Question asked by Drolma
So far, I've been reading on mendrups and have some questions. If they are made out of holy relics, won't those relics run out? How does one have thousands of mendrup pills of Guru Rinpoche's hair which is quite rare? Or how does one even have millions of mendrup pills of Milarepa's relics?
Also, is there such thing as Dorje Shugden mendrup? Just curious.
Dear Drolma,
Thank you for asking such an interesting question. The current relic pills are either made from relics that have been kept preserved, or from using previous relic pills. Eventually over time these will as you rightly say run out. However the preciousness and efficacy of a relic pills comes through the blessings of the pill itself, the prayers and recitations done during their creation, as well as the small amounts of relics contained in them. Even so you are right, these holy pills are quite rare indeed.
There are some pills that there are millions of, these are made from previous pills, or usually when the pills are made, all the relics are not used. Someone very large pills are made at the beginning and then each of these larger pills are mixed with more ingredients, to create the thousands of smaller relic pills. Therefore, usually the monasteries have a store of these larger pills that they use to create more pills from.
There are holy Dorje Shugden pills, which are available here: https://www.vajrasecrets.com/dorje-shugden-holy-rilbu
These actually contain: Relics of Lama Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism; Hair and clothes of H.H. the 10th Panchen Lama, who is considered to be an emanation of Amitabha Buddha; Relics of H.H. Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, who is considered to be an emanation of Heruka Chakrasamvara; Relics of H.H. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, who is considered to be an emanation of Vajrayogini; Relics of H.E. Domo Geshe Rinpoche, who is considered to be an emanation of Lama Tsongkhapa; Hair and clothes of H.E. Denma Gonsa Rinpoche; Relics of the great master Trehor Chopon Rinpoche; Tantric water blessed by H.H. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche during his retreat; Ritual tormas from an extensive Dorje Shugden retreat; Water from holy places in India, Tibet and China; and many other holy and blessed items from lineage masters. Not only were these pilled highly blessed during the time of their creation, but they were again blessed with a Soongdrup ritual conducted at Kechara Forest Retreat by senior members of the Sangha as well. I hope this helps answer your question. Thank you.