The funerary pyre of Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen

By: Kyabje Drakpa Gyeltsen

The DorjeShugden.com website team is proud to present a one-of-a kind account of the life story of Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen, as told by Kyabje Drakpa Gyeltsen himself. He is the recognized incarnation of Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen and the story he tells is an intimate account of the renowned High Lama that eventually became the Protector Dorje Shugden. At several key moments, the story appears to be told as a first hand recollection from a distant memory instead of a historical narrative like other biographies and hagiographies of this great Lama.

With folded hands, the DorjeShugden.net team offers this story to the world to learn and be blessed with inspiration at Dorje Shugden manifesting as a compassionate lama and martyr. The great Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen was the reincarnation of Panchen Sonam Drakpa and he was just as erudite and accomplished as his predecessor. He lived during the time of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Gyalwa Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso.

Both of these High Lamas lived in Drepung monastery, one of the three largest monasteries in Tibet. They were also the direct disciples of Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyeltsen, the first Panchen Lama (who was also considered to be the 4th Panchen Lama posthumously) who had composed the Lama Chopa liturgy. There is also a deeper connection between the two illustrious students of the Panchen Lama. Panchen Sonam Drakpa, Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen’s previous incarnation, had been the main tutor to the Third Dalai Lama. Nonetheless, both Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen and Fifth Dalai Lama were highly respected and considered pure and precious teachers.

The young Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen studied both Sutra and Tantra mainly under the Panchen Lama and became a great scholar and yogi. He lived in more than a hundred caves to meditate and as a result, he received many direct visions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. He made a number of predictions including the one that he would become the protector Dorje Shugden in the future. So, his fame in Tibet grew very big and he began to have many illustrious students and patrons.

You see, High Lamas can’t do anything without sponsors. With their kind sponsorship, High Lamas can spread the Dharma and do more work to benefit others. At that time, Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen had a wealthy and powerful Mongol King as a patron. This king had immense wealth and he would travel all the way from his homeland to pay respects to Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen and offer gold bars, silver, brocade and whatever he needed. As soon as the Lama opened his mouth, his patron would immediately comply. The faithful king would just build for him.

Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen’s main tutor, Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyeltsen

Subsequently, the Mongol King, his Queen and all his subjects became the disciples of Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen. However, due to the political climate at that time, the Dalai Lama came into power and became the temporal leader of Tibet. It was the first time the Dalai Lama took political power in Tibet and he became “king”. At that same time, Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen had become very popular among the people. The assistants of the Dalai Lama were very jealous and very unhappy with Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen. This was because more people were going over to see this High Lama than the Dalai Lama. More were making offerings to him instead of the Dalai Lama and so the assistants were deeply unhappy. The assistants were normal people and they kept their ill feelings from the Dalai Lama. The assistants felt that Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen’s popularity was very bad for the Dalai Lama and they eventually plotted to assassinate this High Lama. They felt that there was no other way to ensure that the Dalai Lama’s fame would continue to rise without being overshadowed by the High Lama.

During this time, Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen had an audience with Nechung. At that time, Nechung was already a popular protector that took trance through an oracle. The oracle took trance of Nechung and spoke to the High Lama. Nechung said to Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen, “Do you remember the promise you made two lifetimes ago?”

Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen replied, “No. I don’t remember at all.”

“Are you sure?”

“No. I don’t remember. ”

Then Nechung took some rice, consecrated it with mantra, gave it to him, and asked him to eat it.

Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen took it, ate it and immediately recalled his promise. When he recalled his promise, Nechung said to him, “Now is the time for you to rise as a Dharma Protector. Now is the time. Keep your promise.”

However, Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen said, “But I can’t. I don’t have any anger.”

But he was known to have scolded his students; he shouted and he screamed at them. He was known to be a very wrathful teacher but he did not have any anger. When he had ‘scolded’ or ‘screamed’, this is known as vajra anger or anger arising from Bodhicitta or spontaneous and pure compassion.

He added, ”But I can’t generate that anger to be that kind of Protector.”

Nechung said, “I will create the causes for you. I will make it happen for you. I will generate the causes for you to become ‘angry’. ”

In any case, the Dalai Lama’s assistants plotted and they decided that they were going to have an audience with him and kill him when they were left alone. One day, they came to his ladrang, Zimkhang Gongma or Upper House with khatas and offerings to see Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen and they went inside the audience room. Initially, they tried to stab and poison him but they were unsuccessful because he was highly attained. In the end, the lama himself revealed how he could be killed and that was through strangulation.

Seizing the moment, they took the khata and they strangled him and as he was being strangled, he generated the mind of enlightenment. At that moment, he thought about Lama Tsongkhapa and he offered his life up to Lama Tsongkhapa and to the lineage and to all the people who would practice Buddha’s teachings and all the people who have faith in Lama Tsongkhapa. He would take the responsibility to assist, protect, nurture and to clear their obstacles. He thought that he would be the one to push away their difficulties and to even help them with their finances. Thus, he generated that aspiration and he died with that last thought.

When he passed away, his attendants, students and the monastery were in turmoil because such an important High Lama had been murdered. This is akin to having a very important minister assassinated in today’s society. Naturally, the attendants felt very helpless and some were very angry when they eventually discovered the plot. They placed his remains on a very big funeral pyre in Lhasa with thousands of disciples, the Mongol King and all the high lamas. They came to pay their last respects to Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen. However, they soon discovered that they could not light the funeral pyre. No matter how much they tried to start the fire, it just would not light.

This made his attendants even angrier. They were not enlightened and so it was not unusual that they felt this way. In utter frustration, one attendant took his zen (part of a monk’s maroon robes) and he hit the pyre and he said, “Some kind of lama you are! You were supposed to be a High Lama and you don’t even exact revenge on them and you don’t show any signs… They just simply kill you and that’s it!” He was sobbing and crying tears of anger when he did that.

Somehow, the Dalai Lama heard of a big procession in town and he asked his attendants, “What’s the big procession in Lhasa? What’s going on?” Initially, the bad attendants wouldn’t tell him anything and they hid the truth from him but the good ones revealed everything to him. His Holiness became very distraught so he immediately composed a poem (which is still available today) in apology to Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen after he found out about everything.

His Holiness was very disturbed by the whole matter. Remember, this was the reincarnation of a teacher of his previous life and so there was a deep connection from a previous life. So, the good attendant brought the poem down and it was read aloud to the assembly gathered around the funeral pyre. The moment the poem was read, the wood on the pyre suddenly caught fire. It was recorded that from the fire, a tornado appeared – a round and powerful swirling black wind. It swirled and this was a sign of his transformation into a Dharma Protector.

A very strong tumultuous wind blew and an earthquake shook Lhasa. So, the mind of Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen left his body in a huge pile of smoke that formed the rough outline of a hand that extended and eventually covered the skyline of the entire city. He had assumed the form of Dorje Shugden. The smoke just disappeared into the sky and people could see immediately many negative omens. The crops failed, many animals died and monasteries lost great sponsors and patrons. Great calamities such as earthquakes and diseases enveloped the land.

The karma to kill such a High Lama was very heavy and these things occurred because of it. So, many bad omens appeared and His Holiness the Dalai Lama invited very powerful Lamas such as Mindrolling Rinpoche to perform pujas to subdue the spirit that was believed to be causing these calamities. Mindrolling Rinpoche was a very high Nyingma Lama. His incarnations extend to this day and they were the most accomplished Tantrikas. At that time, many people thought that Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen had become an angry evil spirit.

The Dalai Lama already knew what he had become but the Dalai Lama acted on special intuition. He felt that doing this would reveal Dorje Shugden’s special qualities. If Dorje Shugden is not an evil spirit, he cannot be killed. So the Mindrolling Lama performed a powerful fire puja, Jinsek, to kill Dorje Shugden. The attendants arranged grand offerings that were ritually offered into the fire and they had the highest Nyingma lama who attained Siddhi (spiritually accomplished) holding the ladle. At this point in the ritual, the lama compelled Dorje Shugden onto the ladle by the power of mantra. Then, he threw Dorje Shugden into the fire.

This powerful ritual is to kill an evil spirit that is very powerful so that when they die, the consciousness takes rebirth in a pure realm. However, when Dorje Shugden was caught onto the ladle, every time the lama placed him into the fire, the lama would have a vision of Yamantaka arising from the flames and standing on the ladle. After a few attempts, the lama ceased the puja as he realized this was not an ordinary spirit he was dealing with. The lama realized Dorje Shugden was indistinguishable from Yamantaka and he was unable to kill Yamantaka.

The funerary pyre of Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen

The lama reported this to the Dalai Lama and of course the Dalai Lama was very pleased, as he had known all along. In a separate fire puja, the Dharma Protector Setrab immediately arose from Sakya, riding on his horse like the wind. He was a vision of red and galloping with his fluttering five-wisdom flags. If one had the ability to perceive, one would hear the flutter of his divine flags and the tinkling of small bells on top of his flags. Setrab arose and created visions to stop the monks from performing the puja and then he requested Dorje Shugden to be enthroned. It was said that Dorje Shugden traveled to Tashi Lhumpo in memory of his Guru, the Panchen Lama, who resided there. However at the entrance to the monastery, the Dharma Protectors of the monastery refused to allow him to pass through. So, he moved on to Sakya.

It was in Sakya that their patriarch first enthroned him to be a Dharma Protector. Later, the 8th Dalai Lama, the regent of Tibet and the Qing Emperor Daoguang recognized and enthroned Dorje Shugden in an elaborate ceremony as a Dharma Protector of the Ganden lineage. Thus, he was not only recognized in Tibet but he was also recognized in China but it took time for the lineage to grow. So, the Dalai Lama, the Regent and the Emperor of China enthroned him on an ‘ordinary basis’. On the ‘supernatural basis’, Setrab requested him to be introduced to the other Dharma Protectors and Dorje Shugden was thus ‘enthroned’ as a Dharma Protector amongst the other Dharma Protectors.

This reveals the close connection Dorje Shugden has with Setrab and so whenever there’s a Setrab oracle in Tibet, Dorje Shugden would enter and give pronouncements. Whenever there is a Dorje Shugden oracle, Setrab would sometimes enter as well. Whenever Dorje Shugden speaks through an oracle, Setrab will come and say, “I have nothing to add. Whatever he said is good enough.” I have seen this many times in Ganden and Sera, where we have oracles blessed by Trijang Rinpoche that take trance of Setrab and Dorje Shugden. We are very fortunate that this lineage has not died off and that we can communicate with Dorje Shugden and hear his golden words of advice and prophesy. We are indeed fortunate!

The story of Dorje Shugden is a story of how a very compassionate High Lama together with other enlightened beings such as the Fifth Dalai Lama combined to bring about the rise of an uncommon Protector sworn to protect Je Tsongkapa’s teachings from degenerating. It is the sincere wish of the DorjeShugden.com team that this story, as told by Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen himself through his present incarnation, will remove any wrong views that people may have of a very benevolent and power Dharma Protector as the result of distortions of historical facts. May all who listen to this story come to know Dorje Shugden personally and be protected and cared for in their Dharma journey.