3rd Dalai Lama and Panchen Sonam Dragpa

[hope rainbow]

from this website -biographies -biography of The 3rd Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso
http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?p=3106
"
By the time he was two years old, rumors were spread that he was the reincarnation of Sonam Gyatso, the famous abbot of Drepung (’bras spungs) and Tashilhunpo (bkra shis lhun po), and the following year, in 1546, he was enthroned at Drepung by the rulers of the house of Nedong (sne’u gdong).
He took his novice vows with Panchen Sonam Dragpa (paN chen bsod nams grags pa), who gave him the name Sonam Gyatso Pelzangpo Tanpe Nyima Chok Tamche Lenampar Gyalwa (bsod nams rgya mtsho dpal bzang po bstan pa’i nyi ma phyogs thams cad las rnam par rgyal ba).
"

from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulku_Dragpa_Gyaltsen
"
Dragpa Gyaltsen is usually considered to be the 4th incarnation of Panchen Sonam Dragpa (wylie: Pan-chen bSod-nams grags-pa), who was the 15th Gaden Tripa.
"

I was also told that Soniam Gyatso, was the first one receiving the title of Dalai Lama, thus actually starting the tradition of "Dalai Lamas", and that his two previous incarnations retro-actively received the titles of 2nd and 1st Dalai Lama.
I find it very interesting to see the connection between the line of reincarnations into which Tulku Dragpa Gyeltsen takes place with the line of reincarnations of the Dalai Lama(s).

[Thomas David Canada]

The Practice of Dorje Shugden and the Pure Pristine Gelugpa Tradition

This Authentic Spiritual Practice was Transmitted and Practiced by Great Gelug Spiritual Guides such as
Domo Geshe Rinpoche
Tagpo Kelsang Khedrub Rinpoche,
Phabongkha Rinpoche,
Trijang Rinpoche,
Song Rinpoche,
Geshe Rabten,
Ngawang Dargye, 
Lama Yeshe and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, to name but a few — not to mention many Sakya Masters such as
Morchen Dorjechang Kunga Lhundrup.
The Integrity of these Masters is Beyond Reproach — one has only to check their life stories to see their qualifications and their teachings to see that they taught the Genuine Dharma of Buddha Shakyamuni. These great Masters are therefore Completely Trustworthy.
Dorje Shugden is an incarnation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri because he comes from a long line of enlightened Masters starting with Manjushri himself. The proofs by Trijang Dorjechang are irrefutable and are given here.

The spiritual benefits of relying upon Dorje Shugden are well known by those who sincerely pray to him with compassion. In his praise to Dorje Shugden, the 14th Dalai Lama says:

Especially pacify all harm to us, the yogis and entourages,
That arises because of previous karma and immediate conditions,
And spontaneously accomplish, just as we wish,
All good things, both spiritual and temporal!"

These are precisely the results of practising this Dharma: all obstacles are pacified and all good conditions for quick spiritual progress are gathered through this Dharma Protector’s Blessings.
Frontpage DS

[hope rainbow]

from tc reply:
"
The Integrity of these Masters is Beyond Reproach — one has only to check their life stories to see their qualifications and their teachings to see that they taught the Genuine Dharma of Buddha Shakyamuni.
These great Masters are therefore Completely Trustworthy.
Dorje Shugden is an incarnation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri because he comes from a long line of enlightened Masters starting with Manjushri himself.
The proofs by Trijang Dorjechang are irrefutable and are given here.
"

And it is with such perspective that I started this topic tc.
The Gelugpa lineage is pure and pristine, and it is with faith and devotion that I am looking at how the Teachers are making sure that they are benefiting many.

Dorje Shugden is an emanation of Manjushri, Buddha of Wisdom and holder of the lineage of wisdom teachings (the profound path as stated in the lamrim) from Buddha Shakyamuni.
The teachings of the profound path were re-combined wth the teachings of the vast path by Atisha and later on by Lama Tsongkhapa (also a emanation of Manjushri), from which stems the gelugpas.

WOW! Aren't we well looked after?
What are we going to do about it?

[beggar]

WOW! Aren't we well looked after?
What are we going to do about it?

WELL!
tell more people about these great lamas: that's what we can do!

when more people know about these great lamas = more people will know about the teachings and lineage.

unfortunately, this is a time and place, a day and age when people are attracted first by other people. It's the age of celebrity-hood and hollywood and bollywood and personalities that are bigger than their billboards. So let's ride the tide. I'm not saying we put the lamas on a billboard, but we should definitely make them known to the world by their attainments, and achievements and what they have brought to the world.

give people faith in these lamas, and then they will also have faith in the teachings and the lineage that they are passing to us. then they will, we hope, be inspired to practice also and gain these same attainments! So this is what we do - make the lineage grow!

And of course, you know the next best thing we can do is to become closer and closer to these lamas - this means not sitting next to them all day but becoming closer to them in mind and attainments. We become perfect reflections of the very people are we "promoting" and it can inspire people to want to do the same. then the lineage grows again and more and further!

It's a long trip but it sure is one worth taking. I'm still travelling it. Sometimes I fall over on the path, but don't fall off it!

so HOPE RAINBOW, these articles you are posting about the lamas is the first step to this and I am very grateful. thank you for giving HOPE as a bright rainbow does.

yours, beggar.

[WisdomBeing]

Thank you for the articles about the Lamas. When I read about our lineage Lama's achievements and incarnations, life after life, it really does reinforce the faith I have in Dorje Shugden.

The Integrity of these Masters is Beyond Reproach — one has only to check their life stories to see their qualifications and their teachings to see that they taught the Genuine Dharma of Buddha Shakyamuni. These great Masters are therefore Completely Trustworthy.
Dorje Shugden is an incarnation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri because he comes from a long line of enlightened Masters starting with Manjushri himself. The proofs by Trijang Dorjechang are irrefutable and are given here.

When others criticise our practice, I always draw comfort from the fact that ALL these legendary Lamas cannot be wrong!

[beggar]

When others criticise our practice, I always draw comfort from the fact that ALL these legendary Lamas cannot be wrong!

no, they certainly can't be wrong. If they, it would mean there are no attainments by their teachings and we can see the world over how their teachings have created even more practitioners who in turn out to teach and gain amazing attainments and results. Maybe we are not at their level to see how attained they really are, but their results and what they have given to Dharma is enough for us to see.

[Vajraprotector]

I find it very interesting to see the connection between the line of reincarnations into which Tulku Dragpa Gyeltsen takes place with the line of reincarnations of the Dalai Lama(s).

It started before that even as both of them were disciples of Je Tsongkhapa. They were Gyalwa Gendun Drup (Dalai Lama line of incarnation) & Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen (Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen line of incarnation). And now they are still together - as the 14th Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden!

Gendun Drup (1391–1474), also known as Gendun Drub and Kundun Drup, is considered retrospectively to be the first of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet. When he was 20 years old, in about 1411, he received the name Gendun Drubpa upon taking the vows of a fully ordained monk, or Gelong, from the abbot of Narthang Monastery. Also at this age, he became a student of the great scholar and reformer Tsongkhapa (1357 – 1419), who some say was his uncle. Around this time he also became the first abbot of Ganden Monastery, founded by Tsongkhapa himself in 1409. By the middle of his life, Gendun Drup had become one of the most esteemed scholar-saints in the country.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama)

Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen (Duldzin literally means ‘holder of vows’) was very close to Je Tsongkhapa and his first Gelugpa disciple, with Khedrupje and Gyaltsapje coming from the Sakya tradition. Although both master and student were Manjushri-emanations, they worked in their relative aspects to show an example of humble practice. In this way they helped Lord Manjushri’s instructions, which Tsongkhapa received through direct communion, to reach many people. Duldzin Drakpa did everything to help in creating good conditions for these teachings to spread. It was him who undertook the building of Gaden Monastery. He also built his own temple for Kunrik practice near Gaden and took care of the Monastery when Lama Tsongkhapa was away. After Je Lama’s passing he was offered the Gaden throne but preferred to remain in the background to clear obstacles and prepare the way for the flow of Dharma.
(http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?page_id=32 )

[kurava]

Thanks guys for the information on 3rd Dalai Lama and Panchen Sonam Dragpa.

Reading the history on how the two highly attained beings worked hand in hand in spreading the Gelug lineage help us establish firm foundation and unshakable faith in the practice.

Just as Duldzin who undertook to provide conducive condition for Lama Tsongkhapa's sacred mission, Dorje Shugden will do the same for us if we practise with sincerity and strong faith.

[Helena]

I think if I remembered correctly, it was Panchen Sonam Dragpa's time that the 2nd Dalai Lama was his tutor and the 3rd Dalai Lama was his disciple. Can anyone confirm this?

The relationship between both the TDG line of reincarnation and the HHDL line of reincarnation has been very closely related through the centuries. They have been both teacher-student and student-teacher.

This is not an ordinary relationship between two "old friends". Hence, we should not look at it through ordinary perception. More than ever, it lends support to the idea that they are both working together for a greater mission. And this has started from centuries ago.

Another interesting fact is that both TDG and HHDL lines of reincarnation are closely linked to the Panchen Lama. They have both also been students of the Panchen Lama.

I firmly believe that Enlightened Beings work in divine mysterious ways and they always work together for a greater or higher purpose that is beyond our mortal comprehension.

[Vajraprotector]

Hi Helena,
I believe the info below might be of help 


…Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen was identified instead as the third incarnation of Panchen Sonam Drakpa, an eminent scholar who had been the teacher of the third Dalai Lama. Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen became a distinguished scholar and debater, and a favorite of the respected teacher Losang Losang Chogyi Gyaltsen, the first Panchen Lama. In the early years of their education, both the Dalai Lama (who had not yet been installed as temporal ruler of Tibet by the Mongols) and Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen lived in Drepung monastery outside Lhasa.

From: Page 188, Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West, by Donald S. Lopez Jr. The University of Chicago Press, 1998


Panchen Sönam Dragpa had five principle teachers in the course of his studies. They were: Yongzin Donyod Palden, Laechen Kunga Gyaltsen - an authority on the Kadampa tradition, Choeden Lodroe the abbot of Gyuto Tantric College, Khetsun Yonten Gyatso and Lharinba. These last two were widely acclaimed as fully realised practitioners. Panchen Sönam Drag-pa also had several other eminent teachers, including Gedun Gyatso, the Second Dalai Lama.
From: http://shugden.tripod.com/sonamdragpa.html; original source stated on the page was L.T. Doboom -- Dreloma: Drepung Loseling Magazine. 80/4 -- p. 17-20

Also, it's not only these 3 masters of Panchen Sonam Dragpa, Dalai Lama, and Panchen Lama. There is also Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche!    Somehow, these masters are back in a "group mission" to uphold the Kadam/Geluk lineage. I have quoted this before and also I believe Helena you also did recently from a speech delivered by His Eminence Dagpo Rinpoche in November 1996, when he welcomed to Paris the fourteen-year-old reincarnation, Kyabje Chocktrul Rinpoche Tenzin Lobsang Yeshe Gyatso.  (Link: http://www.tbiusa.org/trijangdorjechang/biography/dagpospeech)

Trijang Rinpoche was Atisha and Dalai Lama (Avalokiteshvara) was Dromtonpa. Then Trijang Rinpoche was the eighth Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje, close friend of the Second Dalai Lama Gendun Gyatso. In the seventeenth century, Trijang Rinpoche was Zurchen Chöying Rangdröl, one of the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Gyatso’s principal Masters.

After reading all the interconnectedness of these great masters, I am more convinced about the "big picture" where Dalai Lama are working together with Dorje Shugden (Panchen Sonam Dragpa/ Tulku Dragpa Gyeltsen). They have been working together for many lifetimes already and there's no reason why they don't in this life.

[hope rainbow]

I thought it would be appropriate to revive this post as today marks the anniversary of Panchen Sonam Drakpa's passing and a special puja is being done right now in Shar Ganden to commemorate this great saint, one of the four Drakpa's.

So it may be a good occasion for us on this forum to read again about the extraordinary deeds of this Great Lama.

[Losang_Tenpa]

 

[DharmaSpace]

Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588), the 3rd Dalai Lama, was the first individual endowed with the title. The name Dalai—given to Sonam Gyatso by Altan Khan (1507–1582), the leader of the Tumut Mongols and a descendent of Kublai Khan—is Mongolian for “vast sea.” After travelling to Mongolia at the ruler’s invitation, Sonam Gyatso would spend much of his life there.

Negative omens that preceded Sonam Gyatso’s birth inspired his parents to give him the milk of a white nanny goat, earning him the curious name Ranusi Chopel Zangpo—“happy boy protected by goat’s milk.” From a young age, Sonam Gyatso demonstrated unusual interest in all things ritual, speaking to his parents and those around him of visions of buddhas and bodhisattvas. A local lama received a vision in which the young child was prophesied to be the incarnation of Avalokite?vara, and from this point forward, his reputation spread. By the time he was two years old, rumors had spread that he was the reincarnation of Gendun Gyatso (1476–1542), a famous abbot of Drepung and Tashilhunpo monasteries. He took his novice vows with Pa?chen Sonam Drakpa (1478–1554), who gave him the name Sonam Gyatso Pelzangpo Tenpai Nyima Chok Tamche Le Nampar Gyelwa. In 1552, he was made abbot of Drepung, and five years later he became abbot of Sera as well. In 1564, at the age of 22, Sonam Gyatso took full ordination and gave his first teachings at Tashilhunpo Monastery.

Like his previous incarnation, Sonam Gyatso cultivated relations with members of ruling houses across Tibet. He founded a number of monasteries, the most well known being Namgyel monastery, later the personal monastery of the Dalai Lamas.

Sonam Gyatso's greatest missionary triumph was his forging of a relationship with the Mongol leaders. Altan Khan, the leader of the Tumet Mongols, initially sent a delegation to Drepung in the early 1570s, inviting Geluk hierarchs to Mongolia, without success. A second delegation arrived in 1577, and successfully persuaded Sonam Gyatso to return with them.

In 1578, on his way to Mongolia, Sonam Gyatso stopped at the site of Tsongkhapa’s birth, where a monk named Rinchen Tsondru Gyeltsen had founded a small temple. Sonam Gyatso asked him to expand it, and in 1583 consecrated it as Kumbum Jampa Ling, a monastery that would grow to be one of the largest of the Geluk sect.

Upon meeting Altan Khan, Sonam Gyatoso agreed to enter into a “patron-priest” relationship modeled on that of Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen (1235–1280) and Khubilai Khan in the 13th century. For Altan, patronage of the growing Geluk tradition was a way to recreate his forebears’ influence in Tibet; for Sonam Gyatso, the opportunity for Mongol support for his missionary work both inside and outside of Tibet (he had earlier spent time on the Amdo borderlands spreading the Geluk teachings) was extremely attractive. It was at this time that Altan Khan gave Sonam Gyatso the title, in Mongolian, of ghaikhamsigh vcir-a dar-a say-in cogh-tu buyan-tu dalai, meaning “wonderful Vajradhara, good, brilliant, commendable ocean,” subsequently shortened to Dalai Lama.

While still in Mongolia, Sonam Gyatso received an invitation from the Ming Emperor Wanli to visit Beijing—an offer he refused. On his return to Tibet he passed through Kham and founded Litang Chode, also known as Ganden Tubchen Chokorling, in 1580. (That monastery, which has been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times in centuries following, recently suffered a catastrophic fire.) The following year, the 12th abbot of Chamdo Jampa Ling, Jedrung Lhawang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1537–1604), invited Sonam Gyatso to assume the duties of abbot at the monastery, where he spent about six months teaching, giving transmissions, and revising the monastery's codes before returning to Lhasa.

After Altan Khan died in 1582, Sonam Gyatso returned to Mongolia at the invitation of Altan’s son. There he spent time among the Odros Mongols, who he converted to Buddhism, and the Khalkha Mongols.

Sonam Gyatso passed away in 1588, in Mongolia, after a period of illness. His remains were interred at Kokekhota.

The Third Dalai Lama helped to convert the bloodthirsty Mongols to Buddhism, and that is truly an amazing feat to ask the Mongolians who were ferocious and they always want to get into battles and war, their religious rites were quite bloody. His teacher was Panchen Sonam Drakpa, who eventually became the Tulku Dragpa Gyeltsen. So the Great Fifth Dalai Lama came from this line of incarnation, one was was Dromtonpa a very worth and helpful student of Lama Atisha and who received all the Lamrim teachings from Lama Atisha, and as the 3rd Dalai Lama subduer of the Mongol hordes. When the Great Fifth Dalai Lama composed a prayer to Dorje Shugden and made a statue of Dorje Shugden with his own bare hands, he knew exactly what he was doing. The Great Fifith knew then he was not dealing with an ordinary protector in Dorje Shugden. 

[shugdenpromoter]

The 3rd, 5th & 14th Dalai Lama has shown close connection with the line of incarnation of Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen. I do not think this is a coincident as nothing is coincident in buddhism. Therefore, I strongly feel that there is a bigger "game" which the end benefit is the spread of the Shugden practice which ultimately spread the teaching of Tsongkhapa.

I do not think anyone within the CTA or even lamas are pro anti shugden can debate clearly that there is no connection between Panchen Sonam Drakpa with Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen. I have heard some has said they are not connected but I have not heard any good factual explanation on this. However, facts that proved that both are actually the same is solid and factual. Therefore, why don't CTA ban all the text of Panchen Sonam Drakpa?