H.E. Daknak Rinpoche

In the fantasy world, we have superheroes, like Spiderman, who capture the minds of countless children everywhere with their superhuman powers and abilities. But in Tibetan Buddhism, we have super erudite and highly attained Lamas who attract thousands of followers, both ordained and lay, because of their selflessness and great compassion to benefit all beings. One such highly revered lama is H.E. the 14th Daknak Rinpoche who has thousands of followers in Tibet and Taiwan.

H.E. Daknak Rinpoche is highly respected in Taiwan, a country where Tibetan Buddhism is rare and less popular compared to the mainstream Mahayana Buddhist tradition. However, Daknak Rinpoche’s great dedication and hard work in spreading the Gelug lineage in this region eventually led to the founding of the Daknak Genden Lhundup Monastery in Taiwan.

Today, H.E. Daknak Rinpoche travels frequently between Taiwan and Tibet, and also to other countries around the world to expound the great teachings of Lama Tsongkapa and the protector Dorje Shugden. Most recently, Daknak Rinpoche personally presided over a four-day puja: a one-day Yamantaka peaceful Fire Puja and a three-day Medicine Buddha Puja.

Fire pujas are an excellent way to pacify the results of our unwholesome actions, and to clear away obstacles and challenges. In addition, the Medicine Buddha puja is a popular practice especially within Asian communities as it promotes healing and longevity.

Dedication cards were produced for both pujas, a common practice in Chinese temples across Asia where sponsors write dedications for themselves or their loved ones. It is wonderful to see aspects of local culture infused with Tibetan Buddhism in Daknak Rinpoche’s monastery.

We at DorjeShugden.com rejoice to receive such wonderful news about one of the most respected Dorje Shugden lamas of our time and we look forward to hearing more great news of H.E. Daknak Rinpoche and other great masters that in their immense compassion, selflessness and skillful means, have captured the minds of all they meet.

H.E. Daknak Rinpoche in full dakini ritual garb

Bountiful offerings for the Medicine Buddha puja

Offerings for the fire puja neatly arranged

H.E. Daknak Rinpoche performing fire puja

Handwritten dedication cards

Many of Daknak Rinpoche’s Taiwanese students attended the event

H.H. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche (right) with Zawa Tulku (left)

The world is watching the activities of H.H. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche, full of expectation that he will continue the great works of his predecessor, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang.

Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche is the spiritual director of Trijang Buddhist Institute (TBI) in Vermont, USA where tradition, spiritual practice and the spread of Lama Tsongkapa’s pure lineage take priority over all other matters. And like any great enlightened master, his Dharma activities are growing with each passing day.

Most recently, Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche led a Vajra Yogini retreat and fire puja in TBI from 28 June – 27 July 2014. A peaceful fire puja is a ritual traditionally performed after a retreat to compensate for any faults of unclear meditative stabilization, and poorly recited or incompletely said mantras.

We are happy that Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche is actively turning the wheel of Dharma and hope to see and hear more of him in the near future. The Gelug world has missed this incomparable master during recent decades, while awaiting him to reach his maturity.

Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche in dakini dress

Substances to be offered during the Fire Puja

Resident teacher Venerable Tharchen Lobsang and students making offerings into the fire

The lay participants are dressed in white clothes, the traditional color for a peaceful fire puja

About a month after the puja, my aunt passed away. The amazing thing was that, on the day of her passing, she could still eat lunch on her own. She even got out of bed and changed her own clothes. Then, she went to sleep and passed away without a sign, without any suffering, without any pain. Dorje Shugden helped her to pass, exactly like my Lama had requested him to – painlessly and peacefully. It is a miracle for a patient who is suffering from cancer at a terminal stage to pass away in such an amazing manner. I have full confidence that Dorje Shugden has also guided her consciousness to take rebirth in a conducive environment to continue her Dharma practice.

~ Marti ~

When I was invited to join my very first puja with my Dharma community, I replied with an apology and said I would not be able to attend it as I had to take my wife out for dinner. I always take my wife out on the weekend and it has become a routine. If for any reason I tell her that I cannot take her out for dinner, she would become very angry and not speak to me for a day or two.

A Dharma sister advised me to tell my wife that I needed to go for prayers and the Protector would help me to make this possible. That gave me confidence.

I took my wife out for lunch that Sunday and told her about the puja. I said I wouldn’t be able to take her out to dinner that night. Not only did she accept it, but also asked to take-out the food from our lunch for her dinner. I was very, very surprised because she would never eat the same food twice in the same day. I looked at her blankly, a little surprised, and she simply replied that she didn’t want to trouble me to have to come out and get her dinner again later.

So I made it to my first protector puja, made possible by Dorje Shugden himself –
thank you!

~ Zack H ~

And yet, in his infinite kindness, he never, ever forsakes us. At the most urgent moments, he is always there – swift, immediate and with so much compassion. He has helped me even in the smallest things – it seems almost silly actually. For example, there have been moments when I’ve had to attend important Dharma activities or events and travel or parking is difficult around the area.

All I have to do is make a little wish in my heart, “Protector, please help me find a parking bay, I really need to be here for my Dharma path!” and almost immediately a car will pull out, leaving a parking spot for me in the most convenient, safe place, right in front of the venue. This hasn’t just happened once or twice, but over and over again, every time I have asked.

There have also been very desperate situations where I’ve needed urgent help. This is just one of those cases:

One of my relatives was going through a very difficult, personal situation and as a result, had become very depressed, addicted to alcohol and very aggressive when he became drunk.

One day, I got a call from my aunt saying that this uncle was threatening to kill himself and had locked himself in the bedroom. I was with my Lama at the time and when I told him what happened, he advised me to go to them directly, to visualise my Lama and Protector as one on my head and to recite the Wangse’s mantra constantly.

By the time I got there, my uncle had totally lost it and had started to hurl all manner of things around the house. There was broken glass, machines and wrecked furniture everywhere, and he wouldn’t stop drinking. He was completely uncontrollable.

I did as my Lama had advised – including the visualisations and reciting mantras under my breath. I don’t know how it happened, but as I did so, all the right words would spontaneously tumble out of my mouth which would calm him down temporarily, until we could work out our next move. Even I was surprised I was saying those things – it seemed like I was watching a movie of myself speaking.

Given the circumstances, I would have normally have totally freaked out and broken down. But by relying strongly on the Protector this time, I remained very calm and had such a sharp sense of focus which I never normally have even.

I was able to calm down my uncle, stay strong for my aunt (who was totally falling into pieces) and strategise how to keep him contained and stop doing more damage. It felt like I was in some terrible movie but at the same time, throughout the episode, I felt like I could always anticipate what would happen next and move accordingly. The focus was abnormal and extremely sharp.

This focus also allowed me to rally round just the right support, call and get hold of just the right people. Just finding ways of getting hold of these people were riddled with obstacles, but by reciting the mantras over and over, other alternatives and solutions came to mind very quickly and easily. These other relatives were able to come over in the middle of the night and appease this uncle completely, until he finally went to bed peacefully.

There was damage, but it was salvageable and fortunately, nobody was hurt at all. The Protector, through the control aspect of Wangse showed me just how powerful and immediate his help is for a situation that could have potentially been very dangerous, even at the cost of people’s lives.

Also, I didn’t do any elaborate pujas or rituals. Everything turned out well and calmed down drastically just by reciting his mantra and having deep faith, knowing that both my Protector and Lama were protecting my whole family nearby and from afar. For this, I am always grateful and know for sure then, that the Protector is always there. All we have to do is believe and call.

~ Anonymous ~

Let me explain – I was facing a nasty landlord who, one year into a five-year contract, wanted to evict me to sell the home. For whatever reason, he was claiming the tenancy agreement was not valid and he had every right to kick me out. He gave me four to five months to leave. That’s not a lot of time when you’re holding down a full-time job where full-time really means 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To look for a new place, decorate and furnish it… ah yes, decorate – my position really wasn’t the most pleasant because I’d put my heart and soul into decorating the house.

To be honest, I didn’t really ask the Protector for help. I might’ve muttered something in passing, or said a quick prayer but I didn’t make any explicit requests in the form of pujas or supplications. I just tried my level best for things to work.

Over the months though, a miraculous thing happened. As the owner tried to sell the place, one by one, buyers would delay and finally drop out of the sale altogether. This bought me time but I never stopped worrying about having to move out… and my worries appeared to be well-founded when, one day, I learnt that the owner had finally managed to sell the place to someone equally keen to evict me.

It seemed like I’d lost the battle, and I’d lost my home. I was contemplating the logistics of my move when one day, to my utter surprise, my lawyer called up. He said he had discovered my agreement was valid after all. It was difficult to explain why, but that was what he’d found out and the new owner (who apparently was livid!) couldn’t do anything about it.

I’ve now got three more years of assured tenancy in my home, thanks to the Protector who heard my inner request for help!

~ Nikhil ~

Firstly, by practicing Dorje Shugden, I find inner peace. I have become more patient and obtained a much higher level of tolerance. The practice has also helped me to better handle relationships with various people, especially in dealing with difficult people. I’ve learnt how to overcome problems with others through good communication and without holding on to anger.

The nature of my work requires me to always meet very tight deadlines and constantly chase others to get the work done. There are always many pressures at work, but I realize that since starting this practice, I have been able to overcome unnecessary stress much more easily. At the same time, by praying to Ratna Shugden, I have also been able to find more freelance jobs during quiet periods.

Dorje Shugden is a Buddha, a fully enlightened Dharma Protector. Because of this, I believe he has not only helped me to achieve peace of mind, but has also led me to become more involved in my Dharma community and to realize the importance of selflessly helping others through Dharma activities.

~ Nina ~

This was puja was performed by the courageous monks of Serpom Monastery.

This video shows the Tibetan New Year pujas at Shar Gaden Monastery.

Video of the Taktse Dupcho puja at Shar Gaden Monastery, India.