioners from many Buddhist traditions and countries, explains: “By decree of the Dalai Lama, with political motivation, exile Tibetans are being asked to sign an oath promising to give up a 400-year old mainstream daily prayer to the Buddhist deity Dorje Shugden, and state that they will not give spiritual or material assistance to anyone remains a practitioner. Without signing this oath, they are refused an identity card, without which they are denied basic human rights such as food and travel documents. Thousands of monks have been segregated within, or expelled from, monasteries without resources, supporters have been denied medical treatment, families are being ostracized and segregated within their communities.”

“Since this enforced ban by the Dalai Lama is causing so much spiritual, emotional and physical harm to practitioners both in India and now in the West, and for years he has refused to engage in dialog around this issue, we have no choice but to ask for the help of fair-minded citizens of the west to rectify this inhumane action by drawing attention to it with demonstrations and hoping that the press will investigate,” Pema continues.

The only aim of the WSS is to have the Dalai Lama lift the ban on this prayer so that millions of practitioners across the world can live again without fear or harassment.

For further information, visit www.westernshugdensociety.org.

Media Contacts:

Kelsang Thubchen

845-856-9000 or -5636

Shelley Tanner

917-620-2598