By: Ari Joaquim

About 5 years back, after graduating from college, I felt an intense need to search for spirituality. It was quite a testing period, and I had a strong urge to take stock of my life before life took over me.

I woke up one day and thought to myself, where is life taking me? I had been studying all my life, and now that I had graduated, I’ll work an ordinary job, have an ordinary family, and then die… an ordinary life, just like my parents. I couldn’t quite accept that life was that mundane, and that I was to trapped in the same unexciting cycle.

So I decided to embark on a spiritual experiment, looking for a deeper, higher “meaning” in life. Sounds cliché, doesn’t it? Anyway, I did my homework and researched the various religions of the world and it wasn’t long before I stumbled across Tibetan Buddhism. It appealed to me but the more I read, the more confused I became, particularly as there were a few schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Which school of Buddhism should I explore? As it turned out, there was a Tibetan Buddhist center near where I lived, and I decided to give it a go, regardless of which school it was from. I wouldn’t have known the difference anyway.

On my first visit, I saw a nun seated in meditation in front of a large Buddha image. I was drawn to how peaceful the nun seemed to be, almost palpably so. The energies of the temple calmed the anxiety I had been experiencing, and I decided to come back again.

I began volunteering a few times a week – cleaning, preparing for meditation classes, prayers and other events. I also found my spiritual teacher in the center’s resident nun. Eight months passed and I found myself not wanting to end the experience. This was truly the life I wanted.

Buddhism changed my perceptions of how life should be lived. Everyone had their expectations of me, and yet those who lived an ordinary life were not happy. A spiritual life, serving my spiritual teacher and all who come to this humble center for help – I wanted to do that so much but the opportunity never arose.

Out of the blue, my spiritual teacher sat me down and asked what was bothering me. I expressed what I wanted to do in life, how I wanted to serve the Dharma until the end of my days but I felt that I did not have the opportunity. My teacher just laughed, and told me, “Do your serkyem (a tea offering ceremony requesting the Dharma Protector for help) with great conviction in what you have just told me. All will be good.”

I didn’t know what she meant at that time, but I followed her advice just as I always had. I did my serkyem offering to Dorje Shugden daily, with the appropriate requests and supplications. Dorje Shugden is one of the core practices at my center, and we were taught that he had taken on a worldly aspect so that practitioners such as myself could easily connect with his enlightened nature.

Just three months after starting my serkyem to Dorje Shugden, things started to clear up for me. The first was a gradual dissipation of my fears as to the uncertainties along this path. Then, one of the center’s resident staff relocated to another city. And just like that, there was a vacant position in the Dharma center and I jumped at the opportunity. I even found sponsorship so I didn’t have to work and could spend most of my time with my teacher.

I thought I’d share my story so that others could rejoice in how Dorje Shugden helped me in my spiritual path, and how having great faith in my spiritual teacher and my protector is one of the keys to progression along the spiritual path. I‘m sure my story isn’t unique but I hope it will be inspirational to others.

When it comes to gaining quick results and what I need to progress in my spiritual practice, without a doubt I fully trust Dorje Shugden to help provide the right conditions for me. The Protector has helped me many times more since then and if there is one thing I swear by, it is Dorje Shugden.