A Guide to Spiritual Practice

Wow!!! Wonderful post.

It’s like a shortcut for our spiritual path! The guideline is simple yet direct. It is good for the beginner also benefit for senior practitioner. The guideline seem like from primary school then go into high school and graduate from college or university. Easy for everyone to pick it up fast.

If we believe on karma then we must seriously think about how to create a good cause to prevent us not going down into three lower realms. Besides that, we must work hard to improve our spiritual practice by follow instruction from our teacher, learning Dharma, doing Dharma works and so on. Through those different method then we can collect more merit and purify our negative karma.

By practicing Dharma which teach by high Lama, we can go ahead to pursuit high attainment. And hopefully can get enlightenment when the time is come.

I appreciated the message delivered through this post. Wish more and more people can receive the benefit of the Buddha teaching and more peoples will support what all the vajra Guru is trying so hard to achieve. Thank you!

After I finished read out this article, what was stuck of my mind was Dharma Protector is so important for modern practitioner like you and me. My reason is we have a lot of interruption from our daily life for example financial problem, business drop down, relationship not stable, negative disturbances, crisis of marriage, communication problem with our kids, black magic and so forth…all these problem will stop our spiritual practice, or create a lot of troubles make us not easy to practice Dharma.

We all know, Dorje Shugden is the higher protector to help us clearing up all obstacles, difficulties and problems then we can focus in our practice. So it is so important all the practitioner can have enough merit to meet with a powerful protector such as Dorje Shugden who is enlighten being and willing to help us without any requirement.

For us can focus on our own spiritual practice, the faith towards our teacher and protector is important. Because through the blessing from our teacher and protector, our obstacles will be reduce then make us easy in spiritual path.

That why it is so important we must work hard bring the ban down. Only after the ban be lift then more people can gain benefit through the protector practice especially Dorje Shugden practice. Why Dorje Shugden? The reason is he is one of the most powerful protector who manifest in this century only to help modern people like us. Must kick out this barrier, then can reach out more. I think this is a perfect way to look forward!

@Eli,
The Dalai isn’t my enemy, nor am I sure whether he is a Buddha or not; we can learn from anything if we are practicing like Milarepa. To get to that point, we need clear transmissions that come from teacher to disciple from the Buddhas themselves.
I only mention this so people will understand while it is fine to read the Dalai (certainly I am not against checking it out, that’s how I realized he wasn’t what people said— your opinion may differ or not) I just wanted to point out that because he mixes the dharma with politics and mixes all the traditions together in a hodgepodge way (unlike real rime authors who actually are still giving proper transmissions) that with the Dalai you won’t be getting real pure transmissions, and also if you follow his advice to it’s conclusion, you would be mixed up on everything, as well as have obstacles on the path to enlightenment; for instance you would be told to stay away from Dorje Shugden’s followers.
So read away on any topic you like by any author, but just be aware that just because someone is popular in the west doesn’t make them the best spiritual guide. Buddha said to examine his teachings like you would examine gold were you purchasing it, so make sure what people are saying is right— any people.

Thank you for provided full completed post for beginner like me. I learned a lot through this post. All the information provided from this article very helpful for my spiritual practice. At least I knew how to start my practice.

In the article also mentioned that our root Guru is very important for our spiritual journey. I totally agreed because I am the one who met my spiritual teacher few years ago, then I started understand the philosophy of Buddhism. Through my understanding of Buddhism then I changed my mind set of Buddhism. Nowadays, I will share with you Buddhism not just labeled as religion, Buddhism can be consider a lifestyle for who truly believed on cause and effect. How can I changed my mind set about Buddhism, because my teacher give abundant of knowledge.

After I have certain understanding of Buddhism, I decided myself become a real Buddhist. I took refuge from my teacher who change my life. I really appreciated what my teacher teach me and make my life become colourful than most of the people I meet.

That is how I came cross into Buddhism. That is the reason I agreed with the key point highlighted in this post. The Guru is a key point for a person who looking for spiritual path. My personal view is the Guru is the most powerful person in your life who can bring you to the real path you looking for bottom from your heart.

@blueupali The Dalai Lama is not just reknown in the West but also amongst Asians as well. I do remember the Kalama Sutta which ask us to check out the teachings as if we are merchants inspecting our goods that we are buying into.

The 5th Dalai Lama operated during a time of great strife and instability, it was either he takes power and political one at that, or face the uncertainty of further sectarian violence or wars.

The fact that the Dalai Lama said on camera he allows Trijang Rinpoche to practice DS is proof enough for me that the Dalai Lama is masking his real intentions to the general public. You do not need to be rocket scientist to know that Trijang Rinpoche after escaping South India for Europe/States will one day rally other Dorje Shugden lamas and practitioners around him. It does seem trijang Rinpoche is emerging to be a leading force for the lifting of the ban.

simple yet effective guide for those who is seeking spirituality. Many of us would blindly sit and chant mantra without realizing the meaning behind it, and some also just follow the crowd to famous Lama, without understanding the reason to go to a Lama.

Through this article it will give better understanding on the importance and proper way to start our spiritual practice step-by-step.

Thank you DS.COM. I like this post. It is so clear and full of information. It guide me what to study, how to practice and i learn a lot here.

The most important thing we must have a GURU to guide us through out our spiritual practice to gain enlightenment. Without GURU we cannot practice well.

We must get the blessing from GURU and all the lineage GURUS blessing. Protector Dorje Shugden is here to assist us to clear obstacles in our spiritual practice so that we can have a smooth practice journey through out our life.

Thank you ds.com for sharing this very useful and informative article. especially all those links to the reading material about Dharma protector Dorje Shugden. I love reading about DS. This is the practice that i can engage with and rely on for many lives. I always make wishes to meet DS again and again for lives until I become enlighten.

I know DS always with me and He protected me and helped me over come obstacles so that I can have more time to study dharma. I started to share with my friends about DS practice. I told them to start with the mantra. They always give me good feed back saying that they feel so real and they see things started to turn better. From there, they will have less worried and more time to study dharma and puja.

Without DS, life will be much harder, need not talk about practicing dharma. Thank you ds.com who has been up keep this website very well and i personally had benefited a lot from here and I do hope more and more people with get in touch with DS through this website. Studying from here I feel very safe because I know you are very consistent of following only the pure lineage.

Well researched, well documented and well written. It is a very good guide for dharma practitioners with nice pictures, references and links. The explanation ‘Relying on the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden’ is brief yet sufficient for readers to investigate more. I will share this wonderful article on social media. Thank you to the writer(s) at dorjeshugden.com

This article can be made into a pocket handbook and be presented to newcomers to Buddhism or even as a reference book for all Buddhist. It is very relevant and quite complete.

Thank you DS.Com for such a well thought out and clear article.

For many people who are new to spiritual practice, spirituality sound like adding more tasks or burden on top of our busy daily secular activities. At least that was what I used to think. But with this article, it certainly put everything about spirituality into correct perspective & a perfect guide for those who are interested.

This is a wonderful article to read, its clear, easy to read & well research references that is concise & lineage base spiritual practice is a perfect guide to modern days people in this era. In particular the “Lamrim- Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand” is a 24 days discourse & commentary by one of the greatest Tibetan master Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche on the Buddha’s teaching which is a step by step guide that could be understood & practiced by whoever wanted to follow the Buddhist path. It suited for practitioners of all levels, for those who are seeking happiness in this life, for those who wish to be liberated from all suffering & the ultimate lasting happiness for those who seek full enlightenment.

Thank you again for posting this wonderful article dorjeshugden.com. Many people will be inspired & benefitted by reading this.

Thank you for sharing this article with us. It is a very comprehensive writing, especially useful to the beginner who is serious in taking on the spiritual path. Not only that, many references are made and given for a more details study of the topic. This is also what I like about DS.com, not only we learn about Dorje Shugden, we learn a lot about what Dharma is, what spiritual practice is. It is like a Dharma school.

Unfortunately where I am living now, there is no Dharma centre. But I am still able to learn because of DS.com. Please keep up with the good work.

This concise writeup on true spiritual practice is great! Great for beginners who wanna kickstart themselves onto a spiritual journey. Thanks for this as it explains the essentials and the basics that we need as our foundation to our practice. If we want to progress further onto our journey towards enlightenment, these preliminary practices will be our foundation.

@BlueUpali, Well, the Dalai Lama is an emanation of Chenrezig. Recognized. If there was any doubt in his teachings and doings, like what you said, it would probably mean that the state of enlightenment and attainments can diminish and change through incarnations? Kinda mindblowing. Anyways, the junior tutor to Dalai Lama was Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Ling Rinpoche… I am sure that all His Holiness learnt and is transmitting to others comes from an unbroken and pure lineage too.

I’m just curious whether we can actually go ahead and read the books on Mahamudra. From what I understand we have to have permission from our Guru to read those. There may be some teachings that can be detrimental to a beginner’s practice without guidance.

Anyway, the rest of the article is very interesting and helpful.

Thanks for the great guide.

Dear Dalai Lama,

Since you started the cruel ban against the 350 year Dorje Shugden practice, how has it benefit your Tibetan society and Buddhism in the world? Things have become worse and most educated Tibetans can see this. They don’t speak out not because they don’t see your ban as wrong, but you instill fear in them and not respect. It is like fear of a dictator. I am sorry to say so. Everyone is divided. There is no harmony. Before your ban there was more harmony and unity.

By enacting the ban, you split the monasteries, split so many families, split regions in Tibet apart, split your disciples from you, split your own gurus from you, split Tibetan Buddhism apart. You have created so much disharmony.

It is not democratic what you have done to ban a religion within your community. You always talk of tolerance and acceptance and democracy and yet you do not accept and tolerate something different from your beliefs. When people practice Dorje Shugden you ostracize them, ban them from seeing you, ban them from using Tibetan facilities. You know you have done that. There are videos that capture your speech and prove this point. You even had people expelled from monasteries just because they practice Dorje Shugden. Some of the monks you expelled have been in the monastery for over 40 years. Many older monks shed tears because of this.

Many young educated Tibetans lost confidence in you as they saw the damage the Dorje Shugden ban created and they lose hope. Many have become free thinkers. They reject what you have done. So many people in the west left Buddhism because of the confusion you created with this ban against Dorje Shugden which is immoral.

You could of had millions of people who practice Dorje Shugden to support, love and follow you, but you scared them away. They are hurt and very disappointed. They loved you and respected you deeply before the ban. It has been 60 years and you have failed to get Tibet back. Your biggest failure is not getting Tibet back after 57 years in exile. Now you are begging China to allow you to return to Tibet to the disappointment of thousands of people who fought for a free Tibet believing in you. So many self-immolated for a free Tibet and now you want Tibet to be a part of China with no referendum from Tibetans. Just like a dictator, you decide on your own. It was your government and you that lost Tibet in the first place. Your policies and style of doing things do not benefit Tibet and Buddhism. You have been the sole ruler of Tibet your whole life and you still have not gotten our country of Tibet back for us. Our families and us are separated. Yet you create more pain by creating a ban to further divide people. Please have compassion.

No other Buddhist leader has banned or condemned any religion except for you. It looks very bad. You are a Nobel laureate and this is not fitting of a laureate. You should unite people and not separate them by religious differences.

You said Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi did not do right to the Rohingya people in Myanmar due to religious differences, but you are doing the same thing to the Shugden Buddhists within your own society. There is a parallel in this. You separate the Shugden Buddhists from the others in Tibetan society.

You have lost so many people who would have loved and supported you. You have lost so much support around the world. The Shugden Buddhists who love you number in the millions. When you are fast losing support from governments and private people, it will not do you well to lose more.

After you are passed away in the future, the rift you created between the Dorje Shugden and non-Dorje Shugden people will remain for a while and that will be your legacy. Disharmony. You will be remembered for this. Not as a hero but a disharmony creator.

Dorje Shugden will spread and further grow, but you will be no more as you are a human. No one wishes you bad and in fact we hope you have a long and healthy life, but we have lost so much hope and have so much despair because of you. All the hundreds of Dorje Shugden lamas, tulkus and geshes are maturing and there are hundreds of Dorje Shugden monasteries in Tibet who will not give up Dorje Shugden. You have made a mistake. These hundreds of teachers and teachers to be will spread Dorje Shugden further in the future.

The gurus that gave us Dorje Shugden as a spiritual practice and you have called these holy gurus wrong and they are mistaken in giving us Dorje Shugden. How can you insult our gurus whom we respect so much? If they can be wrong, then you can be wrong. Then all gurus can be wrong. So no one needs to listen to any guru? You have created this trend. It is not healthy. Your own gurus practiced Dorje Shugden their whole lives. Your own gurus were exemplary and highly learned.

Dalai Lama you have created so much pain with this ban against so many people due to religion. You are ageing fast. Are you going to do anything about it or stay stubborn, hard and un-moving. You show a smile and preach peace and harmony wherever you go. But will you do the same to your own people? Please rectify the wrong you have done. Please before it is too late. You can create harmony again or you can pass away in the future with this legacy of peace. May you live long and think carefully and admit what was a mistake in having this unethical ban against Dorje Shugden religion.