Old Statue of Dorje Shugden

1 Jan

DorjeShugdenThis old and quaint statue of Dorje Shugden is one of the many exhibits in the Mongolian museum of antiquities. I was told of a very special story of this Dorje Shugden statue from a monk-friend of mine. Apparently, this statue receives a lot of silk-khata offerings from the visitors to the museum. This was strange considering the fact that no other Buddha statues on display receives the same amount of khata offerings and the offering of khata meant that visitors were actually praying to this statue.

The caretaker of that department of the musuem didn’t pay much heed to this because she considered herself atheist as she was raised during the soviet era purge of Buddhism. However, she had been getting strange dreams of that Dorje Shugden statue and that someone in her dream was telling her to investigate the history and background of that statue. The dream was recurring but she didn’t know what to make of it until representatives of Dorje Shugden Society from Delhi came to visit, headed by Geshe Jangchub Gyeltsen. They immediately noticed Dorje Shugden and the khata offerings and so they enquired with the caretaker of the history. The caretaker remembered her dream but she searched her records anyway. True enough, there was no known history of this statue.

With the help of Dorje Shugden Society, the caretaker searched all over Mongolia and finally came to a remote part of Mongolia that had a small Sakya temple there with around 4 or 5 monks living there. While in this place, the caretaker once again had an dream that seems to point towards the temple. Hence, the search party approached the temple and spoke to the abbot. He was very old and blind and he said he does not know but he had a chest full of old texts that might have something on the statue.

True enough, an old copy of the history of Mongolia and Tibet was found in the chest. In this text, this statue of Dorje Shugden was said to have been made by the brother of the 8th Khalkha Jetsun Dampa. The statue was commissioned to commemorate the installation of Dorje Shugden as the state Protector of Mongolia. The atheist caretaker eventually became totally devoted to Dorje Shugden and his mantra is constantly on her lips and she would visit and donate to Dorje Shugden monasteries like Shar Gaden and so forth. 

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A map of Mongolia show that it straddles between Russia in the north and China to the south.

 

This video shows Kyabje Choktrul Trijang Rinpoche offers khata and serkyem offering before this Dorje Shugden statue:-

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3 Responses to “Old Statue of Dorje Shugden”

  1. Fong January 1, 2017 at 6:03 pm #

    Hmm…. 8th Khalkha Jetsun Damba circa 1870 to 1920. So, that means Dorje Shugden must have been installed as the state Protector of Mongolia around the turn of the 20th century. And, I didn’t even know that piece of information.

    For an atheist to become a devoted follower, it must have been really something monumental in terms of her emotions and psyche. Guess, if I were to have those incidences, it would blow my mind too.

    Thanks for a very intriguing start to the year.

  2. Nicholas January 3, 2017 at 9:26 am #

    Interesting to see that Dorje Shugden statue being place in the Mongolian museum and the experience of the care taker that led her the know more about the background of the statue and ended up becoming a devotee. Nothing happen coincidentally and I believe she must had connected before or some imprint previously.

    Knowing Dorje Shugden history as a state protector of Mongolia is kind a good knowledge and at least we know this protector has been genuinely exist and has been practice widely beside Tibet.

    Thanks for this great sharing.

  3. Sharon Ong January 4, 2017 at 4:52 pm #

    Interesting read. I knew that Dorje Shugden was/practised in Mongolia but didn’t know that Dorje Shugden was actually installed as the state Protector of Mongolia previously.

    The story about the non-believer caretaker of the museum turning into a devoted follower is indeed a heartwarming one. It also shows how extraordinary our Protector is, to be able to trigger one’s spiritual path or give rise to one’s spirituality via auspicious dreams.

    Thank you and am looking forward to your next post.

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