Author Topic: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013  (Read 11222 times)

DharmaDefender

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NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« on: May 18, 2013, 11:00:04 AM »
A lovely little, profound teaching from our great king. As far as I know you dont get other Dharma Protectors doing this and if you look really closely, what is there in his teaching that you can dispute as being an untruth?

Theres nothing in there about making more offerings to him, about disparaging His Holiness the Dalai Lama, about taking revenge, about fighting to bring down the ban. Its all practice, practice, practice. All (and I use that lightly!) he says is for us to subdue and develop our minds, to integrate Dharma into our lives, and to point out that all phenomena arises from emptiness.

And if I apply Dorje Shugdens teaching to the nature of the ban - that the obstacles in front of us are the result of ignorance - then there is no reason for us to get so hung up on how much pain the ban is causing us because sooner or later, the truth has to prevail...

From: http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/dharma-readings/a-teaching-by-dorje-shugden-losar-2013/

A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013

Dorje Shugden, the uncommon protector of the Gaden lineage, has been famed for upholding the sacred lineage of the great tricosmic master Lama Tsongkhapa. One of the special qualities of this great protector is that he gives teachings of the Dharma for he is an emanation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom, as well as the incarnation of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, the unequalled Lama from the Gelug school of Buddhism.

There have been many times when Dorje Shugden took trance in oracles to give advice, spiritual pronouncements and also Dharma discourses to those in the audience. Such trances were never heard of prior to the advent of Dorje Shugden oracles for this Protector holds a special role to protect and also propagate Nagarjuna’s view on the Madhyamika – the Middle View – as elucidated by Lama Tsongkhapa.

At one audience during the Losar celebrations this year in the Gadenpa Buddhism Centre, Taiwan, the Protector spoke extensively on the mind. These teachings are very apt and appropriate for the people of our time and age for it addresses the root of much social illness we see in society today.

The Protector spoke of how we can harness the power of the mind to help overcome our negative afflictive emotions. He explained extensively how the mind correlates with our daily actions of body and speech. When the mind is calm, our bodily actions and our speech will also be calm and beneficial to our spiritual wellbeing.

Dorje Shugden gave personal advice to the people of mainland China and reminded them of their past lives’ strong connection with the Protector of the Teachings. Dorje Shugden then gave further instructions on how to strengthen their practice through their prayers to help them overcome obstacles and gain attainments.

Below is a translation of the talk which Dorje Shugden gave during the Losar celebrations. Do read and be inspired!

********************

A teaching by the Protector during Losar, the Tibetan New Year celebration.
Date: 11/2/2013 (First day of Losar)
Location: Gadenpa Buddhism Center, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Oracle: Choje-la from Taiwan, taking trance of Dorje Shugden in Peaceful form.
Translator (Tibetan to Chinese): Huang Yi-Yan

While China and Tibet celebrate the new year together, I would like to wish everyone Tashi Delek. Most importantly, we must always believe in the Dharma, wish for the Dharma and respect the Dharma.

“Whatever degenerations there are in the world, the root of all these is ignorance; You taught that it is dependent origination, the seeing of which will undo this ignorance.” There is so much sadness, obstacles, difficulties and sufferings in this world. And the root of all these is our ignorance. Sometimes when everything is smooth, when life is good, we feel happy, yet when we face difficulties and setbacks, we suffer. This is the nature of samsara.

The root is ignorance, and the nature of our mind is pure. It is clarity since the beginning, therefore it is without fault. However, due to our defilement, much phenomena have arisen. The root cause of sufferings is ignorance, so observe our mind: if the mind is peaceful, the body will also be peaceful; both body and mind become stable. If the mind is not peaceful, the body will not be peaceful as well. This is how these two relate with each other.

Buddha said: “All fears and immeasurable sufferings arise from our mind. After seeing the reality, I give this teaching.” Whatever we are facing in this world, our fears, our endless sufferings, all come from our mind and nowhere else, this is said by Lord Buddha himself. Therefore, “to subdue our mind is to subdue everything”. All the 84,000 teachings of Buddha are to subdue our afflictions. Once we can subdue our mind, all of our sufferings and fear will be subdued.

As a conclusion, if the mind is not subdued, subdue it; if the mind is not peaceful, pacify it, only then will our Dharma practices become meaningful. When we are practicing Dharma, we of course need to do our sadhanas, recite prayers, do our prostrations, circumambulate etc to collect merits as well as to clear our obstacles. However, most importantly, we need to subdue our inner demon, so that our practice will become meaningful. Pretending we are doing sadhanas, and closing our eyes and visualizing may seem like we have an altruistic mind, yet if we have all kinds of negative thoughts, it defeats the purpose and won’t bring us any benefit.

Therefore, whatever it is, the most important thing is to subdue our mind. We have to think that: ‘Dharma’ is the teaching given by Buddha as a method to subdue our mind. We need to put in effort to subdue our mind, day after day, and after months and years of practicing, we will see the actual benefit.

The essence of Dharma is emptiness. The core of ultimate truth and conventional truth lies on ultimate bodhicitta and conventional bodhicitta. It is very difficult to realize emptiness. It is very difficult to generate bodhicitta in this continuity too. However, we still need to make these as the core of our practice, and try our best to generate bodhicitta. And when it arises, do not let it decline, but increase further, then it will bring us great benefit.

I do not have to say more, just follow what I mentioned above, contemplate and integrate it into your mind. There will be auspicious signs should your practices bear fruits.

Specially for Mainland practitioners:

Being devoted to and propitiating the Great Protector comes from your past lives’ karmic connections and aspirations. The Great Protector is in nature the emanation of the Great Manjushri and Yamantaka; we should see them as one when we do our prayer. Similarly, we should be diligent in our practice, recite Mani mantra and Migtsema as much as we can, then we can gain wisdom, compassion and power without much effort. If we are committed to our practice by collecting merits and clearing the obstacles, we will gain good results.

samayakeeper

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2013, 03:49:27 PM »
I have heard of similar accounts of Dorje Shugden, in peaceful form, gave dharma teachings to people in audience. How fortunate for those people present. I also heard that if Dorje Shugden is displeased with people in the audience, he appears via the oracle in wrathful form and the teachings appeared wrathful. Again, how fortunate for those people to have received such divine teachings from an enlightened protector who protects the teachings of Je Tsongkhapa and provide the necessary for dharma practitioners.


"Theres nothing in there about making more offerings to him, about disparaging His Holiness the Dalai Lama, about taking revenge, about fighting to bring down the ban. Its all practice, practice, practice. All (and I use that lightly!) he says is for us to subdue and develop our minds, to integrate Dharma into our lives, and to point out that all phenomena arises from emptiness."

lotus1

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2013, 08:21:45 PM »
Thanks so much DharmaDefender and DS.com for sharing this. This is such a great and profound teaching!
This is also the first time I heard that a protector would give teachings! Besides, it is a teaching with the most profounds teaching of Buddhism – to subdue our mind, emptiness and bodhicitta. Dorje Shugden is the great Manjushri! If Dorje Shugden is a devil spirit, he would definitely not able to teach such teaching that is full of wisdom and compassion!
I am so blessed to be in connection with Lord Dorje Shugden. May I always be protected and guided by him in my spiritual journey.
May the ban be lifted soonest so that more people can be blessed and protected by him!

christine V

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2013, 06:35:50 AM »
Dear DharmaDefender, appreciated this post very much.
In my daily life of practicing Dharma I prayed that i could remember the message that Dorje Shugden said
if the mind is not subdued, subdue it; if the mind is not peaceful, pacify it, only then will our Dharma practices become meaningful
try our best to generate bodhicitta. And when it arises, do not let it decline, but increase further, then it will bring us great benefit.

When doing our daily prayer, it is true to do it properly. With the motive to subdue our mind
When we are practicing Dharma, we of course need to do our sadhanas, recite prayers, do our prostrations, circumambulate etc to collect merits as well as to clear our obstacles. However, most importantly, we need to subdue our inner demon, so that our practice will become meaningful. Pretending we are doing sadhanas, and closing our eyes and visualizing may seem like we have an altruistic mind, yet if we have all kinds of negative thoughts, it defeats the purpose and won’t bring us any benefit.

This is a very profound teaching. And, is the first time i heard Dharma Protector giving teaching in oracles forms. From this teaching, Dorje Shugden is surely the Dharma Protector not any spirit.Only a Dharma practitioner able to give this teaching about the mind and how the mind works.

Ensapa

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2013, 08:43:13 AM »
wow how auspicious it is to have Dorje Shugden himself give a talk! It is very inspiring to me especially on this part:

Quote
Pretending we are doing sadhanas, and closing our eyes and visualizing may seem like we have an altruistic mind, yet if we have all kinds of negative thoughts, it defeats the purpose and won’t bring us any benefit.

Dorje Shugden once again reminds us the importance of not pretending in our Dharma practice and the importance of being genuine in it. It does not  help anyone if we chant our sadhanas and do our meditations but still we have negative thoughts and we do nothing to curb them. Thank you for this amazing teaching.

WisdomBeing

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2013, 11:19:51 AM »
This is a wonderful teaching from Dorje Shugden himself which is so very useful to everyone, not necessarily just Buddhists or Dorje Shugden practitioners. For me personally, I found the most crucial teaching here is the importance of subduing our minds because that is where all our inner demons come from. Buddhism has always appealed to me because it is reshaping our perspective and attitudes to reality, because everything which we have been brought up to believe is true and important actually is not.

Thank you very much for posting this teaching here because I am sure not many people would have the rare opportunity to listen to Dorje Shugden, the Buddha of Wisdom, himself teach the holy Dharma. May we, who have this good fortune or karma to receive this teaching, contemplate and put the teachings into action, so we can really be Dharma practitioners and not Dharma pretenders.
Kate Walker - a wannabe wisdom Being

Ensapa

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2013, 06:40:05 AM »
This is a wonderful teaching from Dorje Shugden himself which is so very useful to everyone, not necessarily just Buddhists or Dorje Shugden practitioners. For me personally, I found the most crucial teaching here is the importance of subduing our minds because that is where all our inner demons come from. Buddhism has always appealed to me because it is reshaping our perspective and attitudes to reality, because everything which we have been brought up to believe is true and important actually is not.

Thank you very much for posting this teaching here because I am sure not many people would have the rare opportunity to listen to Dorje Shugden, the Buddha of Wisdom, himself teach the holy Dharma. May we, who have this good fortune or karma to receive this teaching, contemplate and put the teachings into action, so we can really be Dharma practitioners and not Dharma pretenders.

In a way, it is a teaching for everyone, that is to subdue to their negativities and not just cover them up with prayer and hope that they go away, which is what a lot of people have been doing and it has not really gotten them anywhere but to give a bad name to their religion because praying and studying does not really resolve the negativities and issues within, it just covers them up. What really resolves them is the application and practice of the principles that are taught by the religions.

Big Uncle

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2013, 05:11:47 PM »
Incredible! Dorje Shugden always give advice that is laced with the Dharma and this is always done in a very skillful manner according to the needs of the recipient. He is like a Lama acting as Dharma Protector although he is capable of delivering the Dharma to us. This is just incredible because I do not know of any Dharma Protector who is capable of doing this in trance.

This is not doubt because of his many previous lives of being a great scholar and master to many. After all, let us not forget that Dorje Shugden is the emanation of Panchen Sonam Drakpa, the incredible scholar, whose books are the textbooks that Geshes rely on for their studies. Since he is able to write about it, he must be enlightened to be able to lead others to it.

Therefore, just looking at Dorje Shugden golden words, one can already see that he is not an ordinary Protector - he is enlightened. In fact, I am sure Dorje Shugden is able to quote from scripture if the need arises. Hence, I am sure that his blessings and guidance is based on the realisation of these teachings.


Ensapa

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #8 on: May 21, 2013, 05:19:49 AM »
Incredible! Dorje Shugden always give advice that is laced with the Dharma and this is always done in a very skillful manner according to the needs of the recipient. He is like a Lama acting as Dharma Protector although he is capable of delivering the Dharma to us. This is just incredible because I do not know of any Dharma Protector who is capable of doing this in trance.

This is not doubt because of his many previous lives of being a great scholar and master to many. After all, let us not forget that Dorje Shugden is the emanation of Panchen Sonam Drakpa, the incredible scholar, whose books are the textbooks that Geshes rely on for their studies. Since he is able to write about it, he must be enlightened to be able to lead others to it.

Therefore, just looking at Dorje Shugden golden words, one can already see that he is not an ordinary Protector - he is enlightened. In fact, I am sure Dorje Shugden is able to quote from scripture if the need arises. Hence, I am sure that his blessings and guidance is based on the realisation of these teachings.

There is no doubt that Dorje Shugden is an emanation of Panchen Sonam Dragpa and Buton Rinpoche, the Lama who compiled the Kangyur and Tengyur. So there is definite proof that Dorje Shugden is more than qualified to be a Lama, but due to his immense kindness, he manifests himself as a Dharma protector so that more people can benefit from the clearance of obstacles as opposed to manifesting as a Yidam or a Lama and so he compassionately appears as a Dharma protector to help sentient beings of these degenerate times.

Rinchen

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2013, 10:31:26 PM »
This is a great teaching. It is the first time that I have heard that a deity gave a teaching through an oracle. It is truly inspiring. Reminding us of so many things that many of us may think that it is correct to do so. Dorje Shugden is really a protector of our time. He took the effort to teach us personally for the benefit only for us. He is a true protector and Yidam, not likr what many have rumored, a spirit.

Ensapa

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2013, 11:32:27 PM »
This is a great teaching. It is the first time that I have heard that a deity gave a teaching through an oracle. It is truly inspiring. Reminding us of so many things that many of us may think that it is correct to do so. Dorje Shugden is really a protector of our time. He took the effort to teach us personally for the benefit only for us. He is a true protector and Yidam, not likr what many have rumored, a spirit.

Dorje Shugden is not just any deity, he's a Buddha appearing in the form of a Dharma protector, and not just that, his previous incarnations are very highly attained Lamas as well. So there is no way that such high lamas can devolve and become an unenlightened spirit upon death. It does not make sense at all. As this teaching proves, Dorje Shugden has complete knowledge and attainments from his previous lives, showing that he is enlightened after all. Therefore, there is no reason to doubt him at all.

vajrastorm

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #11 on: July 28, 2013, 11:19:53 AM »
Dorje Shugden is the Wisdom Protector and an emanation of Manjushri. Hence, it's not surprising that Dorje Shugden has given this teaching through an oracle. It is a teaching on Wisdom as the teaching revolves around Ignorance as the main source of suffering. Wisdom is the antidote to Ignorance.

This is yet another strong evidence that Dorje Shugden is not a spirit, as spirits can't give teachings on Truth and Wisdom. Only Enlightened Beings can. Also in this teaching Buddha Shakyamuni 's teachings have been quoted. Furthermore, the essence of Dharma and Dharma practice, are being emphasized.

Important aspects of this profound teaching are : 1) The root of suffering is ignorance; and wisdom realizing emptiness and seeing dependent origination are the ways to counter ignorance.2)The mind is essentially pure; only defilements and afflictive emotions cloud it and these need to be removed and the mind needs to be subdued as they cause all the suffering and pain.3) To subdue the mind, Dharma needs to be practiced and applied.4) The essence of the Dharma is emptiness.5)Ultimate truth and conventional truth lie in ultimate and conventional bodhicitta.6) It is difficult to generate bodhicitta and realize emptiness.But still this is the core of dharma practice. So we need to try our best to generate bodhicitta and realize emptiness.

Such a profound teaching can only come from the Buddha, and particularly the Buddha of Wisdom, Manjushri.

Ensapa

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #12 on: July 28, 2013, 10:26:26 PM »
Dorje Shugden is the Wisdom Protector and an emanation of Manjushri. Hence, it's not surprising that Dorje Shugden has given this teaching through an oracle. It is a teaching on Wisdom as the teaching revolves around Ignorance as the main source of suffering. Wisdom is the antidote to Ignorance.

This is yet another strong evidence that Dorje Shugden is not a spirit, as spirits can't give teachings on Truth and Wisdom. Only Enlightened Beings can. Also in this teaching Buddha Shakyamuni 's teachings have been quoted. Furthermore, the essence of Dharma and Dharma practice, are being emphasized.

Important aspects of this profound teaching are : 1) The root of suffering is ignorance; and wisdom realizing emptiness and seeing dependent origination are the ways to counter ignorance.2)The mind is essentially pure; only defilements and afflictive emotions cloud it and these need to be removed and the mind needs to be subdued as they cause all the suffering and pain.3) To subdue the mind, Dharma needs to be practiced and applied.4) The essence of the Dharma is emptiness.5)Ultimate truth and conventional truth lie in ultimate and conventional bodhicitta.6) It is difficult to generate bodhicitta and realize emptiness.But still this is the core of dharma practice. So we need to try our best to generate bodhicitta and realize emptiness.

Such a profound teaching can only come from the Buddha, and particularly the Buddha of Wisdom, Manjushri.

Spirits can give Dharma talks, but they cannot reach such a level of profundity. Only a Buddha would. If Dorje Shugden appeared in the form of a Yidam, he would not be able to manifest through an oracle and give us advice on what to do which is the reason why his body is actually Nimanakaya. His actions and his wisdom shows that he is clearly enlightened from all angles and there is no dispute about that at all. If only everyone could see this, then perhaps the ban would no longer be effective at all.

Dondrup Shugden

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Re: NEW ARTICLE! A Teaching by Dorje Shugden, Losar 2013
« Reply #13 on: January 27, 2015, 07:26:59 AM »
Having the merits to listen to any Dharma teachings is a blessing.  Imagine a live teaching by the King, Dorje Shugden and recorded for our benefit.

It is a lovely teaching that reading will make us realise that Dorje Shugden is a true Buddha who is with great compassion and following His teachings will lead to the path of enlightenment and great joy.