Introduction
The worship of Dorje Shugden by Buddhists is one of the fundamental issues in Mahayana tantrayana Buddhism as it develops in the 21st century both in its traditional practice communities in those asian cultures following the Buddhism rooted in the Tibetan language transmissions of practice and in the small, though growing, numbers of converts to Buddhism living in societies not traditionally Buddhist.
The issue is rooted in the tantra vehicle practices of Tibetan Buddhism. Though the worship of the deity became a public issue in Tibetan Buddhism in the mid 1970s, in particular in relation to its use in some elements of the Geluk tradition and some elements of the Sakya tradition, the issue had been around since the late 17th century.
The issue came to the fore in 1975 when the 14th Dalai Lama, a charismatic Geluk tulku in a tulku lineage coming from Drepung and recognised in the 16th century, began recommending his tantra students not to do the practice. This personal tantra master pupil relationship cannot however be separated from the fact that he is also in non tantra teacher student relationships with pupils, a public teacher and is also the Tibetan Head of State both in old Tibet and now in exile.
The opposition to the practice by the Dalai Lama has had major repercussions for the Geluk within Tibetan Buddhism and for some non Tibetan Buddhist new religious movements such as the New Kadampa Tradition. The NKT states its members are not Tibetan Buddhists on its website www.newkadampatruth.org (dedicated to clarifying its stances and practices) in the section explaining why it does not display pictures of the Dalai Lama in its centres [screenshot of 15 July 2008].
The core issue centres around the nature of Dorje Shugden and whether he is an enlightened being or an emanation of an enlightened being or whether he is merely an unenlightened being whether protective or destructive.
The 14th Dalai Lama citing historic documentary evidence from not least his predecessor Dalai Lamas the 5th and the 13th and those Geluk who never did the practice, such as the late senior tutor to the Dalai Lama, Ling Rinpoche Lungtog Namgyal Trinley, see the deity as an unenlightened being and its worship as non canonical and at best pointless and at worst dangerous.
This group has many proponents in the three main Geluk monasteries of Ganden, Sera and Drepung. The key argument here is that the point of doing Tibetan Buddhist practice is to become a fully enlightened Buddha. If you worship unenlightened beings and seek to become like them you miss the purpose of practice entirely. This applies also to if you mistake an unenlightened being for a fully enlightened being.
There is also the issue of the deity harming others as shown in the Praise section of its Kang So propitiation ritual written by the 3rd Ganden Trijang Rinpoche and his commentary to that and the so called ‘Yellow Book’ of cautionary tales by the Ganden Zemey Rinpoche.
Those who positively assess Dorje Shugden fall into two groups. One group historically saw him as an unenlightened being and one that is harmful and out of control and who has been subject to various attempted control measures, or bound by oath to protect the dharma, in particular the purity of the Geluk tradition.
The other group, historically represented within Tibetan Buddhism by 19th and 20th century tulkus within Geluk tradition such as Tagphu Dorjechang, Phabonka Dechen Nyingpo and the 3rd Ganden Trijang Rinpoche saw him as the emanation of a fully enlightened being or as a fully enlightened being and similarly focused on ensuring the purity of the Geluk tradition.
The group within the Geluk propitiating him as an unenlightened protector seem now to have been squeezed out in the polarisation that has taken place since the mid 1970s.
Within Tibetan Buddhism the worship of Dorje Shugden as an enlightened being or the emanation of one is still proclaimed by such eminent tulkus as Gangchen Rinpoche formerly from Tsangpa Khangtsen in Sera Mey, the current incarnation of the Phabonka Rinpoche formerly of Gyelrong Khangtsen in Sera Mey, the current (the 4th) incarnation of the Ganden Trijang Rinpoche, the Gonsar Rinpoche of Mont Pelerin in Switzerland, and the Kundeling Rinpoche not recognised as the incarnation by the Ganden Podrang and Drepung monastery.
Outside of Tibetan Buddhism the most well known exponent is Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a Tibetan monk formerly of the Geluk monastery of Sera Jey who leads the non Tibetan Buddhist group the New Kadampa tradition. The NKT states that its members are not Tibetan Buddhists on its website www.newkadampatruth.org dedicated to clarifying its stances and practices in the section explaining why it does not display pictures of the Dalai Lama in its centres (screenshot of 15 July 2008).
In order to understand the issue of his nature we need to understand the Indian Tantrayana Buddhist context that was the matrix for the Tibetan Buddhist context within which the worship of the deity Dorje Shugden arose in the 17th century and out of which he has expanded in the form of a key deity of the non Tibetan Buddhist new religious movement the New Kadampa Tradition.
The following can be explored in more depth here:
- Deities in Tibetan Buddhism [link]
- The difference between fully enlightened Buddhas and unenlightened beings [link]
- Fully enlightened Buddhas and how they are made [link]
- Supramundane emanations of fully enlightened Buddhas and how they are made [link]
- The differences between personal meditation deities and other gods [link]
- Supramundane dharma protectors in the retinue of a personal meditation deity [link]
- Unenlightened mundane deities in the retinue of a personal meditation deity [link]
- Unenlightened mundane deities oath bound to protect the dharma [Link]
- Unenlightened mundane deities benevolent to Buddhism and its practitioners [Link]
- Unenlightened out of control harmful mundane deities [Link]
- Canonical and non canonical Tibetan Buddhism. [Link]