22 April 2006
Ganden monastery reopens after Shugden clash
(London Times) Chinese officials have reopened Ganden monastery, the head monastery of the dominant Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. During an incident on 14 February 2006, seventeen monks had reportedly destroyed a statue of Shugden, a Tibetan protective deity linked to sectarian tendencies among the Gelugpa. A fight ensued at Nyangre Khangtsen college, within the monastery. It is unclear whether the disturbance was between monks and security officials or with monks who opposed the destruction of the statue. The monastery was sealed off and the army was sent in. The 17 monks apparently intended to demonstrate loyalty to the Dalai Lama, who has been discouraging the worship of Shugden since 1996 because he believed it to be harmful. Chinese officials said that the monks attacked the figure with a hammer following an alleged statement by the Dalai Lama earlier this year that Tibetans should not worship this deity. Zhang Qingli, the acting secretary of the Communist Party of Tibet, said: "The Dalai Lama violated the believers’ freedom of religion". The authorities then sent in a ‘work team’ with the task of ‘re-educating’ the monks. Officials said that 15 monks had turned themselves in to the police after the attack. Other sources said that two monks had been arrested for their part in the protest. The work team spent 20 days in Ganden, a monastery official told The Times. He said: "Everything is quiet now and they have left recently". Recent visitors to Lhasa have confirmed that the monastery reopened this month.