Dorje Shugden (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན།) is the principal Dharma Protector relied upon at Segyu Gaden Phodrang Monastery, held inseparably from the Guru Yoga of Je Tsongkhapa in the observance known as the Heart Jewel. The monastery has relied upon the protector since the early period of the practice, and received its close-lineage transmission — the Five Families and the life-entrustment initiation — from His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (1901–1981). It forms part of the daily and annual ritual life of our 130 monks in Boudha, Kathmandu.
The Heart Jewel — the essence of Je Tsongkhapa’s lineage
The essence of Je Tsongkhapa’s lineage is contained in the practice known as the Heart Jewel: the union of the Guru Yoga of Je Tsongkhapa and the practice of his Dharma Protector, Dorje Shugden. This special practice nourishes and protects the practitioner’s spiritual life, enabling the swift attainment of realizations.
The two halves of the practice work together. In the Guru Yoga, the practitioner relies upon Je Tsongkhapa — himself understood as a manifestation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom — to purify negativity, accumulate merit and receive blessings. In the Protector practice, the practitioner relies upon Dorje Shugden to clear away obstacles to that path and to gather the favourable conditions in which realizations can ripen.
At Segyu Monastery this spiritual lifeline is maintained with the same care as the tantric transmissions of Guhyasamaja, Heruka and Yamantaka that the monastery was founded to preserve.
Who is Dorje Shugden?
Dorje Shugden is a Dharma Protector relied upon within the Gelug tradition, and his practice has been maintained for over three hundred and fifty years. Within our tradition he is understood not as a worldly spirit but as an enlightened being who appears in the aspect of a protector in order to guard the purity of Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings.
The incarnation lineage
The line of incarnations associated with Dorje Shugden is traditionally counted through a succession of great masters, scholars and holders of pure monastic discipline, among them the Mahasiddha Virupa, Sakya Pandita, Buton Rinchen Drub, Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen and Panchen Sonam Drakpa.
The immediately preceding birth is that of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen (1619–1656), also known as Ngatrul Drakpa Gyaltsen, a highly regarded master of Drepung Monastery. He was a contemporary of the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682), and both were students of the Fourth Panchen Lama, Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen. It is upon his passing in 1656 that the protector arose in the form in which he is relied upon today.
The masters who transmitted the practice
The close lineage of the practice as Segyu holds it begins with Takphu Pema Vajra (Takpu Dorje Chang, 1876–1935), the Gelug yogi renowned for his pure visions. In a vision of Tuṣita he received the complete cycle of Dorje Shugden and his Five Families, together with the life-entrustment initiation, directly from Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen.
He transmitted this close lineage to his disciple His Holiness Kyabje Pabongkha Rinpoche (1878–1941), who propagated it widely among the lamas, monks and lay practitioners of the great Gelug monasteries. From Pabongkha it passed to His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (1901–1981), who composed Music Delighting the Ocean of Protectors, the extensive text that remains a principal source on the protector and his practice.
It is from His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (1901-1981) that Segyu Gaden Phodrang received the transmission it holds today.
Dorje Shugden practice at Segyu Gaden Phodrang
The protector practice is not an occasional observance here. It is woven into the monastery’s ritual calendar throughout the year, and intensifies during the summer Yarney rains retreat.
- Kangso (བསྐང་གསོ།) — the fulfilment offering. The Great Kangso is the monastery’s most extensive protector ritual: several days of fulfilment offerings made to the Dharma Protectors, restoring and renewing the bond between practitioner and protector.
- Serkyem — the golden drink offering. One of the most recognisable of all protector practices, the serkyem is a powerful extended offering made to request swift assistance. It can be requested as a special puja for a specific purpose or person.
- Ratna Shugden in the Yang-drub. During the great wealth-increasing puja, Ratna Shugden is invoked together with White Mahakala, Vaishravana and White Dzambhala for the removal of financial obstacles and the increase of both seen and unseen resources.
- Daily and monthly recitation. The protector prayers form part of the ongoing monthly puja cycle carried out by the monastic community.
Dorje Shugden International Day — 24 August
Each year on 24 August, monasteries, centres and practitioners around the world observe Dorje Shugden International Day with prayer festivals and extended offerings. Segyu Gaden Phodrang joins that worldwide observance.
The date was set by His Holiness the 101st Gaden Tripa, Jetsun Lungrik Namgyal. Its significance lies in the number: the day (24) together with the month (8) makes 32 — the number of deities of Guhyasamāja’s mandala, and of the deities surrounding the protector himself.
In 2026 the day falls within the monastery’s Yarney retreat, in the middle of an unusually rich sequence of protector practice:
| Date (2026) | Observance |
|---|---|
| 21 August | Rabney concluding rites, with the Protectors’ Puja (Kangso) |
| 23–25 August | Great Yang-drub wealth-increasing puja — including Ratna Shugden |
| 24 August | Dorje Shugden International Day |
| 26–29 August | Great Kangso preparations |
| 30 August – 3 September | Great Kangso — four days of fulfilment offerings to the Dharma Protectors |
At Segyu this year
The monastery marks the day with a special Oral Melody Kangso dedicated to Dorje Shugden, concluding with a Hundred Thousand Tsog Offering — offerings of flowers, butter lamps and lights made on behalf of all who request them.
Dedications are welcome for yourself or for those you name, living or departed, and for animals in your care. To request one, please contact the monastery or make an offering.
Our position
Segyu Gaden Phodrang continues the practice of Dorje Shugden as it was received: from Je Tsongkhapa’s tantric lineage through the masters of our tradition, and from our own teachers to the monks who hold it today. We are aware that this practice has been the subject of dispute within the wider Tibetan Buddhist community since the 1990s, and that some institutions have set it aside.
Our own position is a simple one. We received these transmissions from our lineage masters together with the instruction to maintain them purely and without alteration, and that is what this monastery exists to do. We hold no quarrel with those who practise differently, and we extend respect to all schools and traditions of the Buddhadharma. We ask only the same freedom that we gladly extend to others: to preserve, in our own house, the practice entrusted to us.
Visitors of every background are welcome here. Whatever your own tradition or view, you will be received with courtesy — please see our visitor guidelines before coming.
Sponsor a protector puja
Offerings from devotees allow these rituals to continue and support the 130 young monks who perform them. Every offering, of any size, is dedicated by name during the puja.
- Request a Serkyem offering — a golden drink offering to the Dharma Protector, made on your behalf or for someone you name.
- Sponsor the monthly protector pujas — support the ongoing ritual cycle carried out by the monastic community.
- Make an offering to the Great Kangso — contribute to the year’s most extensive fulfilment offering during the Yarney retreat.
- Make a general offering — support the monastery, its monks and its practices wherever the need is greatest.
To request a specific prayer, dedication or puja, or to ask about the practice, please contact the monastery.