Dorje Shugden is a miracle worker. If we understand how he works, we can develop unwavering faith. And it is our unwavering faith in him that unlocks his power.

First, he has the power to optimize the ripening of karma for our swiftest possible enlightenment. Sometimes people misunderstand this as he is like some external god who can arrange anything, and so if something bad happens, we think Dorje Shugden is either evil or punishing us. It is impossible for us to experience anything we have not created the karma for. We each have extremely diverse good and bad karma on our mind, and all he can do is work with the karma we have given him. Negative things happen to us because we have negative karma, lots of negative things happen because we have lots of negative karma. But what Dorje Shugden can do is manage the ripening of that karma so that what karma ripens when, in what dosages, and in what order leads us to develop the inner realizations we need when we need them, in what dosages, and in what order for our swiftest possible enlightenment given the karma that we have. The better karma we create for and offer to him, the better material he has to work with. Eventually, the karma we offer becomes purer and purer and we align ourselves more and more with him, and he quite literally builds the pure land around us.

Second, he is a wisdom Buddha that has the power to bless our mind to realize how whatever ripens is exactly perfect for our spiritual development. From its own side, we can say every appearance is neutral – neither good nor bad – it is nothing from its own side. It’s just a mere karmic appearance to mind. Dorje Shugden has the power to bless our mind in such a way that when something we would normally think of as terrible (the ripening of some negative karma) is in fact exactly what we need for our spiritual growth or the fulfillment of some pure wish. He likewise has the same power with the ripening of “good” karma, which if we are honest is sometimes more dangerous to our spiritual development than the ripening of negative karma. The point is, regardless of what appears (what ripens), we are blessed with a special wisdom to see it as “perfect.” If we see it as perfect, then it is not a problem for us. This wisdom quite literally solves all of our “problems.”

He has exactly this same power for helping others we pray for. Others are empty, meaning they too are mere karmic creations of our mind – they are the beings of our karmic dream. What is a prayer? It is a pure wish conjoined with wisdom faith. A pure wish is a spiritual wish for somebody, such as wishing they grow spiritually from some adversity, that they escape from some delusions, that they purify some karma, that they take rebirth in the pure land, that they be led to enlightenment, etc. Faith has three interlocking parts. Admiring faith is able to see a glimpse of purity. Believing faith is a confidence that purity is attainable. Wishing faith is a pure wish to want to attain that purity. Wisdom faith is faith informed by the wisdom realizing emptiness. In reality, prayer is emptiness in compassionate action. Buddhas accomplish all of their good deeds through the power of their prayer. Taken together, this means we can pray pure wishes for others, requesting that Dorje Shugden care for others as he cares for us. It is only our grasping at others as somehow being separate from us that makes it seem like we can’t equally invoke Dorje Shugden for the sake of others.

So how do we access his power? Very simple. Through prayer. His power in our lives is a dependent arising – dependent upon the purity of our wishes, the depth of our faith, and the extent to which we realize emptiness. We first generate pure wishes for ourselves or for others. The purer and stronger then wish, the more powerful our prayers. With deep faith, especially believing faith understanding how Dorje Shugden works his miracles (explained above), we make our prayer, or pure wish, for ourselves or others. As we pray, we recall emptiness – that everything is a construction or imputation of mind. Our karmic dream is infinitely shape-able. These three – pure wish, deep faith, and wisdom – set the prayer in motion, like sending a ship out to sea. We then try maintain the continuum of our prayer in our mind until it is eventually fulfilled. If we never abandon our prayer, it is gurantanteed it will eventually be fulfilled – in this life or in future lives. To accelerate the fulfillment of our prayers, we can add merit (create good karma we offer) and purify negative karma to remove obstacles. We should also, of course, do whatever practical, external things seem appropriate to move things along.

I have been relying upon Dorje Shugden now for 25 years. Quite literally, from the very first day I started relying upon him until today, he has been my best friend, my closest companion, and my spiritual father. I pray that he becomes the same for you.