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The Western Shugden Society (or WSS) is a group of westerners who advocate Dorje Shugden.

Addressing the claims of the WSS, Tibet scholar Robert Barnett of Columbia University states that "ID cards are not given out by the Tibetan government in exile, but by the Indian authorities". According to Barnett:

I also made it clear that the Western Shugden group's allegations are problematic: they are akin to attacking the Pope because some lay Catholics somewhere abuse non-believers or heretics. The Western Shugden Group is severely lacking in credibility, since its form of spirit-worship is heterodox, provocative and highly sectarian in Buddhist terms and so more than likely to be banned from mainstream monasteries – while its claimed concerns about cases of discrimination in India should be addressed by working within the Tibetan community instead of opportunistically attacking the Dalai Lama in order to provoke misinformed publicity for their sect.”

John Makransky about the cross-cultural confusion in the Dorje Shugden issue:

A stunning recent example of this: some Tibetan monks who now introduce Westerners to practices centred on a native Tibetan deity, without informing them that one of its primary functions has been to assert hegemony over rival sects! The current Dalai Lama, seeking to combat the ancient, virulent sectarianisms operative in such quarters, has strongly discouraged the worship of the “protector” deity known as Dorje Shugden, because one of its functions has been to force conformity to the dGe lugs pa sect (with which the Dalai Lama himself is most closely associated) and to assert power over competing sects. Western followers of a few dGe lugs pa monks who worship that deity, lacking any critical awareness of its sectarian functions in Tibet, have recently followed the Dalai Lama to his speaking engagements to protest his strong stance (for non-sectarianism) in the name of their “religious freedom” to promulgate, now in the West, an embodiment of Tibetan sectarianism. If it were not so harmful to persons and traditions, this would surely be one of the funniest examples of the cross-cultural confusion that lack of critical reflection continues to create.

The German Buddhist Monastic Association (DBO) formally dissociates itself from the protests against the Dalai Lama, and points out that the protesters are not Buddhist monks and nuns according to the Buddha’s teachings (Vinaya), that "their behaviour in public represents neither the Buddha nor his teachings (Dharma) nor the Buddhist community (Sangha)" and that

Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and centers as well as the practitioners themselves are free to decide whether or not they will follow the Dalai Lama’s advice. And a majority among them have spoken out against a controversial practice such as that of the organized followers of Shugden that causes disharmony and depreciates other religious communities.

The DBO also states that the Western Shugden Society as well as the newly founded International Shugden Community (ICS) are both front organisations of the New Kadampa Tradition – an "organisation (that) is marked by rigid, sectarian structures, with Kelsang Gyatso as its intangible and sole ruler." In a brief supplement to the statement the DBO corrects propagated assertions of the Western Shugden Society / International Shugden Community (ICS).

Nathan W. Hill, Lecturer in Tibetan and Linguistics at London University SOAS’ (School of Oriental and African Studies), stated about the accusations by the pro-Shugden side that the Dalai Lama would suppress freedom of religion.

This accusation makes no sense … the Dalai Lama is not head of any state; he has no military or police at his command; he has no political jurisdiction over which he can exercise suppression. Some members of the Gelug sect left the authority of the Dalai Lama in order to follow what they see as a purer form of religion. These people may not be very popular in other parts of the Gelug sect, but their human rights have not been violated nor their freedoms suppressed; even if some people did want to suppress or silence the pro-Shugen side, they simply have no means of doing so,” Dr Hill concludes.

See also

• Dorje Shugden controversy
• Cult

References

1. ^ Tibet scholar denies making Time magazine Shugden comment, 2008-07-23, retrieved 2009-10-31.
2. Makransky, John (2000). Buddhist Theology: Critical Reflections by Contemporary Buddhist Scholars, John J. Makransky, Roger Reid Jackson, p. 20, in Introduction to Contemporary Academic Buddhist Theology; Its emergence and rationale)
3. "Statement of the Deutsche Buddhistische Ordensgemeinschaft (DBO, German Buddhist Monastic Association) on the Protests against the Dalai Lama by the International Shugden Community (ISC), May 1st, 2014, http://buddhistische-ordensgemeinschaft.de/dbo_statement-shugden-protests-Dalai-Lama.htm
4. "Supplement to the statement of the German Buddhist monastic community (DBO) on the protests against His Holiness the Dalai Lama by the International Shugden Community (ISC), May 1st, 2014, http://buddhistische-ordensgemeinschaft.de/dbo_statement-shugden-protests-Dalai-Lama.htm#ESN
5. Distance from Dalai Lama protests among differing opinions, May 8th, 2014, http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/distance-from-dalai-lama-protests-among-differing-opinions/

• Tibetan Buddhism
• Politics of Tibet
• Buddhism-related controversies
• Tibetan Buddhist organizations
• New Kadampa Tradition