Distinguished Tibetan Buddhist Lama Zasep Tulku Rinpoche’s “A Tulku’s Journey from Tibet to Canada” has been reviewed as:
a must read for students; a should read for Buddhists. In addition, it also debunks the malicious lies spread against the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden, whose practice has been banned by the Dalai Lama and Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) since 1996.
I’ll sum up as I began: Zasep Tulku Rinpoche’s "A Tulku’s Journey from Tibet to Canada" is equal parts autobiography, spiritual epic journey, gripping adventure narrative, inspiring Buddhist life example, and a travelogue spanning nine countries.
Of course this is a must read for Zasep Rinpoche’s students, or anyone contemplating asking to become his student. It is also a “should read” for anyone interested in Tibetan Buddhism. It’s also a good read for anyone who enjoys biographies, since it contains all of the elements of a great spiritual bio: adventure, a fascinating life, spiritual insights, and a glimpse into the lives of a once-hidden people in the land of snows.
Rinpoche truly brings Tibet alive in an intimate and honest way. While his love of his teachers, Buddhism, Tibet and his people is palpable and constant, he doesn’t portray Tibet as a “Shangri-La”, and he doesn’t hesitate to describe both the good and bad.
In his book, he openly declares in many parts of the book that
"the Gyalchen Dorje Shugden practice is very close to (his) heart.” This is understandable as the practice of Dorje Shugden was widely accepted not only by the majority of the Gelugpa but also by the Sakya and Kagyu and Nyingma lineages. It is important to remember that Dorje Shugden was the protector practice that Kyabje Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo and Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang trusted and therefore it only makes sense that most Gelugpa practitioners would hold this deity close to their hearts as well. Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo and Trijang Dorje Chang were the two teachers who taught literally all of the Gelugpa monks and scholars of their time and it would only be natural that they would also give their students the Dorje Shugden practice that they trusted.
Zasep Tulku Rinpoche also expresses how important it is for monasteries and Dharma centres to support each other and not be divided by those who would seek to conquer and rule for political reasons. Zasep Tulku Rinpoche is skilful in saying that the Tibetan leadership has been dividing the various Tibetan Buddhist lineages and that all lineages and monasteries should be smart and not allow that to happen.
A practitioner from young and a student of highly attained Dorje Shugden practitioners.Zasep Tulku Rinpoche has been practicing Dorje Shugden since he was a mere 9 years of age, and it was a family practice. His father's teacher, Lama Gelong Chojor Gyamtso was an oracle for the Dharma Protector Gyalchen Dorje Shugden who could go into trance spontaneously and was renowned in the eastern province of Kham, Tibet, where Zasep Rinpoche's family lived. Lama Gelong Chojor Gyamtso had helped many people, as a healer and with divination. As Zasep Rinpoche says in his book,
"he was very good at prediction and gave many people good advice on their spiritual practice."
It was also the premonition of Lama Gelong Chojor Gyamtso in trance of Dorje Shugden that saved the life of the young Zasep Rinpoche prior to the Chinese PLA invasion of Kham in 1957.
Zasep Tulku Rinpoche also recounts how Lama Gelong Chojor Gyamtso was one of three kind teachers who made a great impression on him, and how they encouraged him to stay on the path of Dharma. The famous Dorje Shugden oracle from Kham was also a devoted Vajrayogini practitioner, and before his passing, had a vision of a staircase made of turquoise stretching from his window to the sky. This is seen as a sign that Vajrayogini was calling him to her Pure Land. This is an important revelation because it directly counters the Tibetan leadership's accusation that Dorje Shugden is a demonic practice. According to the tenets of Buddhism, demon worshippers will take rebirth in the lower realms. Therefore, isn't it illogical to say that the oracle of Dorje Shugden was a demon worshipper when all the signs point to him ascending to Vajrayogini's pure land? .
Zasep Tulku Rinpoche came under the tutelage of the great Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang (the tutor of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama), Kyabje Zong Rinpoche and Kyabje Guru Deva Rinpoche. He received his first Dorje Shugden Life Entrustment — Sogtae — from Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang when he was 17 years old while studying for his Acharya degree at the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi, India.
Later on, Zasep Tulku Rinpoche would again receive Dorje Shugden Sogtae for the second time, from Kyabje Zong Rinpoche.
According to Zasep Tulku Rinpoche (as well), it was Dorje Shugden through trance of the Panglung oracle, not Nechung, who saved the Dalai Lama from China’s invasion in 1959.
This account of how Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang sought the advice of Dorje Shugden is highly significant as Zasep Tulku Rinpoche clearly states that it was through trance of the Panglung oracle (Kuten Lama) that the
Dharma Protector Gyalchen Dorje Shugden gave precise instructions for the Dalai Lama to make his exit from Tibet and the route they should take that will keep him safe.
Zasep Tulku Rinpoche is very clear in his biography on the details of the Dalai Lama’s famous journey out of Tibet, how the Dalai Lama “put his trust in Gyalchen Dorje Shugden’s prediction,” including their stopovers and thanksgiving Serkyem tea offering by Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang. This is not the first time there is evidence that it was Dorje Shugden who helped the Dalai Lama escape from Tibet in 1959.
There were also similar accounts from Sera monks who made the journey from Tibet to India together with the Dalai Lama and saw with their own eyes how Dorje Shugden saved the Dalai Lama. An account of the Flight of the Dalai Lama by Chagzoe Lobsang Yeshe
Excerpt from Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang's Autobiography
The formation of the Chushi Gangdruk regiment
Yet despite the overwhelming evidence that it was Dorje Shugden who saved His Holiness the Dalai Lama during the flight from Tibet, until today the official website of the Dalai Lama claims it was Nechung who saved him. The truth is that Nechung gave wrong advice - he said that the Dalai Lama should remain in Tibet and that no harm would come to him. Fortunately, the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang and the Dalai Lama's key advisors at the time had the wisdom and foresight to put their trust in Dorje Shugden instead of Nechung. But, instead of showing gratitude, the Tibetan leadership today has turned on Dorje Shugden who saved the Dalai Lama.
Eyewitness account that the Sakya propitiated Shugden.Zasep Rinpoche also tells of his time at Sakya Monastery, where he saw the shrine of Sakya Mugchung, one of the Dharma Protectors of the Sakya tradition.
Zasep Rinpoche clearly explains the connection between the Dharma Protector Sakya Mugchung and Dorje Shugden, and how Sakya lineage masters recognised his enlightened qualities. In fact, Dorje Shugden was one of the 3 Sakya Protectors known as Gyalpo Sum, with the other two being Setrab Chen and Tsiu Marpo. Gyalpo Sum including Dorje Shugden played a vital role in the Sakya lineage but the Sakyas were forced to denounce their own protector because of politics. Same disloyalty like the Tibetan leaders who banned Dorje Shugden.
In his biography, Zasep Rinpoche also acknowledges that the Shugden controversy was orchestrated by the Central Tibetan Administration to deflect attention from their incompetence. This makes sense when anyone applies simple logic. Dorje Shugden has been practiced for nearly four centuries by the highest lamas including the present Dalai Lama who wrote a praise to the deity. So how come the deity only became "bad" in 1996? Because by then the CTA needed a scapegoat to deflect attention away from their numerous failures such as their failure to fulfil their promise to return the Tibetans to their homeland. The failure in regaining their homeland was not the doing of Dorje Shugden but a result of the ineptitude and corruption within the Tibetan leadership. Now, yet another respectable lama like Zasep Tulku Rinpoche confirms that.
Zasep Tulku Rinpoche is to be applauded for not mincing his words, for having the courage to call it as it is, that the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) is fully at fault for the schism in the Gelug school that spilled over to divide Tibetan Buddhists around the world.
Further on, he describes how in the early refugee camps, before the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA)'s cruel scheme to divide Tibetan Buddhist schools, all Tibetans were united, practising their own protectors and deities harmoniously.
More teachings, transmissions and lineages held by Zasep Tulku Rinpoche:
Is Zasep Tulku Rinpoche a fake tulku? A Chinese spy? Let’s take a look...Born on 1st July 1948 in the eastern province of Kham, Tibet, His Eminence Zasep Tulku Rinpoche was recognised as the 13th incarnation of Lama Konchog Tenzin of Zuru Monastery by three most venerated lamas: the 16th Karmapa, Kyabje Trijang Dorje Chang (the Junior Tutor to the present Dalai Lama), and a highly realised Nyingma Lama. He was installed at Zuru Monastary, at the tender age of five. Later he was again enthroned at Sera Monastery where he began his studies.
The young Zasep Tulku took the eight precepts and robes from Gelug Lama Gelong Chojor Gyamtso. Chojor Gyamtso was a mahasiddha who was a disciple of the incomparable Kyabje Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo.
When the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1959 Zasep Rinpoche escaped to Dalhousie in India. Under the advice of Trijang Rinpoche, Zasep Rinpoche resumed his studies under the personal tutorship of Venerable Geshe Thupten Wangyel, a highly realised yogi in Dalhousie, India. He also studied with and received empowerments from many renowned Gelug and Kagyu teachers in Tibet, including some of the legendary lamas of Tibet such as: Yongzin Trijang Rinpoche, His Holiness Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Venerable Lati Rinpoche, Venerable Tara Tulku Rinpoche and Venerable Khalkha Jetsun Dampa Rinpoche.
Today, Zasep Tulku Rinpoche is not only an internationally respected teacher of Gelugpa Buddhism, but also the spiritual director for many retreat centres across the world, in Canada, Australia, and the United States.
In addition, Rinpoche is also the founder of Gaden for the West, an international organization created for the express purpose of bringing, interpreting, and integrating Gelugpa Tibetan Buddhism to the western world. His organisation is also involved with several charitable relief projects in Tibet, Mongolia and India through Gaden Relief.
