Advice from Dorje Shugden Advice from Dorje Shugden
During the Losar festivities in 2013, Dorje Shugden gave a teaching on the mind. He spoke extensively on the nature of the mind, especially... Advice from Dorje Shugden

The lamas, monks and nuns of the Gelug lineage work hard to bring the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa to the masses. They also bring along the practice of Dorje Shugden. Why this particular Dharma Protector? This is because Dorje Shugden is the uncommon Protector who arose to protect the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa. Specifically, he arose to protect Lama Tsongkhapa’s explanations of the Prasangika Madhyamika teachings (Middle Way Philosophy), first taught by Nagarjuna.

In reality, Dorje Shugden is none other than Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom, arising in the form of a Dharma Protector to easily connect with sentient beings during this degenerate age. He is also the incarnation of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, a high Lama from the Gelug tradition. Thus, Dorje Shugden is able to give teachings in order to propagate and protect the pure teachings of the tricosmic master, Lama Tsongkhapa.

So, how can a Dharma Protector give teachings? Dorje Shugden has the ability to take trance of highly trained oracles. Through these oracles, Dorje Shugden is not only able to give advice and teachings but also bestow blessings and healing.

One such trance was held during the Losar festivities in 2013. During this trance, peaceful Kache Marpo, speaking on behalf of Dorje Shugden, gave a teaching on the mind. He spoke extensively on the nature of the mind, especially how our body and speech are nothing but a reflection of the mind. For example, if we are calm, our speech and actions will likewise be calm.

Dorje Shugden also taught that ignorance is the root cause of our suffering, obstacles and fears. Dorje Shugden went on to give advice detailing what we have to do to overcome our afflictions of ignorance and how we can harness the power of the mind to overcome negative emotions, ultimately subduing our negativities.

Dorje Shugden also gave advice for the people of mainland China, specifically. They were reminded of their karmic affinity with Dorje Shugden, and that Dorje Shugden is, in nature, the same as Manjushri and Yamantaka. They were also told that the mainland Chinese can achieve much with diligent practice.


A Losar Teaching by the Protector Dorje Shugden

Date: 11 February 2013 (First day of Losar)
Location: Gadenpa Buddhism Centre, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Oracle: Venerable 7th Panglung Kuten, taking trance of Peaceful Kache Marpo
Translator: Huang Yi-Yan (Tibetan to Chinese)

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 defilements, much phenomena has 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, and 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 practising Dharma, we of course need to do our sadhanas, recite prayers, do our prostrations, circumambulations, etc. to collect merits as well as to clear our obstacles. However, most importantly, we need to subdue our inner demons so that our practice will become meaningful. Pretending we are doing sadhanas and closing our eyes and visualising 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 practising, we will see the actual benefit.

The essence of Dharma is Emptiness. The core of ultimate truth and conventional truth lies in ultimate Bodhicitta and conventional Bodhicitta. It is very difficult to realise Emptiness. It is very difficult to generate Bodhicitta in this continuity too. However, we still need to make these 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 fruit.

Especially 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 prayers. 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.

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  • nicholas

    Posted on September 21, 2016 #1 Author

    I have heard normally when a protector take trance it will give advice and prophecies. For Dorje Shugden and Kache Marpo it make a different where they don’t just give advice and prophecies but also dharma talk. This show very clearly that they are not just any normal protector but is an enlightened being with great wisdom just like Manjushri which able to give profound dharma teaching for us to subdue our mind.

    Protector function is to assist us in create a conducive condition for our dharma practice. In another hand for Dorje Shugden it also act as a teacher to even give teaching to calm our mind and provide method to overcome our ignorance which also act as a Lama. I have no doubt with his capability due to the peaceful form of Dorje Shugden is Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen which the Holder of the Vinaya who was one of the eight main disciples of Lama Tsongkhapa.

    Reply

  • Moh Mei

    Posted on September 21, 2016 #2 Author

    There is no denying the logic and wisdom in the teachings given by Buddha. At least not the ones I’ve read and heard of.

    I think most of us can agree that all fears and immeasurable sufferings arise from our mind. The root is ignorance. Once we can subdue our mind, all of our sufferings and fear will be subdued. Knowing is one matter, application and execution is another matter entirely.

    Ironically we are not our body but as closely as I can make sense we are our mind. So technically we need to subdue ourselves in order to make sense of our so called existence. For me that’s a hard concept to grasp.

    Reply

  • Pastor Henry Ooi

    Posted on September 21, 2016 #3 Author

    For a dharma protector like Dorje Shugden to teach the dharma while in trance of the oracle clearly shows that the mind stream of Dorje Shugden and Manjushri is one. Dorje Shugden has for years been giving dharma talks apart from divine advices to clear obstacles, by alleviating worldly problems to those who sought His advice. There are not many dharma protectors in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that have the ability, wisdom and compassion to do so. That to me is one of the enlightened qualities of Dorje Shugden.

    Reply

  • pammie yap

    Posted on September 21, 2016 #4 Author

    Its really amazing when protector Kache Marpo takes trance and give teachings. Its just like when Dorje Shugden took trance in Kechara Forest Retreat http://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/dorje-shugden/700-meet-a-buddha.html
    And He always teach us nothing but Dharma. How to transform our mind and be better to benefit others, and promoting Lord Tsongkhapa’s teachings as well. And this is because He is also Manjushri, full of wisdom. For those who do not have a Guru, they are blessed to receive the teachings and learn.

    Reply

  • Jace Chong

    Posted on September 21, 2016 #5 Author

    Thank you for sharing the important message from Dorje Shugden during the trance.

    What Dorje Shugden says is brief but meaningful. Ignorance is one of the three poisons, the other two are hatred and greed. There are some context saying Ignorance is the root of the suffering, hatred and greed come from ignorance.

    There are some depiction of The Wheel Of Life showing snake and rooster come out from the mouth of the pig. Pig represents Ignorance, Snake represents hatred and Rooster represents greed.

    Thanks Dorje Shugden for the very straightforward teaching to recognise the very root of our problem.

    Thank you.

    Big_Wheel_Center

    Reply

  • Eric kksiow

    Posted on September 21, 2016 #6 Author

    The article remind me one of the Rinpoche teaching ( http://bit.ly/2d8IkOm ) Training the Mind Is Like Taming a Wild Animal. After learning Dharma for many years i am still in the practicing to taming my own mind, and i always remember Rinpoche taught us ( Without the right understanding and wisdom, we will judge the practice simply with our emotions, and instead of seeing the benefit, we end up thinking that the practice is bad as it only brings suffering. But if we are patient and persevere, we will understand that the objective of experiencing this suffering is so that we can finally put an end to it. )

    Thank You
    Eric kksiow

    Reply

  • Mingwen

    Posted on September 21, 2016 #7 Author

    We should be consistent and strive hard to do our Dharma practice regardless of any matters.

    If we do not commit and go all the way, we should not expect any result. Hence, we should not share negative reviews about our failures with the others and think of influence them not to practice Dharma, because we do not practice well.

    Good things do not come easily.

    Reply

  • Khoo Hou Haw

    Posted on September 21, 2016 #8 Author

    I had the honor to witnessed Panglung Kuten took trance of DS in KFR. Every time Dorje Shugden took trance, beside giving blessing, He also gave Dharma talk to the audience. This in a way showed that Dorje Shugden is an Enlightened being who is the manifestation of Buddha Manjushri and always benefited sentient beings through His wisdom and compassion.

    Reply

  • June Kang

    Posted on September 22, 2016 #9 Author

    Dorje Shugden is a Dharma Protector who has arisen in this form specifically to safeguard our Dharma practice. Is very fortunate that can receive direct teaching from the Protector Dorje Shugden and this teaching about mind is very profound.

    After this teaching in 2013, Dorje Shugden Protector also give advise to Kechara Forest Retreat team on “The Farm of Your Mind” (http://bit.ly/1OhpukQ) in 2015, looks like is the continuing teaching from 2013 and more on guru devotion because a guru devotion is just like the root of the tree. From the root , we grow and bear fruit and from guru we grow and bear fruit of enlightenment. In short, guru devotion is the root of all success.

    What I always recall from“ The farm of your mind” is Protector mentioned “most important, a good mind, constantly striving to break the comfort zones in order to be of benefit to others through your work”.

    Reply

  • Pastor Chia

    Posted on September 22, 2016 #10 Author

    Is not often to heard about protector take trance to give teaching.Last year in Kechara Forest Retreat Malaysia. Dorje Shugden through 7th Panglung Kuten also taking trance of Kache Marpo giving dharma teaching to 700 people more then 1 hour. I felt fortunate attend such rare even and blessing from protector. The dharma teaching from Kache Marpo is awesome, most of the audience felt lucky close between human and divine. It also show Dorje Shugden have the same mind stream just like lord Manjushiri full of wisdom with his knowledge.

    Reply

  • Julia Tan

    Posted on September 22, 2016 #11 Author

    In 2015, many of us, students of H.E. the 25th Tsem Tulku Rinpoche witnessed Dorje Shugden took trance in Wisdom Hall, Kechara Forest Retreat, in Malaysia. It was such a blessed and holy experience we had. Dorje Shugden was to near to us, right in front of us. Something happened, Kache Marpo came and gave a long teaching to us. He said our mind is like a farm. We need to seed, nurture and take good care of it, then result will be good. If we didn’t then no result. Which is so true. What’s most important is our mind.

    The advice during 2013 Losar talked about ignorance, which was about our mind too. It is our mind that created the negative karma. Also our mind that collecting merits for us. It’s like a child that needed to be nurtured and control. By practicing Dorje Shugden we will get better. Dorje Shugden will provide us the condition to keep us in the right path when we put in effort into our practice.

    Reply

  • Pastor Antoinette

    Posted on September 22, 2016 #12 Author

    Dorje Shugden is a Buddha and through the oracle he can talk to us and give advice. His advice is always in accordance with Buddhas teachings and he is reminding us that the cause of our suffering is ignorance. Dharma is given to us by the Buddha to subdue our mind with its ignorance, doubts, fear, and negative emotions.

    Reply

  • Albert

    Posted on September 22, 2016 #13 Author

    Totally agreed to this post, anyway, how can I disagree with what Buddha said, lol.

    Our mind is always the main culprit, whatever suffering we experienced is being played in our mind, we created it and hence we need to face it, there is no other option or other way to avoid, and due to our desire and attachment, we are being so ignorant towards the suffering we are experiencing, or going to experience, there are many times, we know that doing something will lead to more suffering, but in the end, we still do it, and in the end, we will give an excuse – I really love it so much, I can;t control myself. We need to subdue our mind and focus on Dharma practice.

    (Below is not the exact word of Rinpoche but some of the content I can remember with my own explanation)
    I remembered few years ago, H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche had a short sharing with a few of people including me, that time Rinpoche was sharing about the importance of practicing Dharma and to control our mind for not creating more negative karma, and then Rinpoche was saying that he is here to teach Dharma, whether he is a highly attained Lama or just an ordinary lama, it make no difference, because he is here only to teach Dharma, and these are all the Buddha’s teaching, if not, what do we expect the Buddha will tell us if we can see him, the Buddha will not tell us it is ok, we can continue to enjoy life, we can continue to engage in samsara activities and we can still gain enlightenment, definitely no, the Buddha will tell us to do Dharma, so today since we can’t see the Buddha, our Lama is the middle person to tell us what Buddha said, to teach us what Buddha wanted to teach.

    Today this article, it has clearly proved what Rinpoche said years ago, “when Buddha talk to us, what will he say?” and I believe so, our guru will never be wrong.

    Reply

  • Li Kheng

    Posted on September 22, 2016 #14 Author

    Dorje Shugden is so compassionate to manifest in a tangible form so as to be able to give us direct advise and help. I have witnessed Dorje Shugden take trance and heal people and give secular and spiritual advise. These actions transform into tangible results as people heal and prosper materialistically as well as spiritually.

    May we as practitioners create causes to be close to Dorje Shugden

    Reply

  • Alice Tay

    Posted on August 16, 2017 #15 Author

    Dorje Shugden is the same as Manjushri and Yamantaka. His previous incarnation was Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, a high lama from the Gelug tradition. Later, he arose as a Dharma Protector to protect the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa especially The Middle Way Philosophy.

    Dorje Shugden given teachings that we must believe in Dharma, wish for the Dharma and respect the Dharma. Dharma is the Buddha’s teaching as a method to subdue our mind. Therefore, practice dharma is not only do daily sadhanas, do offering, prostrations and etc, but to subdue our mind and become better person for the benefit of others.

    Reply

  • Lin Mun

    Posted on November 4, 2017 #16 Author

    Coming from a family who practised taoism in the early days, trance session is a session to ask seek advise for health and wealth. I have not heard of Buddha giving dharma teaching during trance. This is really amazing as this should be the true spirit that is to encourage people to learn and practise dharma. We are fortunate to have Rinpoche giving us Dorje Shugden practise here in Malaysia. Appreciate it a lot and I will continue to practise dharma

    Reply