Tutelary Dieties

I didn't know even what this name meant until I met my first Tibetan Lamas after age 32. However, I experienced them my whole life growing up and was terrorized by what happened to people around me who treated me badly. It wasn't that people who were bad to me didn't deserve what happened to them. To my American sensibilities it wasn't polite. However, tutelary dieties, I found have very strict rules, sort of like spiritual and physical soldiers combined in one very spiritually and physically ethical system. I just didn't understand the system yet. When it was finally explained to me it went something like this:

The lamas said, "Tutelary dieties protect Tulkus who don't know they are tulkus until the tulku realizes what he or she is by age 40 usually at the latest. They protect the "living Buddha" until the living Buddha becomes self aware in that specific lifetime."

After I learned this and was told I had to protect the innocent ignorant beings around me from the horrendous karma of doing bad things to me, I finally had peace about the whole thing. It is sort of realizing that one has a spiritual Army. For a Christian (I was raised a Christian) It is like having a personal ongoing experience with Archangel Michael and his band protecting one every day. In point of fact, Archangel Michael and his band visited me when I was about 2 years old at Christmas and by their presence demonstrated they would protect me throughout my life. And they have. Even though as I grew older I couldn't see Michael's face anymore, I still can see his lifesize blue oval of light. I this way I recognize his presence and that he is there to protect me from some situation.

So, to see the Tibetan Tutelary dieties like Archangel Michael and his band of Archangels is very useful to those of us on the spiritual path of becoming a Good Christian or realizing that one is a Tulku. For without spiritual protection no one becomes enlightened or makes it directly to heaven. Heaven comes through Grace. Grace come from someone (including you) invoking God's angels to protect you from spiritual and physical harm.

note: When I finished this article I went to the wikipedia article on Archangel Michael. I found it very useful and informative so here it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archangel