Adi Shankara and the Dalai Lama

by Lama Shree Narayan Singh

I

Isn't it fascinating that Hindus who derive their ethos from Adi Shankaracharya, should be aghast at the inequality prevalent today in Indian society! This is exactly what he created and bequeathed to posterity -- the institutionalisation of racism under the cover of the caste system, the persecution of Buddhists, the disempowerment and suppression of women, child marriages, marginalisation of dalits, an amoral ethos -- in short, an enervation of the Indian psyche. These form the very crux of Hindu culture, in direct contrast with the principles of socialism.

It was due to this that wave upon wave of Muslim marauders successfully invaded India and then stayed on creating the fusion known as Indian culture. It is now characterised by hyperbole, conflict, arbitrariness, corruption, shamelessness and a complete uncertainty in every aspect of daily life.

In the more recent past western countries entered the 'holy land'. With their departure they took with them any semblance of order they had created and nurtured!

Various attempts have been made since independence to repudiate the effects of our history and change the basic ethos of the country through legislation. However the cultural momentum of a millennium and a half has virtually defied such attempts. History cannot be wiped out through the imposition of liberal humanism, a western experience which has evolved on the foundations of the Christian Church, on essentially an entirely different set of peoples who still need to learn peaceful co-existence.

The result of such impositions is more than evident. The feudal Zamindari system was abolished with the best of intentions shortly after independence. The result at least in Bihar is there for all to see -- chaos prevails concerning land records which defy resolution. Even proper cadestral surveys have not been carried out for half a century or more. Moreover, the common man is exploited and suppressed at all levels by politicians, the administration and the police, with each and every govt scheme becoming embroiled in a scam. And if it is to be maintained that these erstwhile feudal lords suppressed the common person, modern feudal lords have hardly been found to be more benign.

The motto of the French Revolution -- equality, liberty and fraternity, resounds hollow bounced off the walls of the mental matrix of 'lebensborn' Indians -- Aryans.

This becomes the more pertinent when one considers that in spite of Aryavarta, the Land of the Aryans -- India, being a 'punya bhumi' or 'God's own Country', where saints and sages have manifest with nauseating regularity, the quality of life continues to deteriorate day after day.

Thus the legacy of any individual, Adi Shankaracharya, Dalai Lama or anyone else, can never be or viewed in monochrome but in its totality of hues and nuances. This is for the simple reason of their human-ness.

For the devout Hindu, Adi Shankaracharya, c. 450 CE, is the very manifestation of Lord Shiva -- a saint spontaneously manifest for the weal of the world -- the Great Reformer.

An objective historical analysis would prove that he was directly influenced by events in the century preceding him by events in the Christian Church. The pantheon of gods, legends and myths created by highly imaginative Brahmins, empowered to flourish under his dispensation, patronised by kings who knew no better, derive also from the ancient Greek and Roman experience.

These Brahmins successfully recreated a cultural history of this sub-continent, taking shards of historical facts from different parts of the world and spinning incredibly clever tales around them, creating gods and personalities, both god-like and human, duping the people with their supposed erudition. Mythological cities were created out of nowhere as a concept of time, totally beyond human imagination, was evolved through these supposedly religious texts.

The stranglehold they had was so complete that the common person was left with no alternative but to believe in them and rely upon them implicitly. It was the Brahmins alone, racially pure Aryans sic., who were the keepers of this timeless spiritual and religious knowledge. It is they alone who benefited economically wielding unquestionable religious clout under the kshatriya kings, who ensured their continuation.

It is also known that he institutionalised the persecution of Buddhists during his short life span of 32 years. In actuality Adi Shankaracharya had spent his early years until the death of his mother at 15 in a Buddhist monastery. It was when his Abbott refused him permission to cremate his mother that he had revolted and become rabidly anti Buddhist.

He persuaded local kings to patronise his version of hinduism which he termed 'sanatana dharma' while at the same time, destroying Buddhist monasteries, killing monks and capturing their religious sites and teachings making them 'hindu'. Towards the end of his short life, defeated in debate by the Buddhist Mahapandita Vasubandhu, Adi Shankaracharya was compelled to embrace Buddhism once again, as was the norm then. He died out of the sheer shame of his defeat!

The present Dalai Lama too has not been spontaneously born of a lotus! He is the product of nearly four centuries of history. Even a perfunctory reading of Tibetan history will reveal the scale of the gore and destruction which accompanied the ascension of the Fifth Dalai Lama, purportedly the Great Fifth, to the throne of Tibet in 1642 CE in a manner which would have done Ghenghis Khan proud. Thus was ushered in a period of the emergence of the so-called 'reformed' Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism as a political force.

One is left wondering as to whether a person such as the Great Fifth could ever even reincarnate given the amount of blood and destruction for which he was responsible for. But then, karma supposedly spared him, or as his followers would maintain, the Dalai Lamas are beyond the Law of Karma, not to mention international or Indian laws!

Indians will perhaps not believe that the Gelugpa Govt of Tibet actually imposed 'jazia' or a religious tax, on all the other traditions of Tibetan Buddhism during his extended reign.

In other words the present Dalai Lama is himself the product of a sectarian momentum without compare in the history of Tibetan Buddhism.

It is therefore extremely peculiar to read enconium upon enconium showered upon the present Dalai Lama by the Indian media. Clearly journalists such as Mahesh Dattani who has written about him in Last Word, The Week, Aug 21, 05, have no idea concerning Tibet and its violent past.

The Dalai Lama's PR Managers, present day Tibetan Brahmins, continue to write and rewrite the Dalai Lama Purana, successfully weaving and spinning tales of his purported righteousness, just as the Brahmins of yore did in ancient India extolling the glory of that which was according to their perception, supposedly once India! It is beyond imagination that simply because a handful of Tibetans treat the Dalai Lama as their Holy Prophet, it is expected by them that the world too must do likewise, irrespective of any other considerations!

Given the similarities between the Adi Shankaracharya and the Dalai Lama, is it any wonder then that Hindu leaders, including the NDA dispensation, extend their unqualified support to him?

Clearly the Govt of India, GOI, is behind promoting him blindly even though it is fully aware that with the patronage he enjoys from Uncle Sam and the west, his close links with Beijing and thus the ISI, no friends of this country, he is actually involved in international intrigues to destabilise India. It will come as no surprise therefore that the Maitreya Project, earlier slated to be executed near Bodh Gaya, has been shelved with the GOI understanding that this would merely be a shield for furthering insurgency in the country.

It is pertinent to note that the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Dalai Lama and his subsequent rise to prominence was concomitant with the disintegration of the former USSR. Evidently the USSR had been able to keep him under considerable check during the Cold War.

It is little known that the so-called Govt of Tibet in Exile, with all its sovereign trappings, which he runs from his headquarters in Dharamsala, HP, does not have the sanction of Indian or international laws! Moreover his name is actually spelt Taala'i Lama! But then the Dalai Lama is beyond human laws or so his following would have us believe!

Is this any different from those of that faith who seek to impose the Sharia throughout the world repudiating man made laws concerning democracy, freedom, human rights and so on as the cry has recently gone up in Bangladesh?

Only the methods are different with the Dalai Lama openly professing non-violence, peace, harmony and so on, while actively engaging in its exact opposite amongst his own peoples -- engendering a massive schism within Tibetan Buddhism through the Karmapa Affair. And his belief in democracy, human rights and so on is confined merely to those who agree with him.

Those whose viewpoints are at variance with his in anyway must be liquidated by his establishment through black magic or simply brute force. India has seen sufficient evidence of this until now! Notable was the attack on the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in New Delhi March 17, 1994 by the Dalai Lama's followers during a small presentation ceremony of HH the XVIIth Gyalwang Karmapa Thaye Trinley Dorje. This had gone on for over three hours and a criminal case had followed on its heels against those who had vandalised the institute!

It is his sectarian background which has manifest in the form of the imbroglio now known as The Karmapa Affair. In this, driven by his sense of racial superiority, Chinese involvement and sectarian vengeance, he has recognised an impostor as the XVIIth Karmapa who is medically about ten years older than his age as stated by the Dalai Lama. This person, Urgyen Trinlay Dorjee, is constrained to live in Dharamsala, HP with his mentor. There is every reason to believe the assessment that he is a Chinese plant!

It is unprecedented in the history of Tibet that a Karmapa incarnation be educated under the auspices of the Dalai Lamas, leader of the Gelgupa sect. Successive Karmapas have led their own Karma Kagyu tradition totally independent of the Dalai Lamas and/or the Gelugpas. The present situation is akin to having the future Shankaracharya of Badrinath being groomed by the Shankaracharya of Kanchi! Or that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Head of the Church of England, be responsible for the education and election of a Pope of the Roman Catholic tradition!

Strictly applying the authentic teachings of the Buddha to him, one would be aghast to find that the Dalai Lama has forfeited long ago, the right to remain a monk in the Buddha's Dispensation, not to mention give advanced teachings and initiations of the Vajrayana.

The genuine incarnation, first recognised, was actually an Indian, but the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan leaders would have none of it -- the Karmapa must be a 'lebensborn' Tibetan!

The authentic Tibetan XVIIth Gyalwang Karmapa now, is Thaye Trinlay Dorje who currently lives in Kalimpong, Darjeeling. He is acclaimed throughout the world during his multiple travels in India and abroad.

The playground where this sordid intrigue is being unraveled is Sikkim. It is common knowledge that the Chinese have, over the preceding fifteen years or more, deeply penetrated the political establishment in that state through their largesse, so much so that Dharma Chakra Centre, the Seat of the Karmapas in Rumtek, has been under the control of pro-Chinese forces since 1992. The clamour for the opening of the Nathu La Pass, trade with China and so on, are all various aspects of this intrigue which seeks to create a Chinese enclave in Sikkim.

The entry of the Dalai Lama into this state in 1993 is also highly questionable. During its four centuries as an independent kingdom, Sikkim adhered solely to the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism with the Karmapas having an influence as well. The Gelugpas and their leader, the Dalai Lama, were nowhere to be seen as is still the situation in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

It is only as the Karmapa Affair became more and more sordid that he was invited to Sikkim to perform the Kalachakra empowerments by the Govt of Sikkim. The situation now is that the Gelugpas are attempting to set up shop in that state with varying degrees of success as the local sentiment is very much against them. Clearly the historical animosity of the other traditions of Tibetan Buddhism towards the Gelugpas, is the principal driving factor.

Those who are interested in understanding the Tibetan phenomenon known as the Dalai Lama in greater depth are referred to Writ Petition # 613 of 2000, Supreme Court of India - S. N. Singh vs GOI & ors. This was unfortunately dismissed as otherwise it would have embarrassed the GOI to no end.

Current however, is the Original Suit # 2199 of 2003 currently pending in Delhi High Court - S. N. Singh vs GOI & ors which delves into the authenticity of Urgyen Trinlay Dorjee as the XVIIth Karmapa.

The book 'The Water Bird and Other Years', written by K. Thondup, a Tibetan, in 1987, available from Dr. Dolkar at D-10 Kalkaji, New Delhi 110 015, sheds tremendous light on the Tibetan psyche and polity. Any person who reads this book will be compelled to question the Dalai Lama and what all he represents!

A dvd titled The Flight of a Karmapa, which has been submitted as evidence in OS 2199 of 2003 above, compelingly traces the purported flight of Urgyen Trinlay Dorjee to India. It is available from Nachtvision.

What is even more intriguing is the fact that the GOI forbids the media to give an accurate portrayal of the Dalai Lama. This Nobel Peace Prize winner has moreover, a dedicated following of key personalities throughout the country for whom also the truth is anathema, content as they are to blindly worship him! Clearly they consider him to be an avatara of Vishnu, conveniently forgetting that all such avataras have invariably been Aryan, not of Mongolian descent!

It is afraid that once truths concerning him are made public, his carefully cultivated international image will be tarnished. Clearly Uncle Sam too will be unhappy if this happens as also the rest of the caucasian world!

Therefore the recent statement in Outlook Aug 22, 05 on its cover page needs to be highlighted. Referring to 'Heroes & Villains of 1947' the cover page boldly pronounces: 'No one was all white. Or black. They shaped India with a band of bit players. All enacting their own scripts.'

Given that even the Father of the Nation is continually being assessed and reassessed, certainly the Fourteenth Dalai Lama merits a more realistic appraisal!

But then since the entire world of phenomenon is akin to a dream, every person is entitled to his or her own dreams! And who is this writer to question its validity?

II

There are possibly at least two reasons why Adi Shankaracharya struck a deep chord amongst Indians. It is difficult at this point of time to know actually what happened then. However, projecting backwards from the current state of affairs one may arrive at these two definitive conclusions.

Firstly, the entire process was in effect a knee jerk reaction to the Buddhist egalitarian ethos and one which promoted moral discipline in daily life. This is evident from the work titled The Agama Shastra of Gaudapada which contains also a sanatana commentary by Adi Shanakara of a genuine Buddhist shastra, the Agamashastra. As has been shown, his is a brazen attempt to distort a proper Buddhist scripture using convoluted logic to appropriate it for the purpose of sanatanism.

Secondly rulers in particular were looking for a rationale, religious sanction, much like the Divine Right of Kings, to legitimise their dispensations. Similarly the Brahmins, finding themselves beset by the radical definition of a Brahmin in the Tipitaka or Buddhist Canon deriving on inherent merit, were seeking a way to justify the grip they had on the populace both for themselves and their progeny. Adi Shankara obliged both of them by solidifying the caste system into what is now its inflexible form. Thus ethnicity and descent became the sole considerations for social status, rather than merit as enunciated by the Buddha.

This also gave the merchant class its own place. Buddhists, naturally, were classified as shudras forming the last rung in this scheme of things. They were to be reviled, shunned and ostracised. One is left wondering as to whether this is any different from the perspectives of institutionalised Christianity and Islam which divides the world between believers and non-believers. An inordinate amount of blood has been shed in the names of various relitions throughout the world and continues to be done even today.

Dr. Ambedkar's philosophy was the most recent to penetrate this armour of racism rampant in this sub continent. It may not come as a surprise that even Muslims and Christians have their own castes, between whom inter marriage is not permitted. So much for the teachings of Jesus and Islam! Clearly there exists substance to the contention of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad that Hinduism is a way of life, not a religion extant throughout this subcontinent!

Thirdly it is apparent that Indians were not comfortable with the ethics propounded by Buddhism. Adi Shankara went around this highly sensitive issue by cloaking morality in extremely abstruse language such as karma, sakama karma and nishkama karma, concerning which modern day religious orators wax exceedingly eloquent. Modern society naturally laps it up for the simple reason that it provides them the rationale to be crooked and dishonest in their daily life. The pet phrase in the Hindi speaking belt is 'karma karo,' or perform karma, concepts of right and wrong remaining confined to text books in moral science. This is to such an extent that the persecution of brides, for the purpose of dowry, many of whom are burnt alive, has long ceased to be news in northern India.

Is it any wonder then, that Indians are not known for their integrity in the world comity ranking exceedingly high in the corruption scale?

This IS the legacy of Adi Shankara in its raw form!

'Those who have ears to hear, let them hear!'