>Hello Geshe Kelsang,
>Hope this posting finds you well.

>I read your posting concerning the dharma protector Dorje Shugden - as well
>as having followed the wranglings between the Shugden Supporters Group (ala
>Nick Gillespie)  and the supporters of the Dalai Lama over the last year or
>so.
>I find it quite fascinating especially in the light of the teachings and
>training I received as one of your students between January 1993 and
>September 1995.
>From your teachings I learned that Dorje (ie Vajra = Mind of Great Bliss
>realising Emptiness) Shugden (ie most powerful) was none other than
>Manjushri, the Wisdom Buddha. Wow, what greater protector of our mind of
>Dharma could we hope for?  Only that degree of Wisdom would protect us from
>samsaric delusions. So I felt most priviledged to receive the blessing
>empowerment of Dorje Shugden from you at Madhyamaka Centre, from which your
>e-mail seems to have been sent. I also received the Highest Yoga Tantra
>empowerments of Heruka and Vajrayogini, the Body Mandala of Heruka, and
many
>others from you.

>As one of your students, I taught Dharma in Greater Manchester for a time -
>the publicity that the NKT put out for this descrlbed me as a "close
>disciple" of yourself - most flattering of them really.
>I also taught on ocasion in Macclesfield, Stockport, Birmingham, Burton
upon
>Trent, and so on - quite an eventful time.
>I was also a student on the Teachers Training Programme (TTP) from Sept
1993
>to Sept 1995. I lived in both Tara Centre and Manjushri Centre for over 2
>years.
>So, it's probably fair to say that I have some knowledge of the New Kadampa
>Tradition.

>I was therefore interested in your plea to the Dalai Lama  for religious
>freedom.
>In September 1995 on returning from my mother's funeral to my home at
>Manjushri Centre, I was given notice to leave the centre by Roy Tyson-the
>director (also signed by Peter Davis- Educational Programme Co-ordinator,
>and Samten Kelsang -principle teacher after yourself). Apparently my
>questioning of the principal doctrines and dogmas of the NKT was felt to be
>disruptive to the community. For instance I'd tried to engage people in the
>issue of the Shentong-Rangtong debate, as I felt that the Prasangika
>vajrayana (as opposed to the Prasangika sutra) teachings were much closer
to
>Shentong rather than Rangtong view.

>We were told by Samten Kelsang during one of the TTP classes that you were
>very concerned that TTP students were reading the books, following the
>teachings, etc of other buddhist teachers (yes, even other Gelugpa
teachers)
>and that this would have a very negative effect upon the NKT and yourself -
>perhaps even damaging your health. Samten told us that we should cease from
>any contact with the teachings and practices of other teachers, and learn
to
>rely only upon yourself. Given that a number of students had received
>teachings and empowerments from other lamas (eg Lama Yeshe who'd actually
>founded Manjushri Centre), the instruction from Samten was a very heavy
>weight - and many students said in private that they could not abandon
their
>other teachers and the commitments that they'd received from them. All in
>all it was not a well-received instruction.
>It also became known that the practice that a number of people had of
>keeping a picture of the Dalai Lama on their shrines was inauspicious. And
>several ordained people told me that this had been pointed out to them.

>So, Geshe Kelsang, whilst I rejoice in your plea for religious freedom (and
>may it be granted to all beings), I am concerned. Concerned that whilst you
>ask for religious freedom for Dorje Shugden practitioners, that you do not
>offer the same freedom to those who live within your domain. Is it right
>that someone in your position asks from another that which they themselves
>will not give to others. To say, as I've heard NKT people say, that those
>who want to worship other than in the NKT manner, should leave the NKT
>centres, is surely little different from the intolerance you accuse the
>Dalai Lama of?

>May you continue to benefit all beings,
>Avyorth in the Dh (ark)