The Jolenpa (Bodhisattva) Gen Nyima
Jolenpa Gen Nyima. Click on image to enlarge.
The coming of Lama Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, was predicted by the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. The Buddha predicted that Lama Tsongkhapa would appear in the future, during a time when the Dharma was in a state of slight decay, and revitalise all of the teachings that the Buddha had given.
During the Buddha’s time, Lama Tsongkhapa was a young boy who met the Buddha and made an offering of a crystal mala. At that time, the Buddha placed his hands on the young boy’s head and gave the prophecy that the boy would be reborn in the future, in a land to the north. There, the boy would rejuvenate the Buddha’s teachings which would have degenerated. He would take rebirth to bring about a renaissance of the teachings and repair those that were damaged.
He would do this by receiving the teachings, practising them and gaining spiritual attainments. When you have gained attainments through the teachings and pass them on to others, you revitalise them so they continue to benefit beings. This happened exactly as the Buddha had predicted.
Lord Buddha also predicted the building of Gaden Monastery. He had one of his closest disciples named Maudgalyayana, who had achieved the siddhi or attainment of fast-walking, travel to Tibet and bury a white conch shell there. This was the exact spot that Lama Tsongkhapa later founded Gaden Monastery, a monastic institution that continues to this day.
These predictions came to pass. Lama Tsongkhapa’s mother experienced very auspicious dreams during her pregnancy and there were many signs and portents in the area foretelling the birth of a great being. Lama Tsongkhapa was different from other children in the sense that he was compassionate, very spiritual and had a disposition towards the Dharma. It is said he understood Dharma teachings instantly and was able to teach and compose Dharma texts from a very young age.
Lama Tsongkhapa also had many wondrous visions of various deities and could communicate with them directly. He himself was considered a direct emanation of the Buddha of Wisdom, Manjushri. So, throughout his lifetime, he was referred to as Manjunatha Tsongkhapa or Jamgon Tsongkhapa, which means one who is of the same nature as Manjushri.
Lama Tsongkhapa. Click on image to enlarge.
During his lifetime, Lama Tsongkhapa studied extensively under 45 teachers from the Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Jonangpa traditions. He combined all the lineages of teachings of both Sutra and Tantra, and brought them together into one vessel. This would later be known as the Gadenpa or Gelugpa teachings. In order for these teachings not to degenerate, Lama Tsongkhapa instructed his students to build Gaden Monastery, to find sponsorship for its building and maintenance, and to create a monastic system there.
So, within his lifetime, Lama Tsongkhapa created Gaden Monastery and this became the root monastery for all Gelugpas. From this great monastery, many other Buddhist institutions such as Sera, Drepung and Tashi Lhunpo Monasteries arose. These monasteries have created thousands and thousands of enlightened beings, attained beings, scholars, masters, pandits, yogis, meditators and ascetics, as can be seen throughout Tibet’s history. Many young boys from all over Tibet still aspire to enter Gaden, Sera, Drepung and Tashi Lhunpo Monasteries, to study and obtain their degrees, and then go on to meditate on what they have learned.
Therefore, Gaden Monastery, the father of all Gelugpa monasteries has produced countless spiritually attained beings. On top of that, the teachings of the Six Jewels and Two Ornaments of ancient India are enshrined there and so are the commentaries, practices and visionary teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa. As a result of these very powerful, sacred and holy teachings, many great masters have arisen. These include the Gaden Tripas (heads of the Gelugpa lineage), mahasiddhas and erudite Geshes. Gaden mirrors the Nalanda Monastery of ancient India very much.
Due to the Cultural Revolution in China, Tibetans and the monasteries relocated to India, including Gaden Monastery, which was re-established in south India. The curriculum there is exactly the same as it was in Tibet and although the number of monks was not as high as it was in Tibet, there were still more than 2,000 monks at the time when I arrived there in January 1988.
With my close friend Gen Phuntsok of Gaden Jangtse Monastery in 2006
At Gaden Monastery, I made a few close and good friends. I had many acquaintances, but also a number of very good friends. We would go to pujas, prayers, teachings and other activities together. These friends would come over when we had free time to chit chat, or go for circumambulations or walks, or we would spend hours discussing the Dharma. Sometimes we would even go to the nearby city to buy supplies together. One of these very good friends was from Gaden Jangtse Monastery and his name was Gen Phuntsok. We used to get along very well. We would talk about the Dharma, various lamas, mahasiddhas, monastic events and happenings, and so on. It was from Gen Phuntsok that I had the great fortune to hear about a modern-day yogi-ascetic master for the first time. His name was simply Gen Nyima.
Jolenpa Gen Nyima
In Tibetan, the word ‘Gen’ means ‘teacher’ and it is an honorific word that we use to address monks. To call them by their name alone is considered very rude in Tibetan culture, so we address all monks as ‘Gen’. In this case, this senior monk’s name was Nyima and so we addressed him simply as Gen Nyima. As time went on, people started to address him honorifically as Jolenpa Gen Nyima. ‘Jolenpa’ is the Tibetan word for Bodhisattva. They called him Jolenpa because they believed that he had achieved the Bodhisattva level of meditation.
The great meditator Gen Nyima when he had some weight on him
Gen Phuntsok would often tell me various stories about Gen Nyima, because both Gen Phuntsok and Gen Nyima belonged to Gaden Jangtse Monastery. Gaden Monastery is divided into two: Gaden Shartse and Gaden Jangtse. Gaden Jangtse can be loosely translated as ‘Gaden North Point’, and Gaden Shartse as ‘Gaden East Point’. We are one monastery, but we are divided into two, with two abbots, two kitchens, two prayer halls and two administrations. We are joined together by Gaden Lachi which is the main prayer hall for all monks in Gaden Monastery. So Gen Nyima comes from Gaden Jangtse Monastery, which is the same monastery that Gen Phuntsok belonged to.
Gen Nyima had studied up to the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) philosophy level in the monastery. At that point he would have needed to prepare for another five to seven years of examinations and debates according to the Gelugpa curriculum to get his Geshe Lharam degree or PhD in Buddhist studies. However, when Gen Nyima had finished his studies (and before his examinations) he basically grabbed his few meagre possessions and disappeared. At the time, nobody knew where Gen Nyima had gone. This was a long time before I entered the monastery, but Gen Phuntsok was around at that time, although he was young. So, Gen Nyima had just disappeared, totally disappeared and nobody knew what had happened to him. He finished his studies but did not start preparing for his examinations and he was nowhere to be seen.
A few years later, people heard that he had ended up in Bhutan. He was not in the cities of Bhutan or in the towns but in the deep forests, areas that did not even have roads leading there. Gen Nyima stayed deep in these forests, far away from civilisation. He built his own little wooden hut, which was most probably no more than 7-feet by 6-feet from the description given by other monks. It was just large enough to fit his bed, and in front of him he had a small painted scroll or thangka of Lama Tsongkhapa and a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In front of these he had a large butter lamp.
Bhutan is known for its stunning scenery, lush forests and isolated meditation places
He stayed in this hut and meditated quietly for many years, until some local hunter-gatherers, as there would be in such areas, discovered that this monk was meditating in a hut by the river. In fact, Gen Nyima would collect all his water from this river and do his washing there. I’m not sure how Gen Nyima got his supply of food at the time, but he stayed there and simply meditated.
When people accidentally discovered that he was there, Gen Nyima was not pleased because he was looking for a retreat site that was solitary. However, word soon spread that a meditator monk was in the forest, so people started to go to see him and make offerings to him. They offered items like tsampa (roasted barley flour), butter, ghee (clarified butter), salt and oil. But this became a disruption to his meditation because they would knock on his door at all times of the day.
Some of these visitors started to ask Gen Nyima for blessings and to blow mantras on certain parts of their bodies that were not well. Miraculously, these people started to recover from their ailments and news of this spread like wildfire. These are the type of stories that legends are made of and that we read about the ancient Indian mahasiddhas who themselves meditated in the forests.
A typical divination dice used by high lamas and qualified masters.
People also started to ask Gen Nyima for divinations. He had dice and threw them to foretell the future, or advise people on the direction to take in their lives, or give prophecies according to the questions he was asked. His predictions turned out to be extremely accurate. So his fame started to grow even more, all over Bhutan. It even spread to India, where the Tibetan settlements are and it definitely spread to the monasteries where we started to hear about him.
One of the visitors Gen Nyima had was a Tibetan man who was a member of the army. After visiting Gen Nyima and listening to him, this man developed strong faith in Gen Nyima. The man was illiterate and uneducated; he was just a simple solider. But he gave up his soldier’s uniform and joined Gen Nyima as his attendant. This older gentleman took ordination and became a monk himself. He washed Gen Nyima’s clothes at the river, gathered his water, made the tea and cooked the food. Sometimes he would go to distant places and towns to buy supplies. When more and more people began visiting Gen Nyima, he would act as the crowd manager, asking people to come forward one at a time or telling them to come back another time if Gen Nyima was not available. He stayed with Gen Nyima to the end and served him well.
Apart from the wondrous and miraculous tales about this old monk from Gaden, there were also local people from other traditions who did not really practise Buddhism sincerely and who started spreading rumours about Gen Nyima because they were jealous of his fame and attainments. However, they did not hinder him and he was still able to benefit people.
Bhutan’s Queen Mother
It is well known that the Queen Mother of Bhutan had heard about Gen Nyima when she was ill. So, she instructed her courtiers to escort her to see this monk. She journeyed into the deep forests with her assistants (I think she was carried) and she met Gen Nyima. She received his blessings and also his advice from divination, and her illness completely healed. Because the Queen Mother was healed, great faith and respect arose in her mind for Gen Nyima, and she wanted all of Bhutan to benefit from this old and sincere monk.
So, unbeknownst to Gen Nyima, from many kilometres away, she built a road from the nearest town centre all the way to Gen Nyima’s residence. She wanted to make it easier for people, especially the sick, crippled and lame to get there. By the time the road was built, Gen Nyima could not say anything because it was too late. You have to understand that Gen Nyima had gone to the forests of Bhutan to stay in seclusion, but the Queen Mother had built the road so people could benefit from his tremendous abilities. That was one of the first stories I heard about Gen Nyima, but at that point I still had not met him.
As more people came to see him, they offered Gen Nyima small amounts of money and khatas (Tibetan silk scarves) as a way to create an affinity with him. I heard that Gen Nyima would take very little of this money and give it to his assistant to buy supplies for the both of them. He would split the rest of the money into half and offer one half to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Monks from Gaden Monastery had started to visit him at this point, and he would give them this half to offer to the Dalai Lama. He did this for many years. He would send the other half down to Gaden as an offering to the monastery.
He kept very little of this money for himself, apart from the meagre amount he needed for his and his assistant’s subsistence. We heard about this in the monastery. I heard that he offered 20,000 Indian rupees a year to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and 20,000 Indian rupees to the monastery. These days, 20,000 rupees is not a lot but 30 to 40 years ago, it was a lot. For a hermit monk who only received one or two rupees from visitors because they were poor villagers, gathering that amount was a lot indeed. The incredible thing is that Gen Nyima was totally not attached. He offered everything he had, half of it to His Holiness and half to Gaden Monastery. He is such an inspiration for us because it is clear that he practised renunciation in its entirety.
Poisoned Cheese
It was then that we heard stories of other Lamas’ disciples who were jealous of Gen Nyima’s fame. They tried to poison Gen Nyima a couple of times by offering him poisoned cheese. Most of the time, when visitors offered Gen Nyima cheese, he would happily accept and eat it. But on one occasion, his assistant told him that someone had offered him some cheese and uncharacteristically, Gen Nyima asked his attendant to hang the cheese on a nearby tree. His assistant asked, “Aren’t you going to eat this?” Gen Nyima replied, “No, just hang it on the tree.”
Traditional Tibetan cheese
The assistant did as he was told and within a couple of hours, he discovered that the cheese had exploded – not a literal explosion like that caused by gunpowder but more like the bag the cheese was in just broke apart forcefully and splattered the cheese all over the place. Later it was discovered that the cheese was actually poisoned, its colour was strange and it had a very bad smell. So that was one of the first attempts that people jealous of Gen Nyima had tried to poison him. The poisoning did not work because Gen Nyima had clairvoyance and he knew the intentions of the people who made the offerings and so had his assistant hang the cheese outside on a tree.
This story was recounted to me and I do not have any doubts about it because I have seen first-hand other very attained monks in the monastery exhibit paranormal powers. I was not surprised but I just thought that it was sad that there was a living saint or hermit in the forest but instead of getting his blessings, people tried to kill him instead. At the same time, I was also amazed at his supernatural powers, which is quite common amongst high monks.
I heard that Gen Nyima engaged in four sessions of meditation a day. For example, he may have meditated from 3.00 am to around 5.00-5.30 am and then stopped for breakfast. Then he would resume around 8.00 am until 11.00 am and then break for lunch. In the afternoon, he would meditate from around 1.00-2.00 pm until around 4.30-5.00 pm. After dinner he would continue his meditation at night from around 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm.
Yamantaka
The primary meditation that he focused on was Yamantaka. Therefore, Gen Nyima would engage in the long Yamantaka sadhana four times a day with rituals and offerings, mantra recitations and full meditation. I was really amazed at this because, as spoken of in the Tantras, you can gain higher levels of spiritual attainments in this manner.
This is what I know of Gen Nyima’s background story. People in that part of Bhutan also spoke of how, in order to tame the minds of the local hunters, they would often see a large stag (deer) in the area. It was an albino, white in colour with huge antlers. The hunters were astounded as it would be a big prize to kill such an animal. So they would run all over the forest with their weapons in order to shoot down the stag. One time, however, they chased the stag into the deep forest and realised that it had somehow snuck into Gen Nyima’s small little hut. The hunters were overjoyed at this and said, “Well, he is inside the little house, so we can just go in, catch him and then kill him.” But when they went inside, all they found was Gen Nyima drenched in sweat and hyperventilating as if he had been running. They asked, “Where is the stag?” and he replied, “There is no stag here.” The hunters ended up staying and receiving a Dharma teaching about the non-virtues of killing animals. There are many such stories about Gen Nyima and the local Bhutanese villagers saw many miracles happen.
Return to Gaden Monastery
Gen Nyima was in the forests of Bhutan for over 14-15 years, but then his age started to catch up with him. Although his mind was totally lucid, his body was ageing and so the monastery sent representatives to Bhutan to request Gen Nyima and his attendant to come down to Gaden where they could provide him with a living space and quarters. Gen Nyima accepted. You have to understand that this was not the first time the request had been made to Gen Nyima. In the past, he had refused because he had wanted to live in solitude. To the great sadness of the locals living in the surrounding villages, although they were distant, Gen Nyima decided to go back to Gaden Monastery. The monastery even sent monastic officials to Bhutan to help him pack his small number of belongings and bring them down.
It was very big news in the monastery that Jolenpa Gen Nyima was coming back to Gaden. I have a house in Gaden which is behind Trijang Ladrang and behind my house is a piece of land that belongs to Gaden Jangtse. It was on that land that the monastery built a small house for Gen Nyima to live in, with a compound surrounded by a fence. I think it had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a patio and an audience room. The audience room was where Gen Nyima would sit to meet the public. One day I remember seeing monastic officials escorting an old monk to the house and that was that, Gen Nyima had finally moved in.
My house (Tsem Ladrang) in Gaden Monastery which I later offered to my Guru, H.E. Kensur Rinpoche Jetsun Jampa Yeshe. Gen Nyima lived right behind me in a small house that the monastery built for him. Tsem Ladrang was built and sponsored by my father Mr. Lobsang Gyatso who comes from Golok region in Amdo, Tibet. My father used to be a monk in Tibet.
I had heard all these incredible tales from my friend and suddenly this great monk who had stayed in meditation in the forests was now living behind me. He was literally about 100-150 feet away! From my bedroom window, which is where I usually sat to study, I had a very clear view of his house since his main door practically faces my window. So I could see all the activity there. I would often see Gen Nyima go out for walks aided by his assistants. I would see the monastic dignitaries going to visit him. I would see many villagers going to visit him for blessings, divinations, and advice for their problems.
I was so amazed and enraptured that I started buying vegetables and fruits and sending them over to his house as an offering because I thought that this great monk has to eat every day and if he eats what I have offered, I would collect a lot of merit. I believed this would create the causes for me to go into retreats in the future just like he did, and gain high attainments just like him. It would also benefit my sponsors if I made offerings to him. So, I would make offerings of vegetables, fruit, oil, sugar, salt and a lot more every week. Gen Nyima would often complain, “We cannot finish all the food you are giving us, it is just too much,” and I would joke with Gen Nyima because we had became close by that time and say, “Have you ever heard of Buddha on an altar saying he has too many offerings?” Gen Nyima would just laugh and laugh at that and reply, “But I am not a Buddha.” I would reply, “Never mind, to us you are.” Again, he would reply, “But I am not a Buddha.”
Gen Nyima was a sprightly older monk who was extremely alert but stern-looking to new people. However, he had a very mischievous, child-like, jokey side to him that a lot of people did not see until they got to know him better. And I was one of the very few people who could tap into that side of him because I would always crack jokes with him and make him laugh. He thought that I was really funny and would laugh and laugh. I remember his attendant said that he liked me very much because I would make him laugh. The minute I walked through the door and he saw me, he would let out a laugh, “Haha!” I would just sit down but he did this every time. I would tell him stories, what was happening in the monastery, I asked for divinations or advice and I just generally enjoyed hanging out with this very holy, pure and attained monk.
Every time I walked to his house, I would ask his attendant for permission to meet Gen Nyima and he would always say yes. I would make prostrations and offerings, and then sit down next to him. He always welcomed me when he saw me because he was a very humble monk. Sometimes I would walk in and the room would be filled with 30 to 40 people just sitting there. I would say, “Oh, I will just come back later,” but Gen Nyima would say, “No, no, come and sit down.” So, he would have me sit right next to him and I would watch him perform a divination for one person, then another and then another. He would give them advice and sometimes a teaching or bestow his blessings.
Divination and Humility
In India there is a sort of round plastic container with a lid. In the West, it is like a margarine container, but in India it is the container that you get Amul cheese in. Someone had offered Gen Nyima some Amul cheese which he had eaten. What was amazing was that after finishing the cheese, Gen Nyima washed the container and used that as the container for his divination dice. I was really amazed. Usually when lamas do divination they have silver, brass, wood or clay divination boxes but Gen Nyima’s divination box was just an Amul cheese container. You would see him open his Amul cheese container, ask a question and do divinations.
Gen Nyima used a simple Amul cheese container as his divination box
Several times I caught him throwing the divination dice down, but not looking at it and giving an answer. I said to him, “I caught you!” He would ask back, “Caught me doing what?” I told him, “I caught you using your clairvoyance!” He would say, “What do you mean?” I would reply, “I saw you telling people the answer without looking at the dice.” He was just throwing the dice and going through the motions. He would say, “Okay okay, I’ll look at it.” I said, “No, no, no. I already caught you!” and he would laugh and laugh. And I would say, “I knew it. You have clairvoyance!” It would always end with him saying, “No, I don’t have clairvoyance.”
You see, in the Gelugpa tradition according to Lama Tsongkhapa’s manner, highly attained monks have to be extremely humble and not show their powers. They do not talk about their powers; this is the Gaden way. This is the Gelugpa way. So anyway, I caught Gen Nyima many times opening his Amul cheese container, throwing the dice, not looking at it and giving very precise answers. I would often say to him, “I know you have clairvoyance because I saw it,” but he would deny it every time.
The Healer and Weather Changer
Gen Nyima had a long plastic pipe that was grey in colour. It was one and a half to two feet long. Many people who had ailments, headaches, cancer or paralysis would come to him and he would use this pipe to blow mantras on them. If they had ailments on their head, he would put one end of the pipe to his mouth and the other on their head, or they would hold it near their head and he would blow mantras on them. I would be sitting there watching this and I saw it hundreds of times. These people would be healed. Some of those that had serious problems would visit him a few times and they got well. It was amazing because some people were even paralysed but they got better after visiting Gen Nyima. These people had gone to normal doctors and had been told that they could never get better, but after visiting Gen Nyima, they would recover.
From my window, I could see the main road of Gaden Monastery. I would see many people park their cars and walk down the dirt path to Gen Nyima’s house because it could not accommodate vehicles. Since it was a dirt path, cars would get stuck in the mud. So, people would park on the road, which was around 600-700 feet away. Those who were paralysed would be carried on the backs of others all the way to Gen Nyima’s house for blessings. Gen Nyima would blow mantras on certain parts of their bodies. They would come every single day for 3, 4 or 5 weeks depending on how serious their condition was. And guess what? After a few weeks, these people who were paralysed would be walking out of Gen Nyima’s house slowly, with the help of relatives. I saw this with my own eyes.
When they were first brought to his house, their legs and hands would be scrunched up. They could not straighten their hands or legs at all. Their male relatives would carry them on their backs and place them gently onto chairs because they could not move their limbs. Gen Nyima would blow on their limbs and you know what? Their limbs would begin to move again. They would not go back to normal completely, but they could start moving their fingers. You would see them come back day after day. I did not go to his house every day, but the times I did go I saw the same people coming back again and again to get their treatment from him. Gen Nyima would just use his pipe and blow mantras on their bodies. After a few weeks these people would start walking out of Gen Nyima’s house because their paralysis was improving. A few weeks later they could even walk on their own.
This news spread all over Mundgod and the other Tibetan colonies like Bylakuppe, which was nearby, and Hunsur. People started coming to see him by the busload. Not only Tibetan people, but local Indian people who lived nearby also came to see Gen Nyima because he was so famous. News even spread to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I saw this with my own eyes, because I saw all these people coming to Gen Nyima’s house. I saw him when he first moved in, then being visited by one or two people, then 20, then 50. Eventually he had around 100 people every single day, not less than 100. He would start seeing people around 2.00 pm in the afternoon because he would meditate in the morning. He would end around 5.00 pm because he would have dinner and continue with one more session of meditation. Every single day he would perform divinations, give blessings and blow mantras to heal people.
I once saw local Indian farmers visit Gen Nyima and tell him that during that year there had been no rain so their crops were going to die and they would starve. They had no additional income, they had no money or business, they had nothing at all, and they requested Gen Nyima, the great Guru-ji, if he could do something about it. And you know what? He asked to be assisted out of his house, he took his pipe and pointed it at the sky, and he blew into the air. I saw this myself and within half an hour to two hours, following weeks of drought, it would rain! I am not talking about a little bit of rain, not torrential enough to kill the crops, but it was rain and it rained every single day. Sometimes it was quite funny because Gen Nyima would stand in the doorway and just his pipe would stick out of the door. So I would see his pipe pointing to the sky and I would say to myself, “Okay, Gen Nyima is blowing mantras at the deities again.” And then it would rain! It would not rain everywhere but only in the places that people requested.
Too much or too little rain causes great hardship for the poor farmers of India
Some years, there was too much rain and if it continued the crops would die. The Indian farmers would come to Gen Nyima and say, “There is too much rain this year and our crops are going to drown. Guru-ji, please do something.” The local Indians were Hindus, not Buddhists, but they respected all gurus. They would come and touch Gen Nyima’s feet and kowtow to him, offer him a few meagre vegetables or fruit, or whatever they had because they were very poor. Some would even offer dahi or fresh yoghurt. They made offerings from their heart and again you would see Gen Nyima go outside and blow at the sky through his pipe. Within a few hours, the rain would stop. It would not just stop for that day but for days on end. We saw this over and over again in the monastery.
At other times, sitting next to Gen Nyima in his audience room, I would see people who were possessed come to him. You know what he would do? He would take his pipe and hit them gently. I mean it was hard, but not very hard. He would do this and blow mantras on them and they would heal. I saw this many, many times. I myself had a few ailments and was very fortunate that Gen Nyima put his pipe to my head, blew mantras on me and blessed me. That happened to me several times.
The Yamantaka Yogi
It is not the tantric custom to ask a geshe or lama or monk, “What is the main practice that you do? What mantra do you recite when you blow into the pipe?” It is not customary to do this because yidams or meditational deities are kept secret. It is said that if you reveal the deity you practise, you will not gain attainments. However, I thought that I would take a chance. I mean, I knew the rules and Gen Nyima knew the rules but I thought I could not lose anything and he would never tell me, so I asked, “What mantras do you use to blow on people who are sick? What mantras do you use to blow into the sky? What mantras do you use for divinations? What mantras do you use when you do exorcisms?” I was sure that he would not tell me because it is against the rules. But he said, straight out to me, “Yamantaka.” I was stunned and he reiterated, “Yes, I use Yamantaka’s mantra for blessings.” I then asked, “What mantras do you do when you blow into the sky?” and he replied, “Yamantaka will tell the deities, the land gods, to give or stop rain. Yamantaka will command them.” So I said, “Is that what you do?” and he said, “Yes, I make a request and I blow the mantras and Yamantaka will do his job.” Finally, I asked, “You do not recite any other mantras?” and he laughed and answered, “If you do Yamantaka, you do not need any other mantra.”
Gen Nyima continued, “Yamantaka has 34 arms and one of them holds a pestle that has a peacock feather, which is used together with a ritual vase. If you use this pestle to sprinkle water from the ritual vase onto people, it can help you to purify their problems. It is like a Dorje Namjom ritual. So when people have drib or they have unclean bodies or they have paralysis, you can use Yamantaka’s mantra because he holds this pestle, which means that he can purify that problem. Yamantaka has another hand that is held out in a threatening mudra (gesture), which is a threat to negative beings or deities who may want to harm a practitioner. So, when you use the mantra to blow onto a person who is possessed, Yamantaka’s mudra of expelling that deity is activated.”
I was astounded and he said, “In Yamantaka, everything is complete. That is why he has 34 arms holding various instruments to benefit sentient beings. In Yamantaka, you do not need any other practice, none at all.” I thought to myself it was my lucky day because Gen Nyima was answering my questions. The people who had come for audience with Gen Nyima had already left and because it was stormy weather outside many people had not come in the first place. His attendant served me tea and Gen Nyima had a light snack.
I thought I could try and ask more questions, so I said, “What deity did you practise when you were in Bhutan for 15 years?” and he said, “I did Yamantaka.” “Wow, you did not do any other deity?” I continued. He told me, “No, I do not need to because all the deities are contained within the body of Yamantaka.” Throughout all this, I kept thinking to myself that in the tantric rules you are not supposed to tell people which deity you practise, but this monk told me his secret. Then I came to the realisation that once you have actualised the deity and have become one with the deity, you can tell people because there is nothing to lose anymore. So Gen Nyima had become one with Yamantaka. That is why he could openly tell me what practice he does and what mantra he recites without forfeiting his attainments. This matches the tantric texts perfectly. He told me all of this directly, not through another person.
Click on image to enlarge.
Jolenpa Gen Nyima told me directly that he practised Yamantaka, that he spent 15 years in Yamantaka retreat and that he blew the mantra of Yamantaka on people to heal their paralysis as well as curing their possession. Before he engaged in divination, he engaged in Yamantaka visualisation. Whatever he did, he used Yamantaka. At that moment, I said to myself that the Tantras as taught by the Buddha really work and are real. So since this works for Yamantaka, then those who practise Heruka, Vajrayogini, Hayagriva, Kalachakra, Guhyasamaja, Hevajra and so on can also have the same abilities. They will all work depending on one’s affinity.
I once asked him if it was inauspicious when I told him that I was going to ask him such questions because he was a direct monk and he did not mind people being direct but then I thought that it would not be inauspicious because he had achieved a high level of meditation. So I asked, “If you pass away, are you going to have a reincarnation?” He told me, “No, there will be no reincarnation. I will not be back.” I continued, “So, where will you go?” He answered, “I do not know, but I will not be back.” Gen Nyima saying this was clear and direct, so I knew that he had gained power over his death and rebirth.
The Dorje Shugden Question
I would visit Gen Nyima often as I thought that as a young monk, it would be good for me to spend time in his presence and that I would be blessed to be around his energy. It is good to be around such senior monks who are inspiring. One day I went to him and said, “Can I ask you something that is quite controversial?” He asked, “What is it?” I asked him what he thought about Dorje Shugden. He replied, “Dorje Shugden is Manjushri and there is nothing to think about,” and he waved his hand in a Tibetan way of saying that there is nothing else to say, and that was it, the end.
So I asked, “Dorje Shugden is Manjushri?” and he told me, “Yes.” So I asked him if he practised Dorje Shugden and he said that he did not. I asked him if he practised Palden Lhamo because she is the Protectress of Gaden Jangtse, but he also said that he did not. So I asked him what Dharma Protector he practised and he replied, “I only practise Yamantaka because if you practise Yamantaka, he is also a Protector. So, I do not need any other Protector. In any case, Manjushri is all one.”
So, I asked him again, “Is Dorje Shugden a Buddha?” and he replied, “Of course he is a Buddha,” and he laughed at me and continued, “Manjushri is a Buddha, and of course Dorje Shugden is Manjushri. That makes him a Buddha.” So I asked him how he knew this and he told me, “Everyone knows this, all the high lamas know this and all the high lamas say this.” He said again, “Dorje Shugden is Manjushri.”
I wanted to confirm one more time and I said, “So, let me confirm, so Dorje Shugden is Manjushri?” He replied in a very matter of fact manner that he was and said, “What is there to think about?” I told Gen Nyima that there are people out there who do not think Dorje Shugden is Manjushri and that he is a negative being, then asked his opinion. He just said, “It is their wrong view. He is Manjushri.” These were the sorts of conversations I would have with Gen Nyima and what is incredible was that he was very open and direct, and he told me all of this personally.
The Gaden Tripa
At the time the Gaden Tripa was His Holiness the 98th Gaden Tripa Jetsun Jampel Shenpen. He was from Gaden Jangtse Monastery and as the Gaden Tripa, he was the head of the entire Gelugpa tradition. At the time he was very ill. He had an attendant named Tashi who would come to Gen Nyima’s house often. I saw this through my window. Tashi was very tall and big and wore dark sunglasses. He always wore very new robes and visited Gen Nyima. But that was highly unusual because he was the Gaden Tripa’s assistant, attendant and secretary.
H.H. the 98th Gaden Tripa Jetsun Jampel Shenpen
So, during my next visit to see Gen Nyima I asked him if the Gaden Tripa’s secretary was visiting him. He told me that Tashi had come to see him a couple of times. So I enquired further, “May I ask what for?” Gen Nyima told me that Tashi had come to see him for divination, so I asked, “What about?” I was told that the Gaden Tripa was extremely ill and according to monastic protocol, it would have been improper for the Gaden Tripa to visit Gen Nyima personally because his rank is very high. So they had requested Gen Nyima to go to the Gaden Tripa’s house to give him blessings, which he did. They had carried and assisted Gen Nyima over to the Gaden Tripa’s house in Phara Khangtsen (fraternity) in Gaden Jangtse.
I asked Gen Nyima if the Gaden Tripa would recover from his illness and he replied, “If they follow the instructions I gave them, he will recover. If not, it will be very difficult for him to recover.” So I asked, “May I know what instructions you gave? Or is it a secret?” He told me that it was not a secret and that he could tell me. “In a country north of India, there are some shamans there. They are anti-Gelugpa and are very jealous of the Gelugpa tradition. They call themselves Buddhists, but are actually practising black magic. Somehow, they obtained the Gaden Tripa’s photo, his name and his date of birth. Using a magic ritual they buried these in the ground with the purpose of harming the Gaden Tripa to show that the Gelugpa lineage is not effective. This is why His Holiness the Gaden Tripa is sick.”
I was curious as to why the Gaden Tripa could be so sick since he was such a high lama. Gen Nyima said that it was actually the karma of other people around him that allowed him to become so sick. “Alright, that makes sense,” I said and then asked, “So, what is the solution?” He said that the solution was to perform a full Dorje Shugden Torgya ritual. I asked him, “Why Dorje Shugden?” He replied very clearly, “Dorje Shugden has become the principal Protector of Lama Tsongkhapa’s tradition.” Gen Nyima told me that himself and that a three-day Dorje Shugden Torgya had to be performed and on the third day, the torma must be thrown into a ritual fire and burned. Only then would the Gaden Tripa recover. The other solution was to recover the picture of the Gaden Tripa that was buried but he said, “You cannot find the picture because the area where they buried it is a large terrain.”
I did not understand why someone would do that to the Gaden Tripa so I asked, “Why do people do that out of their jealousy?” He said, “It is nothing new. Many people have sent black magic to high lamas in the past. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche had a lot of magic sent to him; many people saw this in the form of lights hitting the roof of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche’s house. Many do this to the people they are jealous of and it is a very common practice amongst Tibetan shamans.”
“Oh, my goodness. How about if they do a Kalarupa Torgya?” I asked. Gen Nyima said, “No, my divination said that it must be a Dorje Shugden Torgya.” I really wondered what the issue was, but he explained, “The issue is that the Gaden Tripa’s secretary is opposed to the practice of Dorje Shugden and he has been telling people for years that Dorje Shugden is not good.” I told Gen Nyima, “What an irony that the secretary of the Gaden Tripa who has been speaking against Dorje Shugden practice now has to do a three-day Dorje Shugden Torgya ritual to save his teacher’s life.” Gen Nyima said to me that when he told Tashi about the puja, he had a look on his face like he was not going to cooperate. In the end, they ended up doing a Kalarupa puja. The abbots of Sera, Drepung and Gaden Monasteries went to do the Kalarupa puja for the Gaden Tripa, but a few weeks later, His Holiness the Gaden Tripa passed away as predicted by Gen Nyima. A few persons know of this story personally.
Myself with my scriptural teacher H.E. Kensur Rinpoche Jetsun Jampa Yeshe outside my house (Tsem Ladrang) in Gaden Monastery. Kensur Rinpoche lived with me in this house.
Some people may find this story a little unbelievable, but I have no reason to say this except this is what was told to me by Gen Nyima. As Gen Nyima said, “I don’t prescribe people any pujas, I just tell them according to my divination what puja they need to do. That was the puja the Gaden Tripa needed, it was a three-day Dorje Shugden Torgya.” I was saddened by that because the secretary should have done the three-day Dorje Shugden puja to save the Gaden Tripa’s life. But instead he chose to save his own pride, to not be embarrassed, and let his guru die, because he was speaking up against Dorje Shugden so it would have not made him look good if he then needed to do a Dorje Shugden puja to save his guru’s life. But this is exactly what happened. I told this to my friend Gen Phuntsok and I told it to Kensur Rinpoche Jetsun Jampa Yeshe of Gaden Shartse, who lived with me in my house upstairs. Kensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche was extremely upset by this news and sincerely wished that they had done the Dorje Shugden puja to save the Gaden Tripa’s life.
The Thangka and Mala
One day when I was with Gen Nyima, I saw that he had a little thangka. I would say that it was about 11 inches tall and 4 to 5 inches wide. It was a tiny little thangka that was hand painted and it hung on the wall opposite where he would sit. I asked him about the thangka and he said, “Oh, that was with me in Bhutan when I was in retreat and I have had it for about 15 years.” I told Gen Nyima, “It is so small and so far away, you could not possibly see it now because your room is quite long. How about if I give you a big thangka and you can give me that one?” Gen Nyima laughed heartily and said, “You really want this one?” I really did because it was so holy and blessed from being Gen Nyima’s object of veneration from his retreat. “Yes, I really want it,’ I said. Gen Nyima replied, “You can have it.” I looked at him in disbelief and repeated, “I can have your thangka that sat in retreat with you for 15 years in Bhutan and I can just take it home with me now?” Gen Nyima said again, “Yes, if you like it then you can have it.”
I bowed deeply, said thank you, folded my hands, grabbed the thangka and I ran out of Gen Nyima’s house and back to my room before his assistant caught me and made Gen Nyima change his mind. To this day I have this holy thangka given to me by Gen Nyima. It is the very one that Gen Nyima had in retreat for a decade and a half. It is extremely holy and precious.
On another day, I was at his house and noticed his long Bodhi seed mala. He had used the mala for so long that there was an imprint on his thumb from using it. I asked, “Is that a new mala?” knowing that it was not. He told me that it was not new and that he had been using the mala since he was in Bhutan. I said, “It’s been with you for all those years, for around 15 years?” He said, “I don’t remember how many years but it was with me the whole time in Bhutan.” So I replied, “That is about 15 years you have had that mala, throughout all your retreats. All your Yamantaka mantras were done on that mala.” He told me I was right, so I asked him, “That mala is quite old looking and it is a little worn out. How about if I trade it for a new one?” He laughed as he usually did and said to me, “You like this mala?” I told him I did and he asked me why. I replied, “Because it has your energy in it and you have used it for retreats all these years.” He told me it was not a big deal, so I said, “No, it is a big deal. Can I have your mala?” I asked him this straight out. He told me that if I liked it, I could have it, so I took it and asked him, “Do you have another one?” He said he had a smaller mala and started using it. The smaller one was a new mala.
I took his old mala and I ran home to avoid his attendants, just in case the attendants asked me to give it back. I could not believe it! I just could not believe that the mala, a whole set of 108 beads that this old holy monk had used for 15 years in Yamantaka retreat in the forests of Bhutan was in my hands. So, according to tradition, I offered him a new mala in return. I had many Bodhi seed malas that were approximately the same size. So I cleaned one and re-strung it, went back the very next day and offered Gen Nyima the new mala. He said to me, “Oh, you are giving me my mala back?” I said, “No, no. This looks exactly like yours but it is a new one, as I have promised.” He just said, “Oh, thank you!” He grabbed the mala and started using it. For the next week or two, I was extremely nervous every time I visited his house because I was a little afraid Gen Nyima’s assistants would ask me, “Where is the mala and the thangka?” But they never did ask me and to this day, I have the mala and thangka with me. They are both so highly blessed.
Following the Dalai Lama’s Command
At another time, His Holiness the Dalai Lama had come to Gaden Monastery to give teachings. His Holiness had heard about the fame and spiritual attainments of Gen Nyima, so he wanted to visit the old monk. However, there was no proper road to visit him. The Dalai Lama wanted to drive in his own car to visit Gen Nyima, and not have to call Gen Nyima to his room. But as there was no road, they were left with no choice but to carry Gen Nyima to see the Dalai Lama. At this time Gen Nyima was a little older and had manifested difficulty walking so they literally had to carry him. I saw them do it from my window. It was rumored Gen Nyima was planning to pass away so he started showing signs of his body slowing down like inability to walk. Four monks carried Gen Nyima from his house to the room above Gaden’s prayer hall, where His Holiness the Dalai Lama was staying for an audience.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is widely believed to be the emanation of the Buddha of Compassion, Chenrezig, also known as Avalokiteshvara. He met and ‘certified’ Gen Nyima’s meditational attainments and abilities.
One of Gen Nyima’s attendants was in the audience and later we found out that His Holiness the Dalai Lama had questioned Gen Nyima and had asked him what signs he observed when he meditated on a particular section of his prayers. His Holiness the Dalai Lama meticulously questioned Gen Nyima’s various signs he received during meditation daily. Certain meditations will produces certain reactions and signs that are observable and to a seasoned practitioner, they would recognize the signs clearly and it would be proof of reaching certain level of high states in that meditation as it is recorded clearly in the scriptures. Gen Nyima told His Holiness everything and apparently His Holiness certified that Gen Nyima’s attainments were real. They were totally certified. None of us in the monastery was surprised at all.
The next thing His Holiness did was to ask Gen Nyima, “Since you have reached this level of high attainments, you will heal your body and you will walk. You will reverse your old age and you will not die.” Gen Nyima was ordered by the Dalai Lama not to die or show signs of old age and sickness. When you have reached high levels of meditation, you can control your body in that way and also control the time of your death. So, Gen Nyima was ordered by the Dalai Lama in this manner, and Gen Nyima replied, “I will obey.”
Present-day Gaden Jangtse Monastery prayer hall
His Holiness the Dalai Lama stayed in Gaden for the next week or so and then left after the set of teachings he was giving had finished. From my window I observed that over the next couple of days Gen Nyima started walking. After a few more days, he could walk faster, and a couple of days after that he could walk without anyone’s help, using a walking stick. After that, he could walk. I saw him regain his ability to walk because he was commanded to do so by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This is something I saw with my own eyes. That is why I know that if you practise the higher Tantras, you will definitely have control over your body and the time of your death. I even asked Gen Nyima about his audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama but he would not tell me anything. “It is not for you to know,” he would say. But I had found all this out from his attendant who had told my friend Gen Phuntsok, so it is the same thing.
Tremendous Blessings
I once had a student, whom I am not connected to anymore, when I was in Singapore. I was sitting down doing a Setrap puja when this student of mine, a woman, started to shiver and take trance. I was not sure what was happening so I did a divination, which said that she was taking trance of our Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden.
I contacted my gurus His Eminence Gangchen Rinpoche and His Eminence Drigung Kyabgön Rinpoche. I also contacted His Eminence Kyabje Lati Rinpoche and Kensur Rinpoche Jetsun Jampa Yeshe. In total, I contacted four lamas to do independent divinations to confirm whom she was taking trance of. They all confirmed that she was taking trance of the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden in his wrathful form. They all said that the Protector would not be able to speak through her initially and that she would need to undergo cleansing of the body and engage in purification and extensive retreats. She would have to engage in Lama Tsongkhapa’s Gaden Lhagyama retreat, a Yamantaka retreat and a Dorje Shugden retreat to be able to become a full oracle. Curiously my previous incarnations were known for having students who were oracles and I engaged in rituals that purified students to become oracles as recounted by old monks.
After I confirmed this, I invited her to my house in Gaden Monastery to do her retreats. While she was doing retreats there, Pastor Chia was there to assist her. She was taken to Kyabje Lati Rinpoche to bless her, she was taken to Kensur Rinpoche to bless her and she was taken to Gen Nyima to bless her. I took her to see these three great lamas myself. When she took trance in the presence of Kyabje Lati Rinpoche, he blessed her by blowing mantras on her. He was very pleased and laughed because he knew who it was taking trance of her which was Dorje Shugden. When she took trance in front of Kensur Rinpoche Jetsun Jampa Yeshe, he used his own cup and offered her tea to drink. This was directly from his own cup, which meant it was a high level Protector that took trance. I saw this myself. Nobody uses Kensur Rinpoche’s cup, we would never dare use his cup because he is our guru and we would not profane it in that manner. Kensur Rinpoche himself took his cup which had black tea in it and gave it to her to drink and blessed her. He was very pleased and placed a khata on her. Dorje Shugden had taken trance of her in the presence of Kensur Rinpoche Jetsun Jampa Yeshe.
When I took her to Gen Nyima, it was really amazing. She walked into the room, sat down and took trance immediately. As this was happening Gen Nyima told us that she took trance of several deities. One of these was Dorje Shugden and another was Yamantaka. I asked him, “Yamantaka can take trance?” He told me, “Of course. Any deity can take trance as they are formless. It is whether the oracle can accommodate the deity or not. And, since Yamantaka is formless, of course he can take trance.” So, I asked him, “So who was in front of you just now?” and he said, “Yamantaka was here, Palden Lhamo was here and Dorje Shugden was here.” Gen Nyima took his pipe and blew mantras on her body to clear her channels so she could take better trance. He also certified her to be a genuine oracle, after which I assisted her back to my house.
She stayed in Gaden for two or three more weeks to do her retreat. Unfortunately, she felt very homesick and missed her children. She did not finish her retreats and returned to Singapore against the advice of all the three high lamas who had blessed her. I spoke to her, but she would not listen. Because of that, she was not able to complete her training and therefore did not become a full-fledged oracle. If she did, she would have been the first non-Tibetan oracle of Dorje Shugden from Southeast Asia. She would have been a powerful oracle taking trance of Dorje Shugden and Setrap easily as I have tested her myself on many occasions.
Remember I was told I would ‘make’ oracles in my previous incarnations and I have a particularly close connection of many lives to Dorje Shugden. She has that affinity and karma to be an oracle if she had finished. Many would have come from Southeast Asia to request trance and Dorje Shugden and Setrap would have spoken to thousands directly and given solutions, blessings and rituals to solve their various problems.
She would have benefited so many people by using her body as a vehicle for Dorje Shugden to speak through as well as Setrap. I was hoping for this. She was a simple housewife and it would have been a very excellent way for her to make much merits by serving others in this way. Our Dharma centre at that time would be filled with visitors constantly as genuine oracles are sought after in Southeast Asia. But she did not complete her training and later I did not keep contact with her anymore.
At a later time, this lady and I had some differences and we decided to part ways. After we parted, I asked the Protector Dorje Shugden not to take trance in her anymore because it would be without proper supervision. After that, I was told by her friends and people at the centre that she never took trance again. It was revealed to me by a few monks of Gaden Monastery that she tried many times in later years to become an oracle again by meeting various lamas, but no one could make her an oracle again. I was told this by several monks who translated for her when she visited Gaden Monastery. Too bad. In Gaden, she had consulted Kensur Rinpoche Jetsun Jampa Yeshe and he told her to practice the Dharma instead. She requested Kyabje Lati Rinpoche, Drayab Gyabgon Rinpoche of Germany, Gaden Tripa Jetsun Lungrik Namgyal, Kangyur Rinpoche Lobsang Chophel of Gaden Shartse Monastery and Gen Nyima to become an oracle again. They all told her, they will not help or cannot do it. Some told her to repair her samaya with her teacher. I have some monk friends who are in the entourage of these teachers who shared this with me. If she had returned to me to request to become an oracle again sincerely from her heart, I think it could have been done again as long as she was not too old. After all she had the ability and you just need the right lama you are karmically connected to in order to open this ability again.
A Lifetime of Greatness
These are just some of the experiences that I had with the extremely wonderful and renowned monk, Jolenpa Gen Nyima. I had the great honour to live near such a great practitioner, a monk who had engaged in meditational retreats for decades in the mountains. He had finished his studies but did not want to earn his degree, did not want to sit his examinations. He did not want any fanfare, did not want a position or name or status. He just wanted to meditate.
The extremely humble and highly attained Gen Nyima. I took this photo.
This is one reason why I know that, as the Dharma texts say, when one enters retreat and does the practice well, one can gain high levels of realisation. Gen Nyima was one such great hermit monk; he was an ascetic, a yogi. He followed Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings from the time of his youth and mastered them. He entered the tantric path and adopted tantric practices, in this case Yamantaka, and gained a high level of attainments. I saw him heal people, I saw him exorcise spirits and I saw him predict the future. I saw him control the weather, I saw him joke with people and I saw him stern, even scolding someone who would not listen to him, at times he would be extremely wrathful and fierce. However, there was never any hint of unkindness.
I have seen how he showed his miraculous powers over and over, and how he found the reincarnations of many Rinpoches. When a high lama passed away, they would come to him and he would give an exact prediction of where the master had been reborn, their place of birth and he would confirm their incarnation. In this way he recognised many new reincarnations. They even used to say that if Gen Nyima said that a child was a genuine reincarnated tulku, the entire monastery and even the Dalai Lama would accept it.
So, I have seen the power of this old monk and I wanted to have the opportunity to tell others about him through this article. My purpose of telling you about this old monk, Gaden Jangtse’s Jolenpa Gen Nyima, is to show you that if we engage in the meditations and practices of Tantra, they really do transform a person into an exalted being.
Thank you
Tsem Rinpoche
Addendum
This article was originally a verbal sharing that I gave to some of my students. It was recorded and later transcribed and edited. You can listen to the original audio recording by watching the video below.
VIDEO: The Jolenpa (Bodhisattva) Gen Nyima
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/JolenpaGenNyima.mp4
For more interesting information:
- My Precious Teachers
- The Zong Rinpoche category on my blog
- The Great Lamas & Masters category on my blog
- Complete Commentary on 50 Verses of Guru Devotion
- Brief Commentary on 50 Verses of Guru Devotion
- Dorje Shugden: My side of the story
- My First Guru in New Jersey
- Kyabje Zong Rinpoche Cuts My Hair
- His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang
- H.H. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche’s biography
- Choose your guru always
- It’s been hard…
- I did something right
- A Poem To My Teacher…
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Reading again the stories of Gaden Jangtse’s Jolenpa Gen Nyima, by Kyabje Tsem Tulku Rinpoche truly inspiring indeed. An extremely humble monk was not interested in titles, recognition or degrees yet highly attained Yamantaka yogi with his meditation practice .One could transform into an exalted being if we sincerely and having engage in the meditations and practices. Gen Nyima’s example shows and inspired many that humility is the basis of all attainments. Live a simple life , donated mostly all to monastery and kept little for himself. Having saved many people performing miraculous healings and giving extremely accurate divinations. Interesting reading of his miraculous healing. Wow interesting stories about Gen Nyima demonstrating his attainments to spread the Dharma and had inspired others through his Dharma teachings. Gen Nyima had spent 15 years in a Yamantaka retreat in Bhutan before returning to Gaden Jangtse Monastery.
Rejoiced to Irene Lim and few of Tsem Rinpoche ‘s students having met Gen Nyima at Gaden Monastery back in 1993.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing of a great Mahasiddha Gen Nyima.
I have the great fortunate to meet Mahasiddha Gen Nyima in Gaden Monastery in 1993 when I visited Kyabje Tsem Tulku Rinpoche. Rinpoche had brought me to visit this Mahasiddha and requested him to bestow blessings on me. Of course he had used his blow pipe to blow mantras on me to grant blessings. It was incredibly awesome to have met this old Mahasiddha. Later I brought more Malaysian visitors to Tsem Ladrang at Gaden Monastery and Rinpoche would redirect them to see the Mahasiddha for their problems and obtain solutions and blessing through his divination.
Inspiring and interesting of a great Lama.Gen Nyima a highly attained Yamantaka yogi was an extremely humble monk from Gaden Jangtse Monastery. This article on Gen Nyima will benefits many readers with his true guru devotion and having faith in all the dharma practice and teachings. He lives a simple and humble life , having offered most of his donations to HH the Dalai Lama and Gaden Monastery. Leaving little for himself. His attainments and Bodhisattva qualities will inspire more people reading it. Wow…amazing having healing power, clavoiyance, and able to control weather as well. Using a simple cheese container as his divination box Gen Nyima has proved to us his Bodhisattva qualities.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article of a great and humble Lama.
How blessed for Bhutan to have such high lama meditated. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing LA, ???
Mantras are sacred verbalized words that invoke the protection and blessings of the deity to whom the mantra is ascribed. Mantras are also the manifestations of Buddhas in the form of ‘sounds’, hence the various mantras of Dorje Shugden contain the essence of the Protector.
Dorje Shugden’s main mantra 多杰雄登主要咒语
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA SOHA
Dorje Shugden’s mantra for peace 平和咒语
For gaining attainments through the energy of Peaceful Shugden, peace of environment and mind, harmony in one’s abode and dwelling area, and calming of disasters
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA SHANTI SIDDHI HUNG
Dorje Shugden’s mantra for health 福寿安康咒语
For long life, increasing life, healing of disease and protection from diseases
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA AYU SIDDHI HUNG
Dorje Shugden’s mantra for increase 增长咒语
For gaining great merits and increase of all necessary needs, both material and spiritual
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA PUNYE SIDDHI HUNG
Dorje Shugden’s mantra for control 控制咒语
Of worldly deities, negative people and nagas and for influencing friends towards the positive
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA WASHAM KURU HO
Dorje Shugden’s mantra to grant protection 庇护咒语
Visualize that you are in the Protector’s mandala, fully protected from outside interferences. Recite when in danger or for dangerous situations, for protection while travelling or when residing in dangerous/hostile places
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA RAKYA RAKYA HUNG
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1544345059.mp4
Dear friends,
Tibet has produced many powerful meditations, rituals and guidelines to help us gain spiritual protection, gain wisdom and higher states of consciousness. In general Tibet has produced many powerful methods for the growth of our spiritual evolution. Dorje Shugden is an angel, a saint, a powerful spiritual protector-warrior who originated 350 years ago when a highly awakened Tibetan Lama fulfilled his vows to become a special being to grant protection, wisdom, material needs, safety when travelling (normal and astral travel) and spiritual awakening. Both the Great 5th Dalai Lama and the current His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama composed short yet effective prayers to invoke upon the power and blessings of this special saint and protector. One can recite either one of the prayers that you feel suits you, anytime or even daily. When you feel a special need for help, you can recite either prayer anytime. When you are feeling down, afraid or just need a blessing, you can recite them. After reciting either invocation, it is good to chant the mantra of Dorje Shugden: Om Benza Wiki Bitana Soha.
You do not have to be a Buddhist or practitioner of any religion to invoke upon the blessings and protection of this special enlightened and awakened angel Dorje Shugden. He helps all without discrimination or bias as he is filled with compassion and love. Divinity has no boundaries, they help all who call upon them.
Enclosed are the prayers in English, Chinese and Tibetan.
May you be safe, protected and blessed.
Tsem Rinpoche
More on the Great 5th Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden – https://bit.ly/2w7KHv6
More on H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden – https://bit.ly/2QdaL4n
Chapel (Trode Khangsar) built by the Great 5th Dalai Lama dedicated to Dorje Shugden in Lhasa – https://bit.ly/2zBTd8M
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亲爱的朋友们，
西藏产生了许多有助于我们得到精神庇佑、取得智慧和更高层次之觉悟的强大禅修法、仪式和教诲。总括来说，西藏产生了许多有助于我们在修行上取得提升的强有力方法。多杰雄登是一个天使，一位圣人和一名护法战士。他的崛起始于350年前，当一位高度觉悟的西藏高僧履行本身的承诺，化身为特别的护法，赐予我们守护、智慧、物质需要、出入平安（平日外游和神游时）和灵修上的觉醒。任何人都可以随时随地在任何时候念诵适合自己的祈愿文。当你需要特别的帮助时，你可以随时念诵任何一篇祈愿文。当你感到沮丧、恐惧或仅是需要加持时，你也可以持诵这些祈愿文。在念诵任何祈请文后，你应该接着念诵多杰雄登的心咒：嗡 班杂 维格 毗札那 娑哈 Om Benza Wiki Bitana Soha。
要祈请多杰雄登这位特殊、觉悟和觉醒的天使赐予加持和庇佑，你无需是佛教徒或任何宗教的修行者。他总是没有分别或偏见，充满慈悲和慈爱地帮助一切众生。神圣是没有界限的，圣者会帮助有求于他的任何人。
以下附上英文、中文和藏文的祈愿文。
愿你平安，常受庇护和加持。
尊贵的詹杜固仁波切
更多关于第五世达赖尊者和多杰雄登护法的内容 — https://bit.ly/2zsC3tG
更多关于第十四世达赖尊者和多杰雄登护法的内容 — https://bit.ly/2r4aaDN
第五世达赖尊者为多杰雄登护法在拉萨建造的护法殿（布旦康萨）— https://bit.ly/2zBTd8M
“The 4th Zhabdrung Rinpoche of Bhutan and Dorje Shugden” blog post which was published June 8, 2018 already has exactly at the moment 152,744 views!! Over 150k views!!! Amazing!! The views will keep growing as time elapses of course.
This indicates many Bhutanse and Buddhists around the world will now know that Dorje Shugden is connected to Bhutan and their Kagyu Lineage. Dorje Shugden was promoted by the highest lama of Bhutan namely the 4th Zhabdrung Rinpoche himself. So Dorje Shugden will help and protect anyone and is not sectarian as they accuse him to be. People in the Kagyu school of Buddhism also practised Dorje Shugden and Dorje Shugden assisted them lovingly. Dorje Shugden being an emanation of Manjushri will help anyone who calls upon him regardless of their background and religion.
Good job to our writers, researchers, editors, technical team, supporting team and Kechara people who promoted this blog post on social media. Now more will come to understand how pervasive Dorje Shugden is in all the lineages of Tibetan Buddhism although the Tibetan leadership in-exile tries to hide this truth. Thank you everyone for promoting Dorje Shugden to benefit many. We were all very harmonious before the unethical ban against Dorje Shugden practitioners. Since the inception of the ban in 1996, there has been no benefits and instead so much disharmony among Tibetan Buddhists around the world. Many hundreds have spoken up about this point where we want harmony back. There should never be a ban against any spiritual practice.
Tsem Rinpoche
Blog post- https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=160863
—
于2018年6月8日发表的《不丹国第四世夏仲仁波切与多杰雄登》的博文至今已经有 152,744次的浏览量！！也就是超过了15万次的浏览量！！这个数字肯定还会随着时间而增长。
这表示很多不丹人和全世界的佛教徒现在已经知道了多杰雄登和不丹以及他们的噶举派传承是有紧密联系的。多杰雄登是被不丹的最高级别的喇嘛夏仲仁波切本身所推崇的。这显示了多杰雄登是会帮助和保护任何人的，而祂不是像他人所指控那样的充满宗派主义。佛教的噶举派的修行者也修持多杰雄登，而多杰雄登也很怀爱地帮助他们。多杰雄登是文殊菩萨的化身，祂将无视任何宗教和背景地去帮助任何召唤祈请祂的人们。
我们的写作、搜集资料，编辑、技术、辅助等的人员们和推广这篇博文的克切拉人们，你们做得好！虽然流亡藏人领袖们尝试掩盖事实，但现在更多的人将了解到多杰雄登在所有藏传佛教的传承中是多么的普及了。感谢大家努力推广多杰雄登以造福大众。在这个不道德的多杰雄登禁令出现之前，我们都是很和谐融洽的。自从禁令在1996年开始之后，它为全世界的藏传佛教徒没有带来任何利益，而只有更多的不和谐。成千上万的人已经对该禁令发声，要求重建和谐。对于任何心灵修行，是从来就不该有任何禁令的。
詹杜固仁波切
博文网址: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/l/cn/dorje-shugden/the-4th-zhabdrung-rinpoche-of-bhutan-and-dorje-shugden-cn.html
His Eminence Kyabje Dagom Rinpoche’s incarnation is in Lhasa visiting. He is visiting the 350-year-old Trode Khangsar chapel dedicated to Dorje Shugden. He is paying homage to the powerful statue of Dorje Shugden housed in this sacred chapel. Both the chapel and statue of Dorje Shugden were commissioned by His Holiness the 5th Dalai Lama. The Great 5th Dalai Lama also composed a prayer to be recited daily to Dorje Shugden.
Dagom Rinpoche’s previous lives were great masters, scholars and practitioners of Dorje Shugden. Now this new incarnation of Dagom Rinpoche is offering gold on the face of Dorje Shugden in homage and worship to this very sacred statue of Dorje Shugden housed in Lhasa for the last 350 years. This is a very traditional Tibetan method of paying homage to holy images, which is by offering gold with prayers.
The Tibetan leadership wrongly says if you practise Dorje Shugden you will take rebirth into the three lower realms. Hundreds of lamas from the Sakya, Kagyu and Gelugpa schools of Buddhism have practised Dorje Shugden and their incarnations returned. Many of the incarnations are recognised by His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself. So this shows if you practise Dorje Shugden, only benefits come and no harm will come. The very fact Dagom Rinpoche’s incarnation is back, is clear evidence that Dorje Shugden’s practice is beneficial.
May Dagom Rinpoche’s current incarnation live a very long life.
Tsem Rinpoche
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com
YouTube High resolution video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THbGknXcLbo
Trode Khangsar – A 400 year old Dorje Shugden Chapel in Lhasa:
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=92148[/color]
_____
尊贵的扎贡仁波切的现任转世正在拜访拉萨。他拜访了一座供奉给多杰雄登并且拥有350年历史的护法殿”布旦康萨”。他在向这座神圣护法殿里的强大多杰雄登像顶礼。该座护法殿和多杰雄登圣像是由第五世达赖喇嘛指示而造的。伟大的第五世达赖喇嘛也亲笔撰写了多杰雄登的每日祈愿文。
扎贡仁波切的前几世都是伟大的上师，学者兼多杰雄登的修持者。现在扎贡仁波切的现任转世在为这尊已经安奉在拉萨350年并且非常神圣的多杰雄登圣像的脸上供养金漆，以示顶礼和膜拜。这种供养金并祈愿的做法是西藏为圣像顶礼非常传统的做法。
流亡藏人领袖们说如果你修持多杰雄登就将投生三恶道，那是错误的。佛教派系——萨迦派、噶举派、格鲁派的上百名喇嘛们都修持了多杰雄登，而且他们也都转世回来了，而其中有很多转世还是达赖喇嘛亲自认证的。这明显显示了如果你修持多杰雄登，是百利无一弊的。扎贡仁波切转世回来了，就已经是很确凿的证据显示多杰雄登的修持是有利的。
愿今世的扎贡仁波切健康长寿。
詹杜固仁波切
blog.sina.com.cn/zhandugu
YouTube高清视频- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THbGknXcLbo
拉萨400年历史的多杰雄登护法殿—布旦康萨- https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=92148
Divination (‘mo’) Text by Dorje Shugden
This is an important divination (‘mo’) text composed by Dorje Shugden himself. Dorje Shugden took trance of the Choyang Dulzin oracle lama, the senior oracle of Gaden Shartse Monastery, and instantly on the spot composed this text within two hours.
The divination text contains information on how to use dice to do divination for the future and is known to be highly accurate. When practitioners use this text, they will be in direct contact with Dorje Shugden to get answers to questions about the future. It is for those who have good samaya with Dorje Shugden and are free of the eight worldly dharmas to be of benefit to others in divining the future.
Tsem Rinpoche
DS-MO-choyang.pdf
The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives is in Dharamsala, which is broken into two parts. Upper Dharamsala is where the Dalai Lama’s palace is located with his audience room and main prayer hall. It is also the location of the Dialectics School, Gaden Shartse’s guesthouse, restaurants, tourist hotels and main tourist areas.
A short ride down takes you to the lower part of Dharamsala where the Tibetan government is located. It is the location of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Nechung monastery, the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, the Tibetan arts centre…it’s all in one area. And the reason why it’s split into upper and lower Dharamsala is because the area is mountainous.
The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives was established by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government to preserve all the ancient texts – both secular and spiritual – of Tibet and in the process, translate them into various languages like English. This book, Overview of Buddhist Tantra, by Panchen Sonam Drakpa was one of the books translated into English. What’s very interesting is that the book very clearly says that Panchen Sonam Drakpa’s previous life is Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen, one of the five main disciples of Lama Tsongkhapa. It also says that after that, he was Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen.
So the book is basically saying that Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, Panchen Sonam Drakpa and Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen – the three Drakpas – are of the same mindstream.
Now that’s very peculiar because if Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s previous life is Panchen Sonam Drakpa, the renowned composer of 45 volumes of Dharma texts, the abbot of three monasteries AND the 15th Gaden Tripa, the holder of Lama Tsongkhapa’s throne…if that’s the case, how can Panchen Sonam Drakpa take rebirth as Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen and become an evil spirit and have a negative mind?
Prior to Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, he was Panchen Sonam Drakpa and before that, he was Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen, a heart disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa. How can a heart disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa reincarnate as the erudite master Panchen Sonam Drakpa, and then die and reincarnate as Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen…and then Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, due to a bad and negative prayer, become the evil spirit Dorje Shugden? How is that possible? Logically, it’s not.
What’s incredible is that all of this was printed by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives under the Dalai Lama’s guidance. They contradict themselves because on one hand, the Tibetan leaders say Dorje Shugden is an evil spirit. On the other hand they’re printing a book saying that Panchen Sonam Drakpa, whose later incarnation became Dorje Shugden, is of this illustrious mindstream.
So how can the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, which is under the auspices of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government, print the translation of a book composed by the previous incarnation of a so-called evil spirit? How can they then say in the book that Panchen Sonam Drakpa’s previous life is Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen, and his next life was Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen?
Prior to the Dorje Shugden ban and controversy, everyone in Tibet knew that Dorje Shugden is Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen, that Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen is Panchen Sonam Drakpa, and that Panchen Sonam Drakpa is Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen. The three Drakpas, they are one mindstream emanating again and again to benefit other beings.
And as we all know, Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen became Dorje Shugden so it totally doesn’t make sense to call him an evil spirit, then highlight all of his previous lives as erudite masters, and publish all of this information under their own library. So you can see the contradictions. You can read all of this for yourself in Overview of Buddhist Tantra, which was printed by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
—–
OVERVIEW OF BUDDHIST TANTRA
GENERAL PRESENTATION OF THE CLASSES OF TANTRA,
CAPTIVATING THE MINDS OF THE FORTUNATE ONES
rgyud sde spyi’i rnam par bzhag pa
skal bzang gi yid ‘phrog ces bya ba bzhugs so
BY
PANCHEN SONAM DRAGPA
(Pan-chen bSod-nams grags-pa, 1478-1554)
O Choje Sonam Dragpa Pel! (Chos-rje bSod-nams grags-pa-dpal!)
In the vast expanse of Your bodhi-mind,
The mind that the Buddhas have lauded for as many as
one hundred times,
You have developed “merit” shining like the sun.
Through Your skill in learning, debate and writing,
As illuminating as one hundred thousand sun rays,
You have developed in You a complete knowledge of
the entire sutras and tantras,
Resembling a garden of flowers in full bloom.
The power of Your speech is like the sun;
The fame of your name has reached the three realms of
this world.
O Sonam Dragpa, the teacher of teachers!
I bow down at your feet.
In the vast garden of Your great teachings,
The intelligent young people gather for
The ‘six ultimates’ and the ‘four modes of transmission,’
Just as they are attracted to
The one hundred thousand types of nectar
Dripping from a flower of one hundred petals.
May I be able to experience
The taste of the secret tantra!
Panchen Choje Sonam Dragpa Pel (Panchen Chos-rje bSod-nams grags-pa-dpal), the holder of sutra and Vajrayana teachings, was a master whose outstanding learning and spiritual accomplishments are well known by all the learned ones in Tibet. His first incarnation came in the form of one of the five prestigious disciples of Lord Tsongkhapa (Tsong-kha-pa) and became known as Vinaya Holder (Dulzin) Dragpa Gyaltsen (Gragspa rgyal-mtshan). Then came Panchen Sonam Dragpa Pel (Panchen bSod-nams grags-pa-dpal), the author of the present text. The next was Nagri Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen (mNga’-ris sPrul-sku Grags-pa rgyal-mtshan). In this way, a line of his incarnations, each with the Dragpa (gragspa) surname, followed successively.
Panchen Sonam Dragpa Pel (Panchen bSod-nams grags-pa-dpal) was born in the 14th century in Tsetang (rTsed-thang) in the Lhoka (Lho-kha) region of Central Tibet. He entered the great seat of learning, Sera Thekchenling (Se-ra theg-chen-gling) monastic university, where he became the personal disciple of spiritual master Donyo Dangden (Dhon-yod dang-ldan) and His Holiness the Second Dalai Lama Gedun Gyatso (dGe-‘dun rgya-mtsho). Under them, he studied the entire teachings of sutra, tantra and their commentaries, and became known for his outstanding learning. He also received from them the empowerments, reading transmissions, guides and instructions of the entire body of spiritual training. On becoming the fully blessed one, the Dalai Lama appointed him the abbot of the Loseling (Blo-gsalgling) college, one of the four colleges of Drepung (‘Bras-dpung)- the most prestigious monastic university in Tibet before 1959, with over 10,000 monks on its register. He continued to be the abbot of this college for the next six years; and after him the tenure for each of his successors in this position was fixed for a period of six years, a rule that is followed even today.
He was then appointed the head of the Gelugpa (dGe-lugs-pa) order, the throne holder of Gaden (dGa’-ldan), thus becoming the 15th regent of Lord Tsongkhapa (Tsong-khapa), the second Buddha. In his eulogy to him, Khedrub Gelek Pelsang (mKhas-grub dGe-legs dpal- bzang) says:
O Lama, the second successor of the Unsubduable One,
The regent of the Lord of Dharma,
You are the one who made the virtuous qualities thrive;
You are the one who ascended to the golden throne uplifted
by the fearless lions.
May Your success thrive forever!
He continued to be the throne holder for the next seven years, during which time he promoted the spread of Lord Tsongkhapa’s (Tsong-kha-pa) precious teachings, the Gelug (dGe-lugs) tradition, across the land in all directions. He also paid special attention to the practice of monastic rules and the learning and meditation of Buddhism in the monasteries such as Sera (Se-ra), Drepung (‘Bras-spungs), Kyomolung (sKyo-mo-lung), Phagmo Chode (Phag-mo chos-sde), Nyeding (Nye-sdings), Ödna (’Od-sna) and Chöde Rinchen (Chos-sde rin-chen) etc. and improved them to a great extent. He taught the Third Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso (bSod-nams rGya-mtsho) as the latter’s spiritual master. It was from him that the Dalai Lama received the name Sonam (bSod-nams).
His contributions in the literary field are enormous; and, indeed, they are the most valuable of all his contributions. Tsongkhapa (Tsong-kha-pa) has rightly said:
Of all one’s deeds,
The ‘deeds of speech’ are the most valuable.
Panchen Sonam Dragpa Pel (Panchen bSod-nams grags-pa-dpal) was a person with an extraordinary talent for teaching, debate and writing. In his colophon to Bu mey chi don zab don sel wey dron mey (dBu ma’i spyi don zab don gsal ba’i sgron me), he wrote:
In the field of teaching, I am [next to none!] Knowing that
I would outdo them in this field, Arya Asanga and his
brother transmigrated into another realm.
In the field of debate, I am [next to none!] Knowing that
I would find out the areas they had contradicted and
that I would examine them and put forth my arguments,
the logician Dignaga (Digh-naga) and Dharmakirti tactfully
bypassed me.
In the field of writing, I am [next to none!] [In my eyes,]
Arya-sura was just good at spreading the works, which
are like ‘disputes~ between an insect and a field.’
I am the learned man. Peerless in the field of teaching,
debate and writing!
For some this passage might sound utterly nonsensical, but the most learned master of our age, the talented teacher, logician and writer, the late tutor to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Yongdzin Trijang Dorjechang (Yongs-‘dzin Khri-byang rDorje-‘Chang), said: “Now, some people of our time, who consider themselves learned scholars, think that this is utter nonsense; but they are wrong.”
Panchen Sonam Dragpa Pel (Panchen bSod-nams grags-pa-dpal) wrote over 45 volumes of books dealing with many different subjects, such as the commentaries on the sutras and tantras, the saddhana manuals of the tutelary deities, history, religious history and so forth. Among these, one that is very important for all who wish to learn and meditate on the path-of the practical aspect of Buddhism in general and that of Vajrayana in particular is the Leg shey gyu de chi nam par shagpa kelsang gi yi trod (Legs bshad rgyud sde spyi’i rnam par bzhag pa skal bzang gi yid ‘phrod). In this book, he has explained precisely how the four tantras differ from one another. He has also fully described the stages of the two spontaneous path practices of the Vajrayana tradition, dealing with the ‘six ultimates’ and the ‘four modes of transmission’, thus interpreting without mistake the intention of Adhi-Buddha Vajradhara.
May the reprint of this text, which the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives is publishing herewith, bring peace and happiness in this world!
Prof. Nawang Jinpa
St. Joseph’s College
Darjeeling
January 24 1996
All enlightened beings are worthy of homage and worship. They are the best beings to take refuge in and we should offer them our prayers as we can put our full confidence in them. Of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, I personally find that Manjushri is extremely important. This is because what keeps us in samsara (cyclic rebirth) is our total ignorance and misunderstanding of the reality of existence. What is necessary to penetrate this deep ignorance that keeps us bound in a perpetual state of reincarnation is wisdom. We need many types of wisdom which can be acquired by relying on Manjushri as our yidam (meditational deity). By focusing on his meditation, practice, mantra and path we can gain wisdom in order to have the tool to penetrate the reality of existence. Therefore, Manjushri is an extremely important Buddha for us to focus on and take refuge in.
Tsem Rinpoche
(Photograph: this is the beautiful outdoor Manjushri statue who is in a teaching pose. He is floating above a koi fish pond nestled among lush greenery in Kechara Forest Retreat, Malaysia)
每一位觉者都能成为我们朝拜、膜拜的对象。他们是我们至高、至好的皈依，我们应该向他们做祈请，并且对他们生起全然的信念。在众佛菩萨之中，我个人认为文殊菩萨极为重要。这是因为使我们身陷娑婆（轮回）的是我们自身的无明，以及对实相的曲解。智慧是一种必要，它能穿透我们深不见底的无明，那个使我们受困于无止境投生的无明。我们需要多种智慧，而依止文殊菩萨作为我们的本尊，即能使我们成就多种智慧。透过文殊菩萨的观想、修持法门、心咒及修行道路，我们能成就智慧，拥有了知实相的“器具”。故此，专注于文殊菩萨的修持法门、皈依他，对我们而言都极为重要。
詹杜固仁波切
（相片：这尊户外文殊菩萨像呈转法轮姿。他被茂密的草木环绕，安坐在马来西亚克切拉禅修林的鱼池之上。）
Just checking. When the great lama says Shugden is Manjushri, how do we know for sure he’s not referring to all sentient beings being Manjushri? There are teachings that state that everyone is Vajradhara or a Buddha, it’s just that we aren’t quite awakened to it. How do we know that as he is a fully realized master, that he was actually referring to everyone being Manjushri? I mean, for example, there is a practice against harmful spirits that states to see yourself as Yamantaka and the attacking spirit(s) as Yamantaka himself coming to bless you. And as Gen Nyima was an accomplished Yamantaka practitioner, how are we sure that the quotes and translation weren’t “soothed up” and he was actually referring to the idea of all sentient beings being enlightened, just not awaken to it? Just saying…
Dear Anonymous,
The saying that everybody has the Buddha nature in them is referring to everyone’s potential to become a Buddha. It does not mean that every ordinary beings like us are fully realised Buddhas already.
Yes, you can be initiated into Yamantaka practice and self-generate as Yamantaka to bless harmful spirits, but it doesn’t mean you are Enlightened either. Only someone who has attained a high level of Bodhisattva such as Gen Nyima is truly one with Yamantaka (meaning they are of the same Buddha nature) and can see Dorje Shugden’s true nature who is Manjushri.
Okay, but in both Dzogchen and Zen teachings, everyone has a Buddhahood. It is simply that we do not realize that we have one. Not too sure how the Gelugpa system goes, but seeing how even the Sakya, Kagyu, and Bon take this perspective as well, I’m a little here and there. For example, here’s a Dzogchen prayer that talks over this:
“I and all sentient beings are enlightened from the very beginning; fully recognizing that this is really so, I cultivate the supreme Bodhicitta.”
As one who has received transmission to this and a precise explanation, I have yet to see the Gelugpa view.
By Yamantaka practice, I mean as in like this:
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/teachers/zopa/advice/pdf/methodsforspiritharm.pdf
A Daily Request for Wealth, Peace and Protection
Composed by H.E. Tsem Rinpoche
In the heavens there are myriad manifestations of the divine. All those manifestations specifically show us different aspects of divinity in order to be of benefit to all living beings. All the rupakaya forms of the divine have compassion, skillful means and wisdom. We invoke upon them whether we are happy, sad, down, lost, fulfilled, confused, empty, and during the whole range of emotions we constantly experience due to an untrained mind.
Understanding our nature, Great Wisdom Being Dorje Shugden, therefore all the more so, please hold us close to your bosom as an only child to a parent.
Though the manifestations of the divine need no offerings and gifts from us, we offer you supreme Manjushri Dorje Shugden a libation of tea, incense and mantras, in order to ask you to bless us, to be a part of our lives, to abide in our dwellings and to give us signs, omens and portents of both good and bad. When the negative arises, quell them immediately. Please increase the positive for my weary and worn mind as I lay my hopes in you.
When difficulties, problems and confusion arise, we ask you, who is but the culmination of all that is powerful, holy and omniscient to bless myself, family, loved ones, environment and even my pets. May I see wisdom, find hope, and be at peace.
I request you, O Divine Bhagavān Dorje Shugden, who wears a round dome hat and the three robes of a saffroned bhikshu, who wields a sword of liberty, justice and wisdom and clutches a wish-fulfilling jewel, who rides on a supreme lion of subjugation of all that is negative, to fulfill my wishes. I understand my wishes may not be the best, so I surrender to your wisdom for the outcome though it may not be what I have in mind. Please bless myself and everyone that we may enter into the supreme city of liberation.
Great Bhagavān Dorje Shugden, I request you sincerely from my heart to be a part of my life, bless my home, and grant me wisdom, solace and comfort, that I might be of service to others without agenda, and that I may focus out onto others and not be fixated on myself, creating more problems for all that I hold dear.
Bless me to become kinder, wiser, more compassionate, tolerant and very forgiving to all those who hurt and love me. In order to become close to you, Dorje Shugden, we must surrender the banal. We must abandon fixed views, projections and rigidity. Lastly, in my final moment when I leave this plane of existence, only the positive actions I have done will matter as everything and everyone will be left behind. Let me realise this and act upon this now! At this crucial moment, please may I have a vision of yourself, the powerful and merciful Dorje Shugden, to take me to where I may course in the sky to continue my journey of spiritual waxing.
I offer you saffron-coloured tea and my faith to fulfill my prayers and gain siddhis. By reciting your mantra, may healing, peace, love, long life, protection and perfect view of sunyata arise.
Mantra of fulfillment, peace and wisdom:
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA SOHA
(It is good to recite this mantra daily as much as you like or your timing allows.)
I dedicate this supreme heartfelt prayer to the all-knowing Celestial and Supreme Protector Dorje Shugden, that I may quickly become a being of light, compassion, love and enlightenment.
Please play the audio included here to follow along with the prayer.
OR
Follow on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-OSudd323A
For more information, go to: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=61394
https://video.tsemtulku.com/chat-videos/chat-1538813324.mp4
Be blessed with these rare videos featuring explanation and advice about Dorje Shugden practice by His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche in his own voice. The teaching was requested by Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, one of the earliest masters who taught Tibetan Buddhism in the West.
Video 1: H.H. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche Explains Dorje Shugden Initiation and Benefits (With English Subtitles)
Kyabje Zong Rinpoche was an erudite scholar, ritual master and practitioner of the highest degree from Tibet. At the request of Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, one of the pioneers who taught Tibetan Buddhism in America, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche gives clear explanation and advice about the life-entrustment initiation of Dorje Shugden and how to go about the practice and get the maximum benefits in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzFMvlxAqtc&feature=youtu.be
Video 2: H.H. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche speaks on the History and Lineage of Dorje Shugden (With English Subtitles)
In this video, an erudite scholar, ritual master and practitioner of the highest degree from Tibet, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche talks about the incarnation lineage of Dorje Shugden and how the practice arose, with examples of Dorje Shugden’s previous lives that reveal his powerful spiritual attainments and contributions. This very rare teaching was given at the request of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche’s student, Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, one of the pioneers who taught Buddhism in the West to many disciples since the 1970s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIzKSJgK618&feature=youtu.be
For more information: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/great-lamas-masters/kyabje-zong-rinpoches-advice-on-dorje-shugdens-practice.html
Many come to Kechara Forest Retreat in Bentong, Malaysia to make offerings and prayers to the increase form of Dorje Shugden who appears like a prince and rides on a golden horse. Many report having their wishes fulfilled and return many times. Am happy to see this. Tsem Rinpoche
You can learn more about this form of Dorje Shugden here: https://bit.ly/2wxQyes
and
See video of this chapel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEK35F_O5Hg
In the emerald forest there lies magical beings and powerful entities of old. There are beautiful gentle creatures of the forest such as deers, rabbits, owls and so on. Faeries, little people, elves, dwarves, trolls and other magnificent worldly and other-worldly beings of mystical origins who nurture and look over the natural world call this place their home. These supernatural beings, who remain hidden to ordinary view and are rarely seen together, have gathered to herald the arrival of the World Peace Guardian Dorje Shugden within the ethereal realm. Paying homage to the divine king they welcome him, the supreme being whose body shines with the light of magnificence and abides in benevolent wisdom. He who has come from the pinnacle of the celestial dimensions, he has the dominion over men and gods. All beings in this and other worlds have gathered to pay homage and to receive blessings, abundance and counsel.
Shugden the divine king, at last has drawn near,
He offers a new life so clear,
With a silent prayer he offers the golden stair,
Sing praises, does the emerald forest all cheer.
Om Benza Wiki Bitana Soha
To see other beautiful portrayals of Dorje Shugden, click here: https://bit.ly/2Nt3FHz
COMPASSION at its best: His Holiness the Dalai Lama explained in Ladakh, 31 July 2018:
“Usually at the beginning of an empowerment there is a ritual to drive away interferences. But I no longer feel it’s consistent to regard some beings as evil forces. At the start of each day I cultivate altruism, but in the evening we say, ‘May the evil forces be driven away.’ There seems to be a contradiction here that I’m no longer keen to comply with. I’m not highly realized, but I have great confidence in the power of Bodhichitta.”
Source: https://bit.ly/2wVsqSb
———————————————-
This latest statement by His Holiness the Dalai Lama is excellent. I fully believe in his compassion and I hope he will fully implement it.
All negative beings take rebirth with negative minds due to deep attachments. The attachments result in negative states of rebirth and angry minds that carry out harmful actions, like spirits or hungry ghosts who can be very bothersome because they are very angry as they died in the state of attachment in their former rebirths.
Indeed we need to generate compassion towards these beings, especially the formless type, as it would be the best remedy to stop their harm. We can recite mantras with love and bless them with it. While reciting prayers, we can meditate on them being at peace. When we generate compassion towards these harmful interferences of the formless type, many of them will calm down and stop their harm and even go away. Some of them, you can talk to them and subdue their harm and they will stop harming completely if they feel your love. That is how you can help them.
Many high masters of India and Tibet generated great compassion towards certain ghosts, spirits or interferers and subdued them in this manner and even made them into protectors of regions. I’ve witnessed this with one of my lamas where he subdued a female spirit that crossed over the Himalayas. After making the spirit promise it will not harm others, my lama gave the spirit a drink to seal the promise.
Since the Dalai Lama has manifested saying Dorje Shugden is negative (although many high lamas disagree), then he can apply this method to Dorje Shugden. He can ‘subdue’ Dorje Shugden by generating tremendous love, prayers and talking nice to Dorje Shugden who will be ‘subdued’. Then people are henceforth ‘free’ to practice Dorje Shugden without more discrimination, segregation and being called degrading names for practicing this protector.
Give peace a chance. His Holiness the Dalai Lama can generate great love towards Dorje Shugden and all the hundreds of thousands of Dorje Shugden practitioners that love the Dalai Lama and miss him like I do. May His Holiness the Dalai Lama bring peace and heal the rift with Dorje Shugden practitioners.
May His Holiness live very long and always be healthy,
Tsem Rinpoche
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com
Reading- https://bit.ly/2wWQGUh
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing many information about Jolenpa Gen Nyima, His practical teachings through consistent dharma practice and the respectable contributions from Gen Nyima that benefited many people in the aspects of healing the sickness, learning the Dharma and helping many people to accumulate merits with the money and food offered to Gen Nyima.
Upon reading through this article for a few times as well as participating in the weekly blog chat to learn about this highly attained master, Jolenpa Gen Nyima in consecutive 5 weeks, I have learnt and gained much motivations and inspirations to contribute more to the best I can in Dharma practice and Dharma works. One of the teachings that I have learnt from Gen Nyima is his genuine generosity as He is unattached to any worldly form of possession where Gen Nyima split half of the money offered to him by many people, to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the other half to Gaden Monastery. Gen Nyima only kept very little of this money to himself and his assistant for sustenance purpose. Besides, when Rinpoche requested for his little Thangka and the mala that stayed with Gen Nyima for around 15 years during his retreat, Gen Nyima never had a second thought and immediately offered them to Rinpoche. Highly attained master, such as Gen Nyima will definitely understand deep enough about renunciation (one of the Three Principal Aspects of the Path) that no one can take along any of the possession in current lifetime to the next lifetime at the point of death. Hence, it is meaningless to keep all the possession with us without using our possessions to benefit others through spirituality, charity or donation.
Further, Gen Nyima consistently engaged in four sessions of meditation a day that clearly reminds us not to neglect or take our Dharma practice lightly, even though we have to go through many obstacles, painful experience or rejection from others. I remember Rinpoche has mentioned before that once we have stopped practicing Dharma or stopped doing our daily sadhana, it would be even harder for us to pick up and resume back with our Dharma practice. This is very true as we could have long habituated minds from many past lives that are full of delusion, ignorance or laziness since we were born into this current degenerate world.
Besides, Gen Nyima was extremely humble and did not to show off his powers to anyone although he has the clairvoyance to predict future, ability to control his death, ability to change the weather and ability to heal many sicknesses to reduce the suffering of others as well as he is one with Yamantaka. The humbleness and modesty shown by Gen Nyima worth a lot for us to learn and remember all the times as part of our mind training because all our actions originated from our mind, which is the hardest to control compared to our other parts of body.
May more and more people able to learn from Jolenpa Gen Nyima and practise the Dharma sincerely and consistently until samsara ends.
Thank you with folded hands,
kin hoe
Dear Rinpoche,
Although this article is about Jolenpa Gen Nyima and I truly admire and inspired by Him, and I should comment more about Him, but I’m more concerned about the student of Yours which has taken trance before and was trained for a while under High Lama to be oracle. I first heard of it was from Pastor Chia’s article.
Maybe because we shared the same characteristics as housewife and as a mother, hence I understand her difficulties and thoughts that time. There are many possibilities~ maybe Dharma wasn’t strong in her at that time, the challenges of situation and things around her at that time where she was away from being at home, away from her usual comfort zone and etc. Many many more. However, I think she must have felt great remorse when she was trying to seek High Lama’s blessings again to be an oracle. I am greatly disturbed by the fact that she wanted to be an oracle again, but she didn’t come forward to seek forgiveness from Rinpoche. Maybe she didn’t know the importance of Samaya? I think I must have gone to far to conclude.
This serves as a lesson for me as well. To have courage to do Dharma even situation seems odd at times. May I and all sentient beings understand the importance of Guru-Samaya and to uphold the relationship strongly, in this life and in all our future lifetimes.
Thank you Rinpoche.
Gen Nyima, lived a truly remarkable lifetime as practitioners and spiritual person.
A spiritual practitioner always benefit, others continuously.
Medicine Buddha puja encourages healing of all levels – physical, mental and emotional healing for those in need.
High resolution file of this thangka is available for download for all dharma practitioners around the world and for those who just want sacred images in their environment. Enjoy, be blessed and share this with others.
Here is the link to free download of this image and many other images: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/downloads/buddha-images.html?nggpage=7
For the first time available, Dorje Shugden and his entourage of 32 asssistants of his mandala.
Dorje Shugden is a powerful protector deity who is also an emanation of Manjushri, a wisdom bestowing Buddha. Therefore, he has great ability to help us to progress further on the spiritual path. He does this by helping us to overcome obstacles and problems for the modern individual.
Due to his enlightened nature, Dorje Shugden is able to manifest 32 deities and within the same abode resides Setrap and Kache Marpo:-
1. 5 Dorje Shugden families or emanations. They consists of the following:-
– Dulzin Dorje Shugden, which performs activities to eliminate inner and outer obstacles.
– Shize, which performs activities to pacify all illnesses and disease.
– Gyenze, which performs activities to increase all desirable material and spiritual wealth.
– Wangze, which performs activities to control difficult people and circumstances.
– Trakze, which performs activities to wrathfully eliminate all insurmountable obstacles and life-threatening situations.
2. 9 Mothers. They represent protection of the five senses and developing control of the four elements. These are all attributes that signify their ability to assist tantric practitioners with their higher meditations.
3. 8 Guiding Monks. They represent the Eight Great Bodhisattvas (Avalokitesvara, Manjushri, Vajrapani, Samantabhadra, Maitreya, Kshitigarbha, Akashagarbha, Sarva-nivarana-viskambini) and they bring about the growth of the Dharma, through the Sangha, Dharma practitioners and Dharma establishments.
4. 10 Youthful & Wrathful Attendants. They represent the ten wrathful attendants to avert inner and outer obstacles. They are beings who are from Mongolia, China, Kashmir, India, Bengali, etc.
5. Setrap. He is a senior Dharma Protector from India and an emanation of Amitabha Buddha. He had enthroned Dorje Shugden as an authentic Dharma Protector. Therefore, he also resides within the same mandala of Dorje Shugden.
6. Kache Marpo. He is not an emanation of Dorje Shugden but he is still an enlightened Dharma Protector in his own right. He was originally known as Tsiu Marpo of Samye Monastery. However, he has placed himself under the service of Dorje Shugden as his chief minister, performing many activities in order to protect and benefit practitioners. Therefore, he stands guard at the main entrance of Dorje Shugden’s mandala. He often takes trance of qualified mediums to speak.
7. Namkar Barzin. He is the reincarnation of an old Mongolian monk and when he passed away in Phari area of Tibet, his spirit was placed as a powerful assistant of Dorje Shugden. He guards and protects buildings and great institutions especially those that benefit others. He rides on a mythical Gyaling animal that resembles a goat but with scales.
These sacred images are available on *Vajrasecrets. They are made of high quality alloy and are one of a kind. They are based on the lineage of His Holiness Panchen Rinpoche’s monastery, Tashilhunpo in Shigatse, Tibet. In fact, the iconography of these statues are based on detailed photographs taken by H. E. Tsem Rinpoche during a trip to Tashilhunpo’s protector chapel. These are based exactly as the 10th Panchen Lama’s personal collection.
Dorje Shugden mandala: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=131570
Dorje Shugden’s benefit and practice: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=62422
Dorje Shugden’s origins: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=106424
Dorje Shugden chapel in His Holiness Panchen Rinpoche’s Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tibet: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=68698
*Stand not included
His Holiness the 10th Panchen Lama
Tibetans commonly refer to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and His Holiness 10th Panchen Lama as the “sun and moon” of Tibetan Buddhism. They are the center of Tibetan Buddhist civilization, which draws to its sphere of influence millions of non-Tibetan practitioners. The Panchen Lama’s incarnation line began with the 16th abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Lobsang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570 – 1662). He was bestowed the title of Panchen Lama by His Holiness the 5th Dalai Lama after being declared as an emanation of Amitabha.
After being given the title, his three previous incarnations were posthumously also bestowed the title, making Lobsang Chokyi Gyeltsen the 4th Panchen Lama. He became a teacher to many Tibetans, Bhutanese and Mongolian religious figures, including His Holiness the 4th and 5th Dalai Lamas, and the 1st Jetsun Dampa of Mongolia. A prolific author, Chokyi Gyeltsen is credited with over a hundred compositions, including a number of commentaries and ritual texts that remain central in the Gelukpa tradition today. Along with his role as a teacher of the Dharma, the Panchen Lamas are usually responsible for the recognition of the rebirths of the Dalai Lamas, and vice versa.
The 10th Panchen Lama, Lobsang Trinley Lhundrub Chokyi Gyeltsen (19 February 1938 – 28 January 1989) continued both the spiritual and political roles of his predecessors. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, his contemporary, was even heard to say and echo the Panchen Lama’s own words that the Dalai Lama would safeguard Tibet from the outside while the Panchen Lama would safeguard Tibet from the inside, as he never left Tibet after the political troubles of 1959. He was truly loved by the Tibetans, all the way until his passing. When he taught, thousands of people would attend, not only from his own Gelug lineage, but masters and practitioners from all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.
At his sprawling monastery of Tashi Lhunpo, he has a special chapel specifically dedicated to Dorje Shugden, where prayers and rituals are performed on a daily basis. In his great omniscience the Panchen Lama held Dorje Shugden as the principal Dharma protector of the monastery. He also personally propitiated Dorje Shugden among other Dharma protectors, and even wrote extensive prayers and rituals to Dorje Shugden. These rituals and prayers are contained within his ‘sung bum’ or collected works, which are provided here. As such a great lama, with an erudite and clear understanding of the Buddhist scriptures, a teacher to millions in both Tibet and China, from an established incarnation line and an emanation of the Buddha Amitabha, he could not be mistaken about his practice of Dorje Shugden.
His Holiness 10th Panchen Lama is known for his composition of commentaries and practice texts that are still in use by contemporary Buddhist practitioners both in Tibet and across the world. One of these is a powerful ritual composition propitiating the compassionate Dorje Shugden.
Upon the request by Acharya Lobsang Jangchub to compose a shorter version of the prayer (sadhana) for the exhortation of activities of Dorje Shugden, Panchen Lama immediately composed an abbreviate form of Dorje Shugden’s Kangsol. This text is entitled “Manjunatha’s (Tsongkapa) Lineage protector Dorje Shugden and five forms wrathful propitiations and confessional prayers and fulfilment of activities rites” or “Melodious sound of Accomplishment of the Four Activities” for short. Once the prayers were completed, he had signs and strong feelings that Dorje Shugden has been working hard to protect the Buddhadharma in general and the lineage of Lama Tsongkhapa specifically.
Mirroring the abilities of one of his earlier incarnations, Khedrub Je, a disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa and master of both sutra and tantra, the Panchen Lama used his compositional skill and poetic prowess to create a masterful sadhana. Worthy of note is a praise in which the first letter of each verse is a Tibetan vowel. Such compositions are rarely seen, and have historically only been used when propitiating senior Dharma protectors such as Palden Lhamo and Kalarupa.
The Panchen Lama also stated that while composing the Dorje Shugden sadhana (prayers) he was filled with a sense of happiness and bliss. He ends the composition with not only his official title but his ordination name, Tenzin Trinley Jigme Choje Wangchuk, endorsing the validity of his work. He composed the sadhana in his own Tashi Lhunpo monastery while in the Hall of Clear Light and Bliss.
See the Panchen Lama’s writings and download: https://bit.ly/2KIfeXb
Dear Kecharians and friends,
Last night, I gave a teaching to a group of people who were in Kechara Forest Retreat. I shared with them the correct way to pray for our loved ones and why we shouldn’t “demand” Dorje Shugden with fulfilling our wishes but let Dorje Shugden decide what is the best outcome. He has infinite Manjushri wisdom beyond our own and we should trust this wisdom. Sometimes what we pray for is not what should be fulfilled. Sometimes what we don’t want turns out to be the better result in the future.
I also shared with them about a beautiful monk, Tsawa Pulthok Rinpoche, who was jailed and badly tortured by the soldiers for 19 years, starting back in 1959 in Lhasa, and yet he has no anger towards his torturers. He was released and had resettled in Nepal where I met him. For the remainder of his life, he spent his time in meditation, retreats and pujas for the public until he passed. He was glowing, happy and very proud of the fact he was a student of His Holiness Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, which he told me when we met. He did full meditations on Vajra Yogini and short puja to Dorje Shugden daily in his small room in Kathmandu, Nepal where I had to honor to join in his prayers. He told me he was very happy to have his room to do his meditations, pujas and prayers openly. Whatever happened to him, he accepted as part of his karma and he spent much time in prison meditating and quietly teaching dharma to his other cellmates. He was very much respected in prison in Lhasa because he never showed anger, always meditated and consoled others, giving them great strength. He endured much hardship, torture and beatings but he never lost his monk vows. His full understanding of karma helped him not feel any anger or bitterness towards the soldiers. He told me that daily, he would meditate that the karma of others in prison would come to him. That all the torture and abuse he received was so others in prison did not have to suffer this. He said suffering for others was what kept him going and made him be able to endure the pain.
We are not bound by our experiences. We are bound by our choice. I also reminded those were present about the good person inside each and every one of us, and how we should not “bury” this good person with our excuses because the more excuses we give, the deeper this good person is buried and soon the layers of excuses will make it very difficult for us to find this good person. We are all beautiful good people and we should not let it get lost by lying, laziness, lack of integrity and procrastination. We all have a choice. If we have to make excuses, we should choose to make excuses to be a winner. When we win, we make ourselves happy and those around us happy.
The teaching session went well and it was spontaneous, and I requested the people who live and work in and around Kechara Forest Retreat for the talk. We had some good laughs to during the talk.
Thank you,
Tsem Rinpoche
‘If we trust in karma which exists, then there is no reason for anger’.
~ Tsawa Pulthok Rinpoche
??? Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
Dorje Shudgen is Manjushri and we should not have doubt.
It was amazing that Gen Nyima left and went to forest for retreat and that he is devoted to Yamantaka and he had benefited many sentients beings by only Yamantaka Mantra.
Reading the stories, can feel the warmest and closest connection between Rinpoche and Gen Nyima.
This elderly & innocent monk in India was brutally attacked, find out why. Shocking – https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=163953
“If the Dalai Lama, if His Holiness the Dalai Lama can be harmed by Dorje Shugden, then we might as well not practice Buddhism anymore. If His Holiness the Dalai Lama can have his life shortened by a so-called evil spirit, any evil spirit, then can he be Avalokiteshvara? So on one hand you say, we say, I say, everybody says, he is Avalokiteshvara; on the other hand you’re saying that he can harmed by an evil spirit… Which one is it? Can he harmed by an evil spirit or is he Avalokiteshvara? Do you think Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, Vajrapani, Tara all take refuge in something else to protect themselves from Dorje Shugden? How illogical is that? How illogical of people to say His Holiness the Dalai Lama can be harmed by an evil spirit, any evil spirit or “Dorje Shugden” evil spirit. How is that possible?” – Tsem Tulku Rinpoche
Photo: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, young Tsem Tulku Rinpoche and Tsem Tulku Rinpoche’s tutor Kensur Rinpoche Jampa Yeshe
DON’T MISS THIS! FANTASTIC NEW GREAT STUFF! High quality videos redressing the misinformation about Dorje Shugden practice and people and the current sad Tibetan situation and why they are losing ground in the world. Powerful and truthful – CLEAR VIDEOS – https://bit.ly/2LJbo35
Nice short video of a new LED signage reminding us of who we can go to for blessings in case of need: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBwrkaKUoH0
Dear Rinpoche,
This is truly an amazing, inspiring, and awesome narration of a great and high Lama who taught about the importance of:
1) Guru devotion – how Gen Nyima obeyed the instructions of HH 14th DL to not pass away but to repair his body so that many more may benefit from the Dharma
2) Complete faith and focus on one’s Yidam to gain higher realisation. With this attainment, one can gain deeper connection with the Enlightened Beings and tap on this connection to further benefit all beings.
3) It is undisputed that Dorje Shugden is Manjushri – this further proves that DS is not a spirit and that He is an uncommon Protector who have manifested in today’s form to help us.
4) Do not become attached to anything material in this samsaric life. The great examples of Gen Nyima giving away his tiny thangka and mala (used in his 15 years retreat in Bhutan) demonstrates that one should have no attachments to material items.
5) Compassion and Wisdom must be attained for one to gain higher realisation. Gen Nyima demonstrated to us through Rinpoche’s narration.
Thank you so much Rinpoche for this truly inspiring story of high Lama.
Humbly yours
Lum Kok Luen
Listening to the chanting of sacred words, melodies, mantras, sutras and prayers has a very powerful healing effect on our outer and inner environments. It clears the chakras, spiritual toxins, the paths where our ‘chi’ travels within our bodies for health as well as for clearing the mind. It is soothing and relaxing but at the same time invigorates us with positive energy. The sacred sounds invite positive beings to inhabit our environment, expels negative beings and brings the sound of growth to the land, animals, water and plants. Sacred chants bless all living beings on our land as well as inanimate objects. Do download and play while in traffic to relax, when you are about to sleep, during meditation, during stress or just anytime. Great to play for animals and children. Share with friends the blessing of a full Dorje Shugden puja performed at Kechara Forest Retreat by our puja department for the benefit of others. Tsem Rinpoche
Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbzgskLKxT8&t=5821s
Sakya tradition’s thangka of Dorje Shugden sitting on a throne within his palace with his four emanations and high Sakya Lamas nearby. Tsem Rinpoche
Amazing post!!!!!
Dear friends, For months we have been working on this BEAUTIFUL
and meaningful mural in Kathmandu, Nepal. Please click here to
enjoy the many stunning pictures of this mural:
https://bit.ly/2LgOj8J
Tsem Rinpoche
Antique Pelden Lhamo thangka with sacred Dorje Shugden at the bottom right. Can see Tsongkapa and Guru Rinpoche on the top also. Beautiful and holy.
This article is a very precious sharing on Gen Nyima and Dorje Shugden oracle. I appreciate very much and would like to share some of my thoughts here:
The Significance of Dorje Shugden
a. Although Gen Nyima did not practice Dorje Shugden but he confirmed that Dorje Shugden is Manjushri and everyone knows this especially all the high lamas.
b. There was one time HH the 98th Gaden Tripa Jetsun Jampel Shenpen was very ill and his secretary came to visit Gen Nyima. Gen Nyima advised to perform a full Dorje Shugden Torgya ritual. This is because Dorje Shugden has become the principal Protector of Lama Tsongkhapa’s tradition and therefore by performing these pujas, Gaden Tripa would recover.
The importance of guru devotion
Dorje Shugden always protects, helps and guides faithful practitioners in spiritual path. If one person does not practice the dharma, against the guru’s advice or disrespecting guru, will not lead the person to enlightenment path. For this instance, Rinpoche asked the Protector Dorje Shugden not to take trance in the lady. After that, it was told that Dorje Shugden never took trance through her again. The lady went to monasteries and requested to become an oracle again, but she was told to repair her samaya with her teacher.
Focus and have faith in practice
It is believed that Gen Nyima practiced and focused on Yamantaka. Gen Nyima practiced Yamantaka diligently that included daily sadhana for 4 times per day with rituals and offerings, mantra recitations and full meditation. Gen Nyima said if practice Yamantaka, do not need any other Protector because Yamantaka is also a Protector. Gen Nyima only relied on Yamantaka for many matters included divinations, bless and heal the people and control the weather etc.
It is said that if you reveal the deity you practise, you will not gain attainments. But, Gen Nyima told Rinpoche about his practice on Yamantaka and this implied that he has achieved higher levels of spiritual attainments and he is no different from Yamantaka. Furthermore, HH the 14th Dalai Lama believed and certified Gen Nyima’s meditational attainments and abilities. HH the 14th Dalai Lama asked Gen Nyima not to die or show signs of old age and sickness. Gen Nyima replied that he will follow the instruction.
The practice of Eight Worldly Concerns
Gen Nyima had studied up to the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) philosophy level in the monastery. Gen Nyima was very humble, sincere and he did not want to sit the examinations and earn a degree. He just wanted to meditate.
When Gen Nyima lived in deep forest of Bhutan, he had helped and healed many people including the Queen Mother of Bhutan. There was no greed or selfishness in Gen Nyima. He only took very little of the money that needed for his and his assistant’s subsistence. While the balance of the money would offer to HH the Dalai Lama and Gaden Monastery. Another example was Gen Nyima just used an Amul cheese container for divinations instead of silver, brass, wood or clay divination boxes.
Tashi delek Rinpoche lak. Let me tell you a little bit about self. My friend’s call me Denpa. My beloved late parents before are staying in Darjeeling but Now days I am living in Canada and always I am travel back to India to visit. I don’t practice Shukden but I like to read your site because it has the truth and excite news about our community. Rinpoche lak thanks for always share important news to us ?
This is first time I am comment to your site because I am sad to hear about how this gyen pass away. It seems like our people is becoming more worse. And not only for that but also less old gyen to teach to us. Because of personal feeling, people will not do correct thing so we cannot have lama like 98 Gaden Tripa. In Tibetan we say བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱི་མ་ཐུབ། means our merit are not enough for the Gaden Tripa to have good secretary.
Also our merit are not enough for have a good government. I want to say to Dhasa mind your own. This problem are all create by you. Buddhist ནང་པ། and bhodzhung བོད་གཞུང་། only in name but behind is behave like barbarian འབྲོག་པ། as though they have never taste the drop of Dharma in their lifes. Mind your own.
If there r no Dorjee Shukden problem then trungyik will make to the correct torgya n Gaden Tripa is still life . I m think is our CTA who are kill to our high lama cause they r make people hate to Dorjee Shukden ??? tq to Rinpoche la for to share this info w us .
Very nice story about Gen Nyima. Even though Gen Nyima did not practice Dorje Shugden but he also said that Dorje Shugden is the emanation of Buddha Manjushri, there is no doubt.
If Gen Nyima, a Gelug monk can help so many people from different religions, background, lineage, how can an enlightened Protector like Dorje Shugden be sectarians? How can a Buddha harm someone of a different lineage and only protects those who believe in him? This doesn’t make sense.
Gen Nyima is a very good example of a very good Buddhist, and demonstrated his high attainment without bragging about it. He uses his supernatural power to benefit people, not to gain fame or money.
We have good number of monks in retreat in Bhutan. As young as 30 years old living in solitude without food supplies. He wanders from mountains to mountains meditating. Not much people know about them. Forget about foreigner knowing them. They have found the happiness in the solitude and attained high levels of realisation. Therefore, true dharma practioner will live in solitude and never engage in worldly affairs.
He was known as Tala Lam or Rinpoche during that time because of his residency. It is above the present day factory of Bhutan Board Product Limited BBPL in Tala or known as Darla under Chukha Dzongkhag, Bhutan
Resided in Tala or presently known as Darla under Chukha Dzongkhag above the factory of Bhutan Board Product Limited. I remember having visited the site to receive blessing during religious auspicious day sometime during 1988. People who have resided around that during late 80s And early 90s should have more stories to narrate.
Dear Karchung-la, were you able to receive blessings from Jolenpa Gen Nyima directly? Would you be able to put us in contact with someone who would have more stories about Gen Nyima’s time in Bhutan? He was such a great master, it would be beneficial if people knew more about him, as a modern example of what can be achieved if we follow the Buddha’s teachings.
Resided in that vicinity with my brother from 1986 to 1994. Went to receive blessing and offer edibles during religious days as we Bhutanese normally do. I shall share this story to my brother and seek more information. Shall also try to contact few who has more acquitance with the Lama during his stay in Bhutan
Dear Karchung-la,
Thank you for sharing that with us. Am really glad that you were able to meet and make offerings to an extraordinary Lama like Jolenpa Gen Nyima. I look forward to reading your stories about this great being.
Wow! Karchung-la, so happy to hear that you have received blessings directly from this modern day holy hermit monk! You must have collected a lot merits for making offering to him too! I can’t wait to read more sharing from you and your brothers about Gen Nyima!
Some of the things that stood out for me are:
1) Gen Nyima’s humility. This was clearly demonstrated when Tsem Rinpoche pointed out Gen Nyima’s abilities such as controlling the weather and divination.
2) The mala that Gen Nyima used had indentations which shows how much Gen Nyima have been using the mala ie for retreats, etc. Indeed very holy item.
3) it is really inspiring to read about Gen Nyima’s attainments and Bodhisattva qualities.
Thank you for this wonderful post. Rinpoche. May we have the merits to meet holy beings like Gen Nyima all lifetimes
From the account of Gen Nyima above which kindly shared by Rinpoche, Gen Nyima truly exudes the qualities of a real Dharma practitioner. Gen-la was extremely humble although Gen-la was very famous for his healing power and his clavoiyance, gen-la did not use them for self gain but purely to benefit others. Despite of having strong desire in meditating solitary, for the benefit of others, gen-la chose to open his door and receive audiences because people are desperate for help. Being a Boddhisattva like Gen-la, every thoughts and actions are selfless. Not being attached to any material gain is another great quality Gen-la exhibited, from the donation from villagers to thangka that followed him for decades, gen-la can just give away as if he never had.
Gen-la is claivoyant, he could heal people and himself, reverse his old age, accuracy on prediction because Gen-la is an exalted being whose attainment arose from his pure devotion in Buddha Dharma. This makes Gen-la a trusthworthy person so whatever Gen-la said is honourable, hence “Dorje Shugden is Manjushri and there’s nothing to think about” is a strong statement because highly attained master does not lie, it doesn’t make sense.
Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for sharing this great inspiring story of Gen Nyima, it makes people aspire to be one like Gen Nyima.
This is a very beautiful and inspiring account of the Jolenpa Gen Nyima. I remember that Rinpoche shared already earlier in teachings about Gen Nyima. It is amazing how Gen Nyima studied the Dharma not to gain a degree or pass the test. He showed that he practiced what he learned in order to benefit so many people.
I like particularly when the hunters did follow this ‘special’ deer into Gen Nyima’s home and instead of finding a deer, they were blessed with a Dharma teaching on the negative karma of killing. The amazing ways how Gen Nyima helped so many people through healing powers or controlling the weather for example show the tremendous benefits of true spiritual practice.
Even HH the Dalai Lama came to check the attainments of Gen Nyima and confirmed them and requested Gen Nyima to live long to help others. I hope that many people read about Gen Nyima and are inspired to learn more about Buddhism and apply the teachings.
Another part which stood out for me was that Gen Nyima was so humble and did not want anything in return. He gave half of what he received to HH the Dalai Lama. Yet, it is sad to see that the advice from Gen Nyima to do the Dorje Shugden Torgya was not followed by the assistant of the Gaden Tripa, and therefore the 98th Gaden Tripa could not recover and be saved. This happened only because of the assistant’s decision to ignore the advice he was given and follow politics. This should never happen.
Thank you for sharing this powerful account of Gen Nyima. I rejoice for everyone who was blessed to meet Gen Nyima.
May we always be close to the Dharma and our Guru and practice from the heart.
It’s an inspiring story of Jolenpa Gen Nyima. Gen-la is highly attaint but yet humble. Gen-la attainment describes in this article show a great example how the engagement of Tantric practices is not merely just about supernatural power but the important of how it able to transform our mind to a higher level of the state of mind which is one with the enlightened mind. Such attainment not only enable us to control our body and death but also enable us to benefited many people in many ways for example of Gen Nyima account from soldier to the Queen of Bhutan.
Gen Nyima attainment acknowledged by many people and even recognised by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and when Gen Nyima said Dorje Shugden is Manjushri it can’t be wrong and in fact it carries the weigh of confident. The motivation of one to liberate other suffering indirectly liberate one suffering by focusing out. This is another note that I observe from this great article of Gen Nyima accounts.
I love reading about stories of Mahasiddhas, yogi and Yogini, attained Buddhist masters especially about how humble they are, how pure and devoted they are to their gurus and how pure their practices. They gave me faith for being a Buddhist.
It’s so great to know that even this holy previous Gen Ngyma the pure monk said that Dorje Shugden is Manjushri. We all shall have no question about his clairvoyance power. Even His Holiness Dalai Lama confirmed his ability and asked him to live longer to benefits others.
It was truly sad to hear about the death of the 98th Gaden Tripa was due to the jealousy of others. What is sadden me was his student even chose his own face over his Guru simply because he didn’t want to perform DorjeShugden Puja as told by Gen Nyima divination which by Yamantaka. Then why he even asked since the decision already in his mind? What’s wrong with all these people? What’s more important than the guru’s life?
I rejoice to see my dharma brother Pastor Chia who has the merits and fortunate to be there, face to face with this holy monk Gen Nyima to receive his blessings.
I wish the crown like me will never be parted from my holy Guru and protector through out my spiritual journey because only my Guru and protector can liberate me from samsara. ??
Wow, what an extensive compiled story of Gen Nyima! It was really awesome to read it just like how Rinpoche shared with some of us. The story that stuck out the most for me was of course;
1) Gen Nyima’s miraculous powers and humility and how Gen Nyima really liked Rinpoche’s company, how Rinpoche made Gen Nyima laugh, and how incredibly unattached Gen Nyima is that he would give his precious/priceless Lama Tsongkhapa thangka and mala to Rinpoche immediately. This shows the enlightened masters quality and made me appreciate the freedom and gift of renunciation which is a great attainment one can have if we practice well. In this way, we are not attached to anything and hence, it is easier to transcend to a higher state. Then again I guess one would already achieve that state when one can so easily let go of one’s deepest, strongest, precious item. How Gen Nyima just gave his precious items just like showed me what a highly attained, pure renounced masters he is.
I am also astonished that Gen Nyima just uses a simple Amul cheese container as his divination box. Wow, he truly has no attachments at all and he truly proves to us what is important is one’s practice. I guess when you are as highly attained as he is, everything you see is pure and good.
2) How the Gaden Tripa was left to die by his assistant just because he wanted to save his own humiliation and face instead of doing Dorje Shugden puja! Oh my gawd, I remembered Rinpoche told us this story but reading it again here, really cemented it in my head and I will not forget now. This is how truly horrible how the ban on Dorje Shugden has affected many lives. Even a high lama like Gaden Tripa’s life is being forfeited for such an injustice, a discrimination that should never exist in Buddhism. This is such a shameful action done by the Gaden Tripa’s assistant thank to the powers that be that implemented and encouraged such discriminatory behaviour. Lives do not seem to matter, but being politically correct and temporary glory seems to have taken over those who are weak. This is why we must continue to speak up about the injustice ban and how it has affected so many people’s lives!
3) Karen and how she could easily take trance of several protectors. I didn’t know you can take trance of Yamantaka and/or Palden Lhamo. I guess my skewed narrow mind thought, Yamantaka is too high, therefore he would not come down to our level and enter someone. But I suppose if there is a purpose. So I learnt something new about this information.
4) It is amazing how Rinpoche has this special affinity with oracles and protectors 🙂 I have no doubt that Rinpoche can create oracles but what stuck out was how the lady who could take trance had such a strong negative karma that took her away from doing good. I found that to be such a pity for her and I am quite surprise because even with so many great enlightened Buddhas/protectors coming and entering her and all the high lamas blessing her could not help her overcome this single obstacle that made her leave everything she had the great potential to be and return back to her family and kids and basically throwing gold to go back to being in poverty. If I am not mistaken, I would conclude that this means that one’s negative karma can ONLY be purified properly by none other but by you yourself. One has to want it bad enough seriously and one has to apply the four opponent powers only then can the purification and blessings from the Gods have an impact (?) Becuase otherwise WHY? Why did she just up and leave halfway through her retreat? Her negative karma must have been that huge and that strong. Still, the great compassionate Lamas and Protectors and Rinpoche tried and had so much hope. So sad for this lady. Truly what a waste.
5) The other thing that stuck out or serves as a great reminder is once one’s Guru samaya is broken, no one can fix it except the Guru whom you broke your samaya with. So it was fruitless and silly of the lady to go around asking other Lamas to help her get back her ability to become an oracle. In this way, I felt secure and safe that true authentic oracular powers are not being perverted by human greed and selfishness and how this tradition is being well preserved. How amazing is the Buddha who is truly all-encompassing, to be able to even ensure that such practices do not fall into the wrong hands, by teaching us the 50 verses where it states clearly the importance of Guru Samaya.
Thank you for this beautiful sharing Rinpoche, it is these stories that further reinforces what we already believe and for choosing to take on a spiritual path. It brings us closer to our own spiritual commitment and practice, making things more relatable and more grounded. Gen Nyima’s story also inspires us towards renunciation from the deceptive samsara and to explore deeper practices so we may find our way out of this samsaric abyss and gain some form of true freedom. Thank you Rinpoche and those who compiled the stories and made it possible here for all to gain some inspiration ???
“To practice tantra requires even greater compassion and greater intelligence than are required on the sutra path; thus, though many persons in the degenerate era are interested in tantra, tantra is not for degenerate persons. Tantra is limited to persons whose compassion is so great that they cannot bear to spend unnecessary time in attaining Buddhahood, as they want to be a supreme source of help and happiness for others quickly.” ― Dalai Lama XIV, Meditation on Emptiness
It is well known that the Prajnaparamitayana or sutric path requires many lifetimes of intense effort in order to attain the state of enlightenment, whereas on the Vajrayana or tantric path, full enlightenment can easily be achieved within one short life. However, this path is not for the faint-hearted. For Rinpoche to highlight the word Jolenpa in Gen Nyima’s name describes the quality needed for one to aspire and then to achieve this path.
I deeply rejoice that in this day and age, Tantra survives and is still potent, and that the very fortunate ones get to live and witness these great display of miracles, the side-effects of Tantric practice, performed by great practitioners to benefit and to tame the mind of many in this degenerate age. Growing up in a typical Chinese community, Buddhist practice is sadly sometimes reduced to only being vegetarian twice a month, and for older or retired folks to recite Buddha’s sutra and mantra to ‘pass days’ or collect merit before their last breath.
The post may be just ‘story-telling’ on the surface, but it carries many blessings to the mind. Thinking to benefit many as always, H.E. Tsem Rinpoche weaved in so many elements in this tale of this great humble yogi who has become one with ‘The Slayer of Yama, the Lord of Death’ Vajrabhairava: the path of renunciation, the importance of meditative practice and retreat, the suffering of sentient beings and how Bodhisattvas like the Dalai Lama and Gen Nyima (and many more) continue to benefit beings in this degenerate age, and most of all, the supreme proven path to enlightenment. I’ll definitely come back and read this article again.
An interesting point to highlight is that Gen Nyima who has reached high levels of meditation who was ordered by the Dalai Lama not to die or show signs of old age and sickness, although he himself does not practise Dorje Shugden, has stated clearly that “Dorje Shugden is Manjushri and there is nothing to think about,” and that “Everyone knows this, all the high lamas know this and all the high lamas say this. Dorje Shugden is Manjushri.”
H.E. Rinpoche met, interacted with this great being, and Rinpoche now continues the work, as a holder of the Gaden legacy of being a Gen himself, giving countless blessings, divinations, and advice for people’s problems. How fortunate we are to have met a teacher of authentic lineage in this degenerate age who is the key holder to this treasure of enlightenment, the path to be free of uncontrolled rebirth and all suffering. May all beings have the good fortune to meet and be guided by a Guru, and with great effort and devotion, be led to the swift path of liberation.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this story and your blessing.
There are many highly attained lamas like Gen Nyima, who are humble, sincere and genuine in practising the Dharma. Many of them are not known, especially when their spiritual attainments are not found out. Fortunately for many people that Gen Nyima’s spiritual power is made known due to his compassion and kindness.
Spiritual attainments are possible when we are guided by a qualified Guru who has a lineage. The lineage is important as it is an unbroken preservation of proven methods since the time of Buddha Shakyamuni that is more recently revived by Lama Tsongkhapa who formed the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Gaden monastery was built to preserve the Buddha Dharma skilfully combined by Lama Tsongkhapa for people of our generation. Since then, Gaden monastery has produced countless erudite masters, including Pabongkha Rinpoche, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Panchen Lama, Gaden Tripas, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Zemey Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, Rabten Rinpoche, Gen Nyima, His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche and etc.
These attained masters manifested different forms such as scholars, masters, pandits, yogis, meditators, ascetics and etc. bringing Dharma to sentient beings who have an affinity with them. They may not have any written works and purely transmitting the Dharma verbally. If the people around them do not preserve them, chances are, there will be no written proof of what they have taught. This has been the case since the time of the Buddha. So it is logical to say whatever Dharma that are being preserved in written form today, such as the Tripitaka, the Kangyur & Tengyur, are not the only Dharma that the Buddha has taught taking into considerations, there may be teachings that were lost in transitions, being burned down, or destroy by invaders etc.
In the academic world, when a statement is made, it has to be backed by evidence. Since the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism to the West, verbal evidence is also used in addition to the written ones as long as the speaker, date and location where the speaker spoke are stated clearly. However, verbal accounts of the high lama should be taken into considerations whether it is accepted by the Western academy or not because their spiritual attainments are not measurable or understandable by ordinary people merely based on our limited understanding of the Dharma and wrong perceptions of how things should be influenced by our culture and upbringing.
Gen Nyima and His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche are both highly attained masters asserted by other great lamas who are highly attained themselves. His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche was recognised and approved by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama as an unmistaken and correct reincarnation of Tsem Khentrul Thubten Lamsang of Tibet who was a heart student of the previous Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, one of the two tutors of the Dalai Lama. His Eminence recalled his observations and the power of Gen Nyima’s spiritual attainments that are extremely precious and rare for us to come by.
His Eminence has shared many of his experiences with Gen Nyima and many other high lamas with us which we are honoured to be in present to listen to. This post recalls the precious times His Eminence had with Gen Nyima and what he had witnessed and heard himself from this high lama. It is particularly important to note that Gen Nyima, who has actualised and become one with Yamantaka, reaffirmed the enlightened nature of Dorje Shugden. His statement was simple, yet powerful and profound, also logical! According to Gen Nyima: “Dorje Shugden is Manjushri and there is nothing to think about… Manjushri is a Buddha, and of course Dorje Shugden is Manjushri. That makes him a Buddha… Everyone knows this, all the high lamas know this and all the high lamas say this. Dorje Shugden is Manjushri.”
This statement alone is enough to refute the false propaganda of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) about Dorje Shugden is a spirit because the CTA is run by people with no spiritual attainments and are constantly influenced by their ignorant and selfish mind. Just because they promote this wrong view and have support from the Westerners who have similar afflicted minds, it does not mean that they are right. Believing in their propaganda actually distances us from the right path and from our spiritual awakening because it doesn’t matter if we believe in Dorje Shugden or practise him like Gen Nyima, we should not have hatred, anger and aversion towards Dorje Shugden and his practitioners. Instead, we should generate compassion, kindness and equality if we sincerely wish to improve spiritually because no Buddhas, Bodhisattvas or attained beings discriminate and segregate sentient beings just because they decided to follow a certain deity to whom they have an affinity with. If they do, they cannot be a Buddha or spiritually attained.
Dear Rinpoche, thank you for sharing this wonderful article on the great Jolenpa, Gen Nyima. There are very many impressive aspects of this great being and Bodhisattva, Gen Nyima. He was such a humble Master who shunned fame and instead chose to just remove himself quietly, after completing his “Geshe Lharam” studies up to the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) philosophy level, and just before preparing and sitting for the exam which would have qualified him as a Geshe Lharampa .
He took himself far away from society into the depths of the Bhutan forests, built himself a simple and small hut, and lived an austere life, engaging in meditation and retreat before a small thangka of Lord Tsongkhapa, a small picture of the Dalai lama and a big butter lamp. He spent all of 15 years meditating in retreat in the Bhutan forests. Then , later, when he became renowned as a healer and for his clear and accurate divinations, and many people came to see him for his blessings and to make offerings, he offered these offerings all up , keeping back only enough to sustain himself and his attendant, dividing them equally between offerings to the Dalai Lama and to Gaden Monastery. Thus did he completely renounce all trappings of fame and fortune of illusory samsara.
Being the great Bodhisattva that he was, he was pained by the hunters hunting down and killing animals in the forests. Hence in order to tame their minds, he turned himself into a white stag, which the hunters pursued right into his hut! They ended up staying and receiving a Dharma teaching about the non-virtues of killing animals!
Our Guru, Tsem Rinpoche, became very good friends with him when he finally accepted the invitation of Gaden Monastery to move back to stay there as age started to catch up with him. He moved to stay close to Tsem Rinpoche.
He was too humble to show off his clairvoyance and miracle powers which he possessed in abundance. However, when the Dalai Lama commanded him to use his high attainments to heal his own body and not let it degenerate with age and then die of sickness or old age, HE OBEYED. Tsem Rinpoche saw , with his own eyes, how Gen Nyima recovered and began to walk about without any aid, only using a walking stick!
Gen Nyima had a very strong conviction about Dorje Shugden as an emanation of Manjushri, though he himself did not practice any other Buddha deity, but Yamantaka. He had engaged in Yamantaka meditation for the 15 years he was in retreat. He healed and blessed people by blowing the Yamantaka mantra on them.
He repeatedly told Tsem Rinpoche that Dorje Shugsen is Manjushri. When the Gaden Tripa became very ill due to back magic wrought on him, and his secretary came to Gen Nyima for divination, the divination prescribed a full Dorje Shugden Torgya ritual. The attendant , being opposed to the Dorje Shugden practice, arranged for a Kalarupa puja to be performed instead. Sad to say, as the advice of the divination was not followed, the Gaden Tripa passed away. It is sad that an unreasonable opposition to the practice of Dorje Shugden could have led to the death of a great holy being.Gen Nyima had said that , if his advice from the divination were followed, the Gaden Tripa would recover.
Gen Nyima was undoubtedly a great Bodhisattva and highly attained tantric yogi.
What giving and compassionate Monk, Jolenpa Gen Nyima is, to give up all the serenity and peace of solitary retreat deep in Bhutan forest to return to India to help so many people to heal and to teach the Dharma. So very inspiring.
It is wonderful that our Guru, the 25th Tsem Rinpoche was Gen Nyima’s neighbour and was able to spend so many happy moments with him and received holy and blessed gifts from him.
What impacted me the most is such a highly attained monk like Gen Nyima, who said that he only practised Yamataka and not Dorje Shugden was so unbiased and give the truth that Dorje Shugden is Manjushri and as such an enlightened Buddha.
As such Dorje Shugden who is the enlightened Protector of Tsongkhapa’s doctrine would have been the deity to pray to for the long life of the Gaden Tripa, holder and head of Tsongkhapa’s tradition. It was a shame that Gen Nyima’s advice was not upheld.
As always stories of highly attained Monks are inspirational to read and this being a first hand account by Rinpoche is highly appreciated.
Incredible story of a great hermit renowned monk, Jolenpa Gen Nyima who has benefited many people through his tremendous miraculous divinations. Wonderful to know that Rinpoche did have a wonderful and memories experiences with this holy master. And a beautiful story shared with us. Very inspiring …reading this article which I do enjoyed.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing
A very unque name “Jolenpa” and highly attained lama. I love this truly interesting and inspiring story about Gen Nyima and his great sense of humour, and also his miraculous power to heal people with stroke by blowing mantra on them. Very blessed to read about Gen Nyima.? Thank you very much Rinpoche and blog team for this great inspiring story. Hoping for more great high lamas story to come! ????
Incredible the Jolenpa Gen Nyima was incredible indeed. This article had a lot to teach.
More than anything this underlined the importance of guru – student relationship.
The simplest or the most basic of emotions are the most dangerous – as they are directly related to our ego. They control us at all times both conciously and unconciously – hence the reason why we need to be most afraid of what seems to be the simplest.
Seven deadly sins/negative attitue or whatever opposes the eight verses of thought transformation is definetly the first thing to contantly keep in mind.
Thank you for sharing this article. Knowing about such a great bodhisattva in detail was made possible here.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you so much for taking time to compose this very informative and detailed article on the highly attained Jolenpa Gen Nyima. It was very interesting to read about Gen Nyima and how he chose to escape into the deep forests of Bhutan to meditate instead of furthering his studies and achieving his Geshe Lharam.
It is really amazing to see what one can achieve by engaging in retreats diligently and sincerely like what Gen Nyima did. it is wonderful to know that many people have been able to benefit from Gen Nyima’s perseverance in his Dharma practice such as being healed from sickness and the weather being favourable for farmers.
The best part of this article was reading about Rinpoche’s close bond with Gen Nyima. It was nice to read about Rinpoche’s conversations with Gen Nyima. It is heartwarming to see how close Rinpoche was with Gen Nyima.
One thing that I learned from this story of Gen Nyima is that no matter what one has achieved or no matter where one may be is to never forget the people that have helped and supported us in any way. Such as in Gen Nyima’s story, even when he was in Bhutan, he never failed to donate almost all the donations collected to H.H The Dalai Lama as well as Gaden Monastery.
Once again, thank you Rinpoche for sharing this story with all of us.
With Folded Hands,
Jutika
Dear Rinpoche,
Many thanks for publishing this article. It is inspiring to read of Gen Nyima who is so humble although he is very highly attained. I especially love to read of the camaraderie between Rinpoche, Gen Nyima and the others at the monastery. Those were the happy moments spent at the monastery together with the other sangha members. To me, the upsetting part on this article would be the part on the death of the 98th Gaden Tripa due to jealousy and his assistant’s not following the instructions from divination to cure the Gaden Tripa.
It is also amazing to read that Dorje Shugden and other protectors and Buddhas could take trance in a lay person although they must follow throughly all the instructions and advice from their teacher so that they could be a full fledged oracle.
I am also most curious to know where Gen Nyima went after he passed away.
With folded hands,
Choi Sheem.
Dear Rinpoche
Thank you for this wonderful article about the Jolenpa Gen Nyima. He was a sincere monk who through his perseverance and focus in his Yamantaka practice, Gen Nyima was able to gain high attainments and benefit many beings. His story is particularly touching because, despite his high attainments, Gen Nyima remained humble and had never boasted of his achievements and continued to help those who come to him. I hope his story will continue to inspire many who come to this blog.
After reading this story, I just realized that whether an attained lama has a title or not they have the same characteristics:
– They have infinite compassion and only have good wishes for sentient beings
– They are humble about their attainments and clairvoyance.
Thank you again Rinpoche for this inspiring blog post.
Valentina
What struck me about Rinpoche’s account of Jolenpa Gen Nyima is the way that, though naturally inclined to remain in meditative retreat, he was inadvertently pulled back into situations where he could and would win the faith of the populace in the teachings of Lord Buddha.
From the soldier to the Queen Mother of Bhutan and everyone in between, Jolenpa Gen Nyima manifested abilities not to demonstrate his attainments but to give people some relief, hope and faith in a rather sublime fashion, that there is a path for us to transcend suffering.
And I do believe that at the core of his abilities lies the strong and untiring motivation to help others, to have compassion for others be they Queen Mother or a soldier, for it is only logical to conclude that without this strong desire or cause, he would not have obtained the results to match and thence enable him to carry out his “mission”.
What I have learnt from this account of Jolenpa Gen Nyima is that attainments can only come with the right motivation and the right motivation can only be forged with the help of one’s spiritual master who is sometimes called our mirror so as to allow us to identify our warts, pimples, wrinkles and all so that we may reboot ourselves to our primordial faculty of aiding others to reduce their suffering.
With folded hands.
Thank you Rinpoche for telling the story of Jolenpa Gen Nyima and Blog Team blogged it. I enjoyed so much reading Jolenpa Gen Nyima’s story and the time Rinpoche spent with him in Gaden Monastery.
I come to know about Gen Nyima’s story when Rinpoche once told about getting his mala which he was using for 15 years during his Yamantaka retreat in Bhutan and quickly ran back and worried his assistant would ask the male back. When I read about Rinpoche described this, it was like seeing Rinpoche ran back to Rinpoche’s house with mala in hand… It’s lovely. Pastor Chia also told about Gen Nyima’s story, about he did only Yamantaka and how he healed people with his long pipe…However the story about Gen Nyima is “complete”, when Rinpoche shares it here☺️. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for sharing the Gen Nyima’s story.
I like the part Rinpoche shared on conversations with Gen Nyima, and as Rinpoche mentioned, Gen Nyima’s story showed to us “attainments by meditation on the tantras are real”. From the story shared by Rinpoche, one can tell:
– He showed us that his renunciation about fame, status, money and property. He did not sit for examination and gain any degree but went into deep forest to engage in retreat. He used the money he collected to support his monastery and His Holiness Dalai Lama. In Lamrim, it mentioned that to abandon fame is one of the hardest compare to money and comfort. But Gen Nyima like many great lamas they did.
– He showed us his strong faith in Yamantaka and he is one with Yamantaka.
– He respected so much of His Holiness Dalai Lama, even obeyed his instruction to reverse his old age and continuing benefitting others, when he was manifesting old age. His respect to His Holiness did not make him saying bad things about Dorje Shugden.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rinpoche, for sharing this most important story of Jolenpa Gen Nyima. The story is both inspiring and touching. It is inspiring because Gen Nyima is a monk who studied, meditated, did retreat on his Yidam and became one with his Yidam. He is a modern day Bodhisattva who displays many miracles to help, heal and bless others. The abilities and attainments of Gen Nyima had been tested and recognised by His Holiness Dalai Lama the 14th. Therefore, we can safely trust that when Gen Nyima agrees Dorje Shugden is Manjushri.
After learning about the attainment and miracle abilities of Gen Nyima, it is saddening beyond words to find out his prescription of a 3-days Dorje Shugden Torgya for the 98th Gaden Tripa had been ignored and hence, the passing of a great master, the abbot and the lineage holder of the Gelugpa tradition.
On a lighter note, the article is touching because from the story, we get to observe the heartwarming interactions between our Guru and another holy person. The way our Guru pay respect, became friendly, solicit information and sacred holy items are an eye opener. These gestures serve as a reminder for us to be extremely respectful towards the sangha and to always be inspired to have the good fortune to practice like them.