Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen

Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen (bo|t=སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན|w=sprul sku grags pa rgyal mtshan|) (1619-1656) was an important Gelugpa lama and a contemporary of the Fifth Dalai Lama. His Seat was Drepung monastery (wylie: 'bras spungs dgon), a famous dge lugs pa monastery located near lha sa [ [http://www.tbrc.org/kb/tbrc-detail.xq?RID=P1729 TBRC] ] , [ [http://www.tbrc.org/kb/tbrc-detail.xq;jsessionid=F53396E8710AF23538B6B359DCBD28F8?RID=G108&wylie=n TBRC] ] .

Incarnation Lineage

Dragpa Gyaltsen is usually considered to be the 4th incarnation of Panchen Sonam Dragpa.

(Panchen Sonam Dragpa -Pan-chen bSod-nams grags-pa- was the 15th Gaden Tripa. [ [http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/study/history_buddhism/buddhism_tibet/gelug/brief_history_ganden_monastery.html Brief History of Ganden Monastery] ] )

His short "incarnation lineage" includes [E. Gene Smith ; edited by Kurtis R. Schaeffer, "Among Tibetan Texts: history and literature of the Himalayan Plateau", page 129 Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001]
:0. Buton Rinchen Drub (1391-1364) [bu ston rin chen grub [http://www.tbrc.org/kb/tbrc-detail.xq?RID=P155 TBRC P155] ] :1. Panchen Sonam Dragpa (1478-1554) [paN chen bsod nams grags pa (gzims khang gong ma 01) [http://www.tbrc.org/kb/tbrc-detail.xq?RID=P101 TBRC P101] ] , [ [http://www.loselingmonastery.org/index.php?id=7&type=p&path=1|g] ] :2. Sonam Yeshe Wangpo (1556-92) [bsod nams ye shes dbang po (gzims khang gong ma 02) [http://www.tbrc.org/kb/tbrc-detail.xq?RID=P1000 TBRC P1000] ] :3. Sonam Gelek Palzang (1594-1615) [bsod nams dge legs dpal bzang (gzims khang gong ma 03) [http://www.tbrc.org/kb/tbrc-detail.xq?RID=P5585 TBRC P5585] ] :4. Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen (1619-56) [grags pa rgyal mtshan (gzims khang gong ma 04) [http://www.tbrc.org/kb/tbrc-detail.xq?RID=P1729 TBRC P1729] ]

Drakpa Gyaltsen (1619-1656) was born at Ge Khasa in Tolung in 1619 to his mother Lak Agyal and father Namsey Norbu. [ [http://antishugden.com/component/content/article/34-history/58-origin-of-dholgyal-worship Anti-Shugden Page] ] The Fifth Dalai Lama was asked to write a prayer to Dragpa Gyaltsen mentioning his previous lifetimes. "His chamberlain, Sonam Chöpel, who when he became involved in politics became known as Sonam Rabten, objected ... and he created disturbances ... saying that [the] prayer ... was wrong. This stirring of conflict and division made it so that the fifth Dalai Lama did not compose [this] prayer" [ [http://www.dorjeshugden.com/articles/musicdelighting.pdf] p.19] .

Tibetan historian Samten Karmay writes that after the death of Dragpa Gyaltsen the search for his reincarnation was banned. Later on he appeared as Dorje Shugden.

Rivalry, Murder and Reincarnation

Tibetan historian Samten Karmay writes "It should be recalled that he had been one of the candidates for the reincarnation of the Fourth Dalai Lama. As a result, he was always seen as a rival of the Fifth Dalai Lama though he invariably proclaimed himself a disciple of the latter. He came to be despised by a number of officials and especially the sDe-srid."Karmay, Samten G. "The arrow and the spindle : studies in history, myths, rituals and beliefs in Tibet.", page 514, Kathmandu : Mandala Book Point, 1998.]

Because Dragpa Gyaltsen's fame rivaled that of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Sonam Chöpel and some of the Dalai Lama's other attendants became extremely jealous and later murdered Dragpa Gyltsen [ [http://www.dorjeshugden.com/articles/musicdelighting.pdf] p.95] .

Tibetan historian Samten Karmay further writes "The circumstances of his death, whether natural or not, were contested and part of the dGe-lugs-pa school believed that the official Norbu, acting under the sDe-srid's orders had assassinated him. Whatever the truth, the search for his reincarnation was banned, which suggests that the affair must have been quite serious indeed. In 1658, the actual building of the 'Upper Chamber' was destroyed and the stupa containing the remains of the Lama was supposedly thrown into the sKyid-chu river. It was then believed that the spirit of Grags-pa rgyal-mtshan had returned as a sort of 'protector of the Buddhist religion'."

After he reappeared as Dorje Shugden, the Fifth Dalai Lama was frightened and requested various lamas to perform an exorcism:

:"Because of the manipulations of Lag Agyal (the mother) of Gekhasa, the false reincarnation of Tulku Sonam Geleg Palsang (Tulku Dakpa Gyaltsen) got his way (and was installed as the successful candidate). However, because of distorted prayers he became a perfidious spirit and brought serious harm to sentient beings. Therefore, a total of seven groups of practitioners led by (Pema Trinley) Rinpoche of Dorje Drag, Choegyal Terdag Lingpa, Choeje Vugja Lungpa, Ngari Ngagchang Konchok Lhundup, Palri Tulku and two groups of practitioners of Phende Legshe Ling (Namgyal Dratsang) performed a ritual fire offering and burnt the interfering spirit." [ [http://www.dalailama.com/page.133.htm Translation of the testimony that the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682) mentions in his autobiography] ]

This exorcism was unsuccessful, and so the Dalai Lama realized Dorje Shugden to be a holy being, wrote one of the first prayers to him, built a temple to him called Trode Khangsar, and made a statue of him with his own hands [ [http://www.dorjeshugden.com/ Dorje Shugden and Dalai Lama - Spreading Dharma Together ] ] .

Notes

ee also

Dorje Shugden - betrayal

External links

* [http://www.tbrc.org/kb/tbrc-detail.xq?RID=P1729 P1729 grags pa rgyal mtshan ( b. 1619 d. 1656)] - at [http://www.tbrc.org TBRC]
* [http://www.nitartha.org/cgi-bin/find www.nitartha.org search page]