thumb|Statue of Dorje Shugden

Dorje Shugden (, Wylie: rdo rje shugs ldan, ), also known as Dolgyal and Gyalchen Shugden, is an entity associated with the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism. In the 1930s, increased worship of Dorje Shugden under Pabongkhapa, who portrayed Shugden as a violent protector of the Gelug tradition, resulted in the Dorje Shugden controversy.

History

Dorje Shugden, also known as Dolgyal, was a gyalpo (or "angry and vengeful spirit") of South Tibet that was subsequently adopted as a "minor protector" of the Gelug school, the newest of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, headed by the Dalai Lamas (although nominally the Ganden Tripas).

Dorje Shugden worship developed relatively recently within Buddhism, likely dating back to the 17th century at the earliest.

thumb|A local Dorje Shugden Chapel in Kathmandu

Dorje Shugden remained a minor Gelug protector until the 1930s when Pabongkhapa Déchen Nyingpo "started to promote him aggressively" as the main protector of the Gelug tradition.

Pabongkhapa fashioned Shugden as a violent protector of the Gelug school, employing him against other traditions as a symbol of Gelug exclusivism. Shugden was a key symbol associated with Pabongkha's persecution of the Rimé movement, which promoted inclusivity and the sharing of practices across different strands of Buddhism. Nyingma Buddhists were also forcibly converted by Pabongkhapa and his disciples, and relics associated with Padmasambhava (a Buddha considered second only to Shakyamuni among the Nyingma) were destroyed. Pabongkhapa taught that Shugden was "the protector of the tradition of the victorious lord Manjushri", and thus replaced the traditional Gelug protectors Pehar, Nechung, Palden Lhamo, Mahakala, Vaisravana, and especially Kalarupa, who was traditionally believed to have been appointed by Tsongkhapa himself as the main Gelug protector.

The 13th Dalai Lama limited the practice of Shugden propitiation, after which Pabongkhapa apologized and promised not to practice Shugden worship any more.

Characteristics

A characteristic of the iconography of Dorje Shugden is the central figure surrounded by four cardinal emanations. According to Nebresky-Wojkowitz, these are:

  • East: The "body emanation" (sku'i sprul pa), which is white and has a mild expression (Vairochana Shugden)
  • South: The "emanation of excellence" (Ratna Shugden)
  • West: The "emanation of speech" (gsung gi sprul pa), which is white with "a slightly wild expression" (Pema Shugden)
  • North: The "emanation of karma" ('phrin gyi sprul pa), which has with a green body and ferocious mood (Karma Shugden)

Dreyfus describes Dorje Shugden as "a fearsome deity, holding in his right hand a sword dripping with blood and in his left hand the heart torn out from the chest of its enemies". Frederick Bunce describes Dorje Shugden as baring fangs, with "three bloodshot eyes", and flames protruding from his eyebrows and facial hair. He has yellow-brown hair standing on end, and "his nostrils issue rain clouds with violent lightning". He holds a flaming sword in his right hand (khadga, ral-gri) and a skull-cup (kapala, thod-pa) filled with organs in his left. Under his arm, he carries "a mongoose (ichneumon or nakula, nehu-li) and golden goad/hook (ankusha, lcags-kyu)", and his body is bejeweled. He wears elephant skin on his top half, a tiger skin loincloth, a "five-skull crown", a "garland of fifty freshly severed heads", and an "apron of carved human bones". He stands on a "carpet of human skins on one hundred thousand thunderbolts (vajra, rdo-rje) on the back of a garuda-like bird (khyung)".

Michael von Brück describes Dorje Shugden as being "fierce and violent" and destroying all his enemies. He says animals are sacrificed to him symbolically, he lives among "skeletons and human skulls", near a blood of lake, with a dark-red body and facial expressions similar to rakshasas. He notes that none of these are unique to Dorje Shugden, being "more or less stereotypes for dharma-protectors in general".

Control under Vajrabhairava

In Phabongkhapa's text, Shugden is to be controlled by Vajrabhairava. Michael von Brück provides a translation of Phabongkhapa's text which states: