Previous Incarnations
According to his adherents, Dorje Shugden is the current incarnation in a lineage of enlightened Masters. The lineage of Dorje Shugden's previous lives includes Buddha Manjushri, Mahasiddha Biwawa or Virupa, Sakya Pandita, Butön Rinchen Drub, Duldzin Dragpa Gyaltsän, and Panchen Sönam Dragpa.
Dorje Shugden is said to have appeared in his current form as the reincarnation of a Buddhist Teacher in the Gelugpa Tradition named Ngatrul (Tulku) Dragpa Gyaltsen, the reincarnation of Panchen Sonam Dragpa. Dragpa Gyaltsen was a highly regarded teacher at the same time as the Fifth Dalai Lama, the former held by some in even higher regard than the latter.
Dorje Shugden is considered by some Gelugpa practitioners to be an emanation of Buddha Manjushri: "Because the lamas in Drakpa Gyaltsen's lineage of incarnations are manifestations of the wisdom Buddha Manjusri, and because Drakpa Gyaltsen appeared in the form of Dorje Shugden, we believe without doubt that the very nature of Dorje Shugden is that of a wisdom Buddha." This understanding is also based on the commentary to Dorje Shugden by Trijang Rinpoche:
his great guardian of the teachings is well known to be the precious supreme emanation from Drepung monastery's upper house, Dragpa Gyaltsen, arising in a wrathful aspect. The proof is unmistaken. Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, as is taught in the lineage, was the final birth in a reincarnation lineage that included the Mahasiddha Birwawa, the great Kashmiri Pandit Shakya Shri, the omniscient Buton, Duldzin Dragpa Gyaltsen, Panchen Sonam Dragpa, and so forth; this is proven by valid scriptural quotation and reasoning. These great beings, from a definitive point of view, were already fully enlightened, and even to common appearances, every one of them was a holy being that attained high states of realization.
Also Ngulchu Dharmabhadra (1772–1851), a Mahamudra lineage Guru, identified Dorje Shugden as having arisen from the continuum of great beings that includes Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen, Panchen Sonam Drakpa and Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen.
Read more about this topic: Dorje Shugden, Origin Story
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