About 100 Buddhists clad in the same scarlet robes as the [Dalai Lama] stood outside the Sydney Showground at Homebush chanting “Dalai Lama liar” and waving placards calling for religious freedom while the Tibetan spiritual leader inside preached love and compassion.

“He is a hypocrite, and it’s very sad to say that about a religious leader,” Western Shugden Society spokeswoman Kelsang Pema said. “He is not practising what he preaches. He’s here teaching about love and compassion but he endorses human atrocities, basically.” Ms Pema said the Dalai Lama’s “inflammatory” campaign against a Buddhist deity called Dorje Shugden had resulted in thousands of monks being expelled from monasteries, supporters denied food, medicine and travel visas, families being ostracised and Shugden temples being destroyed. “It’s mainstream Tibetan Buddhism, but he is making us look like an offshoot because he has had a change of heart,” she said. “He has banned a prayer which he himself engaged in for half of his life.”

WHILE adoring crowds met the Dalai Lama in Sydney yesterday for the start of his six-day visit, there was also the predicted rabble of protesters on hand accusing him of being a liar and hypocrite.

But instead of the dissenters being Chinese nationals, the group deriding him were fellow Buddhists with barely an Asian face among them.

About 100 Buddhists clad in the same scarlet robes as the Dalai Lama stood outside the Sydney Showground at Homebush chanting “Dalai Lama liar” and waving placards calling for religious freedom while the Tibetan spiritual leader inside preached love and compassion.

“He is a hypocrite, and it’s very sad to say that about a religious leader,” Western Shugden Society spokeswoman Kelsang Pema said. “He is not practising what he preaches. He’s here teaching about love and compassion but he endorses human atrocities, basically.” Ms Pema said the Dalai Lama’s “inflammatory” campaign against a Buddhist deity called Dorje Shugden had resulted in thousands of monks being expelled from monasteries, supporters denied food, medicine and travel visas, families being ostracised and Shugden temples being destroyed. “It’s mainstream Tibetan Buddhism, but he is making us look like an offshoot because he has had a change of heart,” she said. “He has banned a prayer which he himself engaged in for half of his life.”

The Dalai Lama was greeted by dozens of his followers dressed in ornate traditional Tibetan outfits, and community leader Lobsang Lungtok said his presence would benefit both believers and non-believers.

“His visit helps with wisdom for this country and will raise the quality of life for normal people, particularly with his teachings,” he said.

Kevin Rudd, who is overseas, will not meet the Dalai Lama, leaving the honours to Immigration Minister Chris Evans, although an audience would be physically feasible because the Dalai Lama does not leave Australia until Monday.

Australia Tibet Council campaign co-ordinator Simon Bradshaw said the council was disappointed the Prime Minister would not meet the Dalai Lama after Mr Rudd had previously urged Chinese officials to talk directly with him.

Brendan Nelson, who met the Dalai Lama yesterday afternoon, said it was important for the alternative prime minister to meet with one of the world’s great spiritual leaders.

Journalists and photographers were officially banned from the talk yesterday, where the Dalai Lama sat cross-legged on a multi-coloured throne, surrounded by flowers and ornate tapestries and flanked by dozens of senior and elderly monks.

Thousands of people have paid up to $800 each to attend the five-day retreat at Homebush in western Sydney entitled “Stages of Meditation”.

The lectures take the audience through an ancient Buddhist text by Acharya Kamalashila.

The Dalai Lama spoke in a mixture of English and Tibetan, reverting increasingly to his native tongue as yesterday’s lectures became more complex. He spoke of the self being outside the law of causality and of the different stages of enlightenment.

The lectures were not for the faint hearted, using terms such as “subtle dependent origination of causality and imputation”.

Credit: John Stapleton