Editing New Kadampa Tradition (section)

=== Dorje Shugden activism ===
{{See also|Dorje Shugden controversy}}

The New Kadampa Tradition has been criticised for its involvement with the [[International Shugden Community]] and, as a consequence, what David Kay calls its "leading role in a Western-based campaign mounted against the [[Dalai Lama]]" during his visit to the United Kingdom in 1996.{{sfn|Kay|1997}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dodin |first=Thierry |date=18 May 2014 |title=The Dorje Shugden conflict: An interview with Thierry Dodin |url=https://www.tibetsun.com/interviews/2014/05/18/the-dorje-shugden-conflict-an-interview-with-thierry-dodin |access-date=2 October 2025 |website=Tibet Sun}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Doward |first=Jamie |date=2015-06-13 |title='Extremist' sect threatens protests against Dalai Lama during UK visit |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/13/dalai-lama-uk-visit-extremist-protests |access-date=2025-10-07 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Geshe Kelsang—who is often credited with popularising [[Dorje Shugden]] worship to the West—and the NKT objected to the Dalai Lama's advice that Buddhists should not worship Dorje Shugden, a Gelug [[Dharmapala]] (protector deity) dating to the 17th century, whose worship became more prominent in the 1930s under the repressive regime of [[Pabongkhapa Déchen Nyingpo]].<ref>{{harvnb|Dolgyal|2025}}{{pb}}{{harvnb|Fish|2025}}</ref><ref>Christopher Emory-Moore. "Branding a New Buddhist Movement: The New Kadampa Tradition's Self-identification as 'Modern Buddhism'". ''Journal of Global Buddhism'' (Vol.21 11–28). {{ISSN|1527-6457}}</ref><ref>Mills, Martin. ''Identity, Ritual and State in Tibetan Buddhism.'' Routledge 2003, page 366.{{pb}}{{harvnb|Kay|1997}}: "The main proponent of this view [that Dorje Shugden is a Buddha] in recent years has been Geshe Kelsang Gyatso who, like many other popular Gelug lamas, stands firmly within the lineage tradition of the highly influential Phabongkha Rinpoche and his disciple Trijang Rinpoche."</ref>

Dorje Shugden is often worshipped as a violent protector, particularly against other traditions, and it was a key tool in Pabongkhapa Rinpoche's persecution of the flourishing [[Rimé movement]], his attempt to forcibly convert [[Nyingma]] Buddhists, and his destruction of artefacts associated with [[Padmasambhava]]. It is therefore associated with repressive Gelug rule among many Tibetans.<ref name="Repressive rule">{{harvnb|Schaik|2011|pp=165–169}}{{pb}}{{harvnb|Kay|1997}}: "...Phabongkha Rinpoche employed repressive measures against Gelug sects. In particular, he destroyed religious artefacts associated with Padmasambhava—who is revered as a 'second Buddha' by Nyingma practitioners—and attempted to forcibly convert Nyingma monasteries to the Gelug position. A key element of Phabongkha Rinpoche's outlook was the cult of the protective deity Dorje Shugden which he employed against other traditions and, thereby, wedded to the idea of Gelug exclusivism."{{pb}}{{harvnb|Kay|2004|p=43}}: "A key element of Phabongkha Rinpoch's outlook was the cult of the protective deity Dorje Shugden, which he married the idea of Gelug exclusivism and employed against other traditions as well as against those within the Gelug who had eclectic tendencies."{{pb}}{{harvnb|Dreyfus|1998}}: "For Pa-bong-ka, particularly at the end of his life, one of the main functions of Gyel-chen Dor-je Shuk-den as Ge-luk protector is the use of violent means (the adamantine force) to protect the Ge-luk tradition [...] This passage clearly presents the goal of the propitiation of Shuk-den as the protection of the Ge-luk tradition through violent means, even including the killing of its enemies [...] Pa-bong-ka takes the references to eliminating the enemies of the Ge-luk tradition as more than stylistic conventions or usual ritual incantations. It may concern the elimination of actual people by the protector."{{pb}}{{harvnb|Dalai Lama|2023}}</ref>

Dorje Shugden worship was especially popular under the Third Trijang Rinpoche, [[Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso]], an ardent advocate for Dorje Shugden for the protector.{{sfn|Hertog|2018}} Both the Dalai Lama and Kelsang Gyatso studied under Trijang Rinpoche, and the Dalai Lama practised Dorje Shugden worship before he fled Tibet in 1959. In the 1970s, after learning about the history of repression and sectarianism attached to Dorje Shugden, the Dalai Lama rejected these practices, and advised other Tibetan Buddhists to do the same, but Kelsang Gyatso objected to this stance.{{sfn|Waterhouse|1997|p=194}}{{sfn|Kay|1997}}{{sfn|Lague|2015}} At odds with most scholars, Kelsang Gyatso also considers Dorje Shugden an enlightened being. Dreyfus says the view that Shugden is enlightened exists only amongst the "most extreme followers of Shukden", and Kay suggests this viewpoint is unique to the New Kadampa Tradition.<ref>Kay, David (2004). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation''. London: RoutledgeCurzon. p. 230.</ref><ref>Dreyfus, Georges (2011). [http://info-buddhism.com/The-Case-Dorje_Shukden-Predicament-of-Evil_Georges_Dreyfus.html "The Predicament of Evil: The Case of Dorje Shukden"] by Georges Dreyfus in ''Deliver Us From Evil,'' p. 74, Editor(s): M. David Eckel, Bradley L. Herling, Boston University Studies in Philosophy and Religion.</ref>

In response to the Dalai Lama's pronouncements, the NKT protested alongside the Shugden Supporters Community (which later became the International Shugden Community), who coordinated protests across Europe that accused the Dalai Lama of religious repression. The NKT was often portrayed by the media as a front for the SSC/ISC, which the NKT strongly denied, although most Western SSC/ISC members were also members of the NKT.<ref>{{harvnb|Kay|1997}}: "For these activities the NKT received harsh criticism and, although they claimed to be separate groups with overlapping interests, the SSC was presented by the media as a front for the NKT to pursue a 'smear campaign' aimed at sabotaging the Dalai Lama's morally impeccable image in the West without implicating itself."{{pb}}{{harvnb|Waterhouse|1997|pp=188–189}}{{pb}}{{harvnb|Pritchard|2015}}</ref><ref name="huffingtonpost.com" /> In 1996, Kelsang Gyatso was formally expelled from the Sera Je Monastery and his geshe degree voided as a result of his support for Dorje Shugden and criticism of the Dalai Lama.<ref name="Expulsion">{{harvnb|Blomfield|2022}}{{pb}}{{harvnb|Sera Je|2017}}</ref>

At the height of the protests, on 4 February 1997, [[Lobsang Gyatso]], the principal of the Buddhist School of Dialectics and a critic of Dorje Shugden worship, and two of his students were murdered in [[Dharmasala]]; [[Interpol]] said the murderers were former monastics and members of the SSC.<ref>{{harvnb|Macartney|2007}}{{pb}}{{harvnb|Lopez|1998a|pp=195–196}}{{pb}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.dalailama.com/messages/dolgyal-shugden/violent-events |title=Violent Events with Images &#124; the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama |access-date=2011-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610153730/http://www.dalailama.com/messages/dolgyal-shugden/violent-events |archive-date=2011-06-10 |url-status=dead }}{{pb}}{{harvnb|Kay|2004|p=212}}</ref> In response, Kelsang Gyatso denied the involvement of any NKT members. He formally withdrew the NKT from the protests in 1998, although NKT members continued to be involved in the ISC.{{sfn|Hay|2015}}{{sfn|Lague|2015}}

In 2015, before the ISC disbanded, Reuters reported that most of its Western members were NKT members who said they were not acting on behalf of the NKT. The Reuters investigation also found members of the ISC had received support and encouragement from the Chinese government, including several monks from the [[Tibetan diaspora]] who were associated with Shugden worship.{{sfn|Lague|2015}}<ref name="huffingtonpost.com">{{Cite web |last=Thurman |first=Robert |last2= |first2= |last3= |last4= |first4= |date=3 November 2014 |title=Concerning the current wave of "protest demonstrations" against His Holiness the Dalai Lama |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dalai-lama-protests-_b_6096576 |access-date=1 October 2025 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Pritchard|2015}} Later, Professor Robert Barnett told ''[[The Observer]]'' that no such evidence existed to implicate protestors in the UK, although he criticised the UK protestors for using practices and methods that paralleled those used by the Chinese authorities.{{sfn|Pritchard|2015}}