As quoted from Music Delighting An Ocean of Protectors by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche:-
THE STORY OF HOW TULKU DRAGPA GYELTSEN AROSE AS DORJE SHUGDEN
When strangled with the scarf by those evil-minded ones,
Through the force of Bodhichitta you arose as an overlord of wrathful ones,
And, day and night, with various terrifying manifestations,
Frightened even the courageous, praise to you! Then, when he remembered his previous promise, he went to Pehar's temple and said to the Dharma King Nechung, 'Now I remember my previous promise, so what should I do?' The Dharmapala said, 'I can perform the activities to take care of that!' Soon after that, emanations of the Dharma King Nechung, hosts of travelers from all over, including many from Kham, eastern Tibet, came to Lhasa and sought audience and made offerings to Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen at the upper residence, in numbers that seemed to eclipse even those seeking audience with the Great Fifth Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama's Ganden Palace was referred to as the lower residence and Dragpa Gyaltsen's Palace was referred to as the upper residence and people were talking as if the upper and lower residences of Drepung were practically equal in stature.
Moreover, in the center of the rows of monks attending the great offering and prayer festival of Lhasa they made Dragpa Gyaltsen's throne higher than the Dalai Lama's. By this and other various means, Desi Sonam Chöpel and other attendants at the Ganden Palace were made unbearably jealous and sought a chance to kill Dragpa Gyaltsen. The auspicious time for Dragpa Gyaltsen's promise to be fulfilled had also arrived so, when he was thirty?eight, on the twenty?fifth day of the fourth month of the fire monkey year, he pretended a sudden illness which he said was due to 'nyen' spirits and made his preparations. On the thirteenth of the fifth month, Desi Sonam Chopel's brother named Depa Norbu or Nangso Norbu, in league with the evil Desi, under pretext of illness, came secretly to where Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen was staying in the large bedroom of the house where he was born, called 'ga kha sa pa', with the intention of killing him. No matter how hard he tried to stab him with his weapon, however, it would not penetrate the skin, so he stuffed a silk scarf down his throat until he died.
Furthermore, as the supreme Dalai Lama, the Great Fifth, says in the 'ku la
ka pa' section of his autobiography,
On the twenty?fifth day of the fourth month, the Tulku of the upper residence was suddenly struck with illness caused by nyen spirits, so I wanted to come give him a jenang to dispel the illness. But as I was going to have the ingredients prepared to make torma, the Lhasa district officer told us that there was contagious disease that made travel unsuitable at the time. After I gave the word to return home and had to postpone, they told us that there was no way to avoid the spread of his disease...
also,
On the full moon, coinciding with an eclipse, intending to perform activities for the preparation of 'ma sha' medicine, I had been in very strict retreat since the eleventh day of the month. But, that day, as the day was warming in the morning, having begun recitation of White Manjusri mantra, I was oppressed by sleepiness against my will, so I broke from the session for a while and freshened up. I even sent someone to discuss with Jayi Sang Depa the fact that it didn't look like I would finish a qualified retreat just because this had happened. Also, concerning Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen's being sick from nyen spirits, both the Lingto oracle and the one from the north said that he had been taking care of his health, that he had been fine, and that when I was about to return from Mongolia and Desi Sonam Chopel had given the order dispatching Depa Norbu, there had been nothing wrong with him. But the next morning I suddenly fell sick. At tea in the main prayer hall and at the Nechung temple, Nechung scattered salt and offered the remainder to Jayi Sang Depa who came from Lhasa at daybreak to give me the message that Nechung had said that my postponing the jenang yesterday had given rise to sorrow and that now, by all means, I must go there. As soon as I received this message I went to the upper residence. I gave the Mahakala jenang to clear away all hindering spirits, but forgot the agitation of one spirit, so the jenang that I gave for he who had died on the morning of the thirteenth was ineffective.
Thus, he speaks of it as if Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen had died because of a sickness. For how is it possible that the Great Fifth could knowingly utter a lie? Certainly, we must presume that Desi and the others involved were deceitful and very skillful in preparing their lies. As for Nangso Norbu who had committed the evil deed of hidden deceit, as said in the 'ku la ka pa' section of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama's biography,
He of 'ga ka sa pa' house was suddenly killed by some young people, so there may have been others involved, but Nangso Norbu took on the aspect of guilt. Thus, if we think about his use of the word 'guilt', something can be understood from that. After he had died because of these sudden circumstances, his holy relics were cremated in the courtyard of Drepung's Tantric College. When the incense smoke from the cremation rose, as if intentionally, straight upward in three streams of smoke, his attendant, saying, 'Such pretending, even now, after such evil deeds of others' jealousy and bad intentions have befallen you!' whipped his zen robe at the fire, at which time the smoke divided such that two streams still went into the sky but one stream wound down to earth in the direction of the village of Dän Bag and went to Sang Pung while, in actuality, his transcendent wisdom requested Setrab's support at Sang Pung, and arose in a wrathful form. The relics that had not been consumed by the cremation fire were placed at the principal position inside a set of all of the eight types of stupas, all made of silver. But when they were shortly thereafter moved to the Drepung upper residence, those coming to pay their respects could not remain because of the clatter and pounding, voices, and sounds of being squeezed that arose from within them.
Following Nechung's instructions, Desi immediately took the relics out of the stupa and placed them inside a wooden box that was placed in the Kyichu River and eventually came to rest in lower Lhoka Dol in a place known nowdays as the wWhite Spring of Dol.
From the moment Dragpa Gyaltsen died, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama saw
miraculous appearances in his visions and also experienced various miraculous manifestations. As the Fifth Dalai Lama says in his autobiography, in the 'ku' section, to quote it briefly,
I went to the Vajra Master who had begun Palden Remati do kang, effigy and fulfillment ritual, on the seventh.The Great Dharmapala also came, entering him, and said, 'There is disturbance of a demon inside the tea house!' In the meantime, seemingly connected with this, in my visions since the seventeenth. I have been seeing a young monkey, about eight years old, with a black color like that of a bear, and gyrating orange eyes, following Chakar Chotze around, sometimes riding on his neck.
and again,
The Great Dharmapala said that when Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen's body was cremated it was unsuitable to stay nearby so I should go to the Potala. Accordingly, I came to the Potala on the twenty?second. For seven days, in front of the Pagpa Che, Arya Brother, the sacred sandalwood statue of Avalokitesvara, they had been persevering in virtuous practice of making offerings, prayers, reciting mantras, and so forth. I was hoping for some sort of good sign that the karmic obscuration had been alleviated, but one night I dreamt that a monk set before me a bundled up zen, a monk's robe, about a finger width in thickness and a handspan in height as if to represent a person and said, 'Here is the happy Depa!' The moment he said that, the robe became some kind of animal. Other bad things occurred as well. For instance, with troops jammed up on the horse path out of the castle, I had to escape through rain in the midst of darkness, riding on Jayi Sang Depa's shoulders, without even getting the chance to put my shoes on.
and further on,
In the fifth month when Depa had gone to Gongkar to relieve his worries over keeping accounts and so forth, one day in the small bedroom, not thinking of anything, in an amount of time about as long as it would take to have some tea, at first there came slapping noises, primarily from the north, and just as I was preparing to dictate a letter with news that I was unwell, I again felt perfectly fine! So, along with including an account of this interesting event in a letter, not having obtained an amulet for him, I sent Depa an astrological prayer diagram and a carefully made protection cord for him to wear.
and again,
This summer there have been worse disturbances of demons than ever before! From the ninth of the ninth month, practicing most profound Dorje Drolo for a week helped to cut the height of the intensity. Zur Dorje Chang had a dream of a wide field on which there was a sort of human ape?like mother who had given birth to a hundred monkey children all of whom were at the point of death. The mother and the rest appeared to be sick and lying down. With this there was relief from demon manifestations in the palace.
again,
In late evening of the first of the third month of the earth dog year, Nyashur Kyaril conveyed news received through Jayi Sang Depa that Depa Norbu was sick, so I sent him an astrological prayer diagram, blessed images and soforth. I sent for a mounted escort to go to him before dawn but they did not arrive until about daybreak. That morning of the second I went to Lhasa. As he was experiencing very heavy seizures, it did not seem that it would be possible for him to recover, but still I made an astrological prayer diagram, performed expelling of poison, and various medical treatments were attempted. Nothing helped and by noon of the third he could live no longer and I performed powa, transference of consciousness. As much as our people of the north cry out, by just that much we seem to be missing the point.
and,
The Great Dharmapala said, 'Depa was struck by a ghost. Last year, when you had gone to the Tolung hot springs and the stupas had to be moved elsewhere, though the two geko, disciplinarians, were told to do this, they dared not take them any farther than just hurriedly putting them out. It was because of that fault that he got sick. Now the disturbance has grown so you must move the upper residence!' There was much discussion about whether it was necessary to destroy the building or not, that it could serve as a sort of gyäl dzong, a king's castle, yet whatever the truth may be, as long as the eight stupas were not taken out, people thought they heard sounds raised by ghosts such as voices and sounds of being squeezed. Since there was no unanimity about it, the possessions were taken to lower Tolung and the wood was taken out to the river. As the building was being destroyed without anger felt at the college having been fully pacified, hundreds of sangha of the three colleges recited scriptures. Morevoer, in the Fifth Dalai Lama's dreams, a turning parasol of saffron color, of the highest rank, kept appearing over and over. Each time it turned there was some sort of outer or inner turbulence. When he was giving Hayagriva jenang to Wang Gyal Dorje of Rinchen Gang, without the slightest breeze or anything else to cause it, the initiation torma fell over onto the table. When he was served meals, the plates of food would overturn for no reason. One time it even seemed that the entire Potala Palace was rocking back and forth. Such miraculous manifestions appeared again and again.
As said above, during Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen's life he heard many teachings from the Fifth Dalai Lama, and again, as stated above, he thoroughly examined every word of the verses of the secret teachings. He was never lax in his devotion to his gurus nor did he experience the slightest reversal of faith or commitment. Yet because of the brief moment of torment and disappointment he felt because of Desi Sonam Chopel's evil deed, he demonstrated various miraculous manifestations in order to raise the greatness of the Dalai Lama. Thus, this great being who can overwhelm all of the wrathful spirits in the world, from the provisional point of view, had to demonstrate manifestions that could create turbulence for even the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, as he is praised in this verse.
