Oh, that's a misreporting of what the Dalai Lama says.
TL:DR It's an internal matter in Tibetan religious politics about matters that are technical and hard for Westerners to understand. It's of no relevance to any other religions. And even in Tibetan Buddhism he is only advising people who come to his own "transmissions" and not those who attend other teachers' transmissions.
First, to understand what it is all about you need to know about the Tibetan idea of transmissions (which doesn't occur in other branches of Buddhism in the same form). It's a kind of a blessing really, but there is more to it than blessings as we are used to it in Christianity.
The thing is that he is lineage holder for various "transmissions" that Tibetan Buddhists think help you to connect to compassion, wisdom and so forth. It's basically a type of poetry, with visual images also. But they think that you can make a stronger connection if you get a direct "transmission" of this poetry from someone who is a lineage holder. It's a little bit like the Zen idea of koans. We find it hard to relate to this, but the thing is that in Buddhist teaching there are various truths you have to see for yourself, and can't just learn from books, no matter how learned. So the process of seeing these truths, opening out to compassion and wisdom, can be helped, they think, if you have these direct personal connections with a teacher who has been entrusted with the lineage of this particular poetry. Which basically goes back to some particular teacher who, perhaps centuries ago, or perhaps more recently, wrote down this inspirational poem and taught it to his students.
So - that sort of explains transmissions, to some extent anyway. And it's always been traditional that teachers can choose who to pass these transmissions on to. For instance they may feel that only some of their students are able to connect to it. Maybe others don't even need it. The transmissions are like a kind of a medicine. You wouldn't give the medicine for diabetes to a patient who is suffering from a serious heart condition, say. In the same way, a koan, or a poem, or transmission of a visual form, may be of great benefit to some students, and of no help or even harmful to others.
They also think you need a connection with a teacher to practice these transmissions. Might be told, e.g., to recite this special poem in meditation once a day for the rest of your life. And maybe to think or visualize certain things as you do so.
If you feel it is "you" doing this practice, then it can become like a big trophy, that you think it's you doing everything. To work properly, you need to feel that it is coming from outside of yourself. So you need instruction of a teacher, who tells you what to do. It doesn't even matter that much who it is, but you have to have a good connection with them, so that you have a feeling of connecting through someone else to something vast that is other than yourself. You can do this without a teacher, but this is rare. Buddha did of course.
Now what the Dalai Lama gives in these big mass empowerments to lots of people - obviously can't have this personal connection to everyone. It is more like a blessing, which gives you a connection to the possibility of some day in the future working directly with compassion, wisdom, or whatever it is about.
There is no kind of a commitment at all if you attend a mass transmission like this. Even if he were to say you have to do this practice every day for the rest of your life - without that connection of him as your personal teacher, there is no commitment at all.
You can quite rightly and properly ignore such instructions in Tibetan Buddhism, unless you have entered into this special relationship with a teacher, which is very rare. Many Westerners who think they have entered into a guru pupil relationship haven't really.
So then the other thing to know is that there are four (some say six) main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Buddha taught that we should receive teachings from anyone we find inspiring, including other religions.
Most Tibetan Buddhists who are seriously into meditation etc will follow the teachings of only one of these schools. It is just too bewildering for the average Joe to try following several at once. However some unusual people are able to follow all four schools simultaneously. The Dalai Lama does this. And so do a few other Tibetan Lamas. Even though the schools say contradictory things, still, somehow, they are able to handle this no problem.
Anyone can have inspiration from any of the schools. But I'm talking here about following them deeply, and even as in the Dalai Lama's case, becoming a lineage holder for their most esoteric teachings, in all four schools.
So far, so good.
However one teacher in one branch of Buddhism has introduced a new teaching. He says that his followers can only follow practices in the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. He has even said that the Dalai Lama should only practice in the Gelugpa school and should drop all the other traditions he is following. He calls the Dalai Lama a "false Dalai Lama" because he follows these teachings in the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Ignoring the fact that earlier rebirths of the Dalai Lama also practiced in more than one school simultaneously. And ignoring the Buddha's teachings on receiving teachings from anyone you find inspiring.
He is trying to protect his students from the confusion of receiving instructions that say different things from different people perhaps - but this has never been an element of the Buddha's teachings.
This is presented as the instructions from a particular inspiring figure described in a poem. It's like - he's found a poem which has this as the instructions, which is inspiring him and all his followers to say these things, and then to be very hostile to the present day Dalai Lama because he continues to do the practices in other schools.
It's not hostile to members of other schools. And indeed the Sakyas even practice this very same poem without any problem. It is particularly directed towards other Gelugpas who, according to this poem, and this recent interpretation of it, should only follow Gelugpa practices and no other practices.
These poems they pass on as "transmissions" can be very powerful in their effect on the mind. And the way that Tibetans understand this is that the good ones are the manifestations of enlightened qualities working in the mind. But the bad ones, that lead people astray, they call the work of powerful "spirits".
So, the Dalai Lama when he says they are following a worldly spirit, rather than a manifestation of enlightenment - essentially he is saying they are getting stirred up by poetry that is harmful in inspiration. If you don't believe in spirits - and there is no need as a Buddhist to believe in them - that may be the best way to understand it.
He used to practice this particular poem himself. But when he discovered its implications (which aren't at all obvious apparently) he immediately stopped practicing it and advised everyone else that he thought it would be good if they stopped practicing it also.
So, the latest development is that he says he doesn't want anyone who follows this particular poem as their main inspiration to attend any of his mass empowerments. He doesn't think they are suitable people to receive his transmissions unless they first give up this practice.
As the teacher giving this empowerment, he is totally within his rights to do so.
However he can't , and doesn't, say anything about what other Tibetan Buddhists do. Even other Gelugpas. There is no Buddhist pope and nobody can tell others what to do in that way.
He just advises them that he thinks this practice is harmful. He has also said that he thinks that doing this practice will shorten his lifespan. Which for most Tibetans is a strong incentive not to do it.
I hope this helps. This is a very imperfect summary. I don't know much about it as surely is clear.
But basically it is Tibetan internal religious politics which can sometimes get complicated and hard for outsiders to understand.
It's not got anything to do with any other religion, or any other branch of Buddhism either.
And it's a shame that so many Westerners have got caught up in the dispute. There is no way they can hope to fully understand what it is about.
There is some speculation that this may be partly the work of the Chinese. The suggestion is that they have siezed on this division in Tibetan Buddhism and are supporting those who have this "anti-Dalai Lama" stance. I don't know what truth there is in that, if any.
I was actually one of the students of the teacher concerned, many years ago, in the late 1970s. But moved on to someone else long before he developed this interpretation, and never did the practice or even heard about it. He and his students, back then,in many teachings, helped introduce me to the basic Buddhist teachings of compassion and wisdom and for that I am endlessly grateful. But I am totally bemused by this development. Luckily I am no longer a student of him and no longer have any connections with them, or I don't know what I'd have done.
TL:DR It's an internal matter in Tibetan religious politics about matters that are technical and hard for Westerners to understand. It's of no relevance to any other religions. And even in Tibetan Buddhism he is only advising people who come to his own "transmissions" and not those who attend other teachers' transmissions.
WHAT IS A "TRANSMISSION"? - LIKE A POEM WITH A BLESSING ASSOCIATED - OR A KOAN
First, to understand what it is all about you need to know about the Tibetan idea of transmissions (which doesn't occur in other branches of Buddhism in the same form). It's a kind of a blessing really, but there is more to it than blessings as we are used to it in Christianity.
The thing is that he is lineage holder for various "transmissions" that Tibetan Buddhists think help you to connect to compassion, wisdom and so forth. It's basically a type of poetry, with visual images also. But they think that you can make a stronger connection if you get a direct "transmission" of this poetry from someone who is a lineage holder. It's a little bit like the Zen idea of koans. We find it hard to relate to this, but the thing is that in Buddhist teaching there are various truths you have to see for yourself, and can't just learn from books, no matter how learned. So the process of seeing these truths, opening out to compassion and wisdom, can be helped, they think, if you have these direct personal connections with a teacher who has been entrusted with the lineage of this particular poetry. Which basically goes back to some particular teacher who, perhaps centuries ago, or perhaps more recently, wrote down this inspirational poem and taught it to his students.
TEACHERS CAN CHOOSE WHO TO GIVE THESE POETRY TRANSMISSIONS TO
So - that sort of explains transmissions, to some extent anyway. And it's always been traditional that teachers can choose who to pass these transmissions on to. For instance they may feel that only some of their students are able to connect to it. Maybe others don't even need it. The transmissions are like a kind of a medicine. You wouldn't give the medicine for diabetes to a patient who is suffering from a serious heart condition, say. In the same way, a koan, or a poem, or transmission of a visual form, may be of great benefit to some students, and of no help or even harmful to others.
They also think you need a connection with a teacher to practice these transmissions. Might be told, e.g., to recite this special poem in meditation once a day for the rest of your life. And maybe to think or visualize certain things as you do so.
If you feel it is "you" doing this practice, then it can become like a big trophy, that you think it's you doing everything. To work properly, you need to feel that it is coming from outside of yourself. So you need instruction of a teacher, who tells you what to do. It doesn't even matter that much who it is, but you have to have a good connection with them, so that you have a feeling of connecting through someone else to something vast that is other than yourself. You can do this without a teacher, but this is rare. Buddha did of course.
MASS "EMPOWERMENTS"
Now what the Dalai Lama gives in these big mass empowerments to lots of people - obviously can't have this personal connection to everyone. It is more like a blessing, which gives you a connection to the possibility of some day in the future working directly with compassion, wisdom, or whatever it is about.
There is no kind of a commitment at all if you attend a mass transmission like this. Even if he were to say you have to do this practice every day for the rest of your life - without that connection of him as your personal teacher, there is no commitment at all.
You can quite rightly and properly ignore such instructions in Tibetan Buddhism, unless you have entered into this special relationship with a teacher, which is very rare. Many Westerners who think they have entered into a guru pupil relationship haven't really.
SCHOOLS OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM
So then the other thing to know is that there are four (some say six) main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Buddha taught that we should receive teachings from anyone we find inspiring, including other religions.
Most Tibetan Buddhists who are seriously into meditation etc will follow the teachings of only one of these schools. It is just too bewildering for the average Joe to try following several at once. However some unusual people are able to follow all four schools simultaneously. The Dalai Lama does this. And so do a few other Tibetan Lamas. Even though the schools say contradictory things, still, somehow, they are able to handle this no problem.
Anyone can have inspiration from any of the schools. But I'm talking here about following them deeply, and even as in the Dalai Lama's case, becoming a lineage holder for their most esoteric teachings, in all four schools.
So far, so good.
NEW TEACHING - FOR GELUGPAS ONLY - BY ONE PARTICULAR TEACHER
However one teacher in one branch of Buddhism has introduced a new teaching. He says that his followers can only follow practices in the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. He has even said that the Dalai Lama should only practice in the Gelugpa school and should drop all the other traditions he is following. He calls the Dalai Lama a "false Dalai Lama" because he follows these teachings in the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Ignoring the fact that earlier rebirths of the Dalai Lama also practiced in more than one school simultaneously. And ignoring the Buddha's teachings on receiving teachings from anyone you find inspiring.
He is trying to protect his students from the confusion of receiving instructions that say different things from different people perhaps - but this has never been an element of the Buddha's teachings.
This is presented as the instructions from a particular inspiring figure described in a poem. It's like - he's found a poem which has this as the instructions, which is inspiring him and all his followers to say these things, and then to be very hostile to the present day Dalai Lama because he continues to do the practices in other schools.
It's not hostile to members of other schools. And indeed the Sakyas even practice this very same poem without any problem. It is particularly directed towards other Gelugpas who, according to this poem, and this recent interpretation of it, should only follow Gelugpa practices and no other practices.
These poems they pass on as "transmissions" can be very powerful in their effect on the mind. And the way that Tibetans understand this is that the good ones are the manifestations of enlightened qualities working in the mind. But the bad ones, that lead people astray, they call the work of powerful "spirits".
DALAI LAMA'S RESPONSE TO THIS DEVELOPMENT
So, the Dalai Lama when he says they are following a worldly spirit, rather than a manifestation of enlightenment - essentially he is saying they are getting stirred up by poetry that is harmful in inspiration. If you don't believe in spirits - and there is no need as a Buddhist to believe in them - that may be the best way to understand it.
He used to practice this particular poem himself. But when he discovered its implications (which aren't at all obvious apparently) he immediately stopped practicing it and advised everyone else that he thought it would be good if they stopped practicing it also.
So, the latest development is that he says he doesn't want anyone who follows this particular poem as their main inspiration to attend any of his mass empowerments. He doesn't think they are suitable people to receive his transmissions unless they first give up this practice.
As the teacher giving this empowerment, he is totally within his rights to do so.
However he can't , and doesn't, say anything about what other Tibetan Buddhists do. Even other Gelugpas. There is no Buddhist pope and nobody can tell others what to do in that way.
He just advises them that he thinks this practice is harmful. He has also said that he thinks that doing this practice will shorten his lifespan. Which for most Tibetans is a strong incentive not to do it.
I hope this helps. This is a very imperfect summary. I don't know much about it as surely is clear.
BASICALLY IT IS INTERNAL TIBETAN RELIGIOUS POLITICS
But basically it is Tibetan internal religious politics which can sometimes get complicated and hard for outsiders to understand.
It's not got anything to do with any other religion, or any other branch of Buddhism either.
And it's a shame that so many Westerners have got caught up in the dispute. There is no way they can hope to fully understand what it is about.
There is some speculation that this may be partly the work of the Chinese. The suggestion is that they have siezed on this division in Tibetan Buddhism and are supporting those who have this "anti-Dalai Lama" stance. I don't know what truth there is in that, if any.
I was actually one of the students of the teacher concerned, many years ago, in the late 1970s. But moved on to someone else long before he developed this interpretation, and never did the practice or even heard about it. He and his students, back then,in many teachings, helped introduce me to the basic Buddhist teachings of compassion and wisdom and for that I am endlessly grateful. But I am totally bemused by this development. Luckily I am no longer a student of him and no longer have any connections with them, or I don't know what I'd have done.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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