The world has seen rapid development in the scientific civilization of mankind, but the malignant tumor of evil cults is still rampant, plunging innocent people into the depths of suffering. Evil cults such as the Solar Temple Cult of the United States, the Falun Gong of China and the Movement of the Restoration of God's Ten Commandments of Uganda wantonly preach the fallacy of the End of the World, destroy social stability and jeopardize the lives and property of the public. Such perverse acts have aroused strong indignation of the people and governments of various countries. Many countries have staged a fight against evil cults by enacting legislation and setting up special agencies.
Buddhist doctrine advocates good deeds and extrication from the earthly weal and woe. It has also long been viewing evil cults as the feud of Buddha and maintaining that Buddha and demons do not coexist with each other. The 14th Dalai Lama, who boasts to be a follower of Buddhism and human rights fighter, however not only has no hatred toward evil cults but instead shows a great deal of compassion for them. Isn't it worth pondering the reasons behind this?
Let's first start with the Aum Shinrikyo cult of Japan. The cult leader Shoko Asahara claimed that it was the 14th Dalai Lama who personally led him into the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism and that he could shorten the time needed for one to become a Buddha from 2,000-3,000 years to just 10 years, urging people to ditch the ascetic practices advocated by Buddhism and follow his sect tenets to merrily achieve longevity and even to become a Buddha. The 14th Dalai Lama kept writing certificates or letters of recommendation for Shoko Asahara to the authorities of Tokyo, hailing Shoko Asahara as a very capable religious teacher and hoping the authorities would allow the Aum Shinrikyo sect to be exempted from tax payments and propagandize its credo. The German weekly Focus reported that without the support of the 14th Dalai Lama, it would have been absolutely impossible for Shoko Asahara to build up his sect empire and, within a short period of very few years, gain status as a cult leader in Japan. In other words, it is the 14th Dalai Lama's all-out support that turned Shoko Asahara, a swindler and a mountebank, into a religious teacher.
It was because of the 14th Dalai Lama who persistently supported and trumpeted Shoko Asahara that the Aum Shinrikyo cult could acquire the privilege of tax exemption and accumulated funds to bankroll his cruel evil doing against the Japanese people. In the spring of 1995, Shoko Asahara organized a terrorist attack by discharging poisonous gas in Tokyo's subway, killing 12 people and injuring 5,000 others. The event sparked indignation from the Japanese people. In October of the same year, Shoko Asahara and his die-hard followers stood public trial in a local court in Tokyo and were punished in line with the laws.
Even at this time, the 14th Dalai Lama who claims to be a human rights fighter told the Kyodo News Service that Shoko Asahara remained his friend and he still thought what the Aum Shinrikyo cult preached was in accordance with Buddhist doctrines. It was the support and connivance of the 14th Dalai Lama who took the foe for his friend that made Shoko Asahara feel secure in the knowledge that he had strong backing. The cult continued to do evil under the guise of constantly changed names and leaders. Eventually in 1999, the Japanese Senate completed legislative procedures against evil cults including the Aum Shinrikyo. The Tokyo authorities also took a number of measures to crack down on the leaders of the evil cult.
Why would the 14th Dalai Lama openly violate the teachings of Sakyamuni that urge his followers to get rid of demons and uphold truth and laws to favor Aum Shinrikyo? Why would he flout the tenets of Buddhism urging the masses not to do evil but to do good deeds? The 14th Dalai Lama wrote a letter to the cult, appreciating the Aum Shinrikyo sect for its generous donation to our Buddhist collective in exile. It turned out to be that the leader had even bartered away the sacred tenet of Buddhism as a cheap bargaining chip in money deals.
It is the 14th Dalai Lama's own deeds that have step by step betrayed his real intentions and political ambitions under the guise of Buddhism and peace. A weekly newspaper in Manila commented it was a pity that the 14th Dalai Lama wore the cassock of a lama but played political tricks, spoke of the pursuit of freedom through peaceful means but harbored in mind the vain attempt of restoring the past feudal rule of Lamaism. Even Catholic senator P. Santorum of the United States could not help exclaiming that such conduct reflected a subdued religious sentiment. He held that to establish a society respecting life, cracking down on crime, and promoting the dignity of mankind, efforts must be made to prevent religion from being individualized. It appears that many people of insight across the world have recognized the tricks of the 14th Dalai Lama in using Tibetan Buddhism to engage in political activities and have stayed on high alert and repulsed the deeds of the Dalai Lama.
Let's now have a look at the 14th Dalai Lama's attitude toward China's evil cult Falun Gong. Cult leader Li Hongzhi of Falun Gong took religion as a pretence, trampled upon religious doctrines and thus invited indignation, reprimand and stern objection from religious circles. They said that Li Hongzhi had blasphemed Buddhism by fabricating his birthday from July 1952 to May 13, 1951, the date on which Sakyamuni was believed to be born. His attempt to pass himself off as the reincarnation of Sakyamuni and his bragging about getting true knowledge from Sakyamuni and thus being more powerful than Sakyamuni was an extreme blasphemy to Buddhism, they said. However, even such an evil cult leader who is denounced by many people and had to flee abroad to escape punishment, secured compassion and admiration from the 14th Dalai Lama. The latter first dispatched his representative to comfort Li Hongzhi and then sent over his representatives to conspire with Li Hongzhi and staged various farces at the time when the 56th World Human Rights Conference was held in Geneva, stopping at nothing to spread lies and rumors and to trumpet anti-China bills.
As one Chinese saying goes: Birds of a feather flock together. The real reason for the collusion of the 14th Dalai Lama and Li Hongzhi are their shared situation. They are both in exile after their illegal acts to subvert the Chinese government and the Chinese people ended in constant failures under the august Chinese Constitution and laws. Shared nature: they are both not resigned to failures and attempt to hoodwink and manipulate their few domestic followers to carry on making trouble and to hold back the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; Shared intention: they are both hostile to their motherland and regard the 1.3 million Chinese as enemies, dreaming a pipe dream of returning to China, with the support of their masters, to materialize their evil objective of splitting China. Imagine the 14th Dalai Lama, the self-proclaimed religious leader, even condescended to associate with Li Hongzhi who has been labeled by the United International World Buddhism Association Headquarters as a preacher of evil cults and a swindler. This obviously shows that the 14th Dalai Lama has cornered himself into a dead end.
(Xinhua, October 10, 2007)
