Kuten Lama inaugurates Shar Gaden

Kuten Lama, head of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Cincinnati and a highly respected oracle in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa lineage has recently helped to inaugurate the beautiful new Shar Gaden Monastery in South India.

Shar Gaden was established by devotees of Dorje Shugden, who wished to build their own institution to preserve and spread the practices and teachings which they have been receiving and upholding through the generations for hundreds of years.

Kuten Lama, abbot of Gaden Samdrupling Monastery in Colerain Township, Cincinnati, USA, led a group of a dozen American followers to the dedication ceremony of Shar Gaden. As he is an oracle, who takes possession of Dorje Shugden, he performed an invocation while he was there. Tibetan Buddhists believe that, during the invocation, Dorje Shugden takes over the Kuten Lama’s body and using him to convey enlightened advice and instructions. During the trance, Kuten Lama wielded a sword, symbolizing the “wrathful compassion” of Dorje Shugden, severing ignorance and ego.

Although the practice is ancient, the monks who preserve it are not without modern media knowledge and know-how. The very progressive Shar Gaden Monastery have their own very comprehensive website and a Facebook page, which features photographs of the invocation and blessing ceremony with Kuten Lama. Do visit and support their great work on shargadenpa.org/history or on Facebook (search “Shar Gaden”).