A Very Personal Faith

[vajratruth]

It is sad that the Shugden ban has caused many sufferings to practitioners. But at least, they suffer in a temporal way, in a human body and in this life only. Sadder still is the case of those who speak and write ill of a Greatness without knowing the practice and without knowing how benevolent this Buddha is.

I truly wonder how many of those anti-Shugden people have had the practice before and really do have personal knowledge of this Buddha.

Yet, it was the sufferings of those practitioners loyal to their faith in Dorje Shugden that made me think really hard and conclude that there has to be something very real and beneficial about this Protector for those who abide by him to be willing to give up so much in order to continue with the practice. And this faith in Dorje Shugden is not only from lay people but also highly revered Lamas who have so much to lose by being loyal.

It was their suffering and perseverance that led me to open my mind and investigate. And from the investigations I believed and in my belief, I practiced, and through the practice I developed a strong faith. My faith in Dorje Shugden comes directly from the good that I have personally experienced by propitiating this enlightened being and by undertaking the practice daily. It does not come from reading a few articles and then deciding to take a side.

History tells us that all great things come from those who have been greatly MISUNDERSTOOD and PERSECUTED. When Jesus was nailed on the cross, some of the people laughed and tormented him. They asked "where is your god now. Let him come save you".

But Jesus knew that it was only by staying ON the cross that the faith would grow and spread and the believers saved.

Perhaps, HH The Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden both painfully know that as well. This is not the first time these two holy beings have worked together for the benefit of many.

[beggar]

History tells us that all great things come from those who have been greatly MISUNDERSTOOD and PERSECUTED. When Jesus was nailed on the cross, some of the people laughed and tormented him. They asked "where is your god now. Let him come save you".

But Jesus knew that it was only by staying ON the cross that the faith would grow and spread and the believers saved.

Good point there. Many of the greatest religions in the world experienced tremendous suppression when they first emerged and practitioners suffered horrific discrimination and torture for refusing to tow the line with mainstream belief. Consider the protestants, in the time of the 16th Century - how much torture the Catholic Queen Mary inflicted on anyone who didn't conform to Catholicism, how she resorted to killing hundreds of protestants. Then, in more contemporary times, how much the Jews had to suffer to protect their faith during the World War.

It is never about whether one religion is more right than another; it is about how committed we are to the paths that we choose and whether we use our religious beliefs to benefit others or cause more suffering. Like you have pointed out, it is a personal decision, a freedom of choice which must be respected and upheld in a world that is says it is progressive. In a global world that is becoming ever smaller, this becomes even more necessary - harmony has to be fostered on every level since we can be connected to, working with and befriending just about anyone anywhere in the world.

[DharmaDefender]

But Jesus knew that it was only by staying ON the cross that the faith would grow and spread and the believers saved.

Wow vajratruth what a massively powerful statement, hear hear!

I think suffering is about the perspective of the mind. Jesus stayed on the cross and bore the suffering because he knew it would lead to a greater good. In having that perspective, the suffering became bearable. Likewise many Tibetan monks and Rinpoches bore the suffering of imprisonment under the Chinese occupation because they knew that it would lead to ultimate good...and they bore this by visualising that the sufferings they experience, were the ripenings of negative karma of the three great monasteries.

Im not denying that the Shugden monks in India are facing physical persecution and suffering, and that from my comfy living room, its easy to say talk about suffering being a perspective of the mind. Im just saying, we ought to keep in mind the nature of suffering.

Personally, I pity the CTA. When the ban comes down, they will suffer greatly for the religious persecution that they inflicted on thousands of practitioners, for the confusion they created in thousands of peoples minds, and for the families, and teachers and students, they tore apart.

When the ban lifts, may we have the compassion that is lacking in anti-Shugdenites, to pray for the wellbeing of the CTA.

[harrynephew]

Very good write up indeed Vajratruth.

We have to tell the world that by throwing people off the spiritual path heaves very negative karma. Look up the Bodhisattva vows! What the CTA is doing is simply buying a space next to Yama's throne. They can be who they wanna be and do what they think it is right.

They will confuse people for now and put people off track and split the Sangha for now, but the Lord Protector would provide the necessary for these people to hold onto their faith and upkeep their practices in accordance with their Lama's advise. As we speak, they are still collecting unbelievable amount of demerits but like what DharmaDefender says, when the ban is lifted, the CTA will see for themselves how compassionate Lord Shugden, his lineage Lamas and the practitioners are.

I pray for that day to come soon.

Harry

[Ensapa]

I like your post, Vajratruth, when you draw christian analogies into this because as we all know, the early batch of christians were heavily prosecuted by Rome and even when they were tortured until they died, they still stuck to their belief in Jesus. It was something authentic and real for them and their faiths were pure. Now during the ban is our turn to show that our faith in our lineage lamas are real and not out of convenience by keeping our faith and our Dharma practice intact. This is the time to put the Dharma into practice!

[Gabby Potter]

I agree very much with what the topic read: " A very personal faith ". Practising Dorje Shugden has always been a personal practise, no one is forcing anyone to do His practise, it requires some affinities too.

[Pema8]

Yes, practicing Dorje Shugden is a very personal practice given to us by our teacher.

It is such a shame what the CTA is doing. So many monks and practitioners have given up on this holy practice, at least they pretend to.
The difficulties endured by practitioners are huge and don't seem to end. But the practice we reçeived by our teacher is crucial and can not be given up. I highly respect the sufferings and restrictions so many have experienced.
And there are also a lot of good signs. DorjeShugden.com is definitely one of them. DS.com is a great support for all Dorje Shugden practitioners all over the world.

May this ban end very soon!

[Dondrup Shugden]

I totally agree with the contributors of this article that the Protector faith and practice is very personal.  There are many other Protectors of which one can choose to practise on.  Such great protectors from Setrup etc etc. can be our choice.

The main reason why we have a protector practice is that this kind beings especially the enlightened ones will assist us in our practice of the Buddhist Doctrine.  In the case of Dorje Shugden, His vow is to protect and propitiate the Doctrine of Je Tsongkapa.

Within the lineage of Gelugpas the original root Guru is Je Tsongkapa, so having faith in Dorje Shugden is aligned and completely in tune with and for all Gelugpas. 

As such we have no choice but to believe that both the Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden must be doing something for the benefit of the Doctrine of Je Tsongkapa and let us practise the middle way.  Continue steadfastly in our faith in Dorje Shugden and not speak inappropriately about the Dalai Lama.