His (Reting Rinpoche, Regent of Tibet) first choice for a replacement was one of his own Gurus, the famous Pabongkha Tulku. Pabongkha was undoubtedly the greatest living Gelukpa lama of the period, and would have been an ideal candidate. However, he strongly disliked political affairs and distrusted the Lhasa aristocracy. He therefore declined the request.
~ Glenn H. Mullin, The Fourteen Dalai Lamas

Glenn H. Mullin is a Tibetologist, Buddhist writer, translator of classical Tibetan literature, and teacher of Tantric Buddhist meditation. Glenn lived in the Indian Himalayas between 1972 and 1984, where he studied philosophy, literature, meditation, yoga, and the enlightenment culture under thirty-five of the greatest living masters of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

His two principal tantric gurus were the late great masters Kyabje Ling Dorjechang and Kyabje Trijang Dorjechang, who were best known as Yongdzin Che Chung, the two main gurus of the present Dalai Lama. The list of Glenn’s other teachers and initiation masters includes the Dalai Lama, Sakya Trizin Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, Ngakpa Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Khenchen Konchok Gyaltsen, Geshe Ngawang Dargyey, Geshe Rabten, and Gongsar Tulku.

[Sources: www.dorjeshugden.info and www.glennmullin.com]

As far as prolific biographies go, no one has need of a more extensive biography than His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, who has thirteen previous lives to include. The man who has devoted his life to this sacred task is Glenn H. Mullin, the most prominent biographer of all fourteen Dalai Lamas.

Having dedicated his time and energy to the compilation of the Dalai Lamas’ background and history, it therefore comes as no surprise that the Dalai Lama and Glenn Mullin regard one another as good friends. In fact, in a testament to the closeness of their relationship, the Dalai Lama once commented that Glenn knows more about his predecessors than he himself.

Knowing their friendship is crucial in understanding the significance of this next revelation – that Mullin has written in contradiction of His Holiness’ stance on Dorje Shugden and that despite this, His Holiness continues to write forwards for Mullin’s books, including those with information that contradicts his own stance on Dorje Shugden.

So what is it? That the Dalai Lama and his people did not have a chance to read the book before its publication? Or that they just turned a blind eye? Or perhaps His Holiness did so knowingly, to cast doubt on the conviction of his stance on Dorje Shugden?

Because the contradictions in the publication are hardly minor – in the book, Mullin notes that Dorje Shugden was the most popular Dharma Protector within the Gelug sect, when His Holiness has always maintained that Dorje Shugden was practised by a small minority within the Tibetan population.

Read on, and decide for yourself…you may find that in the face of His Holiness’ continuing inconsistencies regarding Dorje Shugden, that your opinion of this Protector just might change.

Thank you
DorjeShugden.com

The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation by Glenn H. Mullin

Extract from Pg 208

Another controversy surrounding the Great Fifth concerns the details of the death of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, a famous Gelugpa lama of the period. He was one of the most prominent lamas of his day, and in fact in some circles was held in even higher regard than was the Great Fifth, for the Fifth at the time was still in his youth.

One day Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen was mysteriously murdered. His followers claimed that the culprits were followers of the Fifth Dalai Lama, although there was no suggestion that the Great Fifth was personally even aware of the plan.

The theory was that the Great Fifth was being eclipsed by the towering stature of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, and thus would greatly benefit from the death. As long as Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen was alive the Fifth Dalai Lama would be number two in the Gelugpa School; his death allowed the Great Fifth to rise to the position of number one.

Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen

Whether or not the followers of the Great Fifth were involved in Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s murder was never proved, but the rumours persisted.

The tale, already somewhat bizarre, now takes an even more exotic twist. It is said that the soul of the murdered monk wandered in the hereafter for some time as a disturbed spirit, creating havoc for the people of Lhasa. Eventually the Great Fifth contracted a group of Nyingmapa shamans to exorcise and pacify it, but they failed. He then contracted a group of Gelugpa shaman monks.

As a result of the rituals of this second group the spirit of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen was eventually pacified and transformed into the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden.

This spirit was later adopted as a guardian angel by numerous Gelugpa monks who disapproved of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s manner of combining the Gelugpa and Nyingmapa doctrines.

Fifth Dalai Lama with the Chinese Emperor

Although the Great Fifth tried to discourage the practice of worshipping this deity, it caught on with many monasteries. The practice continued over the generations to follow, and eventually became one of the most popular Protector Deity practices within the Gelugpa School.

In particular, during the late 1800s, when four Dalai Lamas died young, it became an all-pervasive monthly practice within almost all provincial Gelugpa monasteries, and was especially popular with Gelugpa aristocratic families.

The controversy surrounding the murder of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen and the deity that emerged from his disturbed spirit has shadowed the Dalai Lama office until the present day. By the time the Tibetans came into exile in 1959, worshipping Dorje Shugden was still a common monthly practice of most Gelugpas.

In recent decades the present Dalai Lama has attempted to discourage the practice, but with little success. It is as strong today as ever, if not stronger; for with the Dalai Lama discouraging it in India, the Chinese are fully promoting it in Tibet.

Tibet watchers will be aware of this bizarre controversy, as it has even found its way onto the pages of Times and Newsweek, and has dozens of web pages dedicated to it.