I've blogged about this controversy twice before. To catch up, I recommend reading these two posts before continuing:

• Dalai Lama = "Religious Dictator"?
• Dalai Lama: Compromised By Politics?
  

I also highly recommend this short (10 minute) documentary on the Dorje Shugden issue: People & Power - The Dalai Lama.

While poking around in the New York Times archives, looking for mainstream coverage of the Dalai Lama/Dorje Shugden controversy, I found a link to a lengthy article in Himal Southasian. The article seems to have vanished from their site, but an old copy is still available in the Internet Archive.

This article offers detailed and very neutral background on the issue at hand. I'd like to start with one excerpt:

There might have been no story if the advice the Dalai Lama did give regarding non- worship of Shugden had not been taken up too zealously by some Tibetans. Taking the cue from the Dalai Lama’s statement that those who worship Shugden should best dissociate from him, some enthusiastic followers including those in the Tibetan Youth Congress are said to have gone around monasteries in India demanding that monks pledge loyalty to the Dalai Lama.

My big problem with this whole controversy is not so much that the Dalai Lama told his followers to stop practicing worship of Shugden. My problem is threefold:

1. The Dalai Lama has two incompatible roles: political leader and religious leader.
2. When violence broke out as a result of his words and actions, the Dalai Lama (apparently) said nothing to discourage his followers from taking things too far.
3. This controversy is virtually never brought up in serious documentaries or biographies of the Dalai Lama, even though it represents a violation of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see Article 18, especially). Supposedly, Americans and other Western peoples believe in free expression and freedom of religion, and yet the West remains almost entirely silent on this conflict
   

I think it's perfectly acceptable for the Dalai Lama to say he does not want to teach people who practice a belief he feels is harmful. That's fine, and that's his right as a teacher or religious authority. But when other people take it too far, I feel it is his duty as a leader to discourage them from fanning the flames of separation and violence. I haven't seen any indication that he has done that. The article goes into some detail as to why he has not, and why he perhaps cannot:

Buddhism in Tibet is a continuous history of power struggles. It was fostered mainly by the evolution of the religion into different schools of teachings with each claiming superiority over the others...

The present Shugden controversy is a legacy of this history of sectarian confrontation within and outside Tibet.

From this description, it sounds like the split in Tibetan Buddhism is rather like Democrats vs. Republicans here in America. Democrats and Republicans can't even agree on how to bring the greatest benefit to Americans, so how could different leaders in Tibet agree on how to bring the greatest benefit to all beings, seen and unseen? That is the goal of Tibetan Buddhism, after all. I certainly wish the Dalai Lama had at least made a show of trying to heal this split, though.

I can't hope to go into all the details of this issue. Read the whole article for that! I may not write on this controversy again, but I want to leave you with a few finishing thoughts:

• This is clearly a problem with deep historical, religious, and political roots in Tibetan society. Despite our fuzzy and warm views of the Dalai Lama and Tibet, the Dorje Shugden issue is not as simple as it appears.
• We need to recognize that the Dalai Lama, like any public figure of great reputation and authority, should never be blindly trusted or taken at face value. This is especially true for those of us who live outside his culture and are not privy to first-hand knowledge of what really goes on.
  
• I feel deeply disappointed that Buddhists, of all people, get so caught up in this that they resort to violence or slander. Friends, remember that we live in Samsara! Nothing is perfect here -- not the Dalai Lama, not Tibet, not every element of the human sangha. Take refuge in the Three Jewels, cultivate your practice and your wisdom, and keep to your vows of universal compassion. All beings need compassion, whether you agree with their views or not.