The 8 Principal Dharmapala, Begtse (Part 8)

Dharma Protector prayer day according to the Tibetan month calendar and the Dharma Protectors prayer day is to be done on the 29th of the Tibetan lunar month calendar, and this is also to be known as the 'Dharmapala' day. 

There are certain days are considered auspicious day for certain practices, and on these particular days of the practices,  the effects of positive or negative actions are multiplied 100 times. 

From their looks you might think they are evils and the demonic terrifying appeances. But Dharmapalas are wrathful bodhisattvas who protect Buddhists and the Dharma. Their terrifying appearance is meant to frighten forces of evil. The eight Dharmapalas listed blow are considered the principal Dharmapalas.

Below is the most interesting legendary of a newly converted Dharmapala by our well known the 3rd Dalai Lama in 16 century ago.

Begtse is a war god who emerged in the 16th century, making him the most recent dharmapala. His legend is woven together with Tibetan history:

Sonam Gyatso, the Third Dalai Lama, was called from Tibet to Mongolia to convert the warlord Altan Khan to Buddhism. Begtse confronted the Dalai Lama to stop him. But the Dalai Lama transformed himself into the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. 

Witnessing this miracle, Begtse became a Buddhist and a protector of the Dharma. In Tibetan art, Begtse wears armor and Mongolian boots. Often he has a sword in one hand and an enemy's heart in the other.

* Footnote - For illustrations and references only.
Important note not to be taken lightly.
Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Dharmapala practices! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Dharmapalas, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain and sure that bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind. 
It is absolutely necessary to have the pure motivation and to know that Dharmapala practice is not carried out to increase one’s own power and profit. Negative intentions of any kind may not be.

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