The Dalai Lama blesses enormous Nyingma Lineage Thangka at Sera

[Lineageholder]

What do you guys make of this?

http://mandala.fpmt.org/2014/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-blesses-enormous-thangka-sponsored-by-the-lama-zopa-rinpoche-bodhichitta-fund/

[samayakeeper]

The thangka is well drawn and nice and blessed to view at because it has enlightened masters, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. When will the Dalai Lama bless a 200' x 100' thangka of Dorje Shugden complete with the five forms and 32 main entourage? After all, Dorje Shugden is all in one: enlightened master, Buddha, and Bodhisattva.

[vajralight]

Nothing new here. Those who have observed the behaviour of the false Dalai Lama and the Dorje Shugden recognised Lama Zopa have known for a long time that they want to destroy the gelugpa lineage.  Nothing better than to pretend to safeguard the purity of the Gelug doctrine (by eradicating Dorje Shugden practise) to get the people behind you. But you can see in their actions that they want to  promote Nyingma teachings and reliance on Padmasambhava to the detriment of Je Tsongkhapa's doctrine.

I have no problem with Nyingma, Padmasabhava surely was a Buddha, but it is a disgrace how the Gelugpa tradition turns away from Je Tsongkhapa.



Vajralight

[Lineageholder]

Thanks for your replies.

I agree, it is a beautiful Thangka of holy beings but it struck me as odd that such an enormous Nyingma lineage Thangka should be sponsored by Lama Zopa and blessed by the Dalai Lama at Sera since the Gelugpa tradition doesn't have a practice of Padmasambhava. I thought it would be more appropriate to bless a great Lama Chopa field of merit or something like that.

One of the people who posted on the forum from which I took this post said:

That's a 90' tall full-on Nyingma Refuge Tree. I love seeing the Gelugpas getting ecumenical. As screwed up as Dharma is these days, the news isn't all bad. Gotta love HHDL.

I was thinking, if things are getting that ecumenical, I wonder when Nyingma monasteries will be getting 90' tall Thangkas of Je Tsongkhapa to hang in their Dharma Centres?  I suspect that it's not ecuminism, it's actually politics.

[vajralight]

Here they pretend to give a d... about the Gelug lineage by receiving the?oral?transmission?of?the?collected?works?of?his?root?guru?His?Holiness?Trijang?Rinpoche?at?Osel?Labrang, part of Sera Je Monastic University in South India. Khyongla?Rato?Rinpoche gave the lungs?of?His Holiness?Trijang?Rinpoche’s?sum?bum at the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Ofcourse you would want to receive transmisson of works of someone who worshipped a malevolent demon all his life, who could't see the difference between a worldly deity and a enlightened protector.. etc etc..

What a bunch of hypocrites.....   (FPMT)

http://mandala.fpmt.org/2014/lama-zopa-rinpoche-attends-oral-transmission-with-khyongla-rato-rinpoche/


Vajra

[Lineageholder]

I'm shocked about Lama Zopa and very sad that he too has decided (it appears) to play the politics game.

Lama Yeshe would be very sad to see what has become of the FPMT.

[fruven]

I don't see the reasoning of sponsoring a thangka becoming a political game. What's the motivation behind it? Chenrezig blesses the thangka from a sponsor. What's so political motivated in that?

[Lineageholder]

I don't see the reasoning of sponsoring a thangka becoming a political game. What's the motivation behind it? Chenrezig blesses the thangka from a sponsor. What's so political motivated in that?

Good questions! My answers are:

Firstly, the Dalai Lama - he is not Chenrezig but the destroyer of Je Tsongkhapa's tradition. Remember that Je Tsognkhapa is the treasury of the unobservable compassion (Avalokiteshvara) so if the Dalai Lama is Chenrezig, why is he destroying his own tradition? He's also showing the worst example of criticising his Gurus and relying upon other traditions as well as promoting violence and politics. His list of misdemeanors is long. He is solely responsible, through politics, for schism in the Sangha and the ostracism and the persecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners.

Secondly, lama Zopa's sponsored thangka. There is no tradition of relying directly on Padmasmabhava in the Gelugpa, so why is he sponsoring an enormous Thangka of him? We do not see Nyingma Lamas sponsoring large thangkas of Je Tsongkhapa so there is some political motive behind this. There is some wish to encourage Gelugpas to practise the Nyingma tradition, or he's simply trying to please the Dalai Lama who is actively encouraging Gelugpas to practise Nyingma. Either way, the message is rely on Padmasmabhava and not Je Tsongkhapa. It is very strange indeed. Is there a history of Gelugpas relying on Padmasambhava other than the Fifth and present Dalai Lamas? I'd be interested to know.

[Losang_Tenpa]

I don't see the reasoning of sponsoring a thangka becoming a political game. What's the motivation behind it? Chenrezig blesses the thangka from a sponsor. What's so political motivated in that?

Good questions! My answers are:

Firstly, the Dalai Lama - he is not Chenrezig but the destroyer of Je Tsongkhapa's tradition. Remember that Je Tsognkhapa is the treasury of the unobservable compassion (Avalokiteshvara) so if the Dalai Lama is Chenrezig, why is he destroying his own tradition? He's also showing the worst example of criticising his Gurus and relying upon other traditions as well as promoting violence and politics. His list of misdemeanors is long. He is solely responsible, through politics, for schism in the Sangha and the ostracism and the persecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners.

Secondly, lama Zopa's sponsored thangka. There is no tradition of relying directly on Padmasmabhava in the Gelugpa, so why is he sponsoring an enormous Thangka of him? We do not see Nyingma Lamas sponsoring large thangkas of Je Tsongkhapa so there is some political motive behind this. There is some wish to encourage Gelugpas to practise the Nyingma tradition, or he's simply trying to please the Dalai Lama who is actively encouraging Gelugpas to practise Nyingma. Either way, the message is rely on Padmasmabhava and not Je Tsongkhapa. It is very strange indeed. Is there a history of Gelugpas relying on Padmasambhava other than the Fifth and present Dalai Lamas? I'd be interested to know.

Actually, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang gave the blessing empowerments of peaceful and wrathful Guru Rinpoche on at least one occasion. This does not indicate that he was trying to promote the idea of relying on Padmasambhava instead of Je Tsongkhapa. More than likely he was responding to a request for these empowerments. This to me speaks of the true non-sectarian nature of great Lamas like Trijang Rinpoche.

Also, Phelgye Ling has a statue of Guru Rinpoche in the main prayer hall. Very beautiful. This also does not mean that the monastery is trying to replace Je Tsongkhapa in any way.

 

[WisdomBeing]

A friend of mine has been a follower of Lama Zopa for over ten years but she has recently decided that she wanted to follow the Nyingma school rather than the Gelugpa, saying that Lama Zopa also practices Guru Rinpoche etc. My question is - is it okay from a dharma perspective - to change traditions? After all, as i understand it, the Gelugpa school also has Nyingma practices within it since Gelugpa is the amalgamation of the best from the main schools of Buddhism at the time, namely Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu, as well as the Kadampa tradition.

Second question - why does the Dalai Lama have to promote Nyingma for political reasons (which has also been cited as the reason that Dalai lama is attacking Dorje Shugden because he can't criticise any other tradition's protector) - can someone please give me a simple reply?

[Lineageholder]

Actually, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang gave the blessing empowerments of peaceful and wrathful Guru Rinpoche on at least one occasion. This does not indicate that he was trying to promote the idea of relying on Padmasambhava instead of Je Tsongkhapa. More than likely he was responding to a request for these empowerments. This to me speaks of the true non-sectarian nature of great Lamas like Trijang Rinpoche.

Also, Phelgye Ling has a statue of Guru Rinpoche in the main prayer hall. Very beautiful. This also does not mean that the monastery is trying to replace Je Tsongkhapa in any way.

That's good to know Tenpa, thank you.  It is said that Je Tsongkhapa was an incarnation of Padmasambhava so that makes sense. 

I think there is a great deal of confusion about non-sectarianism which, when taken to an extreme, becomes mixing traditions.  Non-sectarianism means having respect for the other traditions of Buddhism but without necessarily practising them yourself. I think there should be peace and harmony between Buddhist traditions which means respecting everyone's right to practise whatever tradition they choose and not discriminating against others because of their beliefs.  This is obviously not the case with Dorje Shugden where the Dalai Lama will not allow people the freedom to practise and is constantly discriminating against the practice and the practitioners.

[Matibhadra]

Actually, the Buddhadharma in general, and the tradition of Je Tsongkhapa in particular, are by nature pure like gold. Therefore, no matter how much the evil dalai tries to mix them with the filth of his own politics, his desperate tricks are ultimately useless, since it is always possible to separate the gold from the filth.

As to the evil entity, his destiny will be exactly the same given by the discriminating monks of Sera to his recent political booklet, that is, the garbage bin of history.

[Lineageholder]

I would like to ask Tenpa-la, is it therefore your view that the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa are not encouraging Gelugpas to practise the Nyingma tradition?  Being in an Indian monastery I'm sure you have more insight into this than me.

[Q]

Okay... this is so weird.

I mean, if a LamRim teaching is being done... wouldn't it be more appropriate for a Lama Tsongkhapa thangka to be there rather than Guru Rinpoche? I know, Buddhas are all the same and on top of that if I'm not mistaken Guru Rinpoche was one of Lama Tsongkhapa's previous incarnations, but then again... it's a LamRim teaching...

And why promote Nyigma teachings for Gelugpas? Wouldn't mixing the teachings dilute the lineage?

[dsiluvu]

Okay... this is so weird.

I mean, if a LamRim teaching is being done... wouldn't it be more appropriate for a Lama Tsongkhapa thangka to be there rather than Guru Rinpoche? I know, Buddhas are all the same and on top of that if I'm not mistaken Guru Rinpoche was one of Lama Tsongkhapa's previous incarnations, but then again... it's a LamRim teaching...

And why promote Nyigma teachings for Gelugpas? Wouldn't mixing the teachings dilute the lineage?

Yes it is weird but I think that is precisely what's being done here... mixing the teachings. The message is quite clear... Lama Zopa being a Gelug tradition Lama actually sponsored such an enormous Guru Rinpoche thangka during the Lamrim teaching while HH Dalai Lama, also from Gelug blesses the thangka on Lamrim teaching is historical... never been done before. And yes we would never see the Karmapa bless a huge thangka of Je Tsongkhapa on one of their festivals. It's unheard of, so if this isn't a political strategy to tell the Gelugs it's okay to change tradition, then what is it really?

Some may say maybe it is to create friendship and good ties with the Nyingmas... sure, that can be done in so many ways but to publicly make such a spectacle of things, it must means they have planned for this to be seen and heard by everyone!