In the world, there are many spirits and gods who claim to be able to make my life "better" and by that, I mean more money, happier relationships, more children, greater success, more so-called friends and even fame. And I am sure many of these beings are capable of that. But if I live in complete dependence of these mirages, then I in fact go deeper into a trap that keeps my from discovering the truth of the state I am in. The "happiness" that these beings promise are in fact drugs that keep me in a hypnotized state because the reality is that life is about suffering. The Buddha himself told us that. The Buddha then taught the way for us to escape form this state and find true and permanent happiness, that state of continual bliss called Nirvana which is totally unencumbered by worldly conditions. So either we kid ourselves and keep pretending or we decide to make a turn and abide by the Buddha's teachings and follow the proven stages of the path to enlightenment. Proven because countless Buddhas have proven it beyond doubt.
But following this dharmic path can appear to be difficult purely because we are so accustomed to our samsaric ways and one of the effects of negative karma is that we see good things as bad and vice versa. Unless there is an intervention, I cannot break out of this vicious cycle. And this is where Dorje Shugden, out of sheer compassion comes into the picture.
Dorje Shugden is the Wisdom Buddha and with wisdom I am able to "turn difficult situations into the spiritual path". For me that is great news because my life is cramped full with difficult situations. Dorje Shugden lifts the veil from my eyes so that I see clearly and from the correct perspective that the problems in my life is the fuel that I need to reach Nirvana. Without difficult situations, I would not have the stone to carve David out of. That itself gives me confidence and joy and keeps me focused on the end product of "David" instead of lamenting the state of the stone. And to guide me in chipping away at the unwanted bits is my personal guide, tutor and friend Dorje Shugden.
To me Dorje Shugden is very real in my life and if anyone were to put their trust in this great Protector, his presence is very tangible.
Here is an article from a blog about Dorje Shugden which I felt was very well written and so I would like to share it:
1. The real nature of Dorje Shugden is the spiritual guide. He is my spiritual guide in the aspect of Dorje Shugden. The spiritual guide manifests himself as Dorje Shugden in order to provide us protection. Frankly, I think this is my favorite aspect of the Spiritual Guide, his most useful aspect in terms of helping us solve our daily problems. I need to surrender myself completely to my Spiritual Guide in the aspect of Dorje Shugden and request him to take over completely the ripening of the karma for myself and all the beings of my dream.
2. I have a precious human life in which I can create very powerful karmic connections with the great protector Dorje Shugden. With these connections, he can care for me and protect me in this and all of my future lives, creating the perfect outer and inner conditions for my training leading to my eventual enlightenment. If I can make my reliance upon Dorje Shugden irreversible, my attainment of enlightenment is guarranteed. He will not let me not attain enlightenment! I will put myself on an uninterrupted fast track to enlightenment.
3. I can die at any moment, which means I must use every moment of my life to develop deeper and closer karmic connections with Dorje Shugden. I don’t know how long my opportunity to become closer to his holy being will last, and I cannot afford to waste a minute of it. The biggest risk of death is losing our practice. If we lose our practice then we may need to wait aeons before we start practicing again, and as a result we will have to suffer from delusion and karma for a very long time. Dorje Shugden is the our best protection against this risk. His job is to arrange and maintain the outer and inner conditions for our practice. In other words, he can protect us through the process of death, the bardo and rebirth so that we can continue with our practice in our next life. Our death is actually his finest hour, where our reliance upon him can make the most difference. Who else would I trust for this most important moment of my life? He can maintain the continuum of my practice beyond this life, and life after life, until I attain enlightenment. He is my insurance policy against losing my practice.
4. If I do not have strong reliance and protection from Dorje Shugden, not only will I likely succumb to delusion within this life, but more dangerously I will fall into the lower reams at the time of my death. I currently respond with delusion when extreme hardship arrives. There is no more extreme hardship than death. If I respond to death with delusion, I will fall – at which point I will lose everything. I have completely neglected purifying my negative karma, therefore I no doubt have a mountain of it remaining on my mind. What hope do I have of not falling? It is only through my reliance upon Dorje Shugden that I can avoid this fate. One of the main ways he helps us is he can control what karma ripens. He arranges conditions for us by ripening the karma on our mind in special ways and sequences to create the experience of ‘perfect conditions.’ Just as he does this for us in life, he can do this for us during the death and rebirth process, protecting us against lower rebirth and propelling us to another life in which we can practice. Absent this help, my mind alone is not sufficently trained to ensure that I do not fall. I am not trying to go all fire and brimstone, but this is the reality of the situation.
Source:
http://kadampaworkingdad.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/the-lamrim-of-dorje-shugden/