Dearest Friends @ CAS,     HH the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa - Urgyen Thrinley Dorje ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   We would be wicked not to share with you all, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa's account of Lord Guan Yu, the Chinese red-faced God of War, as He recounted to Venerable Hai Tao. Venerable Hai Tao, too, offers detailed recounts of the arising of this great protector of the Dharma.    Venerable Hai Tao heads one of Taiwan's largest Buddhist organisations ( Buddhist Life Mission - "Sheng Ming Xie Hui" ) spanning a Buddhist TV broadcasting station, hundreds of Buddhist centres around the world, literally hundreds of thousands of high-quality Buddhist DVD and CD productions and publications amongst such great holy works. A modern day Bodhisattva in the guise of a Chinese monk, a devoted and worthy student of the Karmapa !!   The Gyalwa Karmapa needs no introduction to the Tibetan Buddhist. The Karmapas are the representative heads of the Kagyu School, is the first incarnated master of Tibet, ordains Je Tsongkhapa ( Found of the Gelugpa School ) and expresses the holy activities of the 1,000 Buddhas of our Fortunate Aeon.      The present Karmapa, Urgyen Thrinley Dorje, is the authentic successor and incarnation of the lineage of the Gyalwa Karmapas, is held in awe for His many secret visions and has escaped from occupied Tibet to join the present Dalai Lama in-exile, where He fords dreadful odds for continuation of the Buddha's holy Dharma.   So, in CASOTAC TV Media's DEMAND TV CHANNEL, we share with you, Ven Hai Tao's recount of what the KARMAPA says of Guan Yu: www.casotac.com   Then, we cannot not remind you of the coming visit of Khenpo Rangdol, Principal of Kagyu College, to Singapore. His programme details remain, again, in www.casotac.com   "KARMAPA CHENNO !!"   bb & CAS in homage   ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________             Guan Yu ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   More on GUAN YU !!   The Dalai Lamas & Guan Yu   The Chinese red-faced God of War - Guan Yu - ( His name in Mandarin Chinese ), has had a long affiliation with the Grand Masters of Tibet.   Perceiving through His supernatural cognition of the Great Ffith Dalai Lama as the human incarnation of Lord Avalokiteshvara, Guan Yu appparently beat the Chinese Emperor by waiting for, to greet the Fifth Dalai Lama just outside the great gates of Beijing almost 300 hundreds ago when the Great Fifth Dalai Lama made His debut visitation into China.    The Emperor, Himself, the "Son of Heaven" and the "Supreme King and Leader of all Humans under Heaven", became, therefore, the second figure to greet His Holiness the 5th Dalai Lama within the gates of Beijing, along with His massive fleets of royal though human attendant courtiers.     It is interesting to remember the present Dalai Lama's ( He is the 14th !! ) candid remarks on how the Great Ffith is a tough leader and unsurpassed accomplished master - found out to be so when They met in divine dreams-visions !!   Of course, the Great Fifth is very well-known for His eclectic approach including establishment of some of Tibet's greatest monastic centres: the Mindroling and the Dzogchen monasteries of the Nyingma school - both of which giving rise to countless Nyingmapa luminaries such as Paltrul Rinpoche and the Mindroling Trichens amongst other such towering spiritual giants. .        The Chinese Buddhist Tradition   In the Chinese Buddhist tradition, Guan Yu, is similarly a familiar protector, known as "Qie Lan Pu Sa" or "Protector-Bodhisattva of the Holy Monasteries", in accordance with the title He received from the Grand Master Zhi Zhe of the Tian Tai School which took the Lotus Sutra as its spiritual anchorage.   Legends, unfailingly heroic and startlingly beautiful, are passed down throughout the centuries in volumes of Chinese classics, songs and plays and right into our present age, devotees abide full trusts in Guan Yu's swift and powerful assistances in impossible situations. The only criteria needed is justice of the cause and faith.    Guan Yu, as a Chief of the Worldly Lords, Himself, holds witness to both the good and the bad.    Terma   The terton, Nyanlung Jigme Phuntsok ( He has offered His termas to the late Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok of Sertha Lharong ), too, has had a fruitful encounter with Guan Yu, after which, Nyanlung Rinpoche retrieved a precious text of puja-offering to Guan Yu.   Cultural relics            Guan Yu is painted in several prized painted scrolls, some of which becoming now China's designated National Treasures in Beijing's "Yong He Gong" ( the Qing Dynastic royal temple ), flanking to the left, while the "King of Dharma", the Divine Protector Nechung Choegyal, flanking to the right of Great Yidams like Guhyasamaja, Heruka and Yamantaka.   THE Ultimate Protector   While our ultimate Protector remain always our Five Precepts of the Lay Buddhist, the few hundreds precepts of the ordained Sangha, the Bodhisattva and Tantric commitments of the initiated, we can be assured of Guan Yu and the great Nechung Choegyal's swift and divine interventions on our spiritual journey, so long as our we hold the Dharma close and dear in our hearts !!