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By: Karmo Tsomo

Bhutan is no ordinary place. A modern-day Shangri-La shrouded in magic and mystery, this is the last of the great Himalayan kingdoms, a place where modernity is embraced alongside traditional Buddhist culture. Known all over the world for its sustainable approach to tourism focused on “low-volume” but “high-value”, the country prides itself for its philosophy of “Gross National Happiness”, placing emphasis on citizens’ wellbeing rather than material indulgences.

The result is a country full of juxtapositions, from Buddhist monks with smartphones, to provocative images etched on the sides of sacred monasteries. Nevertheless, contrary to how it is portrayed for its upkeep of traditional Buddhist values, Bhutan is not a mere museum piece. The Bhutanese are highly educated, well-informed about the world and are extremely fun-loving. It is this very blend of the modern and the ancient that makes the country endlessly fascinating.

Legendary Beginnings

Bhutan’s snow-capped peaks tower above deep and shadowy gorges cloaked in primeval forests. Dotted along this stunning Himalayan landscape are formidable dzongs or fortress monasteries, reminders of how the Bhutanese have made this incredible land their home for centuries. It is no wonder that Bhutan is the land of legends.

Bhutan is known around the world for its beautiful landscapes, from lush green forests to snow-capped mountains dotted with Buddhist temples and fortress dzongs.

And legend has it that the great and powerful Indian tantric adept, Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava, saved King Sindhu Raja of Bumthang from being possessed by a vicious demon spirit. He exorcised this demon, captured it and bound it by oath never to harm others and instead support the practice of Buddhism. By manifesting his extraordinary powers, Guru Rinpoche also converted both the king and his rival to the peaceful Buddhist religion, thereby ending years of strife and restoring peace to the land of what is today known as Bhutan.

On Guru Rinpoche’s second visit to Bhutan, he traversed the districts of Bumthang, Mongar and Lhuentse on his return from Tibet where he had subdued hordes of demons and spirits obstructing the great Abbot Santarakshita from establishing Buddhism there. King Trisong Detsen had invited Guru Rinpoche to Tibet to save Santarakshita’s work from being destroyed by the likes of Pehar (now known as Nechung). Thanks to Guru Rinpoche’s subjugation of the negative interferences, Santarakshita was able to complete the construction of Samye Monastery and establish the order of ordained Sangha there.

While doing all this, Guru Rinpoche left his body print and an impression of his head with a hat in the rocks at Gom Kora, Bhutan. Taking on the form of Dorje Dragpo (one of Guru Rinpoche’s eight primary manifestations) he also flew to Taktsang in Paro on a tigress surrounded by the flames of his wisdom. And it was this event that gave the world-famous Taktsang Monastery its colloquial moniker “Tiger’s Nest”.

Guru Rinpoche later visited Bhutan again, his third visit being during the reign of Muthri Tsenpo (764 – 817 CE), the son of Tibetan King Trisong Detsen. Since then, a host of enlightened beings have empowered the landscape with their holy presence and built Bhutan as a Buddhist kingdom which survives until today.

The Bhutanese landscape is intrinsically linked with Guru Rinpoche, an enlightened Indian tantric adept who visited the country thrice and blessed the land. Here we see a giant statue of the master in the Lhuentse district.

The Bhutanese Identity

By the 16^th century however, the kingdom had fallen into political disarray, with local chieftains controlling various territories and engaging in petty feuds. It was during this period that Bhutan’s complex history with Tibet began.

The arrival of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594-1651 CE) of the Drukpa Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism was to change the fate of Bhutan forever. At just eight years old, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal received the layman vows from Mipham Chogyal and was given the name Ngawang Namgyal. He went on to receive teachings from esteemed masters of the time, covering not only teachings from the Drukpa Kagyu lineage but also the Nyingma, Sakya, Gelug and other Kagyu traditions as well. He was also the abbot-prince of Ralung Monastery.

At the age of 12, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was recognized as the reincarnation of Kunkhyen Pema Karpo, the 4^th Gyalwang Drukpa, or supreme head of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage. The Gyalwang Drukpas are actually considered to be emanations of Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. He was enthroned at Ralung Monastery at the age of 13 and received the name Drukpa Ngawang Tenzin Namgyal Jigme Drakpa.

Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the founder of Bhutan and the great master who spread the sacred Drukpa Kagyu lineage in the country.

However, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was not the only recognized reincarnation of Kunkhyen Pema Karpo. There was another candidate, known as Gyalwa Pagsam Wangpo, and this led to disharmony not only within the monastery but also within the Drukpa Kagyu tradition. Gyalwa Pagsam Wangpo eventually earned the favor of the King of Tsang and was enthroned as the 5^th Gyalwang Drukpa. Fearing persecution from the King of Tsang, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal decided to flee Tibet.

Receiving signs from the Dharma Protector Yeshe Gonpo (the Wisdom Mahakala) in the form of a raven, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was directed south to Bhutan. Arriving in what is now Bumdeling in eastern Bhutan, in 1616, he established Cheri Monastery, also known as Chagri Dorjeden Monastery. Three years later, he entered solitary retreat in a cave near Cheri where he manifested tremendous spiritual realizations. At the age of 40, he received full monastic ordination.

After establishing Palpungthang Dewa Chenpo Dharma Gandro in 1637, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal become an exalted leader, both spiritually and in secular terms. In fact, he successfully established a system of dzongs, or fortress monasteries, to protect the Bhutanese from marauding Tibetans bent on conquering new lands. The first of these, Simtokha Dzong, even housed a monastic body and administrative facilities. Combining civil, religious and defensive functions, it became the model for all later dzongs in Bhutan.

Simtokha Dzong in the present days

In establishing an order of Buddhist Sangha in Bhutan, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal commenced the construction of many monasteries and when Punakha Dzong was completed in 1653 CE, two years after his passing, the Sangha were relocated there. It became the dratsang (central monastic body) for Bhutan, headed by the supreme abbot known as the Je Khenpo.

Realizing a need for the Bhutanese to preserve their own culture and identity embellished with the Buddhist religion, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal created a spectrum of unique customs, traditions, ceremonies and rituals in a deliberate attempt to develop a distinctive Bhutanese identity that has since come to be beloved and celebrated by its people. This included not only the codification of the Drukpa Kagyu teachings into a distinctively Bhutanese system, but also the adoption of a national dress and the celebration of new festivals. It was through his foresight and immense efforts that the current nation of Bhutan as we know it was born. He also successfully built good relations with the neighboring kingdoms of Nepal, Cooch Behar and Ladakh, thus securing the Bhutanese kingdom’s status as a sovereign state.

Punakha Dzong

The Rise of Kings

By the late 1800s, as things would have it, Bhutan was once again in the throes of political turmoil although the positions created by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal of Druk Desi (secular ruler) and Je Khenpo (spiritual leader) still had sway with the people. It was the shrewd 51^st desi, Jigme Namgyal who installed his 17-year-old son Ugyen Wangchuk as the penlop (governer) of Paro. This move was to change the history of Bhutan forever.

First King: Druk Gyalpo Ugyen Wangchuk

Druk Gyalpo Ugyen Wangchuk, the first king of Bhutan.

At the age of 20, Ugyen Wangchuk was also installed as the penlop of Trongsa, giving him more influence than the new desi. When fights broke out between various dzong leaders from around the country, he tried to mediate. However during the conflict, some of these leaders were either killed or they fled to Tibet. In the aftermath, Ugyen Wangchuk providentially emerged as the most powerful figure in the country.

With the death of the desi, Ugyen Wangchuk was elected the hereditary leader of Bhutan through a unanimous vote of Bhutan’s highest Buddhist lamas and secular chieftains. He was enthroned with the title Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) on 17^th December 1907.

Second King: Druk Gyalpo Jigme Wangchuk

Druk Gyalpo Jigme Wangchuk, the second king of Bhutan.

Ugyen Wangchuk was succeeded by his 24-year-old son, Jigme Wangchuk, when he died in 1926. Though King Jigme Wangchuk reigned during the Second World War, Bhutan was unaffected due to its policy of isolationism. During this time, King Jigme Wangchuk successfully brought the entire country under his control through refining the nation’s administrative processes and economic systems.

In 1947, India gained independence from Britain and signed a landmark agreement with King Jigme Wangchuk. This treaty asserted Bhutan’s authority as a sovereign nation state and marked the beginning of very strong relations between the two countries. India also vowed never to interfere with Bhutan’s internal affairs, while Bhutan asked India to guide its external policies in order to build international relations.

Third King: Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuk

Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, the third king of Bhutan.

King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk succeeded his father to the throne of Bhutan in 1952. Having been educated in both India and England, he was a formidable statesman and spoke fluent Hindi, English and Tibetan as well as his native Bhutanese. In order to build closer relations with India, he invited the then-Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his daughter Indira Gandhi to Bhutan in 1958.

As the Chinese Cultural Revolution spread to Tibet in 1959, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk realized that the Bhutanese policy of isolationism was no longer appropriate in the 20^th century and he strove to make Bhutan a member of the larger world community. In 1961, he ended Bhutan’s self-imposed isolation and started a five-year program of development that propelled Bhutan into the modern world. In 1962, Bhutan joined the Colombo Plan, giving it access to technical assistance and training from other member countries throughout Southeast Asia. Improved relations with India also led to the financing of the Chhukha hydroelectric project in western Bhutan. In 1969, Bhutan joined the Universal Postal Union and became a member of the United Nations in 1971.

King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk’s achievements were also equally impressive on the home front. He established a High Court, created the Royal Bhutan Army and police forces, and abolished serfdom throughout the country. Another of his greatest achievements was the creation of the National Assembly known as the Tshogdu, and the implementation of a 12-volume code of law. All the while, the king emphasized the need to preserve Bhutanese culture and tradition.

Fourth King: Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuk

The fourth king of Bhutan, Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuk (right), crowning his son, Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk (left) as the fifth king of Bhutan.

King Jigme Singye Wangchuk assumed the throne at the age of 16 when his father passed away at the age of 44. Similar to his father, he received his education in both India and England. He also studied at the Ugyen Wangchuk Academy in Paro.

Continuing his father’s legacy, he dramatically advanced the modernization process in Bhutan. Making use of Bhutan’s three special circumstances – a small population, a large land mass, and the country’s rich natural resources – he strove to achieve economic self-reliance.

It was King Jigme Singye Wangchuk who implemented the now-famous philosophy of Gross National Happiness. Rather than just a measurement of a person’s individual happiness, this philosophy encompasses criteria to measure development projects and progress in terms related to the greater good of society at large. This in turn feeds back into an individual’s sustainable level of happiness.

He was also the first king to invite foreign press to the country’s capital, Thimphu. A total of 287 guests were invited and many new facilities such as hotels were built to accommodate them. These hotels have since become the basis for the development of tourism in Bhutan, which is one of the industries the country relies on to sustain its economy.

King Jigme Singye Wangchuk was instrumental in improving health care, rural development, education and communications. He was also the mastermind behind Bhutan’s policy of environmental conservation, which stresses ecological considerations above commercial interests. He also strengthened the modernization process through six development goals: sustainability; self-reliance; people’s participation and decentralization; human resource development; regionally balanced development; and the efficiency and development of the private sector.

In 2005, the then 49-year-old king announced that he would abdicate the throne in favor of his son, the Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk, and facilitated the transition of the country from an absolute monarchy to a democratic constitutional monarchy in 2008.

Fifth King: Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk

Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk, the fifth king of Bhutan

King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk became king on 9^th December 2006 and was enthroned on 6^th November 2008. Apart from being educated in Bhutan, India and England, he also studied in the USA. He is well-known for his efforts to democratize Bhutan, improve diplomatic relations with foreign nations such as India, Thailand, Japan and Singapore; improve education; and land reforms.

His marriage to Queen Jetsun Pema and the arrival of their son was greatly anticipated by the people of Bhutan who affectionately call him “The People’s King”. His works are leading Bhutan into the modern world, carrying on the legacy of previous kings, all the while retaining Bhutan’s unique culture.

Bhutan’s Tibetan Trouble

Bhutan has a long and complex history with Tibet. As both countries are Buddhist, and as the form of Buddhism practiced in Bhutan has its origins in Tibet, one would assume that the two countries have maintained close cultural and political ties. Both countries even rely on the same writing script that was developed by the great Tibetan translator Thonmi Sambhota.

In theory therefore, the two nation states should get along well with each other. In practice however, Tibetans have been creating problems for Bhutan for a very long time. Since the time of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal’s settling in Bhutan, the Tibetan leadership have repeatedly tried to take over the country for themselves. This repressive attitude continues even into the modern era — the Central Tibetan Administration’s (“CTA”; Tibetan leadership located in Dharamsala, North India) actions over the last 60 years have been nothing but hostile.

Gyalo Thondup, brother of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. He was one of the alleged masterminds behind the assassination attempt on the crown prince of Bhutan.

In 1979, the Bhutanese government issued the Tibetans in their country with an ultimatum: become Bhutanese citizens or go back to China. This ensued after tensions between Tibetans, who were kindly granted refuge by the Bhutanese government, and the local Bhutanese population escalated. Not only did the Tibetans refuse to assimilate into Bhutanese culture but in 1974, a day before the coronation of the young King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, a Tibetan plot to murder the then 18-year-old crown prince was uncovered by the Bhutanese government.

30 Tibetans were arrested and accused of conspiring to assassinate the young king. The group of conspirators, though led by a Bhutanese deputy home minister, was largely made up of Tibetans. This included Gyalo Thondup, the brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the Dalai Lama’s representative in Thimpu, Bhutan’s capital city. Amongst the others involved was a “Tibetan woman who once used to enjoy considerable influence and privilege in Bhutan”.

The Tibetan Woman

This “Tibetan woman” was a controversial figure known as Yangki. She was the mistress of King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, the third king of Bhutan. Yangki’s family had no social status or political power before she became the king’s mistress, but as her influence grew, so did the power of her family. Professor Leo Rose of Cornell University describes the machinations of Yangki and her family in his work The Politics of Bhutan, published in 1977. His research makes it clear that Yangki had been involved in more than one political assassination plot. The disposal of certain key figures in the upper echelons of Bhutanese society was her way of consolidating power and moving up the power ladder.

Yangki and Kanaibhu, her father, were the masterminds behind the assassination of Lochen Jigme Dorji, the then-prime minister and close confidant of the king. They had become convinced that the prime minister was trying to murder the king. Since they were solely dependent on the king for economic and social prosperity, they decided the prime minister had to be done away with, lest his plan to kill the king was successful. Kanaibhu even supplied the gun that the assassin used to kill the prime minister.

Queen Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuk and the 3rd king of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk.

As it turned out, their reasoning was nothing more than their self-centered need to retain power. Suffice to say, the king was furious and ordered the elimination of both Yangki and her father. They were saved at the last minute when the queen, Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuk interceded. The queen was a paragon of compassion; although she knew she was sparing the life of her husband’s mistress, she was still moved to do so. Eventually, cover-up stories were spread to hide Yangki’s involvement in the assassination as it was commonly known that she was the king’s mistress.

Yangki and Kanaibhu were secretly imprisoned for their part in the assassination, but were later released and reinstated to their eminent positions within the Bhutanese elite. By the time of the king’s passing, Yangki had borne the monarch four children but they were never legitimized or considered to be in the line of succession for the throne. Shortly before his death, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk himself dictated a letter to the crown-prince, countersigned by some of the top Bhutanese government officials. In it, the king made it clear that he regretted his relationship with Yangki, and that her children should never be considered royalty:

“In my life time I have committed a very big blunder by having an affair with Yangki. Being young, I stayed with her a few times and before I could keep the affair within limits, not one or two but four children were born, so I could not sever my connection with her. Kesang Wangchuk is completely in the right. She was consecrated with me in the Tashi Ngasol ceremony as my true Queen, and as such children born from her are the legitimate princes and princesses. In the case of Yangki, she is only a girlfriend and not a legitimate wife, and as such children born from her cannot be considered royal children but are to be considered as illegitimate children.

You should never give any Government service and status to Yangki’s children. If you grant them status, it will create problems for you. It will be enough to treat them like other Bhutanese subjects.

I have given them adequate wealth, so they should not face any hardship. In case they do face hardships, maybe you will help them.

In case I die, let them stay outside the country for a few years; after that do as you deem necessary. The reason why I am saying all this is for your own benefit.”

~ Jigme

Despite the king’s efforts to make the best of a bad situation and provide for his children born out of wedlock, Yangki, her father and their Tibetan cohorts had other ideas.

The Failed Assassination

King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk passed away in 1972 but it was not until 1974 that his heir, Prince Jigme Singye Wangchuk, was to be crowned the king of Bhutan. Following the insidious plot hatched by Gyalo Thondup, the Tibetans set out to murder Prince Jigme Singye Wangchuk and burn down not only the royal palace but also Bhutan’s administrative headquarters. They even managed to smuggle more than 12 trucks of weaponry into the country.

During the ensuring panic and pandemonium, the conspirators planned to install one of Yangki’s illegitimate male children as the monarch, and the group of Tibetans behind the coup would have moved into positions of authority. If the plot had been successful, Bhutan would have come under the control of this group and indirectly, the Tibetan leadership. However, a secret meeting of the Bhutanese National Assembly took steps against the conspirators and with the help of Indian intelligence agencies, the plot was foiled. Yangki fled to India with her family where she settled and lived in exile. Other members of the Tibetan cohort were arrested by the authorities, tried and convicted for their involvement. Prince Jigme Singye Wangchuk went on to become the king.

Map of Bhutan, Nepal and India. Click to enlarge.

To prevent such a situation from arising again, the Bhutanese government had to act appropriately. The government knew that if Tibetans were left to their own devices and were allowed to remain without integrating into Bhutanese society, Tibetans would:

• Continue to retain their Tibetan identity. This separation from the Bhutanese population would give rise to increased resentment on both sides. The Bhutanese would resent the Tibetans for being refugees, while the Tibetans would presumably make further attempts to take over the country, egged on by the Tibetan leadership who desperately sought a land they could rule.
• Continue to protest for the ‘Tibetan cause’. This would not only disrupt the peace in Bhutan, but would hinder its move towards modernization and jeopardize future relations with foreign powers.

An archived news article published in The New York Times about the plot to assassinate Jigme Singye Wangchuk before his coronation as the king of Bhutan. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/
06/02/archives/bhutan-reports-plot-to-kill-king-regime-accuses-tibetans-on-eve-of.html.

Shockingly, the CTA opposed the Bhutanese government’s 1979 ultimatum. Instead of securing their people’s future as legitimate citizens of a nation state, with all the benefits it provides, they chose to keep the 6,300 Tibetans within Bhutan’s borders as refugees. Bhutan even accused CTA officials of creating difficulties for the Tibetan refugees, although the Tibetans living in Bhutan had already accepted that Bhutan was the country of their future.

Despite the CTA’s objections, 2,300 Tibetans decided to become Bhutanese citizens, swearing allegiance to the king, and integrating into the country’s society. They became full citizens with all the rights accorded to them by law. The remainder resettled in India, where they continued to live under the yoke of the CTA, although some later chose to move to Europe and North America.

Since that time, Bhutan has remained quiet on the issue of the Tibetans, obviously scarred from the devious plot to overthrow the Bhutanese monarchy and plunge the country into chaos. But what does this incident tell us about how the Bhutanese government thinks about the Tibetans?

• The Bhutanese government was not prejudiced against Tibetans. They simply wanted them to integrate into Bhutanese society for the sake of harmony and peace. Not only that, but the Tibetans would have access to all the legal rights, services, and the economic potential that every Bhutanese citizen has.
• They wanted to avoid disagreements and struggles with China, something that both Nepal and India had to deal with in the succeeding years. Once the ‘Tibetan refugee’ situation was removed, the Bhutanese could remain focused on developing their country rather than worrying about international relations.
• They wanted to ensure that Tibetans who remained in Bhutan became contributing members of the country’s Gross National Happiness philosophy rather than relying on hand-outs.

Despite the CTA being exposed for trying to assassinate the country’s beloved future monarch, Bhutan never retaliated. Instead it took a compassionate stance towards the Tibetans, understanding that harmony could never be achieved by keeping the Tibetans as refugees. This was a lesson that the likes of Nepal and India did not learn, and are suffering for now.

It is unfortunate that the CTA have a track record of making the lives of Tibetans difficult no matter where in the world they are. Just as Bhutan accused the CTA of creating issues where there were none to begin with, the CTA is also known to ostracize, discriminate and actively persecute whole swathes of their own society, from the Jonangpas to Dorje Shugden practitioners.

In keeping their people divided and in constant need of support, the CTA have crippled the Tibetan society in-exile. The CTA has failed to provide the Tibetans with a secure future and if the CTA continues down this path, Bhutan will not be the last nation state to remove them from their borders. One day, as countries seek to integrate the Tibetans rather than keep them as refugees, the Tibetan culture and heritage outside the Tibet Autonomous Region of China will cease to exist forever.

Bhutan and Dorje Shugden

The 4th Zhabdrung Rinpoche Jigme Norbu was an ardent practitioner of Guru Rinpoche and Dorje Shugden.

Unbeknownst to many Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, Buddhism in Bhutan has a long and established link to the practice of the enlightened Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden. To understand the tremendous impact of this relationship, one must trace the annals of history back to the time of Bhutan’s legendary founder, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal.

Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was the first in a successive line of reincarnations that spread the Drukpa Kagyu tradition in Bhutan and secured the country as an independent nation state. He was not only the reincarnation of Kunkhyen Pema Karpo, the 4^th Gyalwang Drukpa, and therefore an emanation of Chenrezig; but he was also the figure who effectively ensured Bhutan’s independence and defended it against waves of attacks from Mongolian and Tibetan invaders during the time of the 5^th Dalai Lama. After his passing, three of his reincarnations were identified, each representing emanations of his body, speech and mind. However, only one of the three i.e. the mind emanation was enthroned as his successor and was named the 1^st Zhabdrung Rinpoche.

The First Zhabdrung Rinpoche: Jigme Drakpa I

Jigme Drakpa was born in 1724 in the mountain ranges of Yoru, Tibet. He was enthroned at the age of 23 and became a fully ordained monk. At the age of 25, he entered a three-year retreat at Cheri Monastery, following the Kagyu tradition. Engaging in both the generation and completion stages of Highest Yoga Tantra, he gained many spiritual attainments and dedicated his life to serving sentient beings and spreading the Buddhist doctrine. However, his deeds led others to become envious. He was poisoned and subsequently passed away in 1761.

The Second Zhabdrung Rinpoche: Chokyi Gyeltsen

Born in 1762, Chokyi Gyeltsen was enthroned at a young age. Receiving both novice and full monastic ordination, he had not yet completed his studies when again jealousy overtook the minds of others. He was poisoned and passed away in 1788. He was just 27 years old at the time.

The Third Zhabdrung Rinpoche: Jigme Drakpa II

Jigme Drakpa II was born in Bumdeling, Bhutan in 1791. He was enthroned at a young age, and began his study of the monastic codes of conduct as well as sutra and tantra. He also received teachings on the generation and completion stages of Highest Yoga Tantra. While at Talo Sangak Choling Monastery, he expanded the main prayer hall and later took responsibility for the entire institution. He is also noted to have invited a Dharma Protector from Samye Monastery in Tibet, and built a chapel for the Protector.

When he was just 20, he assumed both spiritual and secular responsibility for the country. However, those with untoward intent fostered problems between him and another of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal’s reincarnations who was identified as the speech emanation. Manifesting great disappointment, he resigned from his position as the country’s leader only a year after he had assumed power. He spent the rest of his life in the monastery, practicing and meditating. He passed away in 1830.

The Fourth Zhabdrung Rinpoche: Jigme Norbu

The fourth of the Zhabdrung mind incarnations was Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu (1831-1861 CE). He was born into the respected family line of the renowned Bhutanese Nyingma tertön (discoverer of hidden Buddhist teachings) Pemalingpa (1450-1521 CE).

The 4th Zhabdrung Rinpoche Jigme Norbu. Click on image to enlarge.

Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu received his education from many of the Je Khenpos or supreme heads of Buddhism within Bhutan. These included Sherab Gyeltsen (the 25^th Je Khenpo), Padma Zangpo (the 27^th/29^th Je Khenpo), Jampel Gyatso (the 30^th Je Khenpo), and Yonten Gyeltsen (the 31^st Je Khenpo).

After being positively identified as the reincarnation of the 3^rd Zhabdrung Rinpoche, Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu was enthroned as the 4^th mind emanation of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. He was also enthroned as the desi, the secular ruler of the country. Not wanting to remain a monk, he took on a consort named Dechen Tsomo in order to practice advanced Mahamudra meditation.

It was with his consort that he fathered a daughter named Rinchen Tsomo. This did not sit well with the elite of Bhutanese society of the time. Combined with false allegations of his involvement in a failed political coup, he decided to resign from his positions in 1852. He then left his monastic seat of Talo Sangak Choling and travelled to Tibet for some time. Later, he returned to Gorina Monastery in Bhutan, which was originally founded by one of his teachers, Sherab Gyeltsen, and entered clear light at the age of 31.

Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu wrote many texts throughout his life. A compilation of these works, titled ‘The Collected Works of the Fourth Zhabdrung Tulku of Bhutan, Jigme Norbu (1831-1861)‘ was published by the National Library of Bhutan in 1984. Contained within this compilation are various rituals to powerful and important Dharma Protectors such as invocation liturgies, torma offerings and verses of praise to Mahakala, Tsering Chenga, Shingkongma, Palden Lhamo, Tsiu Marpo, Rahula and Dorje Shugden.

A Closer Look at Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s Dorje Shugden Texts

Upon closer examination, Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s Collected Works contain numerous mentions of Dorje Shugden throughout. Specific sections are even dedicated to this enlightened Dharma Protector. For instance, in Volume ‘NA’ of his collected works, which is a 50-page Request for Fulfilment of Activities to All Protectors, Dorje Shugden is mentioned repeatedly, alongside the other Protectors listed above.

Volume NA of Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s Collected Works. Click to enlarge.

The prayer begins with mentions of Guru Rinpoche in the form of Pema Totreng or the “Powerful Lotus Garland of Skulls”. This form of Guru Rinpoche was particularly favored by the tertön Pemalingpa and his followers.

Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu composed this text when he was just 27 years old, at the monastery of Ngenlung Sangwa Chenpo Zhelmey Khang. According to the colophon, the author’s name is given as Chime Wangchuk, which is one of Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s many known aliases.

According to the colophon, the author of the first part of the prayer is Chime Wangchuk, a known alias of Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu. Click to enlarge.

The next part of this work is a daily torma offering ritual to various Dharma Protectors including Dorje Shugden. The authorship of this ritual is also attributed to Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu under the alias Dorje Chechog Dupa Tsel, who composed it after he was requested to do so by the ever-faithful Dagmo Kelsang Karma Tsomo.

The colophon indicates that the author of the daily torma offering ritual is Dorje Chechog Dupa Tsel, another of Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s known aliases. Click to enlarge.

A comprehensive list of Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s many aliases, as compiled by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center, can be seen below. The Buddhist Digital Resource Center is a reputable US-based non-profit organization that seeks out, preserves, and disseminates Buddhist literature.

A comprehensive list of Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s many aliases from the Buddhist Digital Resource Center.

Dorje Shugden’s importance to Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu is most clearly evidenced in Volume “PHA” of his Collected Works, which is a collection of fulfillment rituals to all protectors known as Pawo Jiglu. An entire section of this volume (21 pages in total) is dedicated solely to Dorje Shugden, and includes his visualization, invocation, offerings, torma offerings, praise, fulfilment offering, confessional and enthronement prayers.

Volume PHA of Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s Collected Works. Click to enlarge.

It is important to note Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s assertion within Volume PHA that Dorje Shugden is the collection of all the Buddhas’ power. This can be seen in the first line of his praise and it references Dorje Shugden’s unmistaken enlightened nature.

Another important point of note is that throughout the ritual, there are numerous examples of Dorje Shugden’s intricate connection and association with Guru Rinpoche. This is not commonly found in other ritual texts. For example, a confessional verse reads:

“Ordered to protect the essential doctrine
By Padma Wang and Jamyang father and sons
Heruka and Vajrakapalamalin [Guru Rinpoche],
Dorje Shugden and retinue consider me.”

The original Tibetan verse can be viewed here. Click to enlarge.

In another verse within the enthronement prayer, Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu writes:

“Fully empowered and Vajra-sealed
By deathless Vidyadhara Vajrakapalamalin
[Guru Rinpoche Pema Totreng]
To protect the general and specific doctrine,
I enthrone you as the Great King of Dharma Protectors.“

The original Tibetan verse can be viewed here. Click to enlarge.

The original Tibetan verse can be viewed here. Click to enlarge.

In view of the unique manner in which Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu combines praises and petitions to both Guru Rinpoche and Dorje Shugden within the same ritual text and even within the same verse, it is highly likely that Dorje Shugden was not only a Protector of Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu, but also one who has a special connection to all the people of Bhutan.

Downloads

• Click here to download Volume NA.
• Click here to download Volume PHA.
• Click here to download Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s collected works.

Drukpa Kunley

Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s writings on Dorje Shugden have many similarities with those of the 17^th century Bhutanese Drukpa Kagyu master, Drubwang Dreuley Tenzin Zangpo, who is also known to have propitiated Dorje Shugden. Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo is considered to be the third reincarnation of Drukpa Kunley, the Bhutanese mahasiddha.

Known and loved all over Bhutan for his outlandish mahasiddha behavior and magnificent spiritual attainments, Drukpa Kunley led a very interesting life. He was one of the Nyönpas (“madmen”), a group of spiritual masters who, on an outward level, appeared to be behaving completely in opposition to the Buddhist teachings, but inwardly had great spiritual attainments. Their behavior included eating meat, drinking alcohol, singing, dancing, and engaging in sexual activity.

A painting of Drukpa Kunley

Drukpa Kunley was born in 1455 and was the great grandson of Yeshe Rinchen, a known emanation of Manjushri. From a young age, he showed signs of renunciation and took ordination, receiving the name Kunga Legpa. Around the age of seven, his father, Nangso Rinchen Zangpo, was murdered due to conflict with his paternal uncle. He spent the next six years of his life as a servant. During this time, he realized that if he did not practice the Dharma, his life would be wasted. And so he travelled to U province, giving away his worldly possessions which included a rosary made of 50 pieces of amber, a turquoise earring and a yellow ochre horse.

Arriving at Ralung Monastery, he stayed there for a short while, receiving his main teachings from his root teacher Lhatsun Kunga Chogyam. These included teachings on the body’s energy channels, the Nyingpo Kor, and grammar. He also received teachings on tummo (inner heat meditation) and Mahamudra (Great Seal meditation). He received layman’s vows and novice monastic ordination from Nenying Choje and full ordination from Zhalu Khyen Rabpa. He also received the complete teachings of the Buddha from various erudite Rimé masters such as Kungpo Sangye.

Ralung Monastery

Having attained complete realization of both the sutra and tantra paths within Buddhism, Drukpa Kunley understood that self-liberation, bodhicitta and samaya (spiritual commitment) vows are all contained within the tantric vows, so he returned his monastic vows to the Three Jewels. He had come to the understanding that protecting the mind was more important than outward appearances. It was from then on that the great master manifested the behavior of a madman. Even so, he was extremely compassionate, providing people with whatever they needed, from water and wealth to teaching the Dharma.

One interesting tale recounts his meeting with two other “madmen”, known as the madman Heruka of Tsang (Tsangnyon Heruka) and the madman Kunga Zangpo of U (Unyon Kunga Zangpo). All three happened to meet each other and travelled to Tsari, southeast of Lhasa. Deciding to leave something behind for faith to arise in the minds of future disciples, Tsangnyon Heruka left his footprint in a stone and Unyon Kunga Zangpo left his handprint. Drukpa Kunley however exclaimed that leaving a print in a stone was as easy as leaving a print in the mud for him, and he declared that even his dog could do it. Drukpa Kunley then caught a dog and placed its paw on the stone, where it left an impression.

Drukpa Kunley or Kunga Legpa

Drukpa Kunley also studied under the master Pemalingpa who, as we saw earlier, was the forefather of Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu. Drukpa Kunley’s outrageous behavior is said to have shocked people out of their preconceived notions and misconceptions about not only secular life, but on a higher level, spirituality too.

Drukpa Kunley’s impact on Bhutanese culture cannot be underestimated. He is still honored in religious murals, rituals, and artwork throughout the country. Known as the ‘Madman of the Dragon Lineage’, his legacy lies in his crazy methods of bringing people to enlightenment. Another of his epithets is the ‘Saint of 5,000 Women’, since most of his disciples were female. His strange behavior however was moist with Buddhist teachings.

One story recounts the importance of holding vows. Upon entering a monastery, he emitted a beautiful fragrance while walking past some young monks. As he approached the older monks however, he farted, emitting a foul odor. When confronted, he told the older monks that what they smelled was a reflection of how well or badly they were holding their morality and vows.

The divine madman, Drukpa Kunley. Click to enlarge.

Drukpa Kunley is also known for his unconventional methods of teaching people about desire and attachment. There are numerous accounts of how he would lay down naked in the middle of the road with his private parts exposed and erect. Nuns would walk past him, at first showing how shocked they were, but then coming closer and talking amongst themselves. When asked why he was doing this, he would reply that he was not doing anything at all, and that it was the nuns who were making a spectacle of him. He would then proceed to grant them profound teachings about desire, attachment and how to overcome them.

Towards the end of his life, Drukpa Kunley was invited to Nangkatser. There, he realised he would pass away soon after a rainbow appeared and shone onto his right foot. So, he travelled to where his son, Zhingkyong Drukdrak was staying. He passed away at Thodlung Lampar Monastery and his body was cremated. Incredible images of deities and numerous relics were found in the ashes of his funeral pyre, and were later installed in a silver reliquary stupa.

During his lifetime, Drukpa Kunley served as the abbot of Nyel Dreuley Gon for a brief span of time. This small Drukpa Kagyu monastery was to become the seat of his incarnations, known as the Dreuley Tulkus. Drukpa Kunley was considered the first of his incarnation lineage and his second incarnation was known as Drubtho Rinpoche.

Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo

Drubwang Dreuley Ngawang Tenzin Zangpo was recognised as the third Dreuley Tulku by his root-teacher, Gyalwang Pagsam Wangpo. He was born into a servant family and showed signs of being spiritually attained, such as hooking a leg of lamb onto the rays of the sun.

From a young age, Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo was known to be very humble and held his vows strongly. He was a great meditator and became a well-known religious figure throughout the land. He is particularly noted to have received the initiation of Palden Lhamo and teachings on Mahamudra. He is also remembered for his memorization of the Abbreviated Kalachakra Tantra.

One of his later incarnations, the 5^th Dreuley Tulku, Drubwang Kunga Mingyur Dorje composed a prayer in which he praised the incomparable qualities of Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo:

“With his excellent compassion, he performed limitless deeds for the benefit of others,
Skilled in teaching Dharma to those of different propensities,
Teaching the definitive nectar to develop beings’ full understanding of enlightenment,
To the great saffron-clad monk, I make requests.”

It was this incarnation of the Dreuley lineage who began Bhutan’s close connection with Dorje Shugden. The great Gelugpa master Serkong Dorje Chang wrote that one of the earliest and most significant Dorje Shugden ritual texts, known as Petition to Dorje Shugden Tsel: Granting all Desired Activities was most likely co-composed by Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo and Morchen Kunga Lhundrub, a Sakya master. This work was so significant that Serkong Dorje Chang incorporated it into his own writings. It was also included in the extensive catalogue of Dorje Shugden texts compiled by the Mongolian master Lobsang Tamdin.

The Dorje Shugden prayer composed by Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo can be found in Volume KA of the Dorje Shugden bebum. Click to enlarge.

The colophon lists the authors of this Dorje Shugden text as Dreuley (the Drukpa Kagyu master Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo) and Morchen (the Sakya master Morchen Kunga Lhundrub). Click to enlarge.

Both Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo and Morchen Kunga Lhundrub are named in the colophon of the text as ‘Dreuley’ and ‘Morchen’ respectively. Serkong Dorje Chang further states that Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo authored the upper portion of the text while Morchen Kunga Lhudrub authored the lower portion. This text also appears in the Dorje Shugden bebum compiled by H.E. Guru Deva Rinpoche.

Like many other masters who composed texts to this enlightened Dharma Protector, Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo wrote reverentially of Dorje Shugden, with clear allusions to his enlightened nature. For instance, he writes:

“As such appears in the middle of open, wide space from the syllable tsa the King of Dharma, the lord of the powerful and magical, Dorje Shugden.”

The original Tibetan verse can be viewed here. Click to enlarge.

The original Tibetan verse can be viewed here. Click to enlarge.

And,

“Kye! Fast and powerful protector of the Buddhadharma
Overwhelmingly frightful body mandala,
Like the sun illuminating a coral mountain,
Blazing glory clothed as a renunciate,
With one face both wrathful and virtuous.”

The original Tibetan verse can be viewed here. Click to enlarge.

It is also known that Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu based his own Dorje Shugden compositions on that authored by Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo. Thus, it is logical to deduce that prayer texts to Dorje Shugden were easily available, indicative of the fact that his practice was once popular in Bhutan.

Downloads

• Click here to download Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo’s Dorje Shugden text.

Non-Sectarian Nature

In the present environment where divisions and schism based on religion are becoming pervasive, it is vital that we take special note of past Buddhist masters’ inclusiveness in their approach to practices and practitioners of other traditions.

Today, some people attempt to claim that Dorje Shugden is a sectarian Gelugpa protector, only practiced by a handful of Tibetan Buddhists. His practice is mistakenly labelled as wrong and not something we should engage in, but these people are ignoring historical facts – Dorje Shugden was practiced first in the Sakya tradition and, as we have seen, he was practiced in the Kagyu tradition too. Furthermore, his practice even spread to Bhutan centuries ago.

Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu was a Drukpa Kagyu master, but respected the Nyingma tradition and also propitiated Dorje Shugden. His view of Dorje Shugden’s nature is made clear in his reference to the Protector as being the “embodiment of all the Buddha’s power”. Only an enlightened being can be worthy of such a title, so it is an indication that Dorje Shugden is in fact an enlightened being, contrary to what others, including the Tibetan leadership would have you believe.

Dorje Shugden Tanag (Dorje Shugden on a Black Horse) originating from the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism

Hailing from such an important and revered incarnation lineage, it is impossible to believe that Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu would make a blunder in identifying Dorje Shugden as an enlightened being. To say so would effectively nullify the entire lineage of Zhabdrung incarnations since that time, and even call into question the spiritual authority of his first incarnation, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. Coupled with the fact that the Zhabdrung incarnations are believed to be emanations of Chenrezig, if one were to say that Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu was mistaken, it would be tantamount to claiming Chenrezig himself is wrong. Furthermore, since the Tibetan leadership are fond of declaring that the Dalai Lama cannot be wrong because he is an emanation of Chenrezig, surely the Bhutanese leadership should similarly back up Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s praise of Dorje Shugden as an enlightened Protector since he too is also an emanation of Chenrezig?

More than that however, Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu’s and Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo’s texts prove that Dorje Shugden is not a sectarian deity that protects only Gelug practitioners. Both Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu and Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo belonged to the Drukpa Kagyu lineage, which had by then incorporated Nyingma practices into their tradition. On the other hand, Morchen Kunga Lhundrub belonged to the Sakya tradition, which has a long history of Shugden propitiation. For such masters to compose texts to Dorje Shugden shows without question that Dorje Shugden practice can benefit anyone, regardless of what sect they belong to. Add to this the fact that Dagmo Kelsang Karma Tsomo, an ordinary practitioner, petitioned Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu to compose a daily torma offering which included Dorje Shugden is clear evidence of Dorje Shugden’s practice having once been popular in Bhutan.

Dorje Shugden, one of the Three Kings (Gyalpo Sum), is part of the Sakya pantheon of Dharma Protectors.

The Tibetan leadership regularly try to pass off lies and warped logic as truth. However, this is not unexpected from an autocratic regime that is only pretending to be a democracy. What is strange however is the unfortunate fact that Bhutan, a real democratic nation also banned the practice of Dorje Shugden, even though the country has such an intimate link to it.

The truth of the matter becomes clear when we understand Bhutan’s troublesome history with the Tibetan leadership. Nothing good has ever come from having any association with the Tibetan leadership and Bhutan is no exception. First it was the endless plots of the Tibetan government to get the better of Bhutan, then the assassination attempt on the life of Prince Jigme Singye Wangchuk. Thus, the Dorje Shugden practice may very well have been an attrition of the Bhutanese leadership’s loathing and fear of the Tibetan government, within whose ranks the practice of Dorje Shugden was once very common.

The Tibetan leadership’s wrongful segregation and discrimination of their own people based on their religious choices (Dorje Shugden practice) for political reasons would not have gone un-noticed by Bhutan’s leaders. So perhaps in order to prevent the Tibetan leadership from spreading the conflict into their borders, the Bhutanese government decided to take an unfortunate pre-emptive measure and banned Dorje Shugden before it became a trigger for division, infighting and strife to creep into Bhutan. Looking at the state of the Tibetan community, who could blame the Bhutanese government? But in doing so, they sacrificed an important component of Bhutanese history and part of their spiritual heritage.

A Real Buddhist Democracy

Comparing historical Bhutan with its modern version makes a few things very clear. Chiefly, it is thanks to the forward-thinking policies of their broadminded monarchy that Bhutan has managed to retain its unique identity, marrying 21^st century technological advancements with ancient Buddhist values as well as a practical appreciation for nature. This open-minded thinking has filtered down to every sector of Bhutanese society, allowing Bhutan and its people to decide for themselves what works best for them, at their own pace.

The 5th Druk Gyalpo His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk and the current 70th Je Khenpo Tulku Jigme Choedra. The position of the Je Khenpos was created by none other than Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal.

Thus, we see in Bhutan today a model of what a successful Buddhist democracy truly looks like, where religious principles are an intrinsic part of everyday life for both ordinary citizens as well as the government. These Buddhist principles are applied to better the Bhutanese people’s lives instead of being used to manipulate them, as we see the Tibetan leadership do as a matter of habit. In this way, Bhutan has found a gentle and yet sure method of upholding and preserving its traditions. Unfortunately, due to the machinations of the Tibetan leadership in wanting to meddle in Bhutan’s affairs, the practice of Dorje Shugden was banned, denying everyday citizens their right and heritage to the practice.

ARTICLE 7 FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS: A Bhutanese citizen shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. No person shall be compelled to belong to another faith by means of coercion or inducement… No one shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, sex, language, religion, politics, or other status. Source: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, nationalcouncil.bt

Both the Bhutanese and the Tibetan people once practiced Dorje Shugden. And both the Tibetan and Bhutanese governments banned the practice of Dorje Shugden for different reasons. And yet we see very different outcomes. The Tibetan leadership blamed Dorje Shugden for their political failures and the loss of the Tibetan nation. If the Tibetan people’s problems were truly related to Dorje Shugden, then the Tibetan leadership is still no better off after having institutionalized a prohibition against the protector practice. Clearly it has nothing to do with a deity but very much to do with the attitude and caliber of the Tibetan leadership.

An official statement banning Dorje Shugden’s practice in Bhutan, as issued by the 70th Je Khenpo. Click to enlarge.

The Bhutanese spiritual leadership banned Dorje Shugden too but the country prospered before the ban and continued to do so after. Again, it is clear that the fortune of the nation has nothing to do with Dorje Shugden or indeed any deity. Therefore, it is a shame that the Bhutanese people are still denied the Dorje Shugden practice, a very important aspect of their Buddhist heritage bestowed upon them by the holy line of the Zhabdrung Rinpoches.

The Bhutanese leadership have come a long way and must by now have the maturity to separate religion from politics and also the confidence to be a proper democratic state that allows its people to practice his or her faith openly, freely and without fear, even if they decide to resurrect the practice of Dorje Shugden which the 4^th Zhabdrung Rinpoche Jigme Norbu and Drubwang Tenzin Zangpo hailed. This is especially important given the fact that Dorje Shugden is a proven and indivisible part of their history.

Hopefully the Bhutanese nation will lead the way again and lean away from the medieval attitudes of the Tibetan government that have proven time and again to be the cause of much failure and grief to the people. Indeed, there are many lessons that the Tibetan leadership can learn from this mountainous Land of the Thunder Dragon and if Bhutan’s history is anything to go by, then one thing is for sure – the world has not heard the last of the dragon’s roar, nor the beautiful chant of Dorje Shugden prayers.

Addendum

The current incarnation of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal known as the 10th Zhabdrung Jigdrel Ngawang Namgyal was placed under unwarranted house arrest by the Bhutanese government as a young child. This news even appeared on the Buddhist Channel website. Click on the image below to read more.

Click to enlarge. (Source: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=40,3674,0,0,1,0#.WyK4w1Uzayp)

H.E. Dagpo Rinpoche

Below is an excerpt taken from a speech delivered by His Eminence Dagpo Rinpoche in November 1996, when he welcomed to Paris the fourteen-year-old reincarnation, Kyabje Chocktrul Rinpoche Tenzin Lobsang Yeshe Gyatso:

For the benefit of the new people who have joined us today, I will mention all too briefly the activities that have been accomplished by your predecessors, Rinpoche. The beneficial deeds of a supreme guide such as yourself are truly countless. In fact, only a Buddha endowed with the ten powers can comprehend them.

If I limit myself only to what you have dedicated yourself to doing in the Land of Snows, there would still be countless deeds to relate. There are so many wonderful and complex tales, melodies that can enthrall those with the gift of understanding, melodies that can fill them with faith. The whole topic is inexhaustible; I have given up trying to cover it.

Today I will limit myself to just a few words about how, from the distant past, at all times and in all places, you have continued to work together with the Lord of the world Avalokiteśvara to achieve the good of beings and to give them access to the Teachings.

To accomplish this, both of you have shown yourselves capable of every conceivable kind of relationship. You have alternated the role of Master with that of disciple, the role of donor with that of chaplain, parent, friend, or servant.

H.H. Trijang Rinpoche

From the immense ocean of deeds that you have thus carried out together, I will take a very small drop, a drop no bigger than the pearl that sparkles at the tip of a human hair, but quite enough to inspire faith. Everyone knows that our Tibet has long benefitted from the Lord of the World Avalokiteśvara’s caring protection.

He appeared at different times as king or as minister, as learned pandit or as a complete siddha. Each time, he made the light of religion and culture shine brightly so as to dispel the darkness that enveloped Tibet, and each time you were at his side.

In the eighth century when Avalokiteśvara manifested as the great king Trisong Detsen, you, Rinpoche, were the pandit Śāntarakṣita, the Indian monk who brought and established in Tibet the tradition of vows and religious commitment which form the basis of Buddha’s Teachings. It was you who brought to light the vast and profound systems, while assuming the shape of the victorious Padmasambhava, first among the Tantrikas.

As such, you overcame the obstacles that stood in the way of spreading the Dharma on earth. It was you also who passed the profound and secret teachings to the King and his ministers (how lucky they were!) and thus justified their waiting.

When the good qualities of human beings and the doctrine declined, you were the second Buddha, well known by the name of Atiśa Dīpaṃkāra Śrījñāna. During the middle of the eleventh century you founded the Kadampa tradition with the help of his spiritual son Dromtönpa Gyalwé Jungne, who was none other than Avalokiteśvara.

In order to consolidate and spread that tradition, you soon reappeared under the name of Lang-ri Thangpa Dorje Senge, well known as the eminent guardian of bodhicitta, in other words, a bodhisattva.

H.H. Trijang Rinpoche

Some time afterwards, the good qualities of human beings diminished yet again, and the doctrine underwent another decline. You immediately assumed the shape of the second Buddha Je Tsongkhapa. That time your disciple was Avalokiteśvara, later considered the First Dalai Lama. Together you took it upon yourselves to spread and expand the Teachings of the Buddha throughout the entire country.

Shortly afterwards, you were Mönlam Pelwa, one of the First Dalai Lama’s main disciples. You succeeded yourself, becoming the eighth Ganden Tripa, that is, the eighth head of the Gelugpa school.

Later on, as the head of the Kagyupa order, you were the eighth Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje, close friend of the Second Dalai Lama Gendun Gyatso.

When you returned to the school of the Nyingmapas in the seventeenth century, you were the dazzlingly brilliant light with the name of Zurchen Chöying Rangdröl, one of the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Gyatso’s principal Masters.

Next, during two consecutive lives, you again took charge of the Gelug school: you were the sixty-ninth Ganden Tripa, Trichen Jangchub Chöpel, who was also the tutor of the Ninth Dalai Lama Lungtog Gyatso, and later the eighty-fifth Ganden Tripa, Trichen Lobsang Tsultrim.

And now we come to your immediate predecessor Kyabje Yongdzin Trijang Dorje Chang Chenpo, who for forty years was assistant and then tutor of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

Here you have a brief reminder of how and for how long you and the Buddha Avalokiteśvara have been doing significant and enduring work for the benefit of sentient beings.

Source : http://www.tbiusa.org/trijangdorjechang/biography/dagpospeech

Los Angeles, California | September 1988

Secret: Only Initiated Practitioners

The first protector I will speak about is Shenpa. Shenpa is very important for His Holiness’ swift rebirth, because he is the main protector of the Nyingma lineage.

Shenpa is the main guardian for all of our practices: Troma, Phurba, etc. He is one of the divine protectors that Guru Rinpoche entrusted the terma teachings with, and basically he controls most of the terma teachings.

An interesting thing about Shenpa is that my father met him several times. I’ll tell you about one incident.
Normally, Shenpa was in very close contact with my father all the time, and really served him. It was very difficult for us to even see Shenpa’s face, because he was very wrathful, and he doesn’t show his face as easily as other dharmapalas do. Shenpa is very conservative. Also, it isn’t easy to call on Shenpa to do things, but he could manifest to Rinpoche in person.

Shenpa was the one who brought my mother and father together. Shenpa had gone to my mother’s father in person. My maternal grandfather was a military commander named Shig Go Tey. He was governor of the province called Shig Go Tey, which is very large. My grandfather was also the 13th Dalai Lama’s personal cabinet advisor. He was an aristocrat, but at the same time he was also a minor terton, connected with Guru Rinpoche’s teachings. He would always carry a phurba in his chuba.

At one time my grandfather was looking for a particular text in the area of Lhasa when Shenpa appeared to him in person. He told him that the text could be found with Dudjom Rinpoche, who was in Lhasa at the time. My maternal grandfather had never heard of Dudjom Rinpoche. Shenpa told him where Dudjom Rinpoche was staying and said, “Send your daughter to request the text.” Before he left, he told him, “I have a present for you.” He gave him a bow and arrow, then walked away from the room and disappeared.

My grandfather was so caught up with talking to Shenpa that he forgot that he was in his inner chamber, which was inaccessible to anyone. The chambers are constructed in such a way that the inner chamber is private, and there is an outer chamber where servants guard the inner chamber so that no one enters.

Immediately after Shenpa left he realized that there was no way for this person to enter, and he thought, “How did this person get into my inner chamber?” He rushed out to where his servants were guarding him and asked them where was the man who had just given him the bow and arrow. The servants said there was no such person, that they had been there the whole time and hadn’t let anyone in. That night my grandfather had a very positive indication that he would meet Dudjom Rinpoche and receive teachings from him.

That same night, Shenpa went to Dudjom Rinpoche and told him, “I am going to get the consort for you, so tomorrow morning, let whoever comes in to see you. Set up an auspicious offering on the table, and tomorrow a person will come who will be your future wife.”

Most of Dudjom Rinpoche’s servants at that time were monks, so the next day Rinpoche told them, “If anyone comes today, no matter who they are, I want to see them. A woman will come to see me so don’t stop her from seeing me.” Later that day Rinpoche met my mother.

After that, Dudjom Rinpoche went to my mother’s house and asked my grandfather for her. It was at that time that my grandfather showed Rinpoche the gift that Shenpa had given him, because he felt that the person who had given it to him was a protector. Rinpoche recognized that the bow and arrow was the same bow and arrow that he had placed in his monastery for the protectors. Shenpa had taken the bow and arrow all the way to Lhasa to give to my grandfather. My grandfather then became Rinpoche’s disciple.

Shenpa is a wisdom being with very high realization. My name, “Shenpen,” means “benefactor of others,” but “Shenpa” means “the hunter” –he hunts for human life.

The reason we pray to Shenpa is because he was in such close contact with Rinpoche. Shenpa gives tremendous blessing and protection to students who are in retreat, and for all practitioners of the Tersar lineage. Shenpa vowed that he would continue to benefit people until the next Buddha comes so that the Tersar lineage, its protectors and blessings wouldn’t be lost. So this is a direct prediction and prophecy of Shenpa.

Shenpa came to my father many times like this to help him. Once, when Rinpoche was traveling from one part of Tibet to another –a dangerous thing to do since there are bandits everywhere — he wasn’t able to get where he wanted to by nightfall. My father, mother, and three or four servants, that’s all the people who were in the group, got stuck on a hill. Suddenly they looked up on the hill and saw 30 or 40 bandits.

My mother was very worried. There were no other travelers in sight, and she thought they would all be robbed and killed by those bandits. Bandits do that kind of thing. They were completely desperate. The bandits were howling and making all kinds of noises and coming down the mountain when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, another band of 30 to 40 riders appeared and started riding up from the ravine below, carrying guns and bows and arrows. The bandits coming down from above were frightened and retreated because they were outnumbered.

The group of riders from below then came up to Rinpoche, and the leader got off his horse asking him, “Oh ho, where are you traveling?” Rinpoche answered, “I am traveling to Lhasa. Where are you going?” He replied, “The next village.” Rinpoche thanked him for coming at just the right moment. The leader asked him, “Who are you?” Rinpoche replied, “Oh, I’m a padma guru, I’ve been recognized as Pedma Guru. My name is Dudjom Rinpoche.”

Then the leader said, “I’ve heard a lot about you. Aren’t you the terton Gillay Terton’s reincarnation?” Rinpoche said, “Yes, I have been recognized as such.” So immediately the leader made prostrations to Rinpoche. Rinpoche asked him, “Do I know you?” The leader replied, “Yes, you know me, but it isn’t important for you to remember me at this moment, but I know you.” That person was Shenpa.

Later that night, at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, Rinpoche had a dream. Shenpa appeared to him and said, ” I came to serve you. Forgive me if I fooled you. That was not my intention. You were traveling in a dangerous place, so I came to serve you. You have commanded me many times to come in times of need.” The next morning, when Rinpoche got up, he made a very elaborate offering to the dharmapalas to thank them for making the bandits go away.

Now he was able to complete his journey safely. The chieftain, or Shenpa, had looked familiar to Rinpoche. He felt he had seen him before, but he couldn’t figure out where. He was completely disguised as a bandit, but when Rinpoche looked at his feet, he saw he was barefoot. People don’t ride barefoot, so it occurred to Rinpoche later on that that was a subtle sign of the protector.

Shenpa serves Rinpoche’s disciples too. One time there was a disciple who went into retreat in Kongbo during the winter, and this disciple was completely cut off by snow and dying of starvation. Right in front of his retreat house someone dragged the body of a dead deer. The disciple was meditating inside when a voice said to him, “I’ve brought you food down there. Eat it.”

When he went outside and looked, he saw the dead deer and brought it inside, and he was able to do another three months of retreat. Later on, Shenpa told Rinpoche, “One of your students was dying, so I took him deer meat.”

The activity of the dharmapalas is incredible. Dharmapalas are wisdom beings that can help you attain realization. Needless to say, there are other protectors, like Trod Gyel Harmo, Tseringma, and other protectors and protectresses that protect the lineage, but Shenpa is the main protector of the Dudjom Tersar lineage.

When Dudjom Lingpa discovered a certain terma, Shenpa was there to help him, taking the terma from the rock. Shenpa is committed to the Dudjom lineage and to whoever practices in the lineage. If a practitioner calls on him, he will be there to answer. This doesn’t mean he will answer all the small detailed things, but if there is crucial need, he will be there. So Shenpa practice is important.

Then, along with this practice, you can add one more practice. It starts with: Kung Jo! Kung Tu Zang Mo Ying Gee Yum. This is the prayer for Mamo Ekadzati, Dorje Legpa and Ralchigma. Sometimes, if you do the Dam Cheen Chi Tor, then you can just recite the Ma Za Dor Sum. That would be great.

If you make the dharmapala offerings, and do dharmapala practice like Ma Za Dor Sum or Shenpa practice, it is important to keep count of your repetitions. You can’t just say it two or three times and just leave it. Unfortunately, we have never done an intensive dharmapala practice together. When I practice, if I have time, sometimes I will recite one mala, but not less than 21 times. It’s very important to invoke them.

What dharmapalas really are is our confidence. They support our confidence to be able to reach out and help others. In fact, if we lack confidence, dharmapalas have a way of subtly communicating with us to bring our confidence back. Confidence is the right way of respecting the teachings, the right way of benefiting people. That is the confidence it will bring up in us.

In fact, dharmapala is the subtle communication of the Buddha in the sambhogakaya realm in which we have developed the fine perception of seeing them, so if you see the form of the dharmapala, you have also seen the form of the Buddha in the dharmakaya realm. Dharmapalas are the subtle communications between these two levels.

Dharmapalas will manifest in an ordinary way because our understanding is ordinary, but when we purify our perception, they manifest in an extraordinary way. It depends on our perception. Dharmapalas are the real communication of a subtle body, and through them we can experience our subtle body in a way that we have never experienced before. Through the dharmapala, we can experience the subtle body immediately in our everyday situations. So these two practices, Shenpa and Ma Za Dor Sum, are important.

The third dharmapala is optional, and it is that of my protectress, Kong Jhyo. When I was young she saved me many times from death. I was very naughty when I was young, and I gave my parents a lot of problems. My protectress, Kongsen Denma, came to me several times and saved me. I’ve seen her several times from childhood to adulthood, and whenever I have a problem, she always comes up.

Rinpoche, my father, would always say: “Don’t forget to appease her, and don’t forget to always make offerings to her.” But in spite of that, I’ve always been more involved with protectors like Shenpa. Somehow, I never include her in my practice. It’s just recently that things have been pointing out that she is the real one I should be concerned with, so I have been taking more interest in doing her practice. She is my birth goddess. I was born in Kongbo, and she became my protectress.

So this practice is optional. If you do do that practice, she will create more favorable circumstances for me to be able to come and help you all more fully. Also, she will create a situation where you will find time to practice as well.

You have this practice, it starts with Kay Sha Shu Pa Ja Jung Pa Zon Zhu Sho Shu Kay Su Yidam ___ Tum Mo Che. I will give you all the oral transmissions straight away, so you’ll have that.

Normally, when you are doing a tsog puja or a dharmapala practice as a group, it is good to do this practice of Kongsen Denma. It’s not something you have to do every day. It is good to do it collectively as a group. As I said, in my own experience, she has really come and helped me many times.

Normally, as far as your daily practice goes, if you have a dharmapala initiation it is good to do the practice. Why? Because it opens your confidence. Also, your confidence is opened when you are able to relate to the sambhogakaya wisdom body of these deities. These dharmapalas are the protectors of the dharmakaya buddhas that are in the active field – not in the depth of meditation.

Protectors are willing to show their divine form to you, and will show it to you in a way that you can relate to, but they remain behind because we are not subtle enough, and we don’t realize it, and we don’t evoke them enough. But somehow, when the time of need arises, these protectors and protectresses will come and help.

In the Nyingma lineage, and in the whole buddhadharma, one of the most complex things to explain is the dharmapalas. The reason for this is because we must be spoken to on our individual levels of realization; otherwise, it becomes a gross fabrication of a very, very subtle complex.

The explanation can also be very difficult and terrifying, because the dharmapalas arise from the vapors of our blood. There are so many levels of protectors: there are local palas, dharmapalas, wisdom protectors, there is a whole heirarchy of protectors. It is like a comprehensive government of dharmapalas.

If you understand the dharmapala practice, you understand the working mind of the Buddhas. The dharmapalas are the main working force of all the Buddhas, because they communicate the process of our mind. If there is an enemy, what is the enemy? How should we view the enemy? If there is something harming us, how do we defeat it?

It is important to do the dharmapala practice at the beginning and end of each empowerment or wang, and if you are doing a retreat, you must also begin and end with a dharmapala practice. There is no time that you can ever exclude these wisdom beings.

The dharmapala initiation is called “Tsogmay Tsogthig” which means “empowerment giving you the life force of the protectors.” Once you have received the initiation, you must do the practice every day or they will harm you. It’s a commitment, a very serious contract. This empowerment will explain exactly what the protectors are, and how they dwell in our system and energize you.

A general dharmapala practice you can do as a group, even if you haven’t had the initiation, is the Tsomig Tsogthig. It’s a special transmission which I don’t think is being given, unless you are a tulku or really committed to spending the rest of your life in practice. It is a very difficult and risky transmission to give, and it has a very heavy samaya.

So those are the three dharmapala practices I recommend: Shenpa, the three deities, and Kongsen Denma. After that, if there are other protectors you wish to include, then include them, but these three are the root protectors in your practice.

The “Dam Chen Chi Tor” practice contains the entire magnitude of the protectors, and is a complete protector prayer for all lineages. The Dam Chen Chi Tor is so complete that once you have finished it, you have fulfilled the samaya to all the lineages. All protectors for all practices come from there. Once you have done this, you can go to the other protector prayers to pay special respect to individual protectors.

Whenever you pour a liquid as an offering to a protector, you must wear a scarf over your mouth so you don’t breathe into the protectors. The thing about the dharmapalas is that they are very disciplined wisdom Buddhas. They won’t accept any of your faults at all. They will discipline you. If, for example, you breathe into what you are pouring, they will slap you back, and in the same way, if your practice is done correctly and well, you will have a positive reaction back, straight away.

It is good to offer red wine to the dharmapalas, but the best offering is whiskey. Whiskey is expensive, but when you make an offering to the dharmapalas, and to the wisdom Buddhas, you don’t want to be cheap, you should want to offer something good. If you cannot afford whiskey, drop down to wine, and if you cannot afford wine, then offer tea. If you cannot afford tea, what can I say?

Along with the liquid that you offer in the dharmapala cup, you should also offer beef heart. The dharmapala offering is a symbol of activating the heart core. The chanting and beating of the drum that we do in the dharmapala practice vibrates the Buddha’s heart. From that heart vibration, our heart vibrates.

So they vibrate together, which produces the energy that produces the different phenomena. Within the beef heart, all essences are together. If you can’ t afford heart , offer a small piece of meat. If you can’t afford heart or meat, then offer a biscuit, or a little rice.

Basically, the offering should be whiskey, heart, the five kinds of meat, and at last one grain of rice. If you are doing a long practice, cut many pieces of meat, and continue to add heart and whiskey as if to say, “Please have, please have.”

Now it is not just whiskey and meat, but it is nectar we are offering. This offering is a symbol of our heart being opened to the dharmapala and saying, “Have this.” If you have an enemy, the offering symbolizes their heart, as if you were saying, “Please subjugate my enemy.” When you say “subjugate” you don’t mean kill. Subjugate means you want them to see the wisdom of not harming you. It is a means to bring wisdom to that person.

Many times, if someone seeks to harm you, and you are doing dharmapala ractice, that person will suddenly change their mind and decide not to hurt you. Why? Because the dharmapala changes their mind about the benefits of harming you.

Normally, when we make our offering, the power of the five meats and the five nectars increases the offering in an infinite way, like space, but since we don’t have the meditative power to increase it the way it should be increased, if we add a little dudtsi or amrita inside the bottle of whiskey, because the dudtsi has been blessed by the power of meditation, the whiskey will have the strength of meditation. The amrita has the power to make your dharmapala practice successful.

You must have either the power of the practice of relying on your yidam, your meditation, or the substance. The dudtsi contains all three powers, and alone can fulfill all three requirements. It is really powerful. I do that, by the way. You can feel the difference when you add dudtsi to the whiskey. The vibration in the room changes straight away. The protectors come.

In the Nyingma lineage, the key to making dudtsi is knowing how to prepare the nectars. Dudtsi contains five gems, five meats, five nectars, and the relics of all the Buddhas and tertons. It also contains the combination of all the earth that Rinpoche has collected from different areas.

When we make dudtsi, we combine relic upon relic, and concentrate it with the 21-day practice of day and night. The practice goes on for 21 days and nights, without interruption. It is an awesome, overwhelming process. The mantra must continue 24 hours a day.

Herbs are mixed with the dudtsi, and all of these ingredients, these king medicines, are mixed together. Then the mixture is sealed all around. Bell and dorje are placed in different quarters to symbolize the blessing.

The medicine that is prepared must be kept in a mandala, so a whole mandala must be prepared. It must be constantly attended to, with offering lamps and light. And with the practice of Dorje Sempa, Vajrsattva, Phurba, or Avalokitesvara, the lama empowers the medicine with his mind, again and again.

It is an extremely complex process to prepare dudtsi. Throughout the practice tsog is offered. When His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche prepared it, in the end, as a symbolic thing, people would see rainbows coming out of the dudtsi. Rainbows would cross each other in the air in the room where he worked, and other things like that.

Even with an ordinary lama, due to the strength of the blessings, the skull cup will boil over and radiate light on the ceiling. There are always miraculous signs when dudtsi is being prepared. Always.

If you are sick, or have samaya contamination or anything like that, if you eat a little dudtsi it will purify your channels. Dudtsi is really to purify channels. If you add a little to the whiskey, it will make up for whatever you lack in reliance on yidam, meditation, or the power of the substance.

When you practice alone, place the protector offering on your table, not the altar, so you can keep feeding it . Make the offering very carefully, and place a bumpa or water bowl here with a little saffron in it, and keep purifying the protector offering with the water as well. Also, you can turn the incense around the offering.

You must be very diligent, very conscientious of what you are doing. It is very bad if any dirt gets into the offering. The offering receptacle must be washed thoroughly, and make sure your hands are washed too. If you sit down and touch the floor after washing your hands, you might think your hands are washed, but they aren’t. Be careful.

The best way of disposing of a protector offering is in the river or ocean. It is also good to keep it in a high place where birds can eat it, like on a post, or in a tree, or put it on clean ground, blocked by a fence or stone, away from where you walk. If you are in retreat, you can collect it in a plastic garbage bag.

Don’t give the remains to domesticated dogs, cats, or other animals that comprise your extended family. If they are other people’s animals, and strays, it’s not great but it is okay. It is okay for wild animals to consume the offerings. It is good to make the offering every day, especially toward the evening.

Q. I don’t believe in the dharmapalas. Everything else about dharma makes sense, but dharmapalas don’t make sense to me.

A. Everybody has a problem with the dharmapalas. They ask, “Who are they? I don’t believe in them.” And, my dear, I must say two things to you: First, just because you don’t visually see or understand something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Remember this one. Second, what you don’t see is your limitation, not an expansion of your awareness.

The reason it is so hard to relate to the teaching of the dharmapalas is because this teaching is so very, very sophisticated. When you go through all the elaboration of the practice, through all the blood, guts, pus and everything spilling out, and you look at the various vapors that rise up, then you begin to understand.

Understanding the dharmapala is really understanding how your blood and your heart beat relate to your practice. We say your heart is the drum of the dharmapala. The pumping of the blood is the offering to the protectors, and the beating of the heart is their drum.

You must be brought up in the context of being with them, or having seen them or the local protectors. If you can’t see the local protectors, how can you hope to see the dharmapalas? If you can’t see your ancestors who have died on this land, how can you hope to see a local protector, let alone a dharmapala? The level of energy is very high, very subtle. Once your energy is very subtle, then you want to name the subtleness of the protectors. This is what you want to come to.

For example, once, in His Holiness’ temple, a man named Pedma Longdu used to beat the dharmapala drum every evening and make offerings. He had made a commitment to His Holiness to perform this offering ritual, and it was his routine. One night he got drunk and didn’t make the offering. He went to sleep.

In the middle of the night my mother woke up, maybe around 2:00 a.m., when the dharmapala drum began beating on its own. She woke up my father and asked him, “Did you ask for a special extension of the practice? What is going on?” Rinpoche just got up and smiled, and said, “It doesn’t matter. No, it doesn’t matter.”

The drum beat the whole night, and all the people surrounding the temple could not sleep. The dharmapala had become very violent, hitting the drum, because the offering had not been put there.

The next morning Rinpoche called Pema Longdu, who is now the head lama of the Buddha Monastery in Kaleekoh, and asked him, “Why didn’t you do the dharmapala practice last night?” The lama became arrogant and said, “If I miss one day’s practice, are they going to get so hungry?”

The next day Pema Longdu was hit by a fever, becoming violently ill and almost losing his life. This was because he talked about the protectors as if they were hungry for an offering, and were so attached to that offering that they couldn’t go even one day without it.

Right after he said that his blood started warming up. He couldn’t sleep all night, and his heart kept on beating, beating, beating. The next morning, he started vomiting blood. So Rinpoche told him to go straight away into the temple and make prostrations to the protectors, or they would take his life.

The protectors can take your life force. It really is in their hands. Why? The life force we are talking about in the Chi Med Tsog Thig is the protector. There is nothing other than that. It wasn’t that the dharmapalas missed the offering. They just showed him that he had lost his discipline in the training of his mind. That is why the dharmapala showed its hand. It can be a very costly affair.

Let me tell you another story about the dharmapalas. The reason my father, Dudjom Rinpoche, was never angry towards any particular person is because once he had a bad experience, and he vowed never to get angry again. I’ll explain what happened, but we should not talk about it to anyone.

When Rinpoche was young, he had some financial difficulties, as all of us do have at one time or another. Rinpoche was sponsoring many things, and his finances weren’t so good. So he borrowed quite a large sum from these three brothers, because Rinpoche was always borrowing money.

He was going to pay it back, but in Tibet it is horrible to borrow money because the interest is so high. You cannot believe it. After one or two years, if you can’t repay a loan, your interest is four or five times the amount you borrowed.

Rinpoche couldn’t pay the loan back the first year. He had started building a monastery and just couldn’t pay it. So in the second or third year one of the brothers became very angry. Rinpoche said, “Please wait. I think my situation will soon be a little bit better.” Rinpoche was already making payments, but he had borrowed quite a large amount of money.

One day Rinpoche was teaching, and in those days lamas would teach very casually, sitting in front of the house in the garden letting people come and go as they wanted, when all of a sudden this brother turns up and says, “Give me the money right now.” Rinpoche said, “I don’t have it.” So the brother said, “Then what you need is a whack,” and he grabbed Rinpoche by the throat and dragged him out.

Now all of his disciples were warriors, because as you know Tibetans are fighters, so his disciples were dragging their swords out, and Rinpoche was screaming, “Don’t touch him, don’t touch him.” Everyone there had a knife and gun and were prepared to kill this brother straight away, but Rinpoche stopped them. So the angry brother kicked him two or three times, and Rinpcohe felt really bad, but he said, “He’s right. It is his money that I haven’t been able to give him. It is true.”

Early one morning, before the dawn light, Rinpoche was doing his practice around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. In the middle of his practice, someone came in and put something on the table in front of him, and made a big noise in the dark.

So Rinpoche goes looking for a torch — batteries were brought from Lhasa, and from there they came from China, so who could afford them? — finds it, and lighting it he finds a fresh head cut off, with the brains intact. He immediately realizes that it is the head of the brother who grabbed him by the neck. The protector could not bear to see him humiliated, so he lopped that person’s head off and brought it to Rinpoche.

From that time on Rinpoche swore never to feel any emotion, or show any emotion. He had been thinking, “Why did that man treat me so badly?” He deserved it, but not in this way. Two days later, another brother went completely crazy and stabbed himself.

Soon afterward, the third brother was riding his horse and fell. Once a protector gets angry, he won’t stop until he cuts the entire family line. You might ask, “What logic is there in hurting family members?”, but I’m trying to tell you it goes beyond logic.

So immediately, Rinpoche had to stop this, because it was spreading to the other family members. So he told the parents and relatives to come to the monastery and do prostrations in the temple and ask for forgiveness. Rinpoche accepted their petitions for forgiveness, then it was cut. It didn’t get the father and mother, but next it would have been the uncles.

The wisdom mind of the dharmapalas is such that when people are cut, they are also liberated. Don’t forget this. It is not that they are suffering. The dharmapalas have the right to take the life force away. The life force we are talking about is a vitality which is in the grasp of the dharmapalas.

The truth is contained in this awareness. It is very difficult to understand at this moment, but the more you do dharmapala practice, the more you will be able to see many things you did not see before.

Rinpoche felt very bad that he showed a little emotion, because he felt that it was that emotion which transformed into the activity of the dharmapalas. It doesn’t make sense to say the dharmapalas felt anger, because they are the wisdom deities, and are beyond anger. But when you violate a holy body, the dharmapala is sworn to protect that, so they will come into action.

Regarding the lamas who are being killed in Tibet, as I said, the dharmapalas are sworn to protect the body of divine truth –not outside, but inside. Physically speaking, these lamas still have to go through the same experiences of birth, old age, sickness and death, just like anyone else. They have chosen to go through these challenges, which is why they are called bodhisattva.

Bodhisattva means accepting the challenge to come back into samsara and go through the same poisons and training, again and again. But innerly they will perceive their sickness differently. They will stay in the dharmakaya perception, and when they die, they will dissolve into light. It is only because our perception is impure that we see them suffering in an outer way. That is the difference.

Now that you have been given the explanation of the dharmapalas, if you don’t have respect for that explanation, then you are in serious trouble. Then you won’t practice as you should. If you haven’t had enough explanation, and you do the practice a little wrong, that is a little okay, but once you’ve had the explanation, and you do it any other way, then you break your commitment. What is more, there is the difficult matter of all the levels of the protectors, arising from intangibility, from that which is unseen. It is very complex.

I’ve seen thousands of examples of what the protectors can do. When you do their practices, you will find your confidence. As you move toward realization, the thing you will lack is the protectors. That is when the protectors arise.

What we have not understood so far is the strength of the blood, the strength of the heart, and the strength of the flesh. This means we haven’t really understood the dharmapalas at all.

If you practice consistently, then the dharmapalas have to reveal themselves to you. Their qualities will reveal in the depth of you — in the breath, in the blood vapor, in the nerve vapor — and you will be able to see them for the first time. Then you will begin to understand what is called “the unhindered action of the Buddhas.”

Right now, the closest you will come to seeing the perfect enlightened mind of the Buddhas is from the point of view of the protectors. It is very complex. You need to do a one month retreat of the dharmapala before you can realize, through the beat of the drum, just whose heart it is that is beating.

The drum beat is not your heartbeat, it is the heartbeat of the dharmapalas. And when you begin to understand that, fear begins to rise, because without beating the drum, the drum is still beating. Then more fear will arise. That is how you go about looking for the protectors. If you see the protectors, you might just faint. Sometimes, the life force will just run away.

When you pray for protection, you probably think you are praying to be protected from something, but though it is isn’t written, what you are really praying for is the protection of the dharmapalas. The dharmapala is the manifestation of the wisdom activity of the Buddhas. Suppose you are doing practice and someone wants to kill you, but you are saved. Who saved you? It was the dharmapalas. The bridge between the intellect and the wisdom mind is the dharmapalas.

The dharmapalas are implicit in all dharma practices. Only through the dharmapalas do you explicitly bring up the full range and magnitude of the activity of the Buddhas. You practice with wishful thought, but when you do dharmapala practice, that wishful thought translates into action.

Every time something happens to you that brings a change or realization in your life, or gives you strength to live again, that is the activity of the dharmapalas. It is not just happening by accident; it is the movement of the dharmapala. The heartbeat is the heartbeat of the dharmapala.

For example, sometimes they manifest as a person, blocking you from going a certain way, and later on you see that someone going that way was hit by a car, or they go into another person’s mind and block you so you will be safe, or physically manifest so that you are saved. These are all common activities of the dharmapala. They push you from this to that until you make the auspicious connection. It just depends on how you understand it.

Non-physical things which happen to you, which are good for you, are also the dharmapala. If you think the person or situation that was good for you, and continue to practice, someday the dharmapala will come and say, “Yes, I did that for you. I gave you that situation a long time ago.” That is the way it is.

The dharmapalas can be violent, but they can be peaceful too. They can be a butterfly, they can be warmth, they can be anything. They don’t have to be just one particular form. The activity aspect is dharmapala.

To tell the truth, even for myself:, the complexity of the dharmapalas is such that sometimes I say to myself, “What am I doing?” When you practice, you will understand, but when you don’t, then it is difficult. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve seen them or not, if you continue to do your protector practices, different situations will arise from that.

Somehow, what I always see is the wrathful. When I was small I couldn’t sleep. When I grew up I was constantly seeing the movement of the dharmapala. I remember my father saying, “Ah, these are things practitioners wish to see but can’t. These are your protectors.”

At that time I couldn’t understand what these protectors were, though in my depth I could. They had three eyes, six eyes, and I couldn’t relate to them. And the words they spoke weren’t words a small kid could understand like, “I love you.”

Instead they would say, “Give me your heart. I want to eat you,” or something like that. Those were their exact words, and I was only five or six years old. I couldn’t sleep. I would see their translucent bodies, and they would come and grab me.

In the daytime, I couldn’t play either. My eldest sister would never play with me because I would see these things, and when I would point them out to her, she would see the same things. And my servants, the young men who were looking after me, none of them would take responsibility for me at night. That is how bad it was.

In the daytime, I would be playing a game like hide and seek, and sometimes I would be running and all of a sudden I would fall into a gigantic lap. When I would look up I would see this horrible face, and then I’d faint. Most of my childhood was spent in either a fainting or unconscious state. I’ve always been like that. I had a difficult life as a kid.

My mother and father would sleep together and put me in the middle between them, and as soon as they fell asleep, someone would shake me. I’m not joking. The protector would shake me so I would wake up, and then I would see on the ceiling this deity with three heads, tongue rolled up, guts hanging out, one hand holding a knife, saying, “Come, come, I want to just cut your neck.”

It helped that Rinpoche told me it was good that I had these protectors, and that they were the wisdom deities. As a child I could relate to something nice, but seeing something like that just scared the hell out of me. I couldn’t understand why they would do that, why they would frighten me. And later in my life, I didn’t understand why they didn’t have the wisdom to know I was just a child.

Rinpoche would be doing a tsog, and I would look inside the tsog offering and see a whole host of non-existent people. Sometimes they would bring dead people to Rinpoche for his blessing. I would see that person walk in, sit down and observe. I saw many things that terrified me.

My mother would fight with my father, saying, “If this continues a long time, you will have no son left.” It was true. Anything that moved, I was frightened. She wanted him to seal off my mind so I wouldn’t see these visions. Rinpoche had a way of sealing this vision off, totally.

My father said no, we must leave it as it is, that it was really beneficial for me. I couldn’t understand how it was beneficial. But later, after a big fight with my mother, he sealed it.

Rinpoche called me in to him and said, “It is very unfortunate what I am going to do, but I am going to seal your vision completely.” I was maybe seven or eight years old. There was an altar set up with some nectar on it. He told me to put it on my eyes.

So I put it on my eyes and forehead, and he said, “From today on, I’ve sealed this one.” Truly speaking, after that I never saw them again. I could feel them move for another year, but the vision aspect was gone. Now I think it was a great mistake.

My mother should have listened to Rinpoche, because he was talking from his wisdom mind. I’m sure I wouldn’t have died, but I was so happy when my mother requested that. Believe me, my servants couldn’t bear to be with me. At night they wouldn’t go out with me, because just like with my sister, if I pointed the dharmapalas out, they would see them too.

I would be sitting in a room, and the door curtains would start moving, and something would catch my eye and I would see this gigantic finger saying, “Come, come. ” I wouldn’t want to look at it, so I’d tell my sister, “there, there,” and she would see the same gigantic finger saying, “Come, come,” and then she’d start screaming.

It is no wonder I had no one to play with. If it had been a dream, I would have understood it as a dream, but it wasn’t a dream. I really saw it. I couldn’t hide in any corner.

The only time I felt secure that nothing was going to come was when I would sit right next to my father or mother when they were doing things. Even then, when I looked around, I would see things, but they wouldn’t frighten me because my mother or father was there.

Rinpoche told me that later on my vision would reopen on its own, but I think it was good for my health that he sealed it off; otherwise, I don’t know what would have happened to me. It was a terrible part of my life.

So when you ask about the dharmapala, I’ve had the same kinds of questions, like why would they scare the hell out of me? If they had just showed themselves to me once, I would have said, ” I’ve had an experience,” but showing me again and again, daytime, evening, nighttime, whenever I played they were running after me, attacking me.

And their words were not sweet or gentle, they were always, “I want to chop you,” or “I want to eat your heart.” The only gentle thing I’ve seen is Kongsen Denma, and she’s important to me. She always appears in the most beautiful form.

One day I was playing outside in the field and suddenly this beautiful lady came and said, “I’ll take you to the main garden in Lhasa.” I said, “Yes, I want to go.” So I just held her hand and went. I saw everything in the lingka. I’d never been to the lingka before. I was lost for seven hours.

My mother was worried , and she went to my father and he said, “No, no. There is nothing wrong with him. He’ll come back home. It looks alright.” During the seven hours I was lost, my memory was that I went to this lingka and had a nice time. I watched all the fish in the water.

Then, all of a sudden, I was back in front of the gate, and a servant came and grabbed me and dragged me in, because all the servants were out looking for me. I didn’t know what had happened. I didn’t realize I had been gone for seven hours. It had seemed just a few minutes to me. The beautiful lady had said, “Go back. I’ll come and visit you again.”

My mother asked me what happened, and where had I been, and who took me, so I told her. The lingka is a 1/2- day’s horse ride from my house. Rinpoche knew nothing was wrong. He could see everything was intact, that I hadn’t been taken by a demon or a spirit. Rinpoche said most probably it must have been one of his protectors.

So she was the only elegant lady with all the ornaments saying, “come” with gentle words. The rest I’ve seen were all (he makes a grimace). That’s what I mean when I say dharmapalas.

(The two stories about laying down on the road and letting the Chinese Trucks roll over him, and Falling in the Well were not translated.)

Source:http://dharmadhatu.web-log.nl/dharmadhatu/2006/03/the_protectors.html

Antique thangka of Dorje Shugden with Guru Rinpoche directly above Dorje Shugden.

Surrounding them are various well known Yidams propitiated by the Nyingmapa order as well as Yidams mostly propitiated by the Gelugpa order.

This photo shows the famous Dungkar Monastery oracle who could take possession of six deities including Dorje Shugden and his entourage Kache Marpo and Namkar Barzin, and it was through this oracle that Lama Zopa Rinpoche was confirmed as a tulku.

It was at this Dungkar monastery that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama composed the praise to Gyelchen Dorje Shugden “MELODY OF THE UNCEASING VAJRA”.

The oracle of Dungkar Monastery taking trance of Dorje Shugden (wrathful form) – photo taken between 1947-1949.

The oracle of Dungkar Monastery taking trance of Dorje Shugden (peaceful form) (photo taken between 1947-1949)

Domo Geshe Rinpoche

Domo Geshe Rinpoche (also spelled ‘Tomo’ or ‘Tromo’ Geshe Rinpoche) was beyond the shadow of a doubt one of the greatest Mahasiddhas in Tibetan history. His kindness and compassion are still legendary throughout Tibet.

People of all traditions held him in utmost reverence, many never even knew which of the four schools he belonged to. In the Dromo region many added his name to the Mani Mantra (DOMO GESHE RINPOCHE OM MANI PEME HUNG).

Dungkar Monastery had a Guru Rinpoche statue blessed by Guru Rinpoche himself, and Domo Geshe Rinpoche performed annual special ceremonies to Guru Rinpoche.

The 13th Dalai Lama proclaimed that he had met Je Tsongkhapa after meeting him. There was a saying to the extent that
While Pabongkha, Trijang and Domo Geshe Rinpoche are alive, all is well in Tibet.

His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang said of him: he is exactly like me. He had very special spiritual connections with Vajrayogini (of whom he had the first vision at the age of four) and Dorje Shugden.

One of the most famous miracles that accompanied Domo Geshe Rinpoche wherever he went is depicted on a wall of his Monastery: the vision of a whole ‘procession’ of Buddhas and deities that was witnessed by Rinpoche and his entire entourage. It is beautifully described in “The Way of the White Clouds” by Lama Anagarika Govinda, the first of its kind book that continues to inspire countless seekers.

To do this supremely holy being even remote justice, may we please refer the reader to the wonderful though uncompleted biography of Ursula Bernis, who passed away while working on it. To read it is to receive a direct taste of Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s blessing enlightened influence in this world.

Notice that behind Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s throne in Dunkar Monastery is a thangka of Vajrayogini with main protectors below, which include Kalarupa and Dorje Shugden.

The next photo also shows Dorje Shugden as one of the protectors in the thangka behind His Holiness Zong Rinpoche, who was at Phari district then to give teachings. Back then Dorje Shugden was not an issue and it was widely practised/praised by great masters including His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, but why is it an issue now?

Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s throne at Dungkar Monastery
(photo taken between 1947-1949)

Zong Rinpoche at a branch monastery of Rizong Pordoh at Phari Dzong
(photo taken between 1947-1949)
(click here to download high resolution photo for printing)

Thangka behind Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s throne at Dungkar Monastery showing Dorje Shugden as one of the protectors (bottom right corner)

Thangka behind Zong Rinpoche showing Dorje Shugden as one of the protectors
(top left corner)