On August 26, 2012, His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche presided over the auspicious Great Indiscriminate Amitabha Puja for Transferring Consciousness of the Drikung Kagyu Order of Tibetan Buddhism for the eighth time at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall. With the blessings of Drikung Kagyu Lord Jigten Sumgon, gurus of all generations of the Drikung Kagyu Order, Three Grace Root Guru His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chungtsang and Dharma Protector Achi, the Puja was held with purity and perfection, with its merits benefiting boundless sentient beings. All the fourfold assembly attending the Puja was filled with Dharma joy.

No media advertisement or promotional poster had been posted for this Great Puja. Just one week before the Puja, Taiwan had been under the impact of two consecutive Typhoons, with one of them landing in the island of Taiwan itself. The climate throughout Taiwan had been very unstable. On the day of the Puja, though the risks associated with the Typhoon had not been completely eliminated, the sky had cleared and the weather was pleasant. More than 21,500 people attended the Puja, including Khenpo Namdol and Lama Suonam of the Drikung Kagyu Order of Tibetan Buddhism, a Rinpoche and a Lama of the Nyingma Order, and a Geshe and a Lama of the Gelug Order (six of them), as well as 30 ordained practitioners of Exoteric Buddhism. In addition, participants also included disciples and believers who came from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, Japan, and Taiwan. This auspicious Great Indiscriminate Amitabha Puja for Transferring Consciousness was characterized with an all-inclusive participation of the fourfold assembly from both Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism. For this occasion, the President of the Republic of China Mr. Ma Ying-jeou especially presented a basket of flowers and with apothegm that read, “Perfect Merits,” wishing the Eighth Great Indiscriminate Amitabha Puja for Transferring Consciousness of the Drikung Kagyu Order of Tibetan Buddhism to be perfect and auspicious, with its merits benefiting boundless sentient beings.

As usual, no fee was charged for the entrance ticket, liberation for the deceased, lamp-lighting, or mandala-offering during this year’s Puja. Five mandala-offering representatives as well as 2,000 representatives to light the lamps to offer to the Buddha had been randomly selected from all believers by lot at the time of entrance to the Puja. In order to maintain the purity of the Puja, no commercial activities such as charity sales were allowed during the Puja. All funds that were required for the Puja had been shared by members of the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Culture Exchange Association of the Republic of China under the supervision and guidance of His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. No fund was raised from outside; nor were donations accepted. Upon perfect conclusion of the Puja, His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche donated all monetary offerings from the attendees in the amount of NT$6.98 million to the Department of Social Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior as funds for social welfare and charity, extensively creating favorable conditions for those who had participated in the Puja. The process of donation had been witnessed by representatives from the Department of Social Affairs, attorneys, as well as bank representatives.

Since 2005, His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche has presided over the Great Indiscriminate Amitabha Puja for Transferring Consciousness of the Drikung Kagyu Order of Tibetan Buddhism for eight consecutive years, with an aggregate number of nearly 120,000 attendees, which enabled the Drikung Kagyu Order to become widely known by the Taiwanese people. It has not only promoted the Drikung Kagyu Lineage, but also solidified the causes and conditions of carrying on the Drikung Kagyu Dharma Lineage eternally. This Puja has indeed become an auspicious event for the Drikung Kagyu Order.

Before the start of the Puja, a video was played showing a complimentary statement by His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang and the guru-disciple relationship between His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang and His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. In the video, His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang praised Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s achievements and many contributions to the Drikung Kagyu Order, and personally wrote the “Long Life Prayer” for Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. After that, a group of slides were shown about His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang leading Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche to a three-month retreat in the Snow Mountain of Lapchi in Nepal, 4,500 meters above the sea level; upon perfect completion of the retreat, His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang led Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche in performing the fire offering for three consecutive days. In addition, the slides showed that many grand practitioners in the Order praised Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche and gave him blessings. We could clearly see the relationship of lineage between His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang and his mandala-root-disciple Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, as well as Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s attainment of fruition through his genuine cultivation and whole-hearted support for the Order.

At 8:20 a.m., His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche slowly entered the venue of the Puja in an electric car proceeded by prayer flags, incense burner, musical instruments, eight offering girls and jeweled parasol. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche had the Dharma appearance that was stately and dignified, and with the continued resonance of the music proceeding, it brought a far-reaching, profound and thrilling effect on everyone. All attendees remained quiet and reverent with their palms together, standing to welcome His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. Upon stepping onto the mandala, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche made prostrations reverently to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, offered mandalas to the wish-granting-jewel Dharma thrones of His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang and His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chungtsang, lit the lamps to offer to the Buddha and then ascended to the Dharma throne.

Before performing the Dharma, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche gave the participants some precious teaching by explaining about the auspiciousness of Tibetan Buddhism and the Drikung Kagyu Order, the meaning of “indiscriminate” in the Great Indiscriminate Puja, and the importance of having causal conditions. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche also elaborated on the conditions that one must meet in order to be reborn in the Pure Land, as well as the reverence and pure mind that are required to attend the Puja. Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche particularly thanked the participants for coming to attend the Puja in spite of the Typhoon, and remarked that attending the Puja in such a Typhoon climate would allow them to have especially big merits.

During the process of performing the Dharma, Rinche Dorjee Rinpoche used very simple language to explain the ritual and significance of each section of the Dharma, which enabled the attendees to profoundly understand the omnipresent help presented by Buddhism to sentient beings, arousing their reverence for the Dharma. During the Puja, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche not only performed the precious great Amitabha Dharma for Transferring Consciousness, but also led the attendees in reciting the Dharma text of the Buddhist sutras, exalting and making offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and chanting Amitabha’s heart mantra. All this provided a rare and auspicious opportunity for the more than 20,000 attendees to recite the Dharma text, chant the mantras, listen to the eight offering girls singing the song of praise as offering, and receive boundless blessings from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas together. During the Tsok offering, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche even gave them the opportunity to share the food along with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas so that they could accumulate resources and blessed rewards for learning Buddhism.

While performing the ritual to liberate the deceased, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche instructed the attendees to stand up and take three bows to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas at the mandala on behalf of the deceased. More than 20,000 participants rose with their palms together. The whole venue was quiet and solemn, with all participants witnessing Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche compassionately liberating sentient beings with his grand capacity.

After the liberating ritual, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche stepped down the mandala and boarded the electric car to go around the venue proceeded by the eight offering girls. The guru purified and blessed the more than 20,000 attendees in the venue with nectar water, cleansing their body, speech and mind. With the great all-embracing power of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, the participants sat quietly in their seats waiting for their turn in reverence. As Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche was performing the purification ritual, the Kusha-grass in his hand became quite heavy as it absorbed the nectar water. However, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche kept waving the Kusha-grass to spread the nectar water to the attendees, in complete disregard of the fact that he had scoliosis and pain in the right shoulder joint. As he was purifying, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche kept chanting mantras for and blessing the attendees, who in turn gave thanks to Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche with continuous applause for his selfless efforts.

After 20 minutes of purification for the attendees, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche once again stepped onto the mandala and emphasized the conditions required for being reborn in the Pure Land, exhorting the participants to stop doing evil and start doing good and praying for peace and harmony in the world.

Upon perfect conclusion of the Puja at 12:40 p.m., the more than 20,000 attendees all rose to bid farewell reverently to Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. As Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche was leaving by the electric car, he held the prayer beads high in his hand while kept chanting mantras for and giving blessings to the attendees, with his eyes revealing the immense compassion for all sentient beings. The attendees continued to applaud, expressing their gratitude to Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche in unison for quite a few times.

The Great Amitabha Dharma for Transferring Consciousness usually takes a whole day to perform in Tibet. With incredibly great capacity of meditation, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche was able to perfectly perform the Dharma to its completion in just a little more than three hours. Moreover, with his grand merits, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche liberated all sentient beings that had been present during the Puja. The attendees could not help but praising and expressing their gratitude to the guru.

The entire Puja had maintained great order without any chaos, noise, or confusion thanks to the all-embracing power of His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. As a result, all participants had deeply felt the stately auspiciousness of this Great Puja. His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche acted in complete accordance with the Dharma teachings with no consideration for fame or profit for himself. With his great accomplishment in Tantra cultivation, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche has been selflessly promoting Buddhism and benefiting countless sentient beings.

Updated on September 1, 2012