The Sakyas and Dorje Shugden

[hope rainbow]

Sakya Pandiat is know to be within the line of re-incarnation of Tulku Drakpa Gyaeltsen, of Dorje Shugden...
And the Sakyas have enthroned Dorje Shugden.

Dorje Shugden is know to have also emanated as other prominent Sakya Teachers.
Read here:

http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?p=4002
Here is an extract:

So when we consider the relationship of the Sakya Tradition to the Practice of Dorje Shugden we see that, contrary to the claims of some present-day Sakya Lamas, for more than three hundred years Dorje Shugden has been viewed in Sakya as an Enlightened protector. Not among the provincial practitioners or those without education, but by the Throneholders of the lineage, and the holders of the Sakya’s most precious Tantric transmissions, Lamdre Lineage holders like Morchen Dorjechang who wrote praises to Dorje Shugden as an enlightened being.

When the leader of an entire Buddhist tradition says “Dorje Shugden is definitively Avolkiteshvara,” it seems to me to be difficult to make the claim, as some have tried to do in the debates over this issue, that the great Sakya masters never viewed Dorje Shugden as anything other than a spirit. In fact it seems that there has been an unbroken tradition of the practice of Dorje Shugden as an enlightened protector from the early 1700?s right through modern times.

It is easy to understand that most lamas don’t write about their Dharma protector practices, which have traditionally been in the nature of secrecy. It isn’t unreasonable, therefore, to assume that there were many masters other than the ones enumerated here that held Dorje Shugden as their protector and as a fully enlightened being.

Since this material is so readily available, it seems odd that the Dalai Lama, who has attempted to ban this practice as “spirit worship,” doesn’t seem to be aware of it. He doesn’t list the views of these great masters when recounting the results of his research, at any rate.

What could the reason for this oversight possibly be?

A list of the supreme heads of the Sakya Lineage who can be shown to have viewed Dorje Shugden as an enlightened being:
30th Sakya Throneholder Sonam Rinchen (1705-1741)
31st Throneholder Sachen Kunga Lodro (1729-1783)
33rd Throneholder Padma Dudul Wangchug (1792-1853)
35th Throneholder Tashi Rinchen (1824-1865)
37th Throneholder Kunga Nyingpo (1850-1899)
39th Throneholder Dragshul Thinley Rinchen (1871-1936)

What about today?
Do the Sakyas still practice/recognize Dorje Shugden openly?
Or do they, like some of the Sakya leaders, align with the words of the Dalai Lama on the matter?
Why this apparent confusion?

[DharmaSpace]

Dorje Shugden practises has appeared in all four sects of Tibetan Buddhism and many lamas of non Gelug tradition like the Karmapa has said that one day everyone will be propitiating Dorje Shugden.
The problems of the ban and difficulty are the last obstacles to Dorje Shugden to manifest its power and ascend the the mantle of being the protector of our time, most suited for beings in a degenerate age. Dorje Shugden has manifested the sign of his ascendancy just look at the most widely studied Tibetan buddhist tradition it is the Gelug tradition and what centres in the world can rival NKT's reach. It is a clear sign to me that the Dorje Shugden ban will be overcome.

[Ensapa]

Sadly, if this article is true, it means that the Sakyas have edited Dorje Shugden out of their Dharma texts in order to align with the Dalai Lama.

DO SAKYAS RELY UPON DORJE SHUGDEN?
By Jeff Watt

It has been correctly pointed out many times that Sakya, specifically the Khon family, played a role in the early development of the Shugden cult. The worldly spirit (in Tibetan 'gyalpo' meaning king, a type of ghost) having one face and two hands mounted on a black horse was grouped with the senior worldly protectors of the town of Sakya namely Tsi'u Marpo and Dorje Setrap (these two are Nyingma in origin and not exclusive to Sakya). This trio is called the 'Gyalpo Sum' - the Three King Spirits. In the town of Sakya there is a small temple called the Mug chung Gong khang where the offering service of Shugden was carried out by a monk appointee. This small structure was just north of the Zhi tog Pho drang (Sakya Government Building).

Sakya Trizin Sachen Ngawang Kunga Lodro (1729-1790?) composed an new offering service for Shugden based on the 'torma throwing' ritual of the 'Three Kings.' Later, Sakya Trizin Trakshu Thinley Rinchen (1871-1936) in his personal diaries written on scraps of paper starting from the age of 8 years records all his thoughts, dreams and miscellaneous experiences. After his passing these were collected and added to his biography. In these diaries, amongst many other topics, he muses over the nature of Shugden and the relationship between Shugden, his father (S.T. Kunga Nyingpo) and his grand-father (S.T. Tashi Rinchen) of whom Trakshu Thinley Rinchen was the incarnation. These are regarded as an interesting curiosity within the Drolma Podrang of the Khon family as well as being their personal family business.

It has of course been pointed out by others as well as myself that H.H. Sakya Trizin (of the Drolma Podrang) does not himself practice Shugden - this based on the instructions of his root guru, nor does his sister follow the worldly protector practice. I personally have also spent a great deal of time with the two Gongma Lamas of the Phuntsok Podrang and although Mahakala, Magzorma (the Podrang's family protector), Tsi'u Mara and even the Sakya Barmo witches were discussed many times, I cannot recall one conversation about Shugden. All of this however was prior to 1984 before the Dalai Lama began to speak out about the worldly protector. At the Sakya Monastery in Seattle, Wash., Dagchen Rinpoche has not included any worldy protectors in the regular Mahakala & Protector Pujas, subsequently the 'Three Kings' are absent.

The personal anecdote offered to ARBT relating to Sakya Dagchen Rinpoche and Shugden was very nice and is definitely worth following up, but it is just an anecdote. An anecdote is like one half of a wheel. It just doesn't get you very far.

As for the notion of a 'secret line' of Shugden practice/practitioners within Sakya, this is absurd. Tibetan culture, Buddhist and otherwise, has many secrets and many that should have been kept secret but this half-baked idea enters the realm of fantasy and science fiction.

Source: http://vajrasana.org/jeff01.htm

Again, HHDL started speaking against Dorje Shugden during the 1970s, so this article is factually inaccurate. It is somewhat proof that history is altered to suit history and politics..how dangerous and sad. I wonder if the author is aware of the pro- Shugden sakya texts that have been gathered before they were omitted from the text when the Dalai Lama started speaking out against Dorje Shugden.

Sakya Trinzin has even asked a monastery to stop practicing Dorje Shugden…and this monastery has been practicing since 300 years ago: http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=1759.0