The Buddhist group leading a global campaign of harrassment against the Dalai Lama has called off its demonstrations and disbanded, according to a statement on its Web site.
The announcement comes after a Reuters investigation revealed in December last year that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) backs the Buddhist religious sect behind the protests that have confronted the Dalai Lama in almost every nation he visits.
Reuters found that the sect had become a key instrument in China’s campaign to discredit the Tibetan spiritual leader.
The directors of the International Shugden Community have decided to “completely stop organizing demonstrations against the Dalai Lama,” said a statement on the group’s Web site.
From Thursday, the community and its Web sites would dissolve, the statement added.
The undated message was in the name of a spokesman for the group, Len Foley. The telephone number for Foley listed on the group’s earlier publicity material is now disconnected.
The Dalai Lama said that he was aware of the community’s decision to disband.
“I don’t know,” he said, when asked what was behind the group’s announcement.
“Your article was something complete, holistic sort of presentation, it was very helpful,” he added, referring to the Reuters investigation.
The Tibetan spiritual leader spoke to a Reuters reporter on the sidelines of a media briefing in Geneva on Friday.
More than five decades after he fled into exile in India following a failed uprising against Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama still exerts considerable religious authority over many of the six million ethnic Tibetans living within China’s borders. This infuriates Beijing, which routinely denounces him as a separatist, accusing him of attempting to split Tibet from China.
In the US, the community is registered as a charity in California. Since 2014, its spokespeople have said they are responsible for organizing the protests but denied any link with Beijing or the CCP.
The protesters are members of a sect that worships Dorje Shugden, a deity in Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama discourages this worship, warning his followers that the deity is a harmful spirit.
Dorje Shugden devotees accuse the Dalai Lama of persecuting them and dividing Tibetan Buddhism.
“I myself also worshiped that,” the Dalai Lama said, referring to the deity. “Out of ignorance.”
However, he came to the realization that the deity was “very negative, very harmful,” he said.
This had been an obscure, internal religious dispute, but it has been exported to the West. The protests have followed the Dalai Lama on his regular speaking tours to cities in North America, Europe and Australia.
Most of the protesters have been Western recruits. They joined forces with a smaller group of ethnic Tibetan devotees in chanting slogans and beating drums, sometimes disrupting the Dalai Lama’s speaking and teaching engagements. They accuse the Dalai Lama of being a bigot and a fake.
The Dalai Lama’s most recent engagements have been largely free of protest. There was a small demonstration earlier this week during his visit to Madison, Wisconsin, according to people close to the Tibetan spiritual leader.
While hundreds gathered with drums and Tibetan flags opposite the UN building in Geneva to listen to the Dalai Lama, there was no sign of protests against the Dalai Lama.
See Panel on page 6
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