His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, known as the ‘teacher of teachers’, was the junior tutor of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. At the Dalai Lama’s request, Trijang Rinpoche composed his autobiography which invariably demonstrates the deep impact that Dorje Shugden had on his life.

The opinion piece below was sent to dorjeshugden.com for publication. We accept submissions from the public, please send in your articles to ds@dorjeshugden.com.

By: Shashi Kei

A Force of Nature

His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche is without question a phenomenal force in Tibetan Buddhism and his name has become synonymous not only with the stainless tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa but also the highest standards of scholarship and monastic excellence. Trijang Rinpoche is hailed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest master of Tibetan Buddhism in the modern era, continuing a legacy of enlightened deeds that began many lifetimes ago. His recognised reincarnation lineage began as Chandra (Chandaka), the chariot driver who took Prince Siddhartha into the forest to begin his journey to become the Buddha. In addition, in his past incarnations, Trijang Rinpoche had been the Great Atisha, the illustrious scholar Santaraksita, and the exemplary debater and logician Candrakirti. Trijang Rinpoche, who had a close relationship with the 16^th Karmapa, even took reincarnation in the Karma Kagyu lineage as the 8^th Karmapa Mikyo Dorje and he was also the Bodhisattva Dharmamitra.

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From the time Trijang Rinpoche was born to when he passed into clear light, he lived a faultless life. So immense was Trijang Rinpoche’s contribution to the Tibetan people and to the Buddhadharma that until this day, there is not one shred of accusation or charge against him. This is why when Trijang Rinpoche’s flawlessness was called into question, it raised eyebrows. That was the occasion when the Dalai Lama said that the old masters who worshipped the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden were all ‘wrong’. Trijang Rinpoche was one of the old masters the Dalai Lama referred to and he was well known for his trust in Dorje Shugden.

In saying that these old lamas were wrong, the Dalai Lama based his statement purely on their practice of Dorje Shugden and nothing else. Whilst shocking, it is not entirely surprising because at the time, the Dalai Lama was imposing a ban on Dorje Shugden’s practice for reasons that have never been proven or shown to have logical basis in the greater context of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. For example, it is contradictory for the Dalai Lama to declare that old masters such as Trijang Rinpoche are infallible Buddhist masters of sutra and tantra, and at the same time accuse them of being worshippers of a “spirit of the dark forces” which the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA; Tibetan leadership based in Dharamsala) say all Dorje Shugden worshippers are.

The Magical Play of Illusion: A Validation of Dorje Shugden

The Magical Play of Illusion. Click on the image to download the English biography (in PDF format). To download the text in Tibetan, please scroll to the bottom of the article.

Trijang Rinpoche entered clear light in 1982 but before he passed away, he wrote his autobiography, The Magical Play of Illusion, at the request of the Dalai Lama. As much as Trijang Rinpoche’s book is a chronicle of the deeds of a Bodhisattva, it is at the same time a firm validation of Dorje Shugden and a narrative of how much the Dharma Protector assisted Trijang Rinpoche in performing his great deeds that continue to benefit people even today. In that sense, the autobiography of this great lama exemplifies the awkwardness of the case against Dorje Shugden; that is, in chronicling the life and activities of Trijang Rinpoche, the book makes it impossible to condemn Dorje Shugden and his practitioners without simultaneously making a fool out of the Gelug lineage and the foundations of Tibetan Buddhism.

The clumsiness is clear right from the beginning. For example, the translator of Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography, Sharpa Tulku wrote in his Preface that,

“My family sought his [Trijang Rinpoche's] guidance and his divination for every major event in our lives, and the advice he gave never failed to be beneficial.”

Over the next few hundred pages of the book, Trijang Rinpoche would articulate repeatedly his deep and unequivocal reliance on Gyalchen Dorje Shugden for advice, divination and prediction. No other Dharma Protector is mentioned with such significance and frequency as Dorje Shugden. Therefore the divinations and advice that Sharpa Tulku’s family benefited from would have come from Gyalchen Dorje Shugden whom Trijang Rinpoche relied on.

This is just but one of many other instances. To point out each and every occasion in Trijang Rinpoche’s life and provide examples where he invoked Dorje Shugden to perform a beneficial act, or turned to the Protector for divination and advice or gave initiations and permissions to Tibetan lamas and personages to practice Dorje Shugden, would yield an essay almost as voluminous as Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography itself. Suffice to say that Trijang Rinpoche’s life is without a doubt an attestation to Dorje Shugden’s divine qualities and the high regard the Protector commanded in Tibet’s lay and monastic community until the Tibetan leadership forcibly changed all that.

The CTA’s Persecution of Shugden Buddhists

On their official website (tibet.net), there is a list of what they call “Dolgyal” followers which the CTA use to defame Dorje Shugden practitioners and direct violence towards them. Is this what a “democratic” government body should be doing? Click to enlarge.

Within the framework of the Tibetan leadership’s ban on Dorje Shugden, the publication of Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography in English in October 2018 is interesting. Trijang Rinpoche wrote his autobiography in 1975, a few years before any murmurings against the Dorje Shugden practice began. Those murmurings became a formal restriction on the practice in 1996, when resolutions were passed to condemn Dorje Shugden practice and vilify Shugden practitioners. The ban however, was disguised as merely a strong advice, an act that was necessary given the Tibetan leadership’s claims to be a democracy. It would undermine the CTA’s purported democracy if it was seen to be preventing its own Tibetan people from exercising their religious freedom although this was precisely what the CTA’s ban was tantamount to.

Sikyong Lobsang Sangay launches anti-Shugden book

That thinly-veiled ban became an outright commandment by the Dalai Lama in 2008 by which time to practice Dorje Shugden was not only socially taboo but also (according to the Tibetan leadership] somehow against the Buddhadharma. In 2014, the CTA’s Parliament formally passed a resolution declaring all practitioners of Dorje Shugden to be “criminals in history“. The CTA’s propaganda machinery went into overdrive and by 2017, the CTA’s religious ban had successfully driven the worship of this deity underground, much like Nero’s persecutions of Christians drove Christianity underground in 64AD.

In this systematic manner, an ancient and hallowed Protector practice became labelled a cult practice and its followers portrayed as violent extremists bent on destroying Buddhism and harming the Dalai Lama. It became common for Tibetans and supporters of the Dalai Lama to demonstrate their loyalty by harboring enmity against Dorje Shugden practitioners and anyone even remotely associated with the practice. For all intents and purposes, the Tibetan leadership’s efforts to eradicate the practice of Dorje Shugden had worked. Which is why the October 2018 publication of Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography in English where it can reach the widest audience was an unexpected surprise.

The Paradox and Explanations

Trijang Rinpoche was regarded as the embodiment of the practice of the pure Dharma and when he was alive, his word was taken as the ultimate spiritual authority. Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography and other writings bear witness to the fact that he propagated the practice of Dorje Shugden widely, teaching all who received the practice that Dorje Shugden is in fact wrathful Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom. This was the prevailing view of Dorje Shugden for centuries. The Dalai Lama was aware of that and it has been said that he waited until the last of the old great lamas had passed into clear light before enacting the Dorje Shugden ban.

H.H. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche

For example, the Dalai Lama knew that it would have been impossible to denounce Dorje Shugden whilst living Buddhas such as Trijang Rinpoche were still alive. Trijang Rinpoche would never have given up the practice and in retaining it, his influence alone would have emboldened thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, to join him in maintaining their practice too. In this way, imposing the ban on Dorje Shugden while Trijang Rinpoche was alive would have drastically reduced its efficacy.

Dorje Shugden was after all the main Dharma Protector of Pabongka Rinpoche, Trijang Rinpoche and Zong Rinpoche, and virtually every lama, scholar and practitioner of the Gelug lineage. Despite being the spiritual and secular head of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama was still a student of Trijang Rinpoche. Given the tremendous significance of Trijang Rinpoche and his unmatched standing within the Tibetan lay and monastic community, it would not have been difficult for the weight of his word or the significance of his own practice of Dorje Shugden to overshadow the Tibetan leadership’s attempts to demonize the deity.

What some might find unusual is that the Dalai Lama, knowing very well Trijang Rinpoche’s relationship with Dorje Shugden, still allowed the publication of this translated autobiography. The Dalai Lama would have known that its publication would revive the memory of this spiritual giant and with it, a restoration of the name of Dorje Shugden, the deity the Tibetan leadership wanted the world to forget. And yet he allowed it.

Could it be that the Dalai Lama had no influence over the matter? Not so. Those familiar with the ways of the Tibetan leadership know that the CTA can easily shut down the publication of any material or literature that does not support their stance on any issue, for example:

1. The Tibetan magazine Mangtso (meaning ‘democracy’) was shuttered for publishing views deemed critical of the Dalai Lama’s administration;
2. Guru Deva Rinpoche had his printing press shut down after publishing a letter by a Tibetan layperson who questioned the Dalai Lama’s Dorje Shugden ban. Guru Deva Rinpoche, a great benefactor of the Tibetan people in exile, was himself chased out of town and back to Mongolia.

So it is without question that the Dalai Lama could have easily prevented the publication of Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography. The publisher, Wisdom Publications, is owned by the same interests as the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) that is not only opposed to the practice of Dorje Shugden but also comes under the control of Lama Zopa who is a staunch Dalai Lama supporter.

Not only did the Dalai Lama allow the publication of the book, but he also endorsed its contents by writing the Foreword to the autobiography of the greatest Dorje Shugden lama of the modern era.

Foreword written by H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama. Click to enlarge.

Dorje Shugden detractors will insist that the Dalai Lama’s Foreword is yet more affirmation of his opposition to the Dorje Shugden practice, but the Dalai Lama’s own words prove them to be wrong. To begin with, the Dalai Lama excuses Trijang Rinpoche’s Dorje Shugden practice by saying,

“Since his predecessors had close ties to the practice, as did his root lama Phabongkha Rinpoche, it is understandable that my late tutor followed them in propitiating Dölgyal (Dorje Shukden).”

In this sentence alone, the Dalai Lama disqualifies the reasons for imposing the Shugden ban because the Dalai Lama confirms:

1. That past Gaden Tripas relied on Dorje Shugden. The Gaden Tripa is the head of the Gelug lineage and in Trijang Rinpoche’s case, he had two predecessors who were the 69^th and the 85^th Gaden Tripas. The fact Trijang Rinpoche’s erudite predecessors, who occupied the highest seat in the Gelug lineage twice-over, became closely associated with Dorje Shugden practice indicates that it was not a fringe and unauthorized practice after all.
2. That worshippers of this supposed “dark force” experience no ill-effects. In fact, Dorje Shugden worshippers can even reincarnate as enlightened masters like Trijang Rinpoche who is deemed holy, attained and qualified even to become the tutor of the Dalai Lama, an emanation of Avalokiteshvara.
3. That it is natural and understandable for a practitioner to follow his teacher’s worship of Dorje Shugden. The Dalai Lama even confirms that there is a lineage of practice, since Trijang Rinpoche’s own root lama relied on Dorje Shugden. However, this understanding is somehow suspended when the Dalai Lama and CTA forced Dorje Shugden practitioners to break oaths made to their teachers to uphold the Protector practice, and the Dalai Lama even allowed Penpa Tsering to criticize and denigrate his tutor Trijang Rinpoche’s root lama.

Dorje Shugden statue at Nyanang Pelgyeling Monastery in Nepal, made by the Fifth Dalai Lama. Click to enlarge.

Nevertheless, detractors will be keen to point out the Dalai Lama’s reference to the 5^th Dalai Lama. In their indictment of the deity, those opposed to Dorje Shugden often misquote the 5^th Dalai Lama as having said that Dorje Shugden was “an oath-breaking spirit born from perverse prayers …harming the teachings [the Buddhadharma] and all living beings”.

However, not only is this incorrect but the opposite is true. The 5^th Dalai Lama composed the very first prayer to Dorje Shugden, beseeching him to protect Dharma practitioners. He also constructed the very first Dorje Shugden chapel (Trode Khangsar) in Lhasa, and created with his own hands a Dorje Shugden statue for the purposes of worship. All of these are historical facts which have not been disputed.

And notwithstanding his earlier negation of false claims against Dorje Shugden, the Dalai Lama further invalidated that wrong view, albeit subtly, in the very next paragraph where he wrote,

“…and I composed a prayer for the swift return of his reincarnation.”

Even those with the most rudimentary Dharma knowledge will be able to see the contradiction here. If Dorje Shugden is truly a malevolent entity, then Trijang Rinpoche in his previous life as the Gaden Throne-holder and then as the Dalai Lama’s Junior Tutor would have broken his refuge vows and along with it, his monastic, tantric and all other vows.

Why then even spare the effort of composing a prayer for such a person’s swift return? Surely a prolific worshipper of such a destructive demonic force and who had actively facilitated the spread of this ‘evil’ would be heading for the lower realms and remain there for countless aeons according to the laws of karma. And yet the Dalai Lama gave no indication whatsoever that this was to be the result of Trijang Rinpoche’s lifelong worship of Dorje Shugden. Instead with the prayer, the Dalai Lama indicated that he fully expected the swift return of his teacher’s incarnation.

H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama with the current incarnation of H.H. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche. If Dorje Shugden lamas worship a demon and are supposed to take rebirth in the three lower realms, why then did the Dalai Lama recognize the reincarnation of his guru?

The Epilogue of Trijang Rinpoche’s book narrates how the Dalai Lama actively searched for Trijang Rinpoche’s new incarnation and confirmed through divination the identity of the boy who would eventually be enthroned as the new embodiment of Trijang Rinpoche’s mind stream:

“His Holiness felt certain that Trijang Rinpoche’s reincarnation had been reborn in northwestern India, Kungo Palden, full of hope, went with Jamyang Tashi to Dalhousie on May 8, 1983, and stayed with Losang Thupten…” (page 380)

and,

“There, His Holiness gave the verdict that Sönam Topgyal’s child was the true reincarnation of Kyabje Trijang Vajradhara. With a beaming expression on his face, His Holiness then charged Lati Rinpoche and Kungo Palden with responsibility of caring for the child.” (page 381)

Finally, the Dalai Lama performed a hair-cutting ceremony on Trijang Rinpoche’s incarnation and named the boy Tenzin Losang Yeshe Gyatso.

Page 243, click to enlarge.

Allowing the publication of Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography, endorsing the book by writing a Foreword for it, and then skillfully negating very serious charges against Dorje Shugden, all go against the ban on Dorje Shugden that the Dalai Lama himself had imposed over two decades ago. Many examples of this can be found but an especially glaring example is on page 243 where Trijang Rinpoche wrote that it was the Dalai Lama who personally instructed Trijang Rinpoche to seek the advice of Dorje Shugden at the most crucial time. The Protectors Palden Lhamo, Nechung and Gadong had all given their respective advice but the Dalai Lama needed to be sure and so he sought the final confirmation from Dorje Shugden.

In the final analysis, it was upon Dorje Shugden’s instruction that the Dalai Lama and his party fled Tibet following the route prescribed by the deity Trijang Rinpoche regarded as the “chief protector”. Why would a supposedly perfidious spirit save the Dalai Lama if it is true that his intent is to harm the Buddhadharma?

Note that while the Dalai Lama spent most of his Foreword criticizing the practice of his guru, he did not dispute any information or specific events in the book that soundly mitigate the case against Dorje Shugden. There are only a few ways to look at this incongruity:

1. It was an oversight on the part of the Dalai Lama. This is highly implausible because the Dalai Lama is well known to be sharp-witted and still in possession of very finely-tuned mental faculties despite his advanced age. In addition, the Dalai Lama has access to a string of aides-de-camp, assistants and secretaries, and not to mention scholars like Sharpa Tulku and his regular translator Thupten Jinpa who would have vetted the book and advised the Dalai Lama accordingly, assuming the Dalai Lama had not read his teacher’s autobiography himself. So this explanation cannot stand on its own merits.
2. The publication of the book was out of the Dalai Lama’s control. Again, as we examined earlier, the opposite is true. Wisdom Publications comes well under the Dalai Lama’s influence. In any case, even if the publisher was a company outside the Dalai Lama’s clout, his willingness to write the Foreword negates this argument.
3. The only other explanation is that the Dalai Lama intended for the book to be published and widely read. A critical Foreword would pique interest in the matter, and lead people to look out for mentions of Dorje Shugden. As inconsistent as this may appear, it makes sense when seen from the perspective of recent developments in two other controversies that have dominated the Tibetan Buddhist landscape, besides the Dorje Shugden conflict – the 11^th Panchen Lama controversy and the Two Karmapa dispute.

Reconciliation

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Dalai Lama’s candidate for the 11th Panchen Lama, disappeared shortly after he was recognized. A few months later, the Chinese government recognized their own candidate and since 1995, the Dalai Lama has persisted in his claim that the Chinese candidate is a fake and merely a puppet of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Then suddenly in April 2018, the Dalai Lama changed his mind and endorsed the Chinese Panchen Lama.

In 1995, the Dalai Lama accused the Chinese government of abducting a child that the Dalai Lama had recognised to be the 11^th Panchen Lama. In addition, the Dalai Lama declared that the China-enthroned 11^th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu was a fraud, which is a stance the Tibetan leadership have vehemently stood by for the past 23 years. Then suddenly, on 25^th April 2018, the Dalai Lama made a statement that Gyaincain Norbu is in fact the official and therefore the real Panchen Lama. This sudden reversal of the Dalai Lama’s stance on the Panchen Lama controversy was a harbinger of changes to come.

The two Karmapa candidates Thaye Dorje (left) and Ogyen Trinley (right) during their recent October 2018 meeting in France. Although the Dalai Lama has never traditionally been involved in the search and recognition of the Karmapas, Ogyen Trinley was endorsed by the 14th Dalai Lama, setting off a conflict that has plagued the Karma Kagyu tradition for over 20 years.

Just as mysteriously, on 11^th October 2018, the two Karmapa candidates Ogyen Trinley Dorje and Trinley Thaye Dorje met in secret in France before issuing a joint statement declaring their mutual interest in healing the division in the Karma Kagyu lineage. The said division had been caused by a disagreement amongst the four regents of the Karma Kagyu, triggered when Tai Situ Rinpoche declared that Ogyen Trinley was the rightful heir to the Karmapa throne. The Shamarpa, the most senior of the four regents, disagreed with him and insisted that another candidate, Thaye Dorje was the correct reincarnation of the 16^th Karmapa and therefore the rightful claimant to the Karmapa seat. Traditionally it has been the role and duty of the Shamarpa to recognize and enthrone the Karmapa but the Dalai Lama acted outside his authority and scuttled the process. In officially endorsing Ogyen Trinley as the Karmapa, the Dalai Lama crystallized the problem and rendered it intractable even though the Shamarpa presented information to indicate that the Dalai Lama was in error.

The Dalai Lama’s interference divided the Karma Kagyu from 1995 onwards. Given the Dalai Lama’s absolute dominance of all matters relating to Tibetan Buddhism, it has been widely speculated that the Dalai Lama secretly engineered the recent France meeting of the two Karmapas to pave the way for reunification in the Karma Kagyu lineage. This is plausible because it would be highly unlikely for the young Karmapas to openly oppose the Dalai Lama and undo what the Dalai Lama had set in stone. And so there appears to be a change in the Dalai Lama’s stance on the Karmapa issue as well.

The developments in the Panchen Lama and Karmapa issues have one thing in common in that they are both reconciliatory in nature and if the Dalai Lama is seeking to harmonize the Tibetan Buddhist community, then it makes sense to also unravel the Dorje Shugden ban. And what better way to do this than to publicize his teacher, Trijang Rinpoche’s close relationship with Dorje Shugden by writing the Foreword to his autobiography. Given Trijang Rinpoche’s stature, the high regard he commanded at all levels of Tibetan society and seeing how the people still regard him indisputably as an enlightened being, his autobiography is a potent antidote against Dorje Shugden disinformation, and a robust counter-argument against detractors’ demonization of the deity.

It is well within reason to ask why the Dalai Lama does not just announce the abolition of the Dorje Shugden ban if that was indeed his intention.

1. The answer may be as simple as the suggestion that the Dalai Lama does not like to admit that he is wrong. We get a hint of this in a video of the late Shamarpa speaking about his meeting with the Dalai Lama. The Shamarpa recounted how he presented his findings about why the Dalai Lama was in error for endorsing Ogyen Trinley as the 17^th Karmapa. According to the Shamarpa’s narrative, the Dalai Lama did not disagree with his findings but instead replied that he had already endorsed Ogyen Trinley and so he could not withdraw it. We may surmise from this that the Dalai Lama may have a habit of refusing to acknowledge his mistakes regardless of the repercussions.

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The Shamarpa explained that he went to the Dalai Lama to present evidence countering his endorsement of Ogyen Trinley as the 17^th Karmapa. The Dalai Lama refused to retract his endorsement, saying once it had been issued there was no way to withdraw it.

2. Perhaps the Dalai Lama cannot afford to admit he is wrong because in doing so, it would open the floodgates for him to be questioned on a string of other matters. He would no longer be deemed to be faultless and omniscient. As far as the Dorje Shugden conflict is concerned, decades of discrimination against Dorje Shugden worshippers happened based only on the Dalai Lama’s word that the practice is demonic. For the Dalai Lama to openly say that Dorje Shugden is not evil after all would not only discredit him, it would also lay liability on him, for inflicting such a grievous injury on the Tibetan community inside Tibet as well as the Tibetan diaspora around the world.
3. There are quieter ways of bringing about reconciliation. The Gelug tradition is the predominant Tibetan Buddhist sect and accounts for the largest percentage of the Tibetan population around the world. Within the Gelug school, the practice of Dorje Shugden has always been pervasive especially from the time of Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche. Therefore the harm done by the Dalai Lama’s Dorje Shugden ban has been widespread, damaging the unity of the Tibetan nation, the integrity of the Tibetan Buddhist monastic structure, as well as the good name of Tibetan Buddhism. So it may have been deemed wiser to just quietly take effective measures for the damage to heal, just like how the Dalai Lama secretly set up the meeting of the two Karmapas.

Whatever the reasons may be, the Dalai Lama’s allowance for the publication of Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography and then writing a Foreword for it, is a welcome move not only for Dorje Shugden Buddhists but also for Buddhism in general. It is the Dalai Lama’s way of inviting the world and everyone engaged in the Shugden divide to finally discover the truth and then close a very unfortunate chapter in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. Trijang Rinpoche was and still is the embodiment of a life lived perfectly in accordance to the Buddha’s teachings and as such his name itself is holy and his life story is both an inspiration as well as a lamp that guides all beings out of samsara. The Dalai Lama demonstrated great mastery and wisdom in allowing for the words of his holy teacher to permeate the earth to correct gross misunderstandings about a deity that Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, Heruka himself, had said we needed to depend on.

And to be sure that what Trijang Rinpoche wrote about Dorje Shugden was accurate and dependable, the translator Sharpa Tulku affirmed (on page 21, Preface) that Trijang Rinpoche wrote his story “without fabrication or omission”. If that is indeed the case, and Sharpa Tulku did not conjure up this statement without basis, then to vilify Dorje Shugden is to negate the choices, practices and existence of Trijang Rinpoche, one of the greatest living Buddhas of our time.

Dorje Shugden
in Magical Play of Illusion

Few lamas have as intimate a connection with Dorje Shugden as Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche does. Trijang Rinpoche writes about Dorje Shugden with great affection, as a close friend who protected him from scolding tutors, who helped him to choose the reincarnation of his guru Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, who helped him to save the Dalai Lama’s life. Indeed, Trijang Rinpoche relied on Dorje Shugden throughout his life, to assist him in activities that would affect thousands of people. All of this is clearly documented in Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography…that is, if you know where to look because in this translation of the autobiography, the Dharma Protector’s role in this great master’s life has been severely downplayed.

Instead of referring to Dorje Shugden by name, the translator refers to him using obscure, vague terms that would be unfamiliar to the majority of non-Tibetans who pick up this book. Why? Because to translate it clearly and honestly would be to recognize and properly record Dorje Shugden’s involvement in Trijang Rinpoche’s life, thereby invalidating the Tibetan leadership’s narrative of Dorje Shugden as a minor practice of spirit worship.

After all, why would a lama of Trijang Rinpoche’s calibre, who accomplished so much (as evidenced by his autobiography), choose to rely on a so-called ‘spirit’?

For realists, it is a foregone conclusion that Dorje Shugden’s involvement was downplayed purely for commercial reasons. The sad truth is that the Dalai Lama’s endorsement by means of a Foreword is necessary for the book to be a commercial success. In order to obtain such a Foreword, the translator would have had to allow the Dalai Lama to write something that criticizes Dorje Shugden, as well as obscure Dorje Shugden’s role in Trijang Rinpoche’s life.

Hence to clarify things, the team at DorjeShugden.com has compiled this list of the 56 times that Dorje Shugden is referred to in Trijang Rinpoche’s autobiography. You can refer to the images below, or click here to download a handy PDF document which you can print out to refer to as you read the book.

Page 1. Click to enlarge.

Page 2. Click to enlarge.

Page 3. Click to enlarge.

Page 4. Click to enlarge.

Page 5. Click to enlarge.

Page 6. Click to enlarge.

DOWNLOAD
Trijang Rinpoche’s Autobiography

The biographies of holy beings such as Trijang Rinpoche serve to inspire and remind us about what is possible if we devote ourselves to our practice. Trijang Rinpoche spent his life tirelessly teaching the Dharma and benefiting sentient beings; his autobiography, which chronicles his deeds, paints the picture of a deeply devoted, kind, humble yet vastly accomplished spiritual practitioner.

Please keep this sacred text on your computers to read at your leisure, or print it to be inserted into statues or keep on your altar. As a Dharma text, please remember to store in a proper and respectful manner.

• English (PDF; 7.6MB)
• Tibetan Part 1 (PDF; 111.2MB)
• Tibetan Part 2 (PDF; 169.2MB)
• References to Dorje Shugden in the biography (PDF; 56kb)

The richly decorated stupas of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Zong Rinpoche stand precariously within the compound of the monastery that rejects Dorje Shugden, the protector deity proliferated by these two great lamas

Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Zong Rinpoche were two of the greatest Gelug lamas of our time and were therefore accorded the highest respect. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, the heart son of Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, was an erudite scholar and master of all the Tantric teachings. Also the junior tutor of the 14th Dalai Lama, he was famous for having compiled the notes of a famous lamrim teaching that Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche gave into a manuscript known today as Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Trijang Rinpoche also gave countless initiations on the four classes of Tantra. He himself was known to be the emanation of Vajrayogini.

In his lifetime, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche did much to proliferate Dorje Shugden’s practice and life-entrustment initiation to innumerable high lamas, geshes and ordinary monks. In order to ensure Dorje Shugden’s practice was perpetuated into future generations, he also composed a commentary called Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors that enumerates the previous lives of Dorje Shugden and various other aspects of this Dharma Protector. On top of that, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche was known to have found and trained Dorje Shugden oracles like the current Panglung Kuten.

The highly revered Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche did much to proliferate Dorje Shugden to become one of the most common protector practices within the Gelug tradition

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche was the student of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and the Abbot Emeritus of Ganden Shartse Monastery. He was one of the greatest debaters of his generation and is best remembered for uplifting the discipline and education standards of the monastery during his tenure as abbot. He spent many years roaming the countryside and was known to be an accomplished tantric master with occult powers arising from his attainments.

Like his Guru, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche proliferated Dorje Shugden and the life-entrustment initiation to many, especially when he was traveling in the West. He was also known to have trained Dorje Shugden oracles and the current Ari Kuten is from Zong Ladrang.

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, the erudite master who was one of the main lineage lamas who proliferated Dorje Shugden to many

Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche entered clear light in 1981 and Kyabje Zong Rinpoche entered clear light in 1984. In accordance with tradition, stupas were built by their students in the courtyard of Ganden Shartse Monastery to house the relics of both these eminent masters for future generations to venerate. The stupas also create merits for the current incarnations’ activities and works to be fulfilled.

Both these eminent lamas evidently promoted Dorje Shugden. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche proclaimed Dorje Shugden to be an emanation of Manjushri. However, the Dalai Lama himself has said that his Guru, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, was wrong about the nature of Dorje Shugden and claims that Dorje Shugden is a spirit.

The Dalai Lama issued a ban on Dorje Shugden’s practice and forbade all his followers from associating with Shugden practitioners. Hence, all elements of Dorje Shugden worship were systematically eradicated from Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, including Ganden Shartse Monastery, except the stupas of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Zong Rinpoche.

The stupas leave a huge gaping hole in the rhetoric of the ban.

• How can Ganden Shartse Monastery evict and expel monks who practice Dorje Shugden yet keep the stupas of these great Dorje Shugden lamas?
• How can Ganden Shartse Monastery declare that their monks cannot associate with the monks of Shar Ganden on the basis that Shugden practitioners are outcasts of society yet venerate the stupas of these great Dorje Shugden lamas?
• How can Ganden Shartse Monastery claim that Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche was wrong about the nature of Dorje Shugden yet still venerate him as a lineage lama of the lamrim and many other teachings?
• How can Ganden Shartse Monastery claim that Kyabje Zong Rinpoche was a demon worshipper yet welcome his reincarnation as long as he does not practice Dorje Shugden?

If Ganden Shartse Monastery really wanted to toe the line that the Dalai Lama has drawn, surely they should demolish and destroy the stupas and relics of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Zong Rinpoche for fear of being labeled as associating with Dorje Shugden lamas or much worse, venerating Dorje Shugden lamas?

The very fact that the stupas are still standing within the confines of Ganden Shartse Monastery shows that the implementation of the ban is selective and ultimately baseless. Perhaps, the continued existence of these stupas lend a glimmer of hope that the ban is just temporary and that reconciliation is possible in the near future.

An Exclusive Interview with Geshe Sopa Part 2

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Venerable Geshe Lobsang Sopa is an incredible monk with a reputation of being sincere, fiercely devoted to his Gurus and extremely principled. All who come into contact with him describe Geshe-la as being direct, even brutally honest, but tremendously kind. And it is this kindness and loyalty to the Gelugpa lineage that drives Geshe Sopa to get involved in the efforts to end the Dorje Shugden conflict.

Geshe Sopa is no stranger to the persecution that so many Shugden practitioners have suffered. He has not been able to see his family for over 18 years since the onset of the Shugden ban, one that caused many other families to separate due to the split loyalties that were forced onto the entire Tibetan community; and has suffered discrimination and threats of violence for his efforts to create awareness of the suffering that Shugden practitioners have to endure. Recently, Geshe Sopa’s name and likeness were even listed in a hit list of Dorje Shugden practitioners published by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

Today, Geshe Sopa is a Resident Teacher of Trijang Buddhist Institute (TBI) where he has been based since 2004, the advisor to the North America Gelug Buddhist Association (NAGBA) and an outspoken advocate of Tibetan Public Talk (TPT), a NAGBA initative. Geshe Sopa was also one of the monks who tirelessly rebuilt Ganden Shartse Monastery in South India after the Tibetan exodus of 1959.

It is when you hear Geshe Sopa speak about Ganden Shartse Monastery that you again see the ugliness and damage the Dorje Shugden ban has caused. Till this day, Geshe-la expresses his wish to return to Ganden Shartse – the home which he built, grew up in and where he received his education – and to be reunited with his Dharma brothers and friends. He hopes to see the reunification of Ganden Shartse and Shar Ganden monasteries before the end of his life.

Very rarely can one find a monk who is so humble and yet has quietly accomplished such virtuous works from building monasteries to serving the highest of lamas. Thus, it was a great privilege for DorjeShugden.com to speak with Geshe-la to get his views about the Dorje Shugden conflict.

The Third Trijang Rinpoche, Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (1901–1981) was the foremost Gelug Lama of his generation and a direct disciple of Je Pabongka. He was the root guru and junior tutor of the 14th Dalai Lama for forty years. He is also the root lama of many Gelug Lamas who teach in the West including Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Geshe Rabten, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa. A great number of present-day Tibetan Buddhist masters are his students.

(Zong Rinpoche) sometimes said that Kyabje Trijang Dorjechang was the “director of us all.” He was the guru of practically every Gelugpa lama of his generation.
~ Molk, David. Chod in the Ganden Tradition

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso has likened Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche to “a vast reservoir from which all Gelugpa practitioners of the present day received ‘waters’ of blessings and instructions.”
~ Belither, James. Modern Day Kadampas: The History and Development of the New Kadampa Tradition

He was the most outstanding Master in every field of Buddhist teachings as well as Tibetan culture. He was the very source of all the fields of knowledge and a consultant in all of them. It was a well-known fact that he had really been the very epitome of a Master who had attained the highest realizations of the Sutras and Tantras, as well as an unsurpassable propagator.

~ The Life of a Tibetan Monk – Autobiography of Geshe Rabten, page 250, Edition Rabten

Almost every Tibetan sought his guidance and blessings in almost all situations and activities, and that includes great masters, senior and junior rinpoches, Geshes, monks, nuns, ministers, business people, men, women, old and young, poor and rich, intellectuals or practitioners. Tibetans from practically every walk of life sought his help and advice in their good and bad times. He cared for everyone equally, without discrimination, with boundless compassion and patience.

~ The Life of a Tibetan Monk – Autobiography of Geshe Rabten, page 250, Edition Rabten

About Trijang Dorjechang

[Extracted from www.tbiusa.org]

Trijang Dorje Chang’s natural nobility and rare affability captivated his many visitors, each of whom, the humble or great of this world, knew he would be assured a warm welcome and an attentive ear. That kind reception was always a prelude to precious advice, as clear as it was sensible on matters both secular and religious, because nothing escaped his luminous intelligence and the humane wisdom which he put in the service of others with unfailing abnegation.

The Junior Tutor of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama was for his generation the repository of the Ganden Oral Tradition originating with the second Victorious One — the great Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa. He was the guardian of the Extraordinary Volume derived from Mañjuśrī, that wonderful work that only beings of the highest spirituality can appreciate.

It was the dawn of a Tuesday in spring, the twelfth day of the third lunar month of the Female Iron Ox year (1901) when Trijang Rinpoche was born. He was the third with that name after two Ganden Tripas, the sixty-ninth and eighty-fifth supreme heads respectively, of the Gelugpa school. This time he chose for himself an unusual family who lived in one of the most spiritual places of Central Tibet, Tsel Gungthang. Tsering Döndrup, his father, had two reasons to be proud: he was descended from a maternal uncle of the Seventh Dalai Lama and was in charge of the well-known local monastery. With his first wife, who died too young, he had two girls and five boys, one of whom was Tati Khamlung Rinpoche, Lama of Sera Monastery’s Je college. Later on Tsering Döndrup had another son with a servant woman, a son recognized as a Lama, this time of Ganden Shartse, and known as Pukhang Khyenrab.

When Tsering Döndrup’s recently married fifth son died by being pulled by the current of the Kyichu River while on his way to Lhasa, he did not abandon his daughter-in-law Tsering Drölma. In fact, he took such good care of her that they had three children: Trijang Rinpoche, his sister Jampel Chötso and her younger brother Lelung Rinpoche. In short, three Lama sons were born from three different mothers. And this is not the whole story. The list grows longer when later on Tsering Drölma would build a new life for herself after years of misery. When their older son was only six or seven, Tsering Döndrup, thoroughly disgusted by the empty pleasures of the world, decided to devote himself to spiritual practice. He renounced his responsibilities at Tsel Gungthang and entrusted his family to his aunt Yangzoma and her husband, a Khampa by the name of Apo, who robbed Tsering Döndrup’s family continuously and drove them out of their own home. In his autobiography, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang tells of his grief when, at the age of eight, he learned of the problems his mother and sister had faced.

He himself knew what it was like to be poor when he was young. Very often he and his instructor did not have much to eat. Later, when the invitations flooded in and his relatives resurfaced, he recalled with a smile those days of starvation when he wished in vain to be asked to say prayers or perform rituals that would have provided him with a nourishing meal.

But let us go back to 1901. Trijang Rinpoche’s father was then fifty-nine, and his mother twenty-seven. Soon they would be visited by those in charge of finding the reincarnation of the Tutor of the Great Thirteenth Dalai Lama whose name was Lobsang Tsultrim Pelden (1839–1900), and who insisted shortly before he died that they stop at Tsel Gungthang. The little boy showed so many confirming signs that the steward Ngag-rampa Lobsang Tendar’s doubts were quickly dispelled. In fact, the two state oracles, Gandong and Nechung, each singled him out from among the candidates whose names they had been given.

The little boy was not yet three when he was taken to Lhasa early in 1904. He was placed in Chusang Ritö, the hermitage of his illustrious predecessor Jangchub Chöpel (1756–1838), who had come from his home in Kham, the Chateng, to study at Ganden Monastery. At first the boy asked to be admitted to the Jangtse college, but the head of the regional khangtsen or monastic house contemptuously turned him away because he looked awful. Meanwhile, the local inhabitants, the Chatengpas, in no way would accept that this boy from Gungthang had been designated the reincarnation of “their” Lama. The people had their own local candidate and did not hesitate to threaten “the usurper.” It took until 1929 for them to recognize his legitimacy, but from then on they vowed to venerate him unconditionally, as they had done with his predecessor. The Chatengpas literally adore their Lama, to whom they offer their possessions and dedicate their life.

Although challenged thus, the young Lama started his education at Chusang Ritö, a place where monks have always been eager to do retreats as it is such an auspicious site. In particular, many Sera Lamas went there and exchanged traditions and instructions. Their young host loved to lend a hand with the fire rituals and other colorful ceremonies. And so it happened that one day the man who would be his principal Master and whose true spiritual heir he would become arrived. The man’s name was Kyabje Pabongka Dorje Chang (1878–1941). Kyabje Pabongka Dorje Chang would remain at the hermitage no less than seven years until 1912. Meanwhile, the very young Trijang Rinpoche considered him the ideal playmate. After the morning memorization sessions, Trijang Rinpoche loved to join the young Pabongka Rinpoche, so sweet and kind, who would put him on his lap, make him wonderful drawings, and perform all sorts of sacred dances for him. And if the boy caught him at rest, the monk would put the boy next to him and share with him his own food, a gesture which in the highly hierarchical Tibetan society was meant to emphasize their equality.

It goes without saying that the time was devoted mostly to studying, but that was easy for one who had an excellent memory and a good tutor like the steward Ngag-rampa. Early in the summer of 1907, Trijang Rinpoche’s assistants took him to Reting Monastery. There, in the monastery founded in 1056 by the Master Atiśa’s main disciple Dromtön Gyalwey Jung-ne himself, Trijang Rinpoche was ordained by the fourth Reting Rinpoche, Jetsun Ngawang Yeshe Tenpai Gyaltsen, who gave him the name Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso. Because at Chusang Ritö he had twice read the conversations between Atiśa and his disciples compiled in the Kadam Bu-chö — the Kadampa Teachings of the Son — Trijang Rinpoche was able to understand everything and to situate people and things perfectly in his mind as soon as the monks began to give him an explanation.

– Short Biography: Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (1901–1981)

[Source: http://dorjeshugden.info/2014/07/12/who-was-trijang-rinpoche/]

My guru, kind-in-three-ways, who met face to face with Heruka, whose name I find difficult to utter…

Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche Dechen Nyingpo was an unbelievable lama who lived in the early part of the twentieth century [biography].

His two main students, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche and Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, were the most highly esteemed Gelugpa Lamas of their day, so respected that they were chosen to guide the education of the Dalai Lama when he was recognized and enthroned.

Pabongka Rinpoche, a recognized reincarnation of Chankya Rolpai Dorje, was the one who was responsible for widely propagating the practice of Dorje Shugden among the Gelugpa tradition.

As a result of the attempts in recent decades to convince the world that Dorje Shugden is a worldly Deity, Je Pabongka’s reputation and lineage has come under attack, so I thought it would be nice for students who practice in his lineage to see, once again, that things are not as cut and dried as his detractors would have you believe.

Scholars and yogis, please check!

Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey on Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche

He was such a great lama, unsurpassed by any, that hardly any lamas or geshes of the Three Pillars (the monasteries of Ganden, Sera and Drepung) had not been his disciples. Read more…

Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche on Je Pabongka Part 1

This feeling of renunciation was overwhelming. These are some of the ways in which all of his discourses were so extraordinary. Read more…

Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche on Je Pabongka Part 2

Our childish minds were unfit vessels for so vast an ocean of teachings… Read more…

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche on Je Pabongka Part 1

Kyabje Pabongka had such vast qualities it is difficult to comprehend them… Read more…

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche on Je Pabongka Part 2

Mahasiddha Pabongka Rinpoche has a long history and during his time the Dharma increased greatly in Tibet. He was actually Heruka Demchok. Read more…

Sermey Jetsun Khen Rinpoche Losang Tharchin on Je Pabongka Part 1

An unbelievable expert on all subjects Read more…

Sermey Jetsun Khen Rinpoche Losang Tharchin on Je Pabongka Part 2

He displayed tremendous abilities as a public teacher… Read more…

Sermey Jetsun Khen Rinpoche Losang Tharchin on Je Pabongka Part 3

I felt as though I had received his blessing, and some special power to pursue my studies… Read more…

Lama Zopa on Je Pabongka Part 1

It’s impossible that he can really be some kind of evil being, as those extremists accuse him of being… Read more…

Ribur Rinpoche on Je Pabongka

The only thing that matters to me is that I was a disciple of Pabongka Rinpoche. Read more…

Glenn Mullin on Je Pabongka

Undoubtedly the greatest living Gelukpa lama of the period… Read more…

Michael Richards on Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche

Pabongka Rinpoche was probably the most influential Gelug lama of this century, holding all the important lineages of sutra and tantra and passing them on to most of the important Gelug lamas of the next two generations; the list of his oral discourses is vast in depth and breadth. Read more…

[Source: www.truthaboutshugden.wordpress.com]

H.H. Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang

Even these days, some suspect those who rely upon and propitiate Gyalchen (Dorje Shugden) of conjuring ghosts, but it is the babbling talk of those who don’t understand the definitive meaning.
~ Trijang Dorjechang Losang Yeshe, Symphony Delighting an Ocean of Conquerers, 1967

Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors (or ‘Symphony Delighting an Ocean of Conquerers’) is the most definitive and complete document on Vajradhara Dorje Shugden, his nature, function and history, written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s root Guru, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang. It is available in Tibetan, English, Chinese and Indonesian. (Click to download ‘Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors’)
 

[Extracted from: http://dorjeshugden.info/2010/02/03/think-it-over/

There is clear evidence that the ban on Dorje Shugden’s practice, which was decreed by the Dalai Lama, has created dissension and division within the Tibetan exile communities in India and abroad. Dorje Shugden practitioners are alternately labeled as spirit worshippers who are destroying Tibetan Buddhism from within, Chinese spies who are paid to create discontent within the Tibetan population, or samaya-breakers who are endangering the Dalai Lama’s life. The followers of the Dalai Lama ostracize Shugden practitioners as a direct result of these pronouncements.

Consequently, the ban has driven a deep wedge into the heart of Tibetan society, resulting in families broken, marriages estranged, and friendships lost. Nowhere is the effect of the ban felt and seen more clearly than in the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries of the Gelugpa lineage where, not only are spiritual friendships rent asunder but worst of all, the sacred bond between teacher and student is severed in the name of the ban. This has culminated in the great expulsion of Shugden-practicing monks from their mother monasteries, and in the formation of Shar Ganden and Serpom monasteries, which are home to well over 1,000 Shugden monks today.

For over 20 years, the Dalai Lama has taken an unyielding stance against Shugden Buddhists, openly and repeatedly condemning the practice, while his administration has passed parliamentary resolutions criminalizing the followers of this enlightened Buddhist deity. Yet, in spite of all the abuse and false accusations hurled against Dorje Shugden and his practitioners, the honest truth is that the Dalai Lama owes his fame, success, and even his life to Dorje Shugden and the attained masters that uphold this practice.

Here are just a few examples of why the Dalai Lama is indebted to the great Dorje Shugden Lamas, both past and present.

The Two Tutors

An official portrait of the Dalai Lama (center) and his two tutors, H.H. Kyabje Ling Rinpoche (left) and H.H. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (right)

When the 14th Dalai Lama came of age in Tibet, two imperial tutors or Yongzins were appointed for him. The imperial tutors are responsible for the Dalai Lama’s formal education in grammar, arithmetic, dialectics, philosophy, lamrim, and innumerable tantric initiations and oral transmissions. Given their great responsibility, it is to be expected that the Dalai Lama’s tutors would be carefully selected from among the most erudite masters of the time. Thus, it was no surprise that Kyabje Ling Rinpoche was chosen to be the Dalai Lama’s Senior Tutor and Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, the Junior Tutor.

The relationship between the Dalai Lama and his two extraordinary Gurus was very close and spanned over 30 years. So close was their relationship that Ling Rinpoche was likened to be the Dalai Lama’s father while Trijang Rinpoche was the mother. Ling Rinpoche was primarily occupied with giving teachings on Buddhist philosophy, while Trijang Rinpoche taught the Lamrim and the tantras. In fact, most of the Dalai Lama’s tantric initiations were received from Trijang Rinpoche.

Just like a mother nurtures her child, Trijang Rinpoche also taught the Dalai Lama everything else he needed to know for someone of his position. As the Dalai Lama’s birth father died young and his mother came from a peasant background, his parents could not teach him the proper behavior befitting such a high lama. So it was ultimately Trijang Rinpoche who taught the Dalai Lama “how to be a Dalai Lama” – how to speak, how to receive guests, noble manners, grooming, etc.

It is important to note that both tutors were very close students of Kyabje Pabongkha Rinpoche and received a great number of lineages, teachings and transmissions from him, including the practice of Dorje Shugden. Therefore, most of what the Dalai Lama teaches in his stadium-packed events today is largely due to the kindness of these brilliant masters: Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche AND Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche.

Yet, the Dalai Lama dishonors the kindness of his tutors and the lineage masters with every negative statement he makes against Dorje Shugden. Not only were Ling Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche staunch Dorje Shugden practitioners, they also proliferated Dorje Shugden’s practice. Kyabje Ling Rinpoche composed a fulfillment text propitiating Dorje Shugden, while Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche composed ‘Music Delighting An Ocean of Protectors‘, a commentary of Dagpo Rinpoche’s praise to Dorje Shugden called ‘Infinite Aeons’ and one of the most definitive and complete documents on Vajradhara Dorje Shugden, his nature, function and history.

During a 1997 teaching in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama did acknowledge how much he owes Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, saying:

I received immeasurable kindness from him even when I was very small. It may seem a little boastful if I give you this example of my strong faith in Trijang Rinpoche. I often dream of my lamas, and in one clear dream Kyabje Rinpoche was urinating and I was lapping it up. So, I do have single pointed faith in him.

Yet, in an interview with Swiss Public Television in 1998, the Dalai Lama vehemently said that his Gurus were wrong about the nature of Dorje Shugden (watch the interview here). Once again, the Dalai Lama contradicts himself. If the Dalai Lama really means what he says about his faith in Trijang Rinpoche, why doesn’t he uphold ALL of the teachings and lineages that were bestowed upon him, including the practice of Dorje Shugden, as a sign of his devotion to his lamas?

The Western Buddhist Pioneers

Dalai Lama (centre), Geshe Rabten (left) and Gonsar Rinpoche (right) with members of Tashi Rabten during the Dalai Lama’s visit

Europe

The late Geshe Rabten was an erudite scholar, unexcelled debater and a fearless lama who first introduced the complete and complex teachings of Buddhism in the West. Appointed as the philosophical assistant to the Dalai Lama in 1964, Geshe Rabten moved to Switzerland in 1974 to serve as the Abbot of Rikon Monastery in Tosstal, at the Dalai Lama’s request. Combining his understanding of the Western mind and ideas with his ability to explain Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy with powerful clarity, Geshe Rabten quickly gained a following of Western students and became the pioneer in spreading Tibetan Buddhism in Western Europe.

Unknown to most, it was Geshe Rabten who arranged the Dalai Lama’s very first visit to Europe in 1973, inviting him for a tour that included Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, and UK. During this trip, the Dalai Lama gave a discourse on adaptating to Western civilization at Rikon Monastery, Switzerland, on 6 October 1973.

It was also Geshe Rabten who arranged the Dalai Lama’s very first public teaching in the West. Geshe-la invited the Dalai Lama to visit Tharpa Choeling in Mt Pelerin, Switzerland in the summer of 1979, and 900 members of the public attended these historical teachings.

Thus, it is partly due to the kindness of Geshe Rabten that the Dalai Lama has mastered all the Buddhist philosophy and dialectical lessons needed to become the great scholar, debater and master of Buddhism that he is today. And it is entirely due to the kindness of Geshe Rabten that many doors in the West were open to the Dalai Lama, resulting in his eventual fame as the figurehead of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama gave a discourse on adaptating to Western civilization at Rikon Monastery, Switzerland, 6 October 1973

1979: His Holiness the Dalai Lama gives his first public teaching in the West in Tharpa Choeling, with B. Alan Wallace and Helmut Gassner translating

America

A rare portrait of Domo Geshe Rinpoche Ngawang Jigme

In 1971, Kyabje Domo Geshe Rinpoche Ngawang Jigme established the Dungkar Gompa Society in the United States. A property was found in the Catskill Mountains of New York State and was named Gangjong Namgyal, the All Victorious Snow Land.

Then in the summer of 1981, Domo Geshe Rinpoche invited the Dalai Lama to visit the United States, hosting his stay at Gangjong Namgyal. After that initial visit, the fame and influence of the Dalai Lama grew exponentially and resulted in innumerable other trips to America. Thus, it was partly due to the kindness and foresight of Domo Geshe Rinpoche that the way was paved for the Dalai Lama’s eventual popularity in the USA.

Domo Geshe Rinpoche is yet another Dorje Shugden lama who was renowned for creating the Dungkar Oracle that took trance of Dorje Shugden, and for pacifying and installing Namkar Barzin within the entourage of Dorje Shugden.

Today, the Dalai Lama misuses his fame and reputation as a Tibetan Buddhist leader to mislead audiences worldwide into believing that Dorje Shugden is an evil spirit and that his practice is harmful. Yet, Geshe Rabten, his heart disciple Gonsar Rinpoche and Domo Geshe Rinpoche are all renowned Dorje Shugden practitioners. Thus, when the Dalai Lama renounces Dorje Shugden’s practice, he is ‘biting the hands that fed him’ and that put him on the world stage.

The Dalai Lama’s fame, stature and success today is due to the kindness of Dorje Shugden lamas, past and present

The Life Savers

The 6th Panglung Kuten, Oracle to the Protector Dorje Shugden

The Dalai Lama also appears to have forgotten how Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Dorje Shugden saved his life during the tumultuous period of Chinese military presence in Tibet. It was through Trijang Rinpoche’s counsel that special arrangements were made to seek the advice of Dorje Shugden via the Panglung oracle. And it was Dorje Shugden via this oracle who instructed the Dalai Lama to leave Tibet and revealed the escape route for the fleeing party.

It was also Dorje Shugden practitioners, in the form of the Chushi Gangdruk, who successfully escorted the Dalai Lama out of Tibet in 1959, at the cost of their lives. The Chushi Gangdruk was a society of Khampa warriors, formed at the advice of Dorje Shugden a few years prior. Through his omniscience, Dorje Shugden already knew in 1956 that the Dalai Lama would have to leave Tibet in 1959, and thus insisted the Chushi Gangdruk be formed to escort the Dalai Lama to safety.

Chushi Gangdruk Self Defence Forces, Lhokha, U-Tsang Province, 1958.

And on yet another occasion in December 1999, the Dalai Lama was on the road from Gaya in Bihar to Sarnath on the outskirts of Varanasi when he met with a car accident. The car that was carrying him exploded and would have killed the Dalai Lama had it not been for a bodyguard who pulled the dazed Dalai Lama out of the wreckage just in the nick of time. That bodyguard was in fact a student of Domo Geshe Rinpoche and a staunch Dorje Shugden practitioner.

Thus, on more than one occasion, the Dalai Lama owes his life to Dorje Shugden and his practitioners. Why then does the Dalai Lama say that Dorje Shugden’s practice endangers his life, since the reverse is clearly the case?

The Right Hand Man

Samdhong Rinpoche (right) followed Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche’s instructions to assist the Dalai Lama

The 5th Samdhong Rinpoche Lobsang Tenzin was elected into power as the Kalon Tripa or Prime Minister of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in 2001. He played an instrumental role in implementing many of the Dalai Lama’s policies. However, before his appointment into office, Samdhong Rinpoche was another staunch Dorje Shugden practitioner, a direct student of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche who was known to take Dorje Shugden pujas very seriously.

Originally, Trijang Rinpoche was grooming Samdhong Rinpoche as a teaching lama who would give initiations, oral transmissions, teachings and blessings. However, when Samdhong Rinpoche entered the political arena, his root teacher Trijang Rinpoche told him to go all the way and follow the Dalai Lama’s advice. During one of his last speeches in office, Samdhong Rinpoche revealed that he did not really care about Tibetan politics and only did his job because it was one of his Guru’s last instructions to him.

The Ingratitude?

It is apparent from these examples that the Dalai Lama has received tremendous benefits from Dorje Shugden and his practitioners. Almost everything the Dalai Lama has – his lineage, teachings, initiations, fame, success, popularity, manners, grooming, even his life – was received from or obtained through the efforts of Dorje Shugden practitioners. Unfortunately, the ban on Dorje Shugden has alienated and outcast the very same people who have brought so much benefit to the Dalai Lama and his works.

From a logical perspective, these examples illustrate how the Dalai Lama’s reasons for the Dorje Shugden ban are weak and hollow.

From a spiritual perspective, it is clear that Dorje Shugden’s practice only brings benefit to everyone that it touches.

And at the most basic level, it is clear that the Dalai Lama’s actions have the result of making him appear ungrateful. This is completely unbefitting of a world-renowned Buddhist master. After all, the virtue of gratitude should be inherent in such an illustrious master, spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It would, therefore, very much behoove the Dalai Lama to address the Dorje Shugden issue to reconcile the differences between the pro- and anti-Shugden parties – if not for the sake of correcting a mistake, then at the very least, in remembrance of the kindness of these great Shugden High Lamas to whom the Dalai Lama is indebted.

About 600 Mongolians attended the Dalai Lama’s teachings on Je Tsongkapa’s Lamrim

By Shashi Kei

In early December 2014, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama gave his annual teachings on Lama Tsongkapa’s “Great Stages of The Path To Enlightenment” (the Lamrim) to an international audience in Dharamsala. The Lamrim is irrefutably one of the most important teachings given by Lama Tsongkapa as a detailed guide to all students of dharma on their spiritual path to liberation. Therefore all Lamrim teachings are, by tradition, to be treated with utmost reverence both by the listener and the teacher.

What made this year’s event different was the presence of over 600 Mongolians in the audience. The teachings were held over three days and not long into the first day’s teaching, it became obvious that the Dalai Lama intended to use this religious platform for his political agenda once again.

#1: The Dalai Lama Breaks His Promise

Two years earlier during the Lamrim teachings of 2012, the Dalai Lama gave his word that he would no longer speak publicly against Dorje Shugden. However, he did not stop. At every opportunity since, the Dalai Lama spoke against the Protector and now, two years later, he used another Lamrim teaching to attack Dorje Shugden as well as the present incarnation of his own guru, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang.

The Dalai Lama began his assault by demonizing Dorje Shugden yet again, first by suggesting that Dorje Shugden was happy when the 13th Dalai Lama passed away and that Shugden is now eagerly waiting for the 14th Dalai Lama to die. Given the people’s reverence of the Dalai Lamas, that was said with only one purpose in mind – to poison the audience’s minds against the deity.

Far from wanting to harm the Dalai Lamas, Dorje Shugden in fact helped the 13th Dalai Lama [as narrated in The Garland of Jewels: Chronicles of The Successive Emanations of Lokesvara - http://bit.ly/1xaaIWb] and saved the life of the 14th Dalai Lama [http://bit.ly/1Be3U9v]. It is not difficult to see that had Dorje Shugden wanted the Dalai Lama harmed, he would not have provided the means for the Dalai Lama to escape Tibet just before the Chinese army began shelling the Potala Palace.

Not only has the present Dalai Lama not acknowledged the roles played by Dorje Shugden and Shugden lamas in his life, he has in fact demeaned the devotion and sacrifices of so many Shugden followers, quite without conscience.

• Was it not Trijang Rinpoche and Ling Rinpoche, both Shugden lamas, who tutored the Dalai Lama and took care of his every need?
• Was it not Zemey Rinpoche, another Shugden lama, who assisted the Dalai Lama in his precarious dealings with the Chinese?
• Was it not Shugden lamas who consulted with the Protector and planned the Dalai Lama’s escape (and with it the survival of the Tibetan culture and religion) after Nechung gave the wrong advice for the Dalai Lama to remain in Tibet?
• Was it not Shugden monks from Sera who escorted the Dalai Lama in his dangerous journey, and Shugden believers who formed the Chushi Gangdruk that protected the Dalai Lama all the way to India and then returned to Tibet to join in the fight to liberate their homeland?
• Was it not Guru Deva Rinpoche, yet another Shugden lama, who was instrumental in the rebuilding of the great Gelugpa universities and the re-establishment of Tibetan Buddhist infrastructure in India?

As a matter of fact, Dorje Shugden has played crucial roles throughout the Dalai Lama’s life and now here is the Dalai Lama debasing the Protector and those who have helped him. Such shocking ingratitude is unprecedented in the history of Tibetan Buddhism.

#2: The Dalai Lama Maligns His Teacher

For the Dalai Lama to malign Dorje Shugden is disturbing but it is also to be expected of the person who has banned its practice. What is more alarming is how the Dalai Lama used Je Tsongkapa’s Lamrim teachings to attempt to undermine the reputation of his own teacher’s reincarnation, Kyabje Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche.

The countless great deeds the previous Trijang Dorje Chang had performed for Dharma, the lineage and the country had rendered his reputation unassailable thus the Dalai Lama resorted to maligning the reputation of his reincarnation instead. Ironically, Je Tsongkapa said clearly in the Lamrim Chenmo that the proper reliance on the guru is the root of the path. You cannot honor the path if you dishonor the root of the path, but that point seemed to be lost on the Dalai Lama.

Of his relationship with the incarnation of his holy guru, Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama said this to the audience:

Trijang Rinpoche visited Mongolia. When he was there, the Nechung medium was also there and Trijang Rinpoche and the Nechung medium met and explained everything to Trijang, very clear. Regarding Trijang and me… we have a long story and our relationship goes way back.

Previous Trijang Rinpoche was my tutor. Due to the dolgyal issue, when the current Trijang was small he started facing big problems. I tried many ways to help him to get out of the circle of people keeping him under control… and the people surround him created trouble for him.

The Dalai Lama told the audience a story to portray a younger Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche as a recalcitrant boy who was under the control of “the Dolgyal people” – negative elements whom according to the Dalai Lama, caused Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche serious problems. Indeed the young Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche did face tremendous problems, but not because of the people around him but squarely because of the ban on Dorje Shugden that the Dalai Lama had put into effect without reason or cause. To arouse the Tibetan people’s fear and hatred of the Chinese, the Dalai Lama labeled the deity as a Chinese ghost. And to agitate their sentiments for the Dalai Lama who represents their hope of returning to their homeland, he told them that Dorje Shugden’s practice harms his life and will be the downfall of their efforts to regain their country.

In effect, the Dalai Lama had declared all Shugden practitioners including the incarnation of his own teacher, Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche, to be enemies of the Tibetan nation that had to be treated with contempt. As a result, young tulkus of Shugden lamas such as Trijang Rinpoche and Zong Rinpoche received very serious death threats.

Groups began to form to hunt down Shugden practitioners and one organization known as ‘The Secret Society of Eliminators of the External and Internal Enemies of Tibet’ pronounced its death threat against Shugden worshippers, naming in particular Trijang Rinpoche and Zong Rinpoche. Their statement read:

Anyone who goes against the policy of the government must be singled out, opposed and given the death penalty… As for the reincarnations of Trijang and Zong Rinpoche, if they do not stop practising Dolgyal and continue to contradict the words of H. H. the Dalai Lama, not only will we not be able to respect them but their life and activities will suffer destruction. This is our first warning.’ - [http://goo.gl/1ixeO5]

At no time did the Dalai Lama or the CTA step in to object to this behavior and calm the situation. Instead, the Dalai Lama’s government passed parliamentary resolutions that effectively mandated violence against Shugden worshippers. So it was in fact the Dalai Lama who had caused Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche, who was only 13 years old at that time, all those grievous problems. Those around the young Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche, whom the Dalai Lama insinuated to be bad influences, in fact protected Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche around the clock and even stood guard by his bed at night.

A young Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche with the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama gave Trijang Rinpoche an ultimatum to either stop the Shugden practice or end his monastic education

I even told him once secretly to come to Bombay and I will send people to get him back to Dharamsala. Later I met him in America. I talked to him about ways to get out of this problem but he didn’t listen.

And to continue to portray his own teacher negatively, the Dalai Lama gave the impression that he tried patiently and incessantly to help the young Trijang Rinpoche but the latter refused. In fact, what the Dalai Lama did do unrelentingly was to try and force Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche to break his vows and abandon the Shugden practice that the Dalai Lama had resolved to destroy.

From a young age, Trijang Rinpoche had to face the very powerful and oppressive Dalai Lama who did not treat the new incarnation of his guru in a manner that a student should. The previous Trijang Rinpoche gave the Dalai Lama the Dharma, knowledge, protection, love, care and nurtured him like a father would a precious son. And yet, each time the young Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche tried to seek the Dalai Lama’s blessings for him to continue with the Shugden practice which has had profound presence in the line of Trijang Rinpoches – for at least the past three incarnations, he was met with a resounding ‘No’.

Since I have received a lot of teachings from the previous Trijang, I thought they should first be given back to the current incarnation of Trijang Rinpoche… but it has not worked out.

To the audience in the Lamrim teachings, the Dalai Lama gave the impression that he has no relationship today with Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche because Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche rejected him. On the contrary, it is the Dalai Lama who made the rule that the Tibetan people should not have any association whatsoever with Shugden practitioners. In addition, the Dalai Lama has stressed at every occasion including the 2014 Lamrim teachings that Shugden worshippers cannot receive any teachings from the Dalai Lama. So who is rejecting who?

#3: The Dalai Lama Proves There Is A Ban

The last time Trijang Rinpoche met with the Dalai Lama was in Graz, Austria in 2003 and then, as before, the Dalai Lama gave Trijang Rinpoche an ultimatum. On that particular occasion in Graz, the Dalai Lama had said to Trijang Rinpoche:

If you give up this deity, myself and all Tibetan people will appreciate it very much and our protector Nechung will take care of you and make you more successful and famous than ever. If you do not give up this deity, then your monastic career, like receiving the full monk’s ordination and taking Geshe examinations will not be possible. So I leave it to your judgment. Yes or No?
- [http://www.shugdensociety.info/historyEvents1998EN.html]

The ultimatum to Trijang Rinpoche provides a rare insight into the Dalai Lama’s mind that triggered a very destructive religious controversy. It therefore warrants careful attention:

1. It shows that the Dalai Lama never intended for anyone to have a real choice in the Dorje Shugden matter even though both he and the Central Tibetan Administration insist that the Dalai Lama had simply provided “advice” with regards to the Shugden practice. If that was true, the Dalai Lama would not have imposed conditions on Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche. This is after all the Dalai Lama’s holy guru. What kind of student who values the dharma and the source of dharma would treat his guru this way?
2. It shows the heavy hand that the Dalai Lama wields against those who oppose his wish. Dalai Lama the politician was prepared to deny an ordained monk his monastic education. A ‘simple Buddhist monk’ would never do that, especially if he is the custodian of the spiritual well-being of the monastic community
3. It shows the Dalai Lama is disrespectful of the all-important Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which is to regard the guru as the root of all paths, as Je Tsongkapa and many other Buddhist saints taught. And if the guru is not held as sacred in the Dalai Lama’s eyes, and similarly if vows and commitments mean nothing to him, then what is sacred?
4. It shows the Dalai Lama’s hypocrisy. The Dalai Lama regularly accuses Shugden practitioners of worshipping a spirit for the sake of worldly gain, but he is in the meantime depending on Nechung, a worldly spirit for not only the same but also to bribe and corrupt others into breaking their vows.
5. And following from that, it shows that the Dalai Lama placed such importance on worldly gain and fame that he thought it would be enough to entice Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche away from a true spiritual path.
6. It shows the Dalai Lama was prepared to use ultimatums, intimidation and fear to coerce others into submitting to him. These are not characteristics of a ‘simple Buddhist monk’.
7. It shows the Dalai Lama had assumed Nechung to be the protector of the Gelugpa lineage (via his reference to Nechung as ‘our protector) instead of Kalarupa as was practiced by Je Tsongkapa. Conversely, when Pabongka Rinpoche instructed students to take Dorje Shugden as their dharma protector, he was accused of distorting Je Tsongkapa’s teachings. An extremely hypocritical accusation.

While that incident exposed the degeneration that had set in the Dalai Lama’s mind, at the same time it revealed the purity of Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche’s practice. Trijang Rinpoche could not be bought or coerced, but neither would he allow himself to dishonor his devotion to the Dalai Lama who was also his student in Trijang Rinpoche’s past life.

In the end, Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche made the difficult decision to disrobe as a monk and to retreat into solitary life as an ordinary practitioner. And till this very day, Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche has not made a single disparaging remark about the Dalai Lama despite all the hardship the Dalai Lama inflicted upon him and other Shugden practitioners.

#4: The Dalai Lama Guards His Power Base

Since Trijang Rinpoche’s re-emergence in 2012, it became obvious that he is still highly revered and regarded as the most important lama in the Gelugpa lineage. It worried the Dalai Lama that Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang, whom many in the lineage consider to have achieved attainments equal to the Dalai Lama, had returned. And this is happening at a time when the Dalai Lama’s popularity as a world figure seems to be on the decline as cracks began to appear in his well-practiced public persona.

The Dalai Lama had an urgent political agenda during the recent Lamrim teachings. The presence of the Mongolians, the special attention the Dalai Lama accorded them, and the negative remarks that the Dalai Lama made during the teachings about Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche and Dorje Shugden were not mere coincidences. The Dalai Lama meant to use the religious platform to curb Trijang Rinpoche’s rising popularity with the Mongolians who have been supportive of Trijang Rinpoche all this while.

Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche arrived in Mongolia in September 2014 to a rousing reception, not long after the Dalai Lama’s own planned visit had been revoked due to Chinese pressure. A true ‘simple Buddhist monk’ would rejoice at Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche’s popularity in Mongolia, and that the Chinese seem not to disapprove of Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche.

Mongolia has historically played a key role in the establishment of Tibetan Buddhist leadership. The rise of the Fifth Dalai Lama was with the support of the Mongolians. In turn, Tibetan Buddhism has shaped the Mongolian way of life in a profound way, sometimes playing a more influential role than politics in shaping policies and decisions. Therefore a prominent Tibetan-Gelugpa lama would be able to command a respectable standing within the Mongolian establishment. Until recently that honor had been the Dalai Lama’s.

Kyabje Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche in Mongolia earlier this year

If the Dalai Lama had the wellbeing of the Tibetan people and the good of Tibetan Buddhism in mind, he would see the benefits in Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche’s relationship with the Mongolians and the potential bridge it could build with China.

In fact, perhaps in Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche lies the Tibetan people’s only remaining ticket to returning to their homeland via negotiations brokered by the Mongolians whose natural resources and strategic location are deemed important to the Chinese.

But then the Dalai Lama has never been a simple Buddhist monk and thus saw Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche to be a threat, one only a politician would perceive. Hence, instead of assisting Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama sought to diffuse the perceived threat. And so, with the 2014 Lamrim teachings, the Dalai Lama began the process of undermining Trijang Rinpoche’s stronghold in the Tibetan and Mongolian communities.

#5: The Dalai Lama Contradicts Himself Yet Again

The world at large sees the Dalai Lama as a Buddha incarnate, a man of peace who is the embodiment of all that is honest and good. And because of the implied currency of trust that comes with the image the Dalai Lama has successfully sold to the public, they have stood idly by as mute witnesses to the Dalai Lama’s persecutions of Dorje Shugden worshippers. However, it is not at all difficult to see though this facade if one was to decide to awake from the hypnosis.

For instance, the Dalai Lama tells the Mongolians and the audience that they should stop their worship of Dorje Shugden. He assured them that nothing bad would happen to them if they stopped their practice by implying a certain spiritual superiority over Shugden:

If Dolgyal wants to harm you, you should tell him to see the Dalai Lama…

The very next day, the same Dalai Lama told the same audience that if those who practice Shugden were to receive teachings from the Dalai Lama, his life would be harmed.

The main point is that the Dalai Lama lineage cannot practice Dorje Shugden and those who come to receive teachings cannot practice. To do so breaks samaya and harms me.

By inference, the Dalai Lama is saying that a student’s broken samaya will harm their teacher and yet for almost 20 years, the Dalai Lama has forced Shugden practitioners, even monks, to disown their gurus and Protector. If broken samaya can harm the Dalai Lama, can it not also harm the gurus of Shugden practitioners who renounce their teachers and the practice given to them? If so, has not the ban caused many gurus and students to be harmed?

Now the dolgyal renegades are calling me a fake Dalai Lama and protesting against me. They have showed me wearing a Muslim cap. I do that because I try to promote interfaith harmony. Some of these people are saying I am Muslim. I can’t please everybody.

The Dalai Lama also said that he has been accused of being a Muslim for wearing a Muslim cap while attending an Islamic event. He explained that he did so with the intention of fostering religious harmony amongst the different religions. That itself does not hold water given the fact that the Dalai Lama is actively discriminating against the belief in a deity (Dorje Shugden) and the practice of worshipping that deity. If the Dalai Lama is sincere about religious harmony, why has he shown such contempt for a religious practice that has been at the heart of the Gelugpa lineage for over 300 years? Again the Dalai Lama’s actions do not match his words.

Perhaps what betrayed the Dalai Lama’s real motive for the Shugden ban was when he told the audience that the ‘Dalai Lama lineage’ cannot practice Dorje Shugden. The simple fact is that there is no Dalai Lama lineage that stands apart from the Gelugpa lineage founded by Je Tsongkapa. And all Gelugpa stalwarts propitiate Dorje Shugden as they have been for some time. Therefore, if the Dalai Lama’s ambition was to redefine the Gelugpa tradition to suit his political ambitions, he has to find a way to shift the power base away from the high Gelugpa lamas to him exclusively. And banning the Shugden practice was the strategy the Dalai Lama deployed to accomplish that objective – divide the lineage and rule. It was never about Dorje Shugden per se.

#6: The Dalai Lama’s Real Strategy

The Dorje Shugden supporters are saying that I was born to intentionally destroy Tsongkapa’s teachings but what I have done all my life is to promote it…

All this political manoeuvring has come at great expense to the pure lineage that Je Tsongkapa founded which the present Dalai Lama seems determined to destroy. It is not so much the deity that stands in the Dalai Lama’s way but the strong devotion the Shugden practitioner gives to his lama. And so, if we were to try and understand the Dorje Shugden controversy from the perspective of the spiritual reasons given to justify the ban, nothing would make any sense. As such, until this day the Dalai Lama has not been able to provide any scriptural evidence or even a logical and rational argument based on principles of Buddhism to support the claims made against Dorje Shugden.

Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche himself is living proof that the Dalai Lama’s reasons are false. How can the previous Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang, undoubtedly one of the most attained Shugden masters in history reincarnate as a high lama to resume his Dharma work, which Kyabje Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche is manifesting today, if Dorje Shugden is truly a dark demonic force? That would defeat the principles of karma itself.

At the same time I practice Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu teachings… because, Panchen Lobsang Choekyi Gyaltsen who was the contemporary of the Fifth Dalai Lama, said in a beautiful verse that the essence of all four traditions boils down to the same point… and should understand and practice all four traditions… what I lack from one side I take from another side…

However, if we were to look at the Dalai Lama’s actions in recent history from the perspective of his political ambitions, then the picture falls into place. The Dalai Lama divided the largest Tibetan Buddhist sect, the Gelugpa, with the Dorje Shugden conflict. He similarly divided the second largest Tibetan Buddhist sect, the Karma Kagyu by interfering in the Kagyu’s internal affairs of recognizing and enthroning its head of the lineage. Today we have two Karmapas, one of whom is closely connected with the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama formed an alliance with the Nyingmapa by embracing its core teachings as his own. The Sakyapa have never been politically active in the history of Tibet and so they are spared the Dalai Lama’s political gamesmanship.

In addition the Dalai Lama forged an alliance with the Bon tradition, a form of Tibetan spirit worship, by recognizing it as the official sixth lineage in Tibetan Buddhism and forbade any discrimination against it on the basis that it is undemocratic. [Kværne, Per and Rinzin Thargyal. (1993). Bon, Buddhism and Democracy: The Building of a Tibetan National Identity, pp. 45-46. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. ISBN 978-87-87062-25-1]. It is noteworthy that the same treatment and respect have not been accorded the Shugden worshippers by the Dalai Lama. This affirms that falsity of an often quoted reason for the Dalai Lama to ban the Shugden practice – that it is spirit worship that causes the Dharma to degenerate.

And finally to complete his plan, the Dalai Lama officially recognized the Jonangpa as the fifth Tibetan Buddhist lineage and went to great lengths to rebuild a very small lineage of only about 40 monasteries with 5000 monks. The Jonang lineage was in fact absorbed into the Gelugpa lineage by the Fifth Dalai Lama but the 14th Dalai Lama reversed that status, removing the Jonang from the Gelugpa lineage and returning it to its own identity as part of the process of shifting the Gelugpa power base. The Jonang tradition is known for its Kalachakra tradition and as we know, the Dalai Lama has given more Kalachakra initiations than any known lamas in modern times, with such initiations being perfect opportunities for the Dalai Lama to swear initiates to oaths of loyalty to him.

Furthermore, with the Mongolian factor playing a crucial role in the Dalai Lama’s power grab, he had to diminish Guru Deva Rinpoche’s influence over the Mongolian people. Thus, to seal the deal, the Dalai Lama assigned Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche of Mongolia, as head of the Jonang lineage. And to the Mongolian audience in the Lamrim teachings, the Dalai Lama expressed his eagerness to find and enthrone the next head of the Jonang, the previous Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche having entered clear light in 2012. A new head of the lineage would at last allow the Dalai Lama to resume his divide and conquer of the Mongolian people.

Dalai Lama’s Great Stages of The Path Teachings – Day 1:

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Dalai Lama’s Great Stages of The Path Teachings – Day 2:

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Dalai Lama’s Great Stages of The Path Teachings – Day 3:

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Rabten Choeling is one of the first Tibetan Buddhist monasteries to be established in the West after the exodus of Tibetans into India. Located 820m above sea level on Mount-Pelerin, above Lake Geneva in Vevey, Switzerland, the centre is an institute for Higher Tibetan studies and the pursuit of Tibetan Buddhist practices. At present, there are about 30 monks, 5 nuns and 20 lay students living in the centre.

Early Beginnings: Geshe Tamdrin Rabten Rinpoche

Geshe Tamdrin Rabten Rinpoche

Rabten Choeling was founded by Geshe Tamdrin Rabten Rinpoche. After escaping from Tibet, Geshe Rabten Rinpoche along with Kyabje Lati Rinpoche was appointed as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s advisor on philosophical matters.

Later in 1974, at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Rabten moved to Switzerland to serve as the Abbot of Rikon Monastery in Tosstal. During this time, Geshe Rabten and a handful of monks lived in a rented house in the tiny hamlet of Schwendi, located 4 km from Rikon Monastery.

Geshe Rabten with a group of monastics in Rikon Monastery in 1976

H.H. the Dalai Lama gave a discourse on adaptating to Western civilization at Rikon Monastery, Switzerland, 6 October 1973

Geshe Rabten was an extraordinary lama, able to explain Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy with powerful clarity. Combined with his understanding of the Western mind and ideas, Geshe Rabten quickly gained a following of Western students and became the pioneer in spreading Tibetan Buddhism in Western Europe. It was also during this time that Geshe Rabten started training Westerners to become qualified Buddhist teachers in their own right.

Geshe Rabten Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India with his Western students

A year and a half later, Geshe Rabten and his entourage of students moved into Le Colibri, a larger property in Mount Pelerin, which later came to be known as Tharpa Choeling. A strong and closely knit Buddhist community was formed and enthusiastic lay students began settling down in the area, each finding their own unique way to contribute to the growing Dharma community. Some studied, while others helped with the more mundane works such as administration, finances, kitchen work and even gardening.

Venerable Abbot Geshe Tamdrin Rabten (with sunglasses) and the monks of Tharpa Choeling in 1978. From left to right: Glaude Grenier, Stephen Schettini, Christopher Pace, Laurence Williamson, Brian Grabia, Arnold Possick, Dominique Monmayeul, Stephen Batchelor, Helmut Gassner, Eckart Zabel, Bruno Le Guevel, Alan Wallace, Geshe Tamdrin Rabten, Geshe Jhampa Lhodro, Geshe Gendun Zangpo, Elio Guarisco and Gen Lo Norbu on the occasion of the novice ordination of Laurence, Dominique and Eckart

A younger Geshe Rabten Rinpoche

The Geneva Group

Anne Ansermet

Comprising of businessmen and industrialists, the Geneva group was led by Anne Ansermet, daughter of a famous Swiss conductor, Ernest. Coming from a privileged background, Anne was well-connected to the movers and shakers of the day, and it was this group that arranged and financed the purchase of Le Colibri. They funded the institute, put visas in passports, and provided sufficient funding for living expenses and books.

At the age of 70, Anne was drawn to Buddhism and even traveled to India to be ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She was an amazing woman to whom the residents of Tharpa Choeling owed much of their spiritual pursuits. It was the hard work of Anne and her group that allowed the ordained and lay people in Tharpa Choeling to live a life of study and contemplation without having to worry about their material needs.

The Geneva group on the other hand, approved of the study programs in Tharpa Choeling, confident that their hard work, money and time were well spent, and that things were moving in the right direction to help disseminate Buddhism in the West.

Anne Ansermet in Dharamsala with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Visits

In the summer of 1979, Geshe Rabten invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Switzerland. It was in Tharpa Choeling that His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave his first public teaching in the West. Under the direction of Geshe Rabten, Stephen Batchelor was placed in-charge of organizing the Dalai Lama’s visit. He was given a total budget of 30’000 Swiss Francs to prepare for a free public teaching by the Dalai Lama to accommodate 1,000 attendees.

At that time, the organizing committee’s request to the Swiss police for security forces was declined with the argument that “The Dalai Lama is not an endangered person”. On top of that, despite intensive advertising, only about 900 attendees turned up for the Dalai Lama’s teaching.

1979: His Holiness Dalai Lama (left) in Tharpa Choeling, Mt Pelerin, Switzerland humbly sat on a few cushions instead of the throne prepared for Him. Seated beside the Dalai Lama are translators: B. Alan Wallace (centre) and Helmut Gassner (right)
(Photo by Fred von Allmen)

1979: His Holiness the Dalai Lama gives his first public teaching in the West in Tharpa Choeling, with B. Alan Wallace and Helmut Gassner translating

10 Years Later: H.E. Gonsar Tulku Rinpoche

H.E. Gonsar Rinpoche

H.E. Gonsar Rinpoche, one of Geshe Rabten’s closest disciples, served his teacher for 33 years until Geshe Rabten’s passing in 1986. Gonsar Rinpoche considered it his personal responsibility to continue Geshe Rabten’s works, and Tharpa Choeling was renamed to Rabten Choeling in Geshe Rabten’s memory. At present, Gonsar Rinpoche is the director of Rabten Choeling as well as other Rabten centres across Europe.

Gonsar Rinpoche also led the search for Geshe Rabten’s incarnation, Tenzin Rabgye Rinpoche. Born in India in 1987, he now lives at Rabten Choeling under the care and tutelage of Gonsar Rinpoche. In the spring of 1998, the then ten-year-old Tenzin Rabgye Rinpoche gave his first teaching in front of 200 people in Rabten Choeling.

H.E. Tenzin Rabgye Rinpoche

Trijang Rinpoche and Rabten Choeling

Rabten Choeling was also host to H.H. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche during his younger days. Due to increasing hostility against practitioners of the dharma protector Dorje Shugden, Trijang Rinpoche, a great Dorje Shugden proponent, had received several death threats from the Secret Society of External and Internal Enemy Eliminators which forced him to relocate to Switzerland for his own safety.

Having since moved to USA and established Trijang Buddhist Institute in Vermont, Trijang Rinpoche continues to maintain close ties with Rabten Choeling, especially with Tenzin Rabgye Rinpoche and Gonsar Rinpoche.

Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche visits Rabten Choeling in 2012

Rabten Choeling Today

Rabten Choeling is both a monastery and an international school with students from 14 different countries. The sangha of Rabten Choeling perform daily prayers, monastic rites such as sangha confessionals, summer retreats and monthly pujas in the centre. Several guest rooms are available in the centre for retreats and for those interested to visit the monastery.

The residents of Rabten Choeling conduct prayer recitations twice a day, at 7 am and 6 pm, except during the weekends. Tsok offerings are also performed every fortnight according to the Tibetan calendar. A general class is held every Sunday, 3 pm, and several public seminars are conducted throughout the year.

Rabten Choeling Monastery

Centre des Hautes Etudes Tibétaines
Chemin Derochoz 2
1801 Le Mont-Pèlerin
Vevey, Switzerland
Phone: +41 21 9213600
E-mail: info@rabten.ch
Website: http://www.rabten.eu/visitSwiss_en.htm

More pictures of Rabten Choeling

Rabten Choeling Monastery in Switzerland

Front view of Rabten Choeling

Inside Rabten Choeling

Regular blessings ceremonies are conducted

The Dorje Shugden altar in Rabten Choeling

The magnificent view from Rabten Choeling

Prayer flags around the monastery

Trijang Buddhist Institute (TBI) located at Northfield, Vermont in the United States, is where Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche, the incarnation of one of the most important and prominent lamas of Tibetan Buddhism in the modern era, H.H. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, eventually retreated to after coming under tremendous pressure for refusing to cease his practice of Dorje Shugden after a ban on the Protector practice was decreed.

Although not a monastery per se, Trijang Buddhist Institute is nevertheless an important seat within the Gelug lineage fully authorized by the 101st Ganden Tripa to preserve, represent, and transmit the Buddhist teachings of the Gelug tradition. If the previous Trijang Rinpoche was described as “a vast reservoir from which all Gelugpa practitioners of the present day received ‘waters’ of blessings and instructions” by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, then it is from here that Dharma continues to set its high water mark by virtue of its principal resident-Spiritual Director.

Letter of Authorization from the 101st Gaden Tripa, the then Head of the Gelug Lineage, to Trijang Buddhist Institute. Click to enlarge.

TBI is unique in that whilst preserving the complete teachings of the Dharma in the Gelug tradition, it has as its goal to spread the principles of Tibetan Buddhism to interested people, both of religious and non-religious backgrounds, and to work for the good of all sentient beings. Today TBI offers a wide range of classes and activities ranging from the study of the Tibetan language and culture, courses on pujas and meditation, and intermediate studies of the Dharma right up to advanced Vajrayogini retreats. In this way, TBI’s draw of people to the Dharma is eclectic and diverse.

H.H. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche with some of the resident monks, administrators and students of TBI. Photo courtesy of www.tbiusa.org

Clearly, TBI is recognized by many as an institution that correctly upholds the rudiments of Dharma and has even received His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s blessings. One of TBI’s precious objects of veneration is an autographed photo of His Holiness addressed to TBI with His good wishes and prayers for the Dharma to flourish.

Autographed picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama offered to TBI

Translation of dedication on photo

This object of veneration is offered to Trijang Buddhist Institute with the prayer that the Buddha’s teachings flourish, that all sentient beings may obtain the treasure of the Dharma, and that they may live in happiness and virtue. Signed: Dalai Lama, Buddhist Monk. May 9, 2007

It is noteworthy that although the Dalai Lama initiated the Dorje Shugden ban in 1996 supposedly for the reason that the Protector practice is not in accordance with the Dharma, TBI was very well received by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the then 101st Ganden Tripa Lungrik Namgyal Rinpoche in 2007 and 2009 respectively, despite H.H Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche’s continued propitiation of Dorje Shugden.

History of Trijang Buddhist Institute

Trijang Buddhist Institute was once home to Seitz Dairy Farm. In its early days, TBI was known as the Institute for Visionary Leadership, first founded by Rae Ann Barkley in 1986. Barkley taught classes at Norwich in peace education and service leadership. She was a disciple of the Venerable Domo Geshe Rinpoche, and it was under Domo Rinpoche’s guidance that the Institute for Visionary Leadership was relocated to Northfield in 1995, where TBI now is. Over the years, the center expanded to its current 354-acre plot through progressive donations and support as TBI continued to establish itself within the local and global community.

Barkley was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist Nun, Ani Tsering Lhamo by Kyabje Yongyal Rinpoche and it was her wish that TBI be offered to Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche to fulfill his mission of benefitting all sentient beings. Barkley passed away in March 2004, and 6 months later, the Institute for Visionary Leadership was formally gifted to Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche and became known as the Trijang Buddhist Institute.

The buildings on the estate have been restored and beautified, including the 1790s farm house that now serves as the home of TBI’s resident teachers. A barn circa the 1880s has been refurbished and partitioned and now serves as the Gompa, Bookstore, Office and Dining Hall complete with a commercial kitchen.

Spiritual Director of Trijang Buddhist Institute

Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche was born on 15th October 1982, as the reincarnation of the late H.H. Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang, one of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist Masters of our time. Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang was a heart disciple of the great lama H.H. Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche and amongst his many great deeds, he was also the philosophical assistant and then the junior tutor to the 14th Dalai Lama.

Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche is well known for editing Pabongka Rinpoche’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand – one of the most-studied Lam-Rim texts in the Gelugpa lineage. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche also authored the definitive text on Dorje Shugden, entitled Music Delighting An Ocean of Protectors.

Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche was also the root guru to many great masters such as Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten, Lama Yeshe, H.E. Gangchen Rinpoche and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, just to name a few.

In his present incarnation, Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche is the 18th incarnation of an eminent line of Buddhist masters. This supreme reincarnation was discovered in a Tibetan family in Northern India and was officially recognized by the 14th Dalai Lama on 23rd April 1985.

Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche studied under many esteemed gurus and his root gurus were the erudite Kyabje Lati Rinpoche and Kyabje Dagom Rinpoche. At present, Trijang Rinpoche is furthering his studies under the guidance of H.E. Dagpo Rinpoche and H.E. Yongyal Rinpoche with the assistance of a study helper, Geshe Lobsang Phuntsok.

How blessed the Buddhist world and the people of Vermont are, to have this eminent high lama, Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche, return to turn the wheel of Dharma. And how fortunate that a stalwart of such an important practice as Dorje Shugden’s is beginning to teach again, both at TBI and around the world.

Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche’s Recent Teachings

1. Trijang Rinpoche in Mongolia 2014
2. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche leads Vajra Yogini Fire Puja
3. H.H. Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche accepts Tenshug from Shar Gaden
4. Trijang Rinpoche Confers Oral Transmission of Dorje Shugden
5. Trijang Rinpoche Confers Initiation in Europe
6. Trijang Rinpoche Confers Dorje Shugden Initiation in Mongolia

Resident Teachers and Staff in Trijang Buddhist Institute

While many Dharma classes are conducted by Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche personally, he is ably supported by two qualified Geshes (holders of the equivalent to a Doctorate in Buddhism).

Geshe Lobsang Sopa

Geshe Lobsang Sopa, a contemporary of Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche, is a highly accomplished Geshe who completed his studies in all aspects of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. As a young boy, Geshe Sopa received his ordination vows and studied in Ganden Shartse Mahayana University.

Throughout the years, Geshe Sopa received countless teachings from great masters such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang, Kyabje Zemey Rinpoche, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Kyabje Dagom Rinpoche, and many others.

Geshe Lobsang Phuntsok

Geshe Lobsang Phuntsok was born in 1969. He started his education in a Tibetan school for seven years before joining Ganden Shartse Mahayana University at the age of 12.

It was at Ganden that Geshe Lobsang Phuntsok was ordained as a monk by Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang. Throughout Geshe Phuntsok’s monastic studies, he received guidance from illustrious teachers such as Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Kyabje Zemey Rinpoche, Sharpa Chojay Lobsang Nyima Rinpoche and Geshe Tendar.

Geshe Phuntsok completed his monastic studies and was one of the brightest Geshes in Ganden Shartse. He was later selected to assist Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche in Trijang Rinpoche’s studies of philosophy in Europe, and has continued to assist Trijang Rinpoche till today in TBI, Vermont. Besides his passion and dedication to teaching Buddhism, he is also skilled in creating sand mandalas and in Tibetan ritual arts as well as chanting.

Geshe Cheme Tsering

Geshe Cheme Tsering is a highly qualified Buddhist teacher. He studied in the Central Institute of Tibetan Higher Studies from 1972 to 1976 before joining Ganden Shartse Norling College as an ordained monk from 1976 until present.

Geshe Cheme received his “Geshe Lharampa” degree in March 1996, the highest degree awarded by a Tibetan monastic university after 15 years of intensive studies. In May 2007, Geshe Cheme Tsering was invited to TBI to take up a post as a Resident Teacher, and officially assumed this position on September 16, 2008.

Geshe Cheme has a diverse role and is a valued member of TBI. Besides being skilled in performing sacred rituals, guiding meditation classes, introducing Tibetan Buddhism to new members of TBI and chanting prayers, Geshe Cheme is highly praised in his skill to translate Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche’s teachings in the English language.

Venerable Tharchen Lobsang

Venerable Tharchen Lobsang studied in the Tibetan Children’s Village School in Dharamsala from 1962 to 1974. At the age of 15, he was ordained by Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang. Since then, he has studied Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy at Ganden Shartse University in south India, where he received many great teachings from many great Buddhist masters.

When the current incarnation of Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche was recognized by H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama in 1985, Venerable Tharchen began attending to the young Trijang Rinpoche until the present. In TBI, besides attending to Trijang Rinpoche, he gives Tibetan language classes.

Mrs. Kunsang Dechen

Mrs. Kunsang Dechen was born in Leh/Ladakh India. She is the daughter of Venerable Drigung Rinpoche and Gangchen Drolma. Kunsang has two siblings, an elder brother, the recognized Kagyupa Lama Ayang Dupchen Rinpoche, and a younger sister, Dolma Lhamo.

Kunsang finished her middle school education in Leh/Ladakh and her high school education in New Delhi. Following that, she went on to the all women’s Jesus and Mary College at the University of New Delhi, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002.

In addition to her regular education, Kunsang Dechen has received many Tibetan Buddhist teachings and initiations, has assisted in the translation of Buddhist texts to English from Tibetan.

She has also coordinated and performed meditation retreats, understands and observes monastic protocol, and performs many duties such as corresponding with other Tibetan spiritual leaders, all of which qualify her to perform official Temple duties and rituals and assist the Dharma teachers.

Venerable Tashi Jamyang

Tashi Jamyang was born in Lhasa, Tibet in 1933. At the age of five he was offered to Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang by his parents. Under the guidance of Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang he studied in Nyarong Sha school in Lhasa for eight years.

At the age of fifteen he was ordained as a Buddhist monk by Rato Chuwar Rinpoche. In 1959 he fled from Tibet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang. Since then he attended to Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang and now to Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche.

Events in Trijang Buddhist Institute

TBI is a non-profit educational and religious organization and conducts events and teachings throughout the year. For detailed timing and dates on their activities, please visit the TBI website’s activity calendar.

You may also contact TBI via their website for more information.

May many more Dharma centers manifest in the world and share the same vision as TBI, and may everyone meet, be protected and guided by the king of Protectors, Dorje Shugden himself.

Address

Trijang Buddhist Institute
210 Morning Star Lane|
Northfield, Vermont 05663 USA

Telephone: 802-485-4140 (8 am – 6 pm EST)

Website: www.tbiusa.org

Many great masters have kept their practice of Dorje Shugden strong. Here we see Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche, meeting with Kensur Lati Rinpoche and Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen. The Tibetan leadership forced Kensur Lati Rinpoche and Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen to give up the practice, but they went to meet Kyabje Trijang Chocktrul Rinpoche in 2000, a sign that they still had great faith in Dorje Shugden. Why else would they meet a Dorje Shugden lama? Despite the ban enforced by the Tibetan leadership, they held their own views strongly. Click on image to enlarge.