July 23, 2012 was the birthday of the Dharma Lord of the Drikung Kagyu Order- His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, who is the Three Grace Root Guru of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. In order to repay the debt of gratitude of His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang for the teachings, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, with the compassionate permission of His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, specially performed the Amitayus Dharma at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center in Taipei from the 23rd at 10:00 a.m. to the 24th at 10:00 a.m., leading the 1,100 disciples of the Buddhist Center in chanting the heart mantra of the Amitayus for 24 hours without interruption as offering to His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang and as an expression of gratitude for the compassionate blessings of His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang as well as all the gurus that have been in the direct lineage of the Order. During this period, they also prayed for His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang to have eternal presence in the world with perfect Dharma activities. Besides the disciples of the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center, Khenpo Namdol and Lamas Dawang, Tenzin, and Suonam of the Drikung Kagyu Order also participated in this Puja. This was the first time an event of the Drikung Kagyu Order in Taiwan in which more than 1,000 people participated in chanting a particular Yidam’s mantra for 24 consecutive hours without interruption.

Before performing the Dharma, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche stated: The two throne holders of the Drikung Kagyu Order – His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chungtsang and His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang – have spared no effort promoting Buddhism and the Drikung Kagyu Order whole-heartedly and incessantly. It is their blessings and efforts that have made it possible for the Drikung Kagyu Order to prosper again. While speaking of the causal conditions which Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche had in taking refuge under the Three Grace Root Guru – His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, as well as the care and teachings that he had received from His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche choked with emotion a few times and he was beyond words as he remembered the guru’s unlimited grace of benevolence and kindness – the natural expression of his heart-felt gratitude for his guru.

In addition to exalting the efforts of the two Drikung throne holders in promoting the Order, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche also stressed that making offerings to the guru was the fastest way to accumulate blessed rewards. His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang receives offerings from all of us on behalf of the throne holders throughout all generations of the Order, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, which is very beneficial to the continuation of the Dharma lineage. Only when the Dharma has ever-lasting presence in the world can more sentient beings listen to Buddhism, and hence more sentient beings can benefit. So the most auspicious method to make offerings to the guru is the offering with the “Dharma”.

Then, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche performed the consecration ceremony for the one-thousand-hand and one-thousand-eye statue of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and after that, enshrined it at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center.

Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche accepted the imploration of a disciple in enshrining this statue of the Bodhisattva according to their causal conditions, and re-gilded it to restore it to the original condition after Khenpo Namdol had prepared the statue (Zhuangzang). Today is the birthday of His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, who is the emanation of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche is taking this auspicious opportunity as a causal condition to perform the consecration for this statue of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara during this puja, welcoming the one-thousand-hand and one-thousand-eye Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara to be enshrined at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center and praying to the Bodhisattva to bless His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang.

After the consecration, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche began to perform the Amitayus Dharma. Upon perfect completion of this, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche led the 1,011 disciples of the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center in chanting the heart mantra of Amitayus in turn. In the following 24 hours, the sound of chanting of Amitayus heart mantra kept resonating without interruption, so did the thanksgiving and the touching sensation! Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche presided over the Amitayus Puja, led the disciples in chanting the mantra and continued performing the Dharma for 12 consecutive hours in complete disregard of his senior age of 65 as well as the demanding physical efforts that were required to do so.

While His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche was performing the Dharma on the 23rd, a gigantic cloud resembling a flying dragon appeared across the sky. At dawn on the 24th, the chanting of the Amitayus heart mantra continued resonating as an offering to His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang. Soon after sunrise, there emerged rare and brilliant dazzling sunlight, and then a rare red halo could be seen around it. These auspicious signs were confirmation that the Heavenly Dharma protectors were revealing their great admiration for this auspicious Puja, in which Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche showed a heart full of reverent offerings to His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang. It was evidence of the utmost reverence and gratitude of a Vajrayana disciple for his Three Grace Root Guru.

Upon perfect completion of chanting the Amitayus heart mantra on July 24, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche went on to perform the Tsok and Tea-Offering, and the eight offering girls sang the song of offering in front of the mandala. Then, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche performed the Dharma of Protector Achi and led the attendees in chanting the Great Six-Syllable Mantra.

The Amitayus Puja came to a perfect conclusion, as well as the 24-hour continuous chanting of the Amitayus heart mantra! His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, Khenpo Namdol and the Lamas Dawang and Tenzin, as well as the disciples of the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center had chanted the mantra for a total of about 15 million times. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche taught: the significance does not lie in the number of chanting but rather in the fact that you chanted the mantra with a pure thought, so that the pure mind-stream may continue without interruption as described in the Dharma text. Before you attain Buddhahood, the merits from chanting the mantra would be with you life after life. This is the first time that such a Puja has been held with the Drikung Kagyu Order in Taiwan, which is a great origination. Hopefully it will not be the only one, and there will be many such pujas in the future.

Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche emphasized again to the disciples to be grateful, treasure their causal conditions in learning Buddhism, and act in accordance with the guru’s teachings. Indeed Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche has set the best example for them with his natural expression of gratitude for his guru, his tireless efforts in promoting the Dharma Lineage and acts in precise accordance with the teachings of Buddhism. Through that, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche showed the disciples the true meaning of Buddhism, bestowing upon them the most profound and precious teaching.

Updated on August 31, 2012