Dorje Shugden (English: the Vajra Possessing Strength): worldly protector of the Gelugpa School.

Dark red in colour with one face and two hands he holds in the right a curved sword with a vajra handle. In the left hand is a human heart with a mongoose perched on the left forearm and a vajra hook leaning against the shoulder. He is very fierce with three red glaring eyes and a gaping mouth with the canine teeth exposed. Richly attired in monastic robes, silk brocades, and a yellow riding hat of Chinese origin, he is completely surrounded by orange flames. The mount is a mythical Tibetan snow lion, white with a green-blue mane, fierce in appearance with a snarling face - gazing up at Dorje Shugden as an expression of respect.

At the top center is the primordial buddha Vajradhara, blue, with one face and two hands holding a vajra and bell. At the left is a Gelugpa lama wearing monastic robes and a yellow pandita hat. At the right is Green Tara with one face and two hands, holding a lotus in the left. At the bottom center are three skullcups arranged with offerings of nectar, the five senses and blood.

Dorje Shugden is an avowed protector. In his former birth he is believed to have been the Gelugpa Lama Trakpa Gyaltsen of Drepung Monastery and a contemporary of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama.

Jeff Watt 6-98

THE SHUK-DEN AFFAIR: A SUMMARY This image represents Gyel-chen Dor-je Shuk-den (rgyal chen rdo rje shugs ldan), a deity belonging to the category of protectors associated with the Ge-luk (dge lugs) tradition where it has become extremely controversial. In the following pages, I explain the history of this deity, exploring the ways in which the nature of this deity has changed over time. I also explain the dispute that has surrounded this deity in the last three decades and explore the reasons behind the controversy.

The History of a Practice

Shuk-den's Ge-luk followers claim that their practice goes back to a rather obscure and bloody episode of Tibetan history, the premature death of Trul-ku Drak-ba Gyel-tsen (sprul sku grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1618-1655). Drak-ba Gyel-tsen was an important Ge-luk lama who was a rival of the Fifth Dalai-Lama, Ngak-wang Lo-sang Gya-tso (ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1617-1682). In 1655, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen died suddenly in circumstances that have been perceived as mysterious. His followers seem to have claimed that he had died because he had not been able to bear the constant efforts from the Dalai-Lama's followers to undermine him. According to the founding myth of the Ge-luk Shuk-den tradition, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen manifested himself as a wrathful spirit, a gyel-po, i.e., the dangerous red-spirit of a person, often a religious one, who is bent on extracting revenge against those involved in his death. Since he had been an important lama, however, Drak-ba Gyel-tsen turned his anger from a personal revenge to a nobler task, the protection of the doctrinal purity of the Ge-luk tradition. He is said to be particularly irked at the Ge-luk followers who study and practice the teachings of other traditions and to have contributed to the death of several eclectic Ge-luk lamas such as the Fifth Pen-chen Lama Lob-zang Pal-den (blo bzang dpal ldan chos kyi grags pa, 1853-1882). According to the legend, Shuk-den started to haunt the Fifth Dalai-Lama who finally had to relent and to start the tradition of propitiating Shuk-den, tradition that the Dalai-Lama entrusted to the Sa-gya (sa skya) tradition.

Historical realities only partially support this version of the rise of Shuk-den. As the legend alludes, Shuk-den appears to have been first a Sa-gya deity and has remained as such until the first part of this century when his use for sectarian purpose by Pa-bong-ka (more on this shortly) made him unwelcome in the Sa-gya tradition. Shuk-den first appears in a small text belonging to the ritual cycle of the by then Sa-gya monastery of Sam-ye and written by holder of the Sa-gya throne S?-nam-rin-chen. According to the legend, the practice of Shuk-den was entrusted to this lama by the Fifth Dalai-Lama. The existence of such a text seems at first to confirm this story until we realize that S?-nam-rin-chen was born in 1704, long after the events surrounding Drak-ba Gyel-sten's tragic demise. This considerable gap suggests that the story of Drak-ba Gyel-tsen's wrathful manifestation as Shuk-den is a later creation, which incorporates a variety of narratives rearranged in the light of later situations. In fact, Shuk-den appears to have been first a local deity known as D?l Gyel (dol rgyal), name given because of its association with a pond located in D?l in the area of the Tsang-po and the Yar-lung valleys. This deity seems to have been adopted in the Sa-gya tradition where it w as considered a minor and yet powerful protector who could be dangerous because of his being a wrathful spirit, a gyel-po. At the back of this picture Shuk-den is invoked as a wordly protector, who can help people to acquire wealth, cure disease, eliminate the obstacles created by spirits, activate the gods (such as male god, female god, uncle god) who are thought in Tibetan culture to relate to a person and his or her surroundings, and repel the ghosts who play similar functions (male ghost, female ghost, uncle ghost). Shuk-den is also invoked as a protector of the Sa-gya tradition and as such he is asked to drive out all the enemies who harm its teaching. This deity seems to have appeared in the Ge-luk tradition as early as the first half of the eighteen century. He then seems to have propitiated by several important lamas, but no