If there is one name that hardly any Tibetan is not familiar with, or any practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism has not heard of, is Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche. Trijang Rinpoche was seen by many as the emanation of Vajrayogini and His Holiness’s line of reincarnation traces back to Chandra, Prince Siddharta charioteer, Chandrakirti and Atisha.
His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama was not the only student of Trijang and in fact, most of the present Lamas and Geshes have been Trijang Rinpoche’s direct students, or students of his students. It is Trijang Rinpoche’s words that the Tibetan National Anthem carries and so vast is Trijang Rinpoche’s influence In Tibet. Suffice to say, to many Kyabje Triang Rinpoche is an ocean of wisdom and compassion and his name is sacred.
His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche is the present reincarnation of the beloved Trijang Rinpoche recognized by the Dalai Lama himself. In the Dalai Lama’s aggressive crusade against Dorje Shugden His Holiness made many statements two of which, in my opinion hint of the Dalai Lama’s surreptitious plan to spread the Protector practice.
One is the Dalai Lama making Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche the only exception to the Dorje Shugden ban. The Dalai Lama gave the reason that Trijang Rinpoche is the only one who can “control” Dorje Shugden, after making the Protector out to be such a powerful force that can even imperil the Dalai Lama’s life. In this way, the Dalai Lama implies that Trijang Rinpoche is an extraordinary being with super high attainments. By empowering such an influential lama (who is also authorized by the Ganden Tripa, the throne-holder of the Gelupas to officially represent Tsongkhapa’s lineage) to keep practicing Dorje Shugden, isn’t the Dalai Lama creating a powerful counter force to His Holiness’s own ban?
Two is the Dalai Lama claiming that his teachers, which clearly includes Trijang Rinpoche, was “wrong” to have practiced Dorje Shugden. Whether by design or not, in that statement itself the Dalai Lama pitched his rickety reasons from imposing the ban against the untouchable reputation of Trijang Rinpoche. The Dalai Lama essentially undermined his own credibility because if Trijang was wrong, then it follows that the Dalai Lama must also wrong. Also how can Trijang Rinpoche who performed so many incredible feats to benefit the Tibetan people and Tibetan Buddhism, be wrong? How can someone practice “demon worship” and yet do so much to preserve and transmit the pure lineages of the Buddha’s teachings?
Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche has stated that his only wish was to continue the legacy left by his previous reincarnation Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche. Trijang Choktrul has remained relatively low key but now his emergence in public to give teachings and blessings is a sure sign of positive developments to come.
Some anti-Shugden monks have said that Trijang Choktrul will be unable to fully develop his practice of Dorje Shugden because in order to do so, the practitioner has to be a pure monk. Big Uncle drawing the example of Serkong Dorje Chang in another Trijang related post is a good one. I can’t wait to see more of Trijang Choktrul in public and for sure, as and when Trijang Rinpoche makes his statement on Dorje Shugden, whether verbal or through his actions, it will definitely shake the ban to its core if not cause it to crumble completely.
