by H.E. Shenpen Dawa Rinpoche, Los Angeles, California September, 1988

Secret : Only initiated practitioners

The first protector I will speak about is Shenpa. Shenpa is very important for His Holiness' swift rebirth, because he is the main protector of the Nyingma lineage. Shenpa is the main guardian for all of our practices: Troma, Phurba, etc.

He is one of the divine protectors that Guru Rinpoche entrusted the terma teachings with and basically he controls most of the terma teachings.

An interesting thing about Shenpa is that my father met him several times. I'll tell you about one incident. Normally, Shenpa was in very close contact with my father all the time, and really served him. It was very difficult for us to even see Shenpa's face, because he was very wrathful, and he doesn't show his face as easily as other Dharmapalas do.

Shenpa is very conservative. Also, it isn't easy to call on Shenpa to do things, but he could manifest to Rinpoche in person.

Shenpa was the one who brought my mother and father together. Shenpa had gone to my mother's father in person.

My maternal grandfather was a military commander named Shig Go Tey. He was governor of the province called Shig Go Tey, which is very large. My grandfather was also the 13th Dalai Lama's personal cabinet advisor. He was an aristocrat, but at the same time he was also a minor terton, connected with Guru Rinpoche's teachings. He would always carry a phurba in his chuba.

At one time, my grandfather was looking for a particular text in the area of Lhasa when Shenpa appeared to him in person. He told him that the text could be found with Dudjom Rinpoche, who was in Lhasa at the time.

My maternal grandfather had never heard of Dudjom Rinpoche. Shenpa told him where Dudjom Rinpoche was staying and said, "Send your daughter to request the text." Before he left, he told him, "I have a present for you."

He gave him a bow and arrow, then walked away from the room and disappeared. My grandfather was so caught up with talking to Shenpa that he forgot that he was in his inner chamber, which was inaccessible to anyone. The chambers are constructed in such a way that the inner chamber is private, and there is an outer chamber where servants guard the inner chamber so that no one enters.

Immediately after Shenpa left, he realized that there was no way for this person to enter, and he thought, "How did this person get into my inner chamber?" He rushed out to where his servants were guarding him and asked them where was the man who had just given him the bow and arrow.

The servants said there was no such person, that they had been there the whole time and hadn't let anyone in. That night my grandfather had a very positive indication that he would meet Dudjom Rinpoche and receive teachings from him.

That same night, Shenpa went to Dudjom Rinpoche and told him, "I am going to get the consort for you, so tomorrow morning, let whoever comes in to see you. Set up an auspicious offering on the table, and tomorrow a person will come who will be your future wife."

Most of Dudjom Rinpoche's servants at that time were monks, so the next day Rinpoche told them, "If anyone comes today, no matter who they are, I want to see them. A woman will come to see me so don't stop her from seeing me."

Later that day Rinpoche met my mother. After that, Dudjom Rinpoche went to my mother's house and asked my grandfather for her. It was at that time that my grandfather showed Rinpoche the gift that Shenpa had given him, because he felt that the person who had given it to him was a Protector.

Rinpoche recognized that the bow and arrow was the same bow and arrow that he had placed in his monastery for the Protectors. Shenpa had taken the bow and arrow all the way to Lhasa to give to my grandfather. My grandfather then became Rinpoche's disciple.

Shenpa is a wisdom being with very high realization. My name, "Shenpen," means "benefactor of others," but "Shenpa" means "the hunter" - he hunts for human life. The reason we pray to Shenpa is because he was in such close contact with Rinpoche.

Shenpa gives tremendous blessing and protection to students who are in retreat, and for all practitioners of the Tersar lineage. Shenpa vowed that he would continue to benefit people until the next Buddha comes so that the Tersar lineage, its Protectors and blessings wouldn't be lost. So this is a direct prediction and prophecy of Shenpa.

Shenpa came to my father many times like this to help him. Once, when Rinpoche was traveling from one part of Tibet to another - a dangerous thing to do since there are bandits everywhere - he wasn't able to get where he wanted to by nightfall. My father, mother, and three or four servants, that's all the people who were in the group, got stuck on a hill.

Suddenly they looked up on the hill and saw 30 or 40 bandits. My mother was very worried. There were no other travelers in sight, and she thought they would all be robbed and killed by those bandits. Bandits do that kind of thing. They were completely desperate.

The bandits were howling and making all kinds of noises and coming down the mountain when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, another band of 30 to 40 riders appeared and started riding up from the ravine below, carrying guns and bows and arrows. The bandits coming down from above were frightened and retreated because they were outnumbered.

The group of riders from below then came up to Rinpoche, and the leader got off his horse asking him, "Oh ho, where are you traveling?"

Rinpoche answered, "I am traveling to Lhasa. Where are you going?"

He replied, "The next village."

Rinpoche thanked him for coming at just the right moment. The leader asked him, "Who are you?" Rinpoche replied, "Oh, I'm a padma Guru, I've been recognized as Pedma Guru. My name is Dudjom Rinpoche."

Then the leader said, "I've heard a lot about you. Aren't you the terton Gillay Terton's reincarnation?"

Rinpoche said, "Yes, I have been recognized as such." So immediately the leader made prostrations to Rinpoche. Rinpoche asked him, "Do I know you?"

The leader replied, "Yes, you know me, but it isn't important for you to remember me at this moment, but I know you." That person was Shenpa.

Later that night, at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, Rinpoche had a dream. Shenpa appeared to him and said, "I came to serve you. Forgive me if I fooled you. That was not my intention. You were traveling in a dangerous place, so I came to serve you. You have commanded me many times to come in times of need."

The next morning, when Rinpoche got up, he made a very elaborate offering to the Dharmapalas to thank them for making the bandits go away. Now he was able to complete his journey safely. The chieftain, or Shenpa, had looked familiar to Rinpoche. He felt he had seen him before, but he couldn't figure out where.

He was completely disguised as a bandit, but when Rinpoche looked at his feet, he saw he was barefoot. People don't ride barefoot, so it occurred to Rinpoche later on that that was a subtle sign of the Protector. Shenpa serves Rinpoche's disciples too.

One time there was a disciple who went into retreat in Kongbo during the winter, and this disciple was completely cut off by snow and dying of starvation. Right in front of his retreat house someone dragged the body of a dead deer.

The disciple was meditating inside when a voice said to him, "I've brought you food down there. Eat it." When he went outside and looked, he saw the dead deer and brought it inside, and he was able to do another three months of retreat. Later on, Shenpa told Rinpoche, "One of your students was dying, so I took him deer meat." The activity of the Dharmapalas is incredible.

Dharmapalas are wisdom beings that can help you attain realization. Needless to say, there are other Protectors, like Trod Gyel Harmo, Tseringma, and other Protectors and Protectresses that protect the lineage, but Shenpa is the main Protector of the Dudjom Tersar lineage.

When Dudjom Lingpa discovered a certain terma, Shenpa was there to help him, taking the terma from the rock. Shenpa is committed to the Dudjom lineage and to whoever practices in the lineage. If a practitioner calls on him, he will be there to answer. This doesn't mean he will answer all the small detailed things, but if there is crucial need, he will be there. So Shenpa practice is important.

Then, along with this practice, you can add one more practice. It starts with: Kung Jo! Kung Tu Zang Mo Ying Gee Yum. This is the prayer for Mamo Ekadzati Dorje Legpa and Ralchigma. Sometimes, if you do the Dam Cheen Chi Tor, then you can just recite the Ma Za Dor Sum. That would be great. If you make the Dharmapala offerings, and do Dharmapala practice like Ma Za Dor Sum or Shenpa practice, it is important to keep count of your repetitions. You can't just say it two or three times and just leave it.

Unfortunately, we have never done an intensive Dharmapala practice together. When I practice, if I have time, sometimes I will recite one mala, but not less than 21 times. It's very important to invoke them.

"What Dharmapalas really are is our confidence. They support our confidence to be able to reach out and help others. In fact, if we lack confidence, Dharmapalas have a way of subtly communicating with us to bring our confidence back. Confidence is the right way of respecting the teachings, the right way of benefiting people. That is the confidence it will bring up in us." - H.E. Shenpen Dawa Rinpoche

In fact, Dharmapala is the subtle communication of the Buddha in the sambhogakaya realm in which we have developed the fine perception of seeing them, so if you see the form of the Dharmapala, you have also seen the form of the Buddha in the Dharmakaya realm. Dharmapalas are the subtle communications between these two levels.

Dharmapalas will manifest in an ordinary way because our understanding is ordinary, but when we purify our perception, they manifest in an extraordinary way. It depends on our perception. Dharmapalas are the real communication of a subtle body, and through them we can experience our subtle body in a way that we have never experienced before.

Through the Dharmapala, we can experience the subtle body immediately in our everyday situations. So these two practices, Shenpa and Ma Za Dor Sum, are important. The third Dharmapala is optional, and it is that of my protectress, Kong Jhyo. When I was young she saved me many times from death.

I was very naughty when I was young, and I gave my parents a lot of problems. My Protectress, Kongsen Denma, came to me several times and saved me. I've seen her several times from childhood to adulthood, and whenever I have a problem, she always comes up.

Rinpoche, my father, would always say: "Don't forget to appease her, and don't forget to always make offerings to her." But in spite of that, I've always been more involved with protectors like Shenpa. Somehow, I never include her in my practice. It's just recently that things have been pointing out that she is the real one I should be concerned with, so I have been taking more interest in doing her practice. She is my birth goddess.

I was born in Kongbo, and she became my Protectress. So this practice is optional. If you do do that practice, she will create more favorable circumstances for me to be able to come and help you all more fully. Also, she will create a situation where you will find time to practice as well.

You have this practice, it starts with Kay Sha Shu Pa Ja Jung Pa Zon Zhu Sho Shu Kay Su Yidam Tum Mo Che. I will give you all the oral transmissions straight away, so you'll have that. Normally, when you are doing a Tsog puja or a Dharmapala practice as a group, it is good to do this practice of Kongsen Denma. It's not something you have to do every day. It is good to do it collectively as a group.

As I said, in my own experience, she has really come and helped me many times. Normally, as far as your daily practice goes, if you have a Dharmapala initiation it is good to do the practice. Why? Because it opens your confidence. Also, your confidence is opened when you are able to relate to the Sambhogakaya wisdom body of these deities. These Dharmapalas are the Protectors of the Dharmakaya buddhas that are in the active field - not in the depth of meditation.

Protectors are willing to show their divine form to you, and will show it to you in a way that you can relate to, but they remain behind because we are not subtle enough, and we don't realize it, and we don't evoke them enough. But somehow, when the time of need arises, these Protectors and Protectresses will come and help.

In the Nyingma lineage, and in the whole Buddhadharma, one of the most complex things to explain is the Dharmapalas. The reason for this is because we must be spoken to on our individual levels of realization; otherwise, it becomes a gross fabrication of a very, very subtle complex.

The explanation can also be very difficult and terrifying, because the Dharmapalas arise from the vapors of our blood. There are so many levels of Protectors: there are local palas, Dharmapalas, wisdom Protectors, there is a whole hierarchy of Protectors. It is like a comprehensive government of Dharmapalas.

If you understand the Dharmapala practice, you understand the working mind of the Buddhas. The Dharmapalas are the main working force of all the Buddhas, because they communicate the process of our mind. If there is an enemy, what is the enemy? How should we view the enemy? If there is something harming us, how do we defeat it? It is important to do the Dharmapala practice at the beginning and end of each empowerment or wang, and if you are doing a retreat, you must also begin and end with a Dharmapala practice.

There is no time that you can ever exclude these wisdom beings. The Dharmapala initiation is called "Tsogmay Tsogthig" which means "empowerment giving you the life force of the protectors." Once you have received the initiation, you must do the practice every day or they will harm you. It's a commitment, a very serious contract.

This empowerment will explain exactly what the Protectors are, and how they dwell in our system and energize you. A general Dharmapala practice you can do as a group, even if you haven't had the initiation, is the Tsomig Tsogthig. It's a special transmission which I don't think is being given, unless you are a tulku or really committed to spending the rest of your life in practice. It is a very difficult and risky transmission to give, and it has a very heavy samaya.

So those are the three Dharmapala practices I recommend: Shenpa, the three deities and Kongsen Denma. After that, if there are other Protectors you wish to include, then include them, but these three are the root Protectors in your practice. The "Dam Chen Chi Tor" practice contains the entire magnitude of the Protectors, and is a complete Protector prayer for all lineages.