| The following article is from the Autumn, 1996 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here. |
Please note that Snow Lion Publications no longer offers books by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso or other Tharpa products.
See letter from Sera Je Monastery on page three of the original newsletter transcribed here below.
Declaration of Expulsion of Kelsang Gyatso from Sera Je Monastery
Translated by Sera Je Geshe Gendun Gyatso and David Patt
SERJE DRATSANG
Serje Monastic Institute
P.O. BYLAKUPPE-571 104
Distt Mysore, Karnataka State. INDIA.
August 22,1996
This is a message to all non-sectarian friends of the Dharma in the world, especially all Tibetans, inside and outside Tibet.
His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, is the embodiment of the compassion of all Buddhas, the golden flower of the land of snows, Tibet, the form of the deity who has appeared in Tibet, the representative of the Buddha Shakyamuni, the spiritual leader of all Buddhists in the world, and the great advocate of non-violence.
For those who come from the land of snow mountains, to find in His Holiness our sacred source of refuge for this and future lives is truly our inborn nature, like our eyes which give us sight and our innermost heart.
However, as it says in The Well-Spoken Advice:
If you keep striving at faults,
There will never be any room for virtues,
Like a deluded person with a strainer,
You think that the dregs are actually the juice.
So, a person who acts with a mistaken understanding of which actions should be undertaken and which should be abandoned is the definition of an evil person. These days, [in Kelsang Gyatso] the demonic cloud of overwhelming arrogance displays itself with a mass of deluded pride, like a bat who thinks he is above the sky.
He upholds the lineage of Bhikshu Legpai Karma (Legs pa'i skar ma), who in ancient times used the perverted prayer. This demon with broken commitments, Kelsang Gyatso, burns with the flame of unbearable spite towards the unsurpassed omniscient 14th Dalai Lama, the only staff of life of religious people in Tibet, whose activities and kindness are equal to the sky. Since his own Guru [His Holiness] is without fault, he is throwing away the practice of guru devotion, the eight benefits of following one's spiritual teacher, the eight disadvantages of not following him, and so forth, just as one would cast away a stone.
Possessed by a terrible demon, without shame, embarrassment, or modesty, he doesn't have even the slightest care or concern for any of the commitments of the three vows [pratimoksha, bodhicitta, and tantric] which he undertook.
He continuously broadcasts blatantly shameless mad pronouncements, attacking with baseless slander His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose kindness for us, the people of Tibet, has been greater than the Buddhas of the three times. These unimaginable statements which defame the name of His Holiness have created an urgent adverse situation which no Tibetan can tolerate.
Therefore, all those connected with Sera Je College, lamas and tulkus, abbots, former executives, senior and junior geshes, together with the leaders of the individual kliangtsen [regional houses], all together, in agreement, with one voice, hereby proclaim that on this day, August 22, 1996, Kelsang Gyatso, the one with broken commitments and wrong view, is cast out with the ritual nine expulsions, and is thereby banished from this place, and from being a part of the rule of our College.
This means that we request all of our brothers and sisters, the Tibetan people inside and outside Tibet, to completely sever any relationship with him. Concerning the practice of worshiping divine protectors at this Monasteiy in particular, the protector who was directed by the previous great masters to advise, command, and look after our Monastery is the Dharma protector Dregpa Chamsing (Dregs Pa ICam Sring). Aside from this protector there has traditionally been no worship of Dolgyal [Dorje Shugden].
These days, we keep in the honored position on the crown of our heads the instructions of our Government, the great Ganden Potrang. Therefore, all the sangha who reside here, as evidence of their commitment not to worship the protector Dolgyal, have freely signed such a pledge, and offered it before the clear eye of His Holiness. Beyond that, anyone who is not blind should be able to comprehend this with their ordinary eye of understanding and mind of attachment and aversion; as they say, no one needs a lamp to make things clear in the light of the sun and moon.
For the future, we publicly make the strongest request to everyone not to associate the good name of Sera Je Monastery with this holder of broken commitments and wrong view.
Sealed by the General Assembly of Sera Je Monastery August 23, 1996
For more information:
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