1307：Causes, Effects, and Karma

Prostrations to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, Dharma Protector Achi, the Lineage gurus, and the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Greetings, fellow believers and Dharma brothers, I am Chen Hui Mei of Group Two, and my Dharma name is Hui Le Drolma. I am grateful to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche for bestowing me the opportunity to hereby appreciate the guru, praise the guru, and repent openly.
 
I am a nurse working in the hospital’s examination room. In 2011, while at work, I heard Dharma brother Zhang of Group Seven praising the guru, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, sharing that five years earlier, his wife, Dharma brother Zeng of Group One, had a 1.2-centimeter cerebral aneurysm in the language area of her left brain. She lay in bed every day, with her memory severely deteriorated and her speech ability seriously impaired; she was unable to express complete sentences, and even unable to speak. At that time, they had already immigrated to the United States, and the doctors there advised against surgery. She initially could only resign herself to waiting for death. Later, because of obtaining Rinpoche’s help, her illness has not recurred in these past years, and her life has been managed independently and completely normal.

I have seen and heard in the hospital that severe cerebral aneurysms require surgery to have a chance of survival. Even if one survives the operation, some remain bedridden for life, and the more fortunate may have delayed responses, making it remarkably hard to return to normal life and work. I am grateful to Rinpoche for opening the Glorious Jewel Japanese Food Shop for the benefit of sentient beings. At that time, I had no thought of approaching the Buddha Dharma, but I wanted to visit the Shop and, at the same time, to see the current condition of his wife, whom he said had once been seriously ill. When I entered the Shop and saw Dharma brother Zeng, I was startled and simply couldn’t believe that she had once suffered from a cerebral aneurysm.
 
She said that at that time, her elder sister told her that Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche in Taiwan is imbued with compassion, possesses grand vows and great power, and would certainly be able to help her. She developed strong faith in His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche and, astonishingly, traveled with a 1.2 cm cerebral aneurysm on a 14-hour flight. On such a long flight, the low cabin pressure, insufficient blood oxygen inside the body, fluctuations in blood pressure, and changes in intracranial pressure could all have caused the aneurysm to rupture, leaving her in a vegetative state or causing death. However, under Rinpoche’s blessings, this flight was extraordinarily smooth, without any turbulence, and she returned safely and smoothly to Taiwan. They relinquished all they had in the United States, returned to Taiwan to settle, and followed Rinpoche to learn Buddhism. Two years later, magnetic resonance angiography revealed that the aneurysm had shrunk and left no further signs of bleeding, which can be described as a miracle (please refer to Article No. 229 on the Traces of Liberating Beings for details). Hearing the details of how Rinpoche helped her, I felt the incredibility of Buddha Dharma. That Saturday, I brought my husband and child to seek an audience with Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche.

The moment I stepped into the solemn Buddhist Center, I inexplicably felt a sense of ease, as if returning home, and the worries and suffering from work and family that had initially been pressing on my heart loosened a little. I implored Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche to expound on why my daughter’s health had persistently been poor since she was born. I remember Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche instructed at that time, “It was summer when you were pregnant, and you did not pay attention to what you ate. Moreover, during your pregnancy, there were smokers around you, and you did not avoid them.” It’s true. When I was pregnant with my daughter, it was during the hottest months of July and August. Because I feared the heat and craved coolness, I ate ice, mangoes, and so on, with no dietary restraint at all. Additionally, at that time during my pregnancy, the family members of my elder son’s babysitter smoked, and each day when I dropped off and picked up my son, I inhaled secondhand smoke, and truly did not avoid it. Thinking of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s teachings, I couldn’t help but cry. In regret, I said, “My child is suffering greatly.” At that moment, Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche expounded, “The child is not suffering; it is you who are suffering.” Upon hearing this, I cried even more bitterly.

Only then did I truly begin to believe Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. Eventually, someone in this world will understand my suffering. In my family’s eyes, I was a civil servant with a stable income, my husband worked at the Hsinchu Science Park, and we had a house, a car, a son, and so on. But truly, before seeking an audience with Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, I was frequently engulfed in negative emotions. Working in a hospital, having seen so many instances of life and death’s impermanence, I became a bundle of nerves. At the slightest physical abnormality in myself or my family, I would start wondering whether it was a terminal disease, and I was deeply fearful of death. While at work, seeing the patients suffer, I also felt profoundly pained and bewildered. My daughter was sick throughout the four seasons of the year and also had growth retardation. Compared with other children of the same age, she was the shortest and lightest, with her growth curve consistently below the 3rd percentile. Every day at work, I was worried about family matters, and at home, I became so annoyed that I longed to return to work， feeling increasingly sorrowful the more I dwelt on it. At that moment, Rinpoche said, “She’ll be fine when she’s a bit older.” Then and there, this single sentence calmed my mind.

I believed Rinpoche’s words, “She’ll be fine when she’s a bit older.” Starting from the night I sought an audience with Rinpoche, I decided to stop administering Western anti-allergy medicine to my daughter. Miraculously, in the past, as long as I didn’t give my daughter medicine for just two days, her condition would worsen and could even develop into pneumonia. But after seeking an audience with Rinpoche, everything seemed to stabilize. From that day on, my daughter stopped taking Western medicine, her nasal discharge gradually subsided, and, remarkably, she recovered completely within a few days; she no longer had any respiratory tract problems, and her height and weight progressively returned to normal ranges. She is now a first-year university student and has grown taller than I am. I am grateful to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche.
 
Before seeking an audience with Rinpoche, I even mentioned to a Dharma brother that my parents had been selling beef noodles, and I am deeply worried about my father and mother. The Dharma brother said that the best way to be filial to parents is to learn Buddhism. I am grateful to Rinpoche for granting me permission to attend the Sunday pujas that day, and for accepting me as a disciple in July 2011.

Two years after I took refuge, I collided with another motorcycle when I was riding to work. I am grateful to Rinpoche that in my blurred consciousness before being taken to the ambulance, I managed to call Dharma brother Zeng of Group One and tell her that I had a motorcycle accident and was being taken to the hospital. My next memory was hearing someone call out, “Hui Mei, open your mouth, I am giving you a nectar pill to take.” According to Dharma brother Zeng, she searched for a long time in the emergency room, and finally, by following the nameplate at the head of the patient’s bed, she found me, horribly disfigured after the collision. She placed the nectar pill in my mouth and took out a bottle of Bao Yuan Gao, which she always carried. After consulting and obtaining the consent of the medical staff, she applied the entire bottle to my face, badly damaged from the collision. I am grateful to the guru for bestowing the nectar pill. After taking the nectar pill, I began to have fragmented memories (though I still could not maintain consciousness ceaselessly).

At that moment, my husband also hurriedly arrived at the hospital. The doctors and nurses were preparing to wheel me into the operating room. The doctor said, “The CT scan shows severe brain hemorrhage; you must undergo an emergency craniotomy to remove the blood clot.” Upon hearing this, I immediately replied, “I do not want surgery.” It is because I had many years of experience working in the intensive care unit before, and knew that after the brain surgery, even if one survived, it would be as if half a life had been lost. The subsequent rehabilitation would be prolonged and unpredictable. More importantly, I understood that everything I was experiencing was related to the karma I had created in the past.
 
I am grateful to Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche for rescuing me and letting me survive. From sleeping all day and being unable to sit up, I gradually improved to the point of being able to rise from my bed. Without having the brain surgery, I was hospitalized for a total of nine days. The discharge diagnoses the doctor gave me were: “1. traumatic hemorrhage of the left brain； 2. fracture of the left zygomatic bone； and 3. fracture of the left scapula.”

I am grateful to Rinpoche, who, not bearing to see sentient beings in illness and suffering, established the Glorious Jewel Chinese Medicine Clinic. Several days after I was discharged from the hospital, I began taking herbal decoctions at the Glorious Jewel Chinese Medicine Clinic for recuperation. I did not have surgery for the cerebral hemorrhage, and until now, I have no aftereffects such as headache or dizziness. At that time, the plastic surgeon recommended surgery for the facial zygomatic fracture, involving inserting pins through the upper jaw to fix the zygomatic bone, which would cost over one hundred thousand NTD. I didn’t undergo this surgery; I just took herbal medicine from the Glorious Jewel Chinese Medicine Clinic and applied Bao Yuan Gao to the affected area several times a day. Up to now, twelve years have passed, and my face and mouth show none of the crookedness that doctors had predicted, nor do I have any aftereffects on the left side of my face resembling a meteorological observatory. At the time of that motorcycle accident, I had a fracture of my left scapula and could not lift my hands. By relying on soaking and hot compresses with the Gan Lu Tibetan Secret Bath Powder, I was able to work as usual and move freely after one month. I am grateful to Rinpoche!

After being discharged from the hospital after the car accident, I went to the Buddhist Center to deeply thank Rinpoche for letting me endure a lessened effect of heavy karmic retribution. Rinpoche expounded that I was truly destined to die in this accident… Rinpoche also reproached me, saying, “You didn’t make offerings and failed to practice what you were taught.” I repent. Throughout my life, I have been a scheming person; even after learning Buddhism, I continued to be meticulous about everything, making offerings with a reluctant mind. I did not repent, praise the guru, reflect daily on my body, speech, and mind, nor did I apply the Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas to my life. I repent.
 
Next, I will share how the guru helped my father. In 2023, because my father frequently lost consciousness and fainted for no discernible reason, he came to the Buddhist Center to seek an audience with His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. At that time, Rinpoche instructed my father: “At seventy-nine, in whatever you do, your movements should be careful. Do not think you are still young, and you should move more slowly. Moreover, as for the words of the younger generation, you should listen and don’t be too stubborn.” From the day he sought an audience with Rinpoche, my father no longer fainted. After my father’s health improved, however, he gradually forgot the promise he had made before seeking an audience with Rinpoche: “to be a vegetarian from then on.” He also forgot all the reminders Rinpoche had given him. Nine months after seeking an audience with Rinpoche, my father’s condition of losing consciousness and fainting for no discernible reason began again. On one occasion, he even hit his eye during a faint, causing blindness in his right eye. My father attributed all these subsequent conditions to bad luck. But I was deeply distressed. My father did not believe in karma and was unwilling to change, and he could only drift within the cycle of creating karma and enduring its suffering. It is precisely as the guru expounded, reverting to one’s original karma.

My father and mother have been running a beef noodle shop since I was in middle school. Because the noodle business is lucrative, both of my sisters and their families have now all switched careers to selling beef noodles. I also worked full-time at the noodle shop for a year, and I killed countless sentient beings. All of this must be repaid.
 
My mother has been suffering from diabetes for over 30 years, enduring the repetitive cycle of dietary control, blood tests, medication, and various check-ups. She has been immensely miserable; diabetic neuropathy, coupled with years of overworking on selling the beef noodles, often caused her hands and feet to ache and go numb at night, preventing her from sleeping. My mother still does not believe in karma, nor does she realize the need for change, and she remains unwilling to be a vegetarian. 
I repent that I have taken refuge for fourteen years, and personally experienced the incomparable wonder of Buddha Dharma; yet, because I was not earnest enough and did not thoroughly correct myself, I failed to inspire my parents to develop a reverent mind towards Buddha Dharma.

I repent that my family killed animals, causing them suffering and death. I repent that I used to enjoy eating fish eyes, and in January 2022, I underwent cataract surgery on my eyes. In April this year, I unexpectedly discovered that I could not straighten my right arm. After an examination, it was diagnosed as bone spurs and tissue growth in my right elbow joint. The diagnosis from Western medicine is as follows, but I clearly remember that, before taking refuge, I often worked at the noodle shop, where I cut countless duck wings. Having killed so many, I must repay the karma. 

I am grateful for Rinpoche’s rescue, which allowed me to endure a lessened effect of heavy karmic retribution. Despite my eye surgery, I was still able to continue working. The operation left me with severe “dry eye”, and only by taking the premium Glorious Jewel Qinghai Goji Berries daily could I keep the pain from waking me in the middle of the night. I am grateful to Rinpoche for establishing the Glorious Jewel Japanese Food Shop, bringing in high-quality foods. My right arm can no longer straighten, and I accept this as my own karmic retribution. I am grateful to Rinpoche for saving me, allowing me to receive a lessened effect of heavy karmic retribution. I can still make prostrations, perform grand prostrations, and conduct ultrasound examinations at work, continuing to accomplish what I ought to do. When my hands or shoulders ache, applying the “herbal wash” from the Glorious Jewel Chinese Medicine Clinic, along with the Glorious Jewel herbal treatments, can make me relieved. I am grateful to Rinpoche, who, not bearing to see sentient beings in illness and suffering, founded the Glorious Jewel Chinese Medicine Clinic. 

Next, I want to repent openly. I repent for the verbal karma from accumulated past lifetimes and in this lifetime: speaking disrespectfully to others, lying frequently in the past, gossiping about others, stirring the pot, and intentionally or unintentionally hurting people with speech. I’m the kind of person Rinpoche once expounded at the Dharma throne, “Some people cannot recite mantras well when practicing the Four Extraordinary Foundations of Vajrayana Ngondro. This means that their verbal karma is exceptionally heavy, or have even criticized the guru.” I was wrong, and I repent. From now on, I will guard my own body, speech, and mind more prudently.

I repent for my past irreverence to the Three Jewels, procrastinating in doing things, not giving top priority to what the guru does, and failing to promptly donate to the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche; I repent. Changing oneself is the most arduous project in the entire universe. Rinpoche knows what kind of virtue I have. I am deeply thankful to Rinpoche for employing diverse approaches to teach me, bless me, and counter my greed, hatred, and ignorance.
I pray for His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s good health, longevity, and auspiciousness; his Dharma lineage spreads eternally.

Respectfully written by disciple Chen Hui Mei, Group Two, 

 on November 2, 2025

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Updated on November 5, 2025