Transliteration: dpal mgon
<phrase> "Glorious guardian". Translation of the Sanskrit "śhrī nātha". Abbrev. of དཔལ་གྱི་མགོན་པོ་; see མགོན་པོ་ for important notes. 1) In general, an epithet for anyone who has great presence and is a wonderful source of refuge for others. E.g., a very good king who really looks after his people; a great spiritual master who effectively protects and nurtures many people, disciples, etc. 2) Specifically, an epithet of the ཆོས་སྐྱོང་ dharmapālas. This term is used only for the transcendent dharma protectors such as Mahākāla and is not used for worldly dharma protectors or any of the many lesser classes of protector such as སྲུང་མ་ dharma guards, ཞིང་སྐྱོང་ field protectors and so on. E.g., དཔལ་མགོན་མ་ནིང་མགོན་པོ་ཕྱག་བཞི་པ། "Glorious Guardian, Neutral Guardian the four-armed one (followed by a listing of lesser protectors)" which is a epithet of Mahākāla. 3) Used as an epithet of someone who takes charge of a particular situation and works side by side with you to protect that situation. E.g., in supplications to ḍākiṇīs. 4) The name of a རྫོང་ Dzong in Tibet before the occupation by China.
