His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Puja Teachings – December 20, 2025

On December 20, 2025, His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche presided over the incomparably wondrous ‘The Great Amitabha Puja of Transferring Consciousness’to perfect completion at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center in Kyoto, Japan. Rinpoche personally practiced Vajra Dharma transmitted by Amitabha— ‘Amitabha’s Dharma of Rapid Attainment of the Pure Land.’ Only the Dharma presider who has attained the most secret ‘Phowa’ is qualified to perform this Dharma. This incomparably wondrous Dharma method has the power to liberate the deceased who have fallen into the Three Evil Realms, freeing them from suffering; beings reborn in the Three Evil Realms can, have the fate to be reborn in the Pure Land at the end of this life. It also purifies the boundless negative karma of those presently living and plants the virtuous fates for rebirth in Amitabha’s Pure Land in future lives.

Rinpoche, with his great compassionate vow power, propagated this incomparably wondrous and precious Dharma over many years, bringing benefit to countless sentient beings. During the puja, the shinobue (Japanese traditional flute) player Mr. Sato Kazuya made offerings with a musical performance; and Tamagaki Souchi, Associate Instructor (Jun-kyōju) of Urasenke, together with her student, Ngan Ting Yu, Host (Teishu) of the Glorious Jewel Tea Hut in Taiwan, made offerings with tea in accordance with the most exalted Japanese tea-offering ceremony (Chado). This marked the first time that offerings of music and the fragrance of tea were made to the Buddha and to the guru within a Tibetan Buddhist Liturgy. It was also the first such convergence in a Tibetan Buddhist puja in Japan, where song, flute music, and tea were united in a shared offering, embodying a rare and harmonious cultural integration.
 
Rinpoche particularly expounded on the extremely secret merits of the ‘Phowa’ within Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism. With boundless compassion, he earnestly and repeatedly exhorted the assembly to adopt a vegetarian diet and abstain from killing, and to recognize the unfailing truth of causes, effects, and karmic retribution. At the same time, he cautioned that the coming year would witness intensified worldly conflicts arising from collective karma. Rinpoche sincerely hoped that everyone would take the Buddha Dharma as their refuge, take refuge, and begin learning Buddhism as early as possible; to cease all the evils and cultivate virtues, thereby reducing obstacles in the year ahead.
 
During the Dharma performance, auspicious signs manifested frequently: the ground shook, miraculous fragrance filled the air, and many attendees felt waves of warmth coursing throughout their bodies. Radiant golden light emanated from Rinpoche’s sacred body and the mandala, while five-colored auspicious clouds and multicolored solar halos appeared in the sky. These myriad inconceivable auspicious signs show the attainment Rinpoche has achieved through his practice and the joyful blessings of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Countless sentient beings were thereby able to be freed from suffering and receive happiness through the guru’s vast and boundless bodhicitta. Attendees in this puja included believers and disciples from Japan, mainland China, Germany, and Taiwan, totaling 163 people.

On December 20, 2025, His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche presided over ‘The Great Amitabha Puja of Transferring Consciousness of Drikung Kagyu’ at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center in Kyoto, Japan. At 9:25 a.m., respectfully led by the dhavja, patākā, monastics, Eight Offering Girls, jeweled sitātapatra, musical instruments, and incense, Rinpoche walked across the flower petal-ladened white carpet adorned by the Eight Auspicious Symbols. The assembly stood solemnly with their hands joined, reverently welcoming Rinpoche to ascend the Dharma throne. Upon stepping onto the mandala, Rinpoche prostrated to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, lit lanterns as offerings to the Buddha, bowed, making prostration with his forehead touching His Holiness’s Dharma throne, and ascended the Dharma throne. After Eight Offering Girls offered the Eight Auspicious Symbols to the guru,  all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,  Rinpoche compassionately bestowed precious Dharma teachings:

Today, I will perform ‘Amitabha’s Dharma of Rapid Attainment of the Pure Land.’ Buddhism was transmitted from India to China, and from China to Japan, where it is known as Mahayana Buddhism. There are three Vehicles in Buddhism: the Hinayana, the Mahayana, and the Vajrayana. When Buddhism was transmitted to China, it was divided into eight schools, one of which is the Pure Land School, this school is also found in Kyoto. In the Ratnakuta Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha referred to the Land of Amitabha as the Pure Land; therefore, the Pure Land School in China specializes in practicing Amitabha. In Exoteric Buddhism, the three most important sutras related to Amitabha are the Amitabha Sutra, the Amitayurdhyana Sutra, and the Infinite Life Sutra. These three sutras are only about Shakyamuni Buddha explaining to believers and practitioners what Amitabha’s Pure Land is like and how to cultivate to be reborn there. However, they do not explain how to transfer sentient beings’ consciousnesses. 

To Transfer Consciousness (Chao-Du) means to help sentient beings transcend from the reincarnation’s sea of suffering; Du means to deliver them to the opposite shore—the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. According to what Shakyamuni Buddha taught in the Amitabha Sutra, Amitabha’s Pure Land is where virtuous men and women who must have no lack of good fortune, merits, causes, and conditions in this very lifetime and who vow to seek rebirth there, will have their consciousness received and guided by Amitabha’s Nirmanakaya(Puja Teachings Index 09) at the end of this life. Upon arriving in the Pure Land, they are born within lotuses; each day, at a certain time, the lotuses will bloom, enabling them to listen to the teachings of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the propagation of the Buddha Dharma. The benefit of being born in Amitabha’s Pure Land is that they will no longer return to the cycle of reincarnation and will not retrogress in their practice. However, from being born in Amitabha’s Pure Land to attaining Buddhahood—seeing Amitabha’s Dharmakaya (Dharma-body) when the lotus blooms—requires a very long period of time. Therefore, within the Vajrayana, and specifically in Tibetan Buddhism, there exists a special Dharma known as ‘Amitabha’s Dharma of Rapid Attainment of the Pure Land.’ This Dharma was personally transmitted by Amitabha to Padmasambhava and then transmitted down by Padmasambhava. This Dharma primarily helps the deceased who, in this life and in past lives, did not practice the Buddha Dharma and were not reborn in Amitabha’s Pure Land. Yet on this occasion, someone else implores to transfer their consciousness on their behalf through his will and vow power.  

In Tibetan Buddhism, only practitioners who have attained the level of a Rinpoche can perform this Dharma, and they must have attained‘Phowa.’ ‘Phowa’ is Amitabha’s most secret Dharma, which can immediately transfer the consciousness of the deceased to Amitabha’s Pure Land either before or after death in this very lifetime. Without this Dharma, the Dharma text cannot be performed, and performing it would be useless.

This Dharma was transmitted to me by my guru,  His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang. In Taiwan, I have consecutively held ‘the Great Amitabha Puja of Transferring Consciousness’ for sixteen years, attended by twenty thousand people each year, totaling about three hundred and twenty thousand attendees. The attendees’karmic creditors from previous lifetimes have received consciousness-transference through my imploration to Amitabha.

However, over the past eight years, while I was constructing the Monastery in Taiwan, I temporarily stopped holding this puja because the grand puja requires significant time, energy, and funds. In the past, when I held the Grand Puja of Consciousness Transference, I never charged attendees; everyone could attend free of charge. My disciples and I covered the cost of preparing the mandala. Currently, to hold a puja for 20,000 people in Taiwan costs over 20,000,000 NTD. Since last year, my Monastery in Taiwan has resumed holding this puja because many sentient beings need the help from this Dharma; I have also presided over this Dharma in Japan two or three times. As it is the end of the year, I preside over this Dharma to help the locality of Japan and its believers, to transfer the consciousness of the meat you have consumed this year, the sentient beings you have killed, as well as your ancestors. 
 
So what exactly is consciousness-transference? None of the other religions in the world addresses the issue of consciousness-transference; only Buddhism does. Consciousness-transference means to hope that those sentient beings related to you can be liberated from the ocean of suffering. Once they have been liberated from the sea of suffering, be it your ancestors, people related to you, including animals, because they cease to suffer, you will then find peace and joy, and the obstacles in this life will decrease. Therefore, those who pray to be reborn in the Pure Land, the Land of Buddha Amitabha, must become vegetarian and cease to consume the meat of sentient beings; otherwise, they will continue to reincarnate. For some people, being a vegetarian is very difficult. However, I have been a vegetarian since I was 32, and I am 78 now, and can still handle many matters, ranging from performing Dharma l and the many affairs at my company. Furthermore, since I became a vegetarian, many illnesses have stopped occurring for me. 
 
Today, I preside over the Amitabha Buddha puja for you all, not so that you may all become rich next year, but in the hope of helping you. Upon properly transferring the consciousness of your family members, friends, and ancestors, should you determine to learn Buddhism in the next year, difficulties and obstacles will decrease. The following year will not be a good one; it will be a year of blazing fire, meaning the world will be in intense conflict. I hope that, having attended this puja, you will not have the chance to be entangled in malicious shared karma. Therefore, for those who attend this puja but continue to kill sentient beings and eat meat, there is a chance that you will get entangled; should you start a vegetarian diet, the possibility of being dragged into malicious shared karma will decrease relatively. 

Now I will begin practicing the Dharma. While Rinpoche was performing the Dharma, wafts of fragrances emerged, rich with evolving notes, sometimes a floral scent, and sometimes it became the aroma of sandalwood. 
 
What I just recited is taking refuge under the Buddha, the Dharma, and the guru. The taking refuge mentioned here is different; the power and vows of my taking refuge will never withdraw, even when sentient beings have all attained Buddhahood. The second part is the motivation: the hope that sentient beings who have fallen into samsara, bound by the iron chains of suffering, may be relieved of suffering and liberated through the practice of this Dharma. The presiding practitioner must generate the Bodhicitta of action, and the attendees must generate the compassionate heart. 
 
The paragraph we just recited introduced the palace in Amitabha’s Pure Land, along with its incomparably wondrous scenery and phenomena. The following is an introduction to Amitabha Buddha, Bodhisattva Avaklokiteshvara, and Bodhisattva Vajrapani. 
 
Next came the Mandala Offering Liturgy—the monastics and the Eight Offering Girls represented sentient beings offering to the guru and various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. 

What I just recited were verses in praise of Amitabha Buddha’s merits, and one of the four sentences mentions that if one often recites the sacred name of Amitabha Buddha, one can eliminate ‘untimely deaths, ’which includes suicide, accidental death, or death by seeing the wrong doctor. As long as every thought in your heart is of Amitabha Buddha, you shall eliminate all kinds of obstacles in this world. If you can take refuge, you will attain eternal and frequent happiness. You would find it very difficult if one asks you to take refuge now because you think that after taking refuge, you will be prohibited from doing this or that. But many actions should be avoided from the onset, and taking refuge to learn Buddhism is an incredibly important matter. We should perpetually, eternally be reverent and give praise to Amitabha Buddha. 

Rinpoche led the assembly in reciting the Amitabha Buddha’s heart mantra for a long duration. Rinpoche continued to perform the Dharma and expounded that what we had just recited was an introduction to the Amitabha Buddha, the sacred Western Trinity, the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, their appearances and Dharmakayas, and, next, offerings. Without making offerings, one has no good fortune to receive any Buddha Dharma, so the practicing guru represents sentient beings to make continual offerings, so that the sentient beings may have sufficient good fortune to receive the Dharma performed by the guru, which transfers them to Amitabha’s Pure Land. 
 
The prior section is all offerings, and next, the guru will perform an empowerment. Why perform empowerment? Because the guru’s body is still that of a human being, when bestowing empowerment upon sentient beings, one requires a pure Dharmakaya; thus, one practices empowerment to transform an ordinary human’s body into a clear and pure Dharmakaya to help sentient beings. In the process of performing the Dharma, Rinpoche manifested the solemn and incomparably wondrous appearance of fury. After performing the Dharma, Rinpoche expounded that the empowerment section not only empowered oneself but also bestowed an empowerment upon the attendees of the puja, as well as all the formless sentient beings who came to receive consciousness-transference. 
 
Following, there was an offering of song from the Eight Offering Girls, the Tea Offering, the Food Offering, and the Tsok Liturgy. Simultaneously, there was the offering of the flute performance, and the highest and most revered ceremony in Japanese tea culture (Chadō)—the tea offering ceremony to Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche and the various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. 

Rinpoche instructed the translating disciple to introduce the offering ceremony today, first in Chinese, then in Japanese, to the local believers:
 
The Founding Abbot Guru of the Glorious Jewel Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, has expounded that the fastest way of accumulating good fortune is through making offerings. Today, at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center, because of Rinpoche’s incredible, compassionate vow power, we welcome the incomparably wondrous cultural fate. The shinobue, an ancient traditional Japanese instrument, and the century-old tea tradition of the Urasenke School will, for the first time, follow the liturgies of Tibetan Buddhism by offering melodies and the fragrance of tea to the Buddha and the guru. This is the first encounter among the three elements in Japan and in a Tibetan Buddhist puja, a union of cultures through wholehearted dedication. 

Following is the offering of shinobue. The offering was made by one of the most representative contemporary shinobue performers in Japan, Mr. Sato Kazuya, with a clear, tranquil, and spiritual music, presented in front of the Buddha and His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche; this offering was especially precious.
 
When the shinobue performer, Mr. Sato Kazuya, made an offering with shinobue, he raised it in his hands high and offered his most sincere and reverent prostrations to His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. Later, he began to play the shinobue gently and slowly. The sound was pure, elegant, and far-reaching, washing away the dust from the human heart. Within its simplicity lay elegance; the pure shinobue tones flowed melodiously and resonated, filling the air, as if dissolving into the boundless void. Abiding in deep chanding (Puja Teachings Index 6), Rinpoche received the music offering of shinobue. At this moment, the assembly was all profoundly moved, choked with emotion, and brought to tears, together witnessing this incomparable wondrousness.
 
Following, Rinpoche instructed the tea-offering liturgy, starting with the offering of Tibetan tea. 

The translating disciple next explained: ‘Following is the incomparably wondrous tea offering. Tamagaki Souchi, Associate Instructor (Jun-kyōju) of Urasenke, together with her student, Ngan Ting Yu, Host (Teishu) of the Glorious Jewel Tea Hut in Taiwan, will make offerings with tea in accordance with the most exalted Japanese tea-offering ceremony (Chado). The teabowl (chawan) used today is the most venerable Tenmoku teabowl (chawan), and it is from Tankosha, symbolizing the highest respect. Offering tea before the Buddha with a pure and sincere heart is a precious meeting of Japanese tea-ceremony(Chado) and Tibetan Buddhism.’

Before making tea offerings, Tamagaki Souchi, Associate Instructor (Jun-kyōju), progressed to the Temae ceremony of Urasenke, gathering body and mind in focused presence. During the process of Temae, every movement was simple, pure, and solemn. In silence, the offering was made with complete devotion of body and mind. Thereafter, Tamagaki Souchi, Associate Instructor (Jun-kyōju), followed the Urasenke tea-offering ceremony, with utmost sincerity, she offered the tea on the mandala of Amitabha Buddha; and with extreme reverence, placed the tea upon His Holiness’s Dharma throne; and with incomparable heart of reverence, offered the tea upon Rinpoche’s Dharma throne. As the ceremony was perfected, Tamagaki Souchi, Associate Instructor (Jun-kyōju), slowly withdrew in a calm and solemn posture, fully expressing the way of the tea-offering ceremony (Chado) — harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility.
 
Next, it was the distribution of offerings. Participants who attended the puja received an offering that was blessed by Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, as well as a rare and incomparably wondrous virtuous fate to eat together with the yidam and the guru during the puja.  
 
Rinpoche began to perform the Dharma of consciousness-transference. During the process of performing the Dharma, Rinpoche instructed the attendees to recite the names of the deceased multiple times to help them. When Rinpoche began to transfer consciousness, the suffering sentient beings who awaited the transference came in droves, waves of cold wind were immediately felt at the site, and the sky suddenly grew dark.
 
Rinpoche then immediately instructed a monastic disciple to hold the DVD of the transference list and kneel in front of the mandala, and instructed the attendees to stand up with their palms joined, representing the deceased to plead. Following, Rinpoche instructed the participants to follow and recite: ‘In the bardo, facing the terrifying Yama’s gate, Tormented by afflictions and suffering, Wandering in a desolate state, Praying the power of maitrī and karuṇā come to rescue and protect.’After reciting three times, Rinpoche again instructed every participant to represent the deceased to prostrate or make a bow. 
 
After performing the Dharma of transferring consciousness to perfect completion, Rinpoche and all the holy statues on the mandala radiated brilliant light; the entire venue appeared strikingly bright, and the air also became cool and pleasant, with auspicious signs of harmony manifested everywhere. The assembly was filled with Dharma joy.
 
Later, after Rinpoche led the disciples to practice the Dharma Protector Achi Liturgy, he then personally performed the furious appearance of Dharma Protector Achi and instructed the monastic disciple to recite the Long Life Prayer. Lastly, Rinpoche led the assembly to recite the Aspiration Prayer for Rebirth in Amitabha’s Pure Land of Utmost Bliss. Rinpoche’s compassionate Dharma voice was deep and heartfelt; the sound waves vibrated and echoed throughout the void, deeply moving the entire assembly to tears.
 
Rinpoche expounded: I will give another piece of advice to the Japanese believers — it is best not to eat meat, if you are worried about getting sick or insufficient nutrients and continue to eat meat, it would, on the contrary, harm yourself. Many disbelieve the existence of reincarnation, nor believe that eating meat will fall into the Three Evil Realms. However, from my many years of practice and experience in helping to transfer the consciousness of sentient beings, I have seen many who have eaten meat in this life suffered very much before they passed away.  Meat, originally, is not something humans are meant to eat. Many medical professionals and scientists now proved that humans shouldn’t eat meat; but because of driven greed for appetite pleasure and creates many reasons to earn money, therefore, continuously harming the sentient beings. Having war on Earth is because humans kill sentient beings, so they come back for revenge.  
 
Since you possess the good fortune, merits, causes, and conditions to come to participate in this incomparably wondrous puja, it means that you believe in Buddha; but it’s a pity that no one teaches you, and it’s also unfortunate that you don’t trust what others teach you; what you believe is that you are able to obtain things. Today, the deceased you want to help has already received the help; however, Buddha teaches us to be compassionate, refrain from killing, and so on. Why aren’t you willing to listen? Why don’t you take refuge with Buddha to learn Buddhism sooner?   
 
Today, it is not because you attend the puja so  I admonish everyone. Because I ate meat before I was 30, but since I have seen many things, I know that the matters Buddha expounded and their words spoken are all correct. Buddha has never lied to us. Therefore, I hope everybody will be able to pass through the coming year smoothly. Because next year will not be a good one, and we must prepare in advance. First, stop our own evils and the virtues will be able to accumulate immediately; next year, it will be likely to be drawn into unfavorable circumstances. That will be all for today.
 
The puja came to perfection, the assembly showed their gratitude to His Eminence Rinpoche Dorjee Rinpoche’s compassionate performance of the Dharma and the incomparably wondrous teachings which benefit boundless sentient beings. The assembly stood up to reverently see off His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche to descend from the Dharma throne. At this moment, the sky appeared colorful with a halo around the sun and five-color auspicious clouds, which were extremely incomparably wondrous auspicious signs. Rinpoche, with the pure nectar Dharma speech and the mighty power of cultivation and merit, ​​tirelessly performed the Dharma to liberate sentient beings from suffering, attracting (Puja teachings index 22) and benefiting vast, boundless sentient beings. Various heavens and Bodhisattvas also came to show reverence and praise!

After the puja has went to perfect completion, a radiant multicolored halo around the sun and five-colored auspicious clouds manifested in the sky.

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Updated on December 26, 2025