OK. Now that I read this topic anew, I think I should say something more...
Seriously, I don't advice you practise Dorje Shugden along with Nyima Practise. (1) Besides, I was told that our Lineage master Je TsongKha pa has filtered on those teachings that cannot be used. (2) Those "buried teausres" teachings from Nyima cannot be used at all and has no history of lineage passed down all the way from Lord Buddha Shakyamuni. (3) Besides that, the view of emptiness isn't complete and in order to gain enlightment to Buddhahood, we must use the view of Lord Nagajurna and Lord Chandrakriti, as per advice from Lord Manjushri to Lord Tsong Kha Pa.
Here, I need to say the following:
(1) Filtered? Hmmm... if you look at the different practices done nowadays by Gelukpas generally, and DS practitioners in particular, you will see many practices that originate from Nyingma and Kagyu traditions, not just from Sakya and Kadam traditions. For instance, the Avalokiteshvara sadhanas teached by GKG have interesting origins. The Ganden Chöd has both close and
distant lineages. And so forth. So we can deduce, that there is
nothing inherently wrong with non-geluk sources, for clearly Je Tsongkhapa approved some of them. But, and this is the Big But, why should we restrict ourselves (on doctrinal or dogmatical level) to only those practices that were "approved and filtered" by Je Tsongkhapa? Really? Considering that the "abandoning of Dharma" is a big no-no, I personally would rather take the position that if something was not expressedly disproved or disapproved by Je Tsongkhapa, we should at the very least give those Teachings the benefit of doubt, or rather
the benefit of faith. For instance, since JT never approved nor disproved Theravada, should we now categorically deny it's validity or give it the benefif of faith? JT said nothing on Theravada, so is it now "not approved" or is it something "to be accepted"? Well, this is simple, really... To the extent Theravada doctrines agree with JT, we can accept them to be the very Buddha-Vacana that they are. (In fact, Theravada agrees with JT on emptiness, whereas Chittamatra does not!) The point I wish to make here is that, since JT had not access to all the different traditions and presentations, we therefore cannot take the view that only those things that were "approved and filtered" by JT are correct, and everything else is incorrect. No. We must do the opposite. We should only disapprove of those things that JT expressedly proved to be wrong.
(2) "Termas are not valid", you say? Say what? The basis of
Ganden Oral Lineage, and therefore the whole tradition of Je Tsongkhapa, is based on a set of visionary teachings given by Manjushri to Je Tsongkhapa. In Nyingma circles this would be classified as a "pure-vision terma". The very
Kadam Emanation Scripture is nothing more that a full fledged terma. Well, it wasn't given by Padmasambhava for sure, but by Manjushri, but who cares? A Guru is a Guru. There is no lineage beyond
that. Well, to be more specific, the close lineage goes to that vision, and nowhere beyond that, but the so called distant lineage exists only because JT made the effort to find the doctrinal bases for everything contained therewith. The true Nyingma termas can be proved in a similar way. JT showed how the visionary teachings he received are in harmony with the generally known Dharma, and the same can be done with all valid Nyingma termas. Therefore, one could actually take the view that
if a follower of JT
categorically dismisses Nyingma termas, then that person has abandoned Dharma in general, and by implication has shown great disrespect towards the Ganden Dharma in particular, and therefore cutted his own root and sustenance. So please, be careful...
(3) If someone has personally
not "found the unfoundability of the unfoundable", one should not speak about that, at all. Really.
You can only choose either one of the traditions, not both at the same time.
Yes and no.
One generally needs to have
one system from which one approaches the totality of Dharma, the totality of one's Life. Otherwise it could be very confusing. But also one should try to find
that one system by trying to have experience of all the available traditions. And this has some pracical implications:
(A) If one
chooses not to try and test, one is implicitely abandoning the Dharma.
(B) Of course, some people get lucky and find
the one at the beginning, but this rare occurrence is not a reason to restrict those who are not so lucky. Some people find their love-of-the-lifetime at the first sight. Most do not. Those who are lucky should not behave arrogantly towards those who need to have a little bit of seach... If one does so, if one acts as if everyone would be lucky-just-as-me, one lacks compassion, big time.
So please, be careful.
Besides, if you still insist on practsing Dorje Shugden with Nyima practise, I believe Lord Dorje Shugden won't be very happy, as many lamas has been forewarn or punished if still insist.
Yea, yea, yea.
I guess I'll have to say that I must be very lucky indeed for not being "punished". Maybe it's because I'm not a Lama.
But seriously... the DS
I know is not a Punisher. He is a Buddha. (And even if he weren't, my refuge (of the 3 Jewels) protects me from ghost stories.
Does
your Refuge practice protect you?
If not, then what...
) So, oh please, let's forget the scary stories, and continue with our practice of Lamrim.
