1340：Appreciation to the Guru’s Boundless Compassion (maitrī and karuṇā) in Transferring My Mother’s Consciousness

Prostrations to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, Dharma Protector Achi, and the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. I am Xu Hui Jia from Group Two, and my Dharma name is Hui Jia Drolma. My husband is Xie Zhi Jian from Group Seven, my daughter is Xie Guan Xuan from Group Two, and my son is Xie Cheng Ye from Group Seven.
 
I am grateful to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche for granting me to hereby praise the guru’s merits, share with you the fate origin of my refuge, and the experience of my mother receiving Rinpoche’s compassionate (maitrī and karuṇā) rescue, and to repent for the faults I have committed.
 
In 2011, the late Dharma brother Wu shared how his mother, suffering a stroke, had received help from His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, and invited me to attend the incomparably wondrous Great Indiscriminate Amitabha Puja for Transferring Consciousness presided over by Rinpoche at the Nangang Exhibition Center. At that time, my mother happened to suffer from severe dizziness for an unknown reason. I wanted to take my mother to attend the Great Puja, so the nine of us—four people from my family, along with my father, mother, aunt, elder sister, and niece—went together to attend the Great Puja that day.
 
As soon as I entered the venue of the Great Puja, I was struck by the golden, resplendent, and solemn mandala. When the Dharma instruments sounded to welcome Rinpoche, my mind instantly became pure. After the Puja, Rinpoche had already painstakingly performed the Dharma for four hours, yet Rinpoche disregarded his own chronic illness of severe S-shaped spinal curvature and the pain in his right shoulder joint, and, with his lean body, waved the large handful of auspicious grass in his hand for purification. A large handful of auspicious grass became exceedingly heavy once soaked with nectar water, yet Rinpoche tirelessly sprinkled it to purify the 20,000 people in attendance, again and again, as if using his entire life to bless everyone. What immense compassion (maitrī and karuṇā) it must take to accomplish this. Everyone could feel Rinpoche’s selfless and egoless devotion, with his every thought always being for sentient beings. In the end, Rinpoche still continued to earnestly and wholeheartedly persuade everyone to become a vegetarian. 

After returning home that day, I had the thought of wanting to continue to hear Rinpoche expounding the Buddha Dharma. At the same time, my husband also said that he wanted to implore for taking refuge. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s compassionate (maitrī and karuṇā) great power of attraction (Puja Teachings Index 22). After attending the Great Puja, my husband and I decided to continue to be vegetarian together with our children, and on April 8, 2012, our whole family took refuge. I am grateful to Rinpoche!
 
Before I took refuge, my mother had already been suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus and liver cirrhosis, and had continuously been taking medication and receiving treatment. Until 2024, when my mother felt a faint, dull pain in her chest, the examination results showed that she had triple-negative breast cancer. The doctor said that this was an invasive breast cancer, and its growth and spread were faster than those of other types of breast cancer. After consulting many doctors, my mother decided to undergo surgery. The surgery went completely smoothly, and my mother also felt that after the breast was removed, the knot in her heart was gone. Because I had once heard Rinpoche expound, while Rinpoche was helping sentient beings on Saturdays, that we should not leave our parents to our siblings, I went to Kaohsiung every week to accompany my mother and praise the traces of the guru rescuing sentient beings.

However, several months after the surgery, my mother began to feel unwell, and she would feel pain in her lumbar spine whenever it moved. I wanted to register to seek an audience with Rinpoche on Saturday, expressing my gratitude and making an offering to Rinpoche. The next day, I called to ask about my mother’s condition. Miraculously, I had not yet registered, but my mother unexpectedly said that she was no longer in pain. I am grateful to Rinpoche!
 
Rinpoche often expounds that although the money we offer has not yet arrived, once the mind of making an offering arises, the blessing power has already arrived. I repeatedly urged my mother to become a vegetarian and also hoped that she could come to seek an audience with Rinpoche, but my mother had very strong opinions of her own. She was unwilling to be a vegetarian and still wanted to continue living her original life. Before long, my mother’s lumbar spine again began to hurt her continuously. My mother and our family members consulted many doctors and underwent every possible medical examination, but no doctor could give my mother a definite answer or a method of treatment.
 
I asked my mother again whether she wanted to seek an audience with Rinpoche, and my mother finally agreed. During the audience with Rinpoche, Rinpoche admonished, ‘Why didn’t you bring her to see me before the surgery? After the surgery, the cancer has spread, and only now do you come to see me. You simply do not believe! You do not believe in the Buddha Dharma. I also had cancer, and I made the cancer disappear by myself, just through practicing Buddhism. If I had not had cancer, I would not have been qualified to scold you today. Now that the surgery has already been done, what are you imploring me to do?’I choked up at that moment, and Rinpoche scolded, ‘Your mother is a mother, so are other people’s mothers not mothers?’ It is perfect that Rinpoche liberates sentient beings; Rinpoche’s every thought is for sentient beings. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s teachings. I repent that my heart held only my mother, and I had never thought of the sentient beings harmed by my mother; I was selfish and self-interested, and did not believe in karma, which was why my mother did not believe either. Then Rinpoche expounded, ‘There is someone in your family who will slander the Buddha. Those who slander the Buddha will fall into Hell.’ Rinpoche was truly extraordinary, and immediately pointed out the situation in our family. At that moment, I promptly knew in my heart that Rinpoche was referring to my younger brother.

I repent that every time I shared with my family when I returned home, I would always speak at great length without caring about my family members’feelings, simply being eager for them to immediately accept my ideas. Because of my self-righteousness, I instead caused my family members to become resentful, and also caused my younger brother to slander the Buddha. Rinpoche once expounded, ‘The one who is at fault is the person who causes others to slander the Buddha. It does not matter if family members do not believe, but you do not let them slander the Buddha.’ Rinpoche deeply feared that any sentient being would fall into the Three Evil Realms. I repent for acting willfully and recklessly, without deeply believing in fate and karma. I am grateful to Rinpoche for teaching me and awakening me sharply, which enabled me to let go of my attachments. I apologized to my younger brother and said to him, ‘My past behavior must have made you very uncomfortable. I did not respect you, and only wanted to do what I wanted to do. I am deeply sorry.’
 
For all subsequent care and medical treatment for my mother, I respected the decisions of my mother and other family members. My mother decided to receive hospice care at home and also signed a do-not-resuscitate order. At the beginning, my mother still had the strength to express her own opinions; then later, my mother stopped speaking, and in the end, she lay in bed without even opening her eyes. At first, my mother’s brows were tightly furrowed. I am grateful to the group leader for reminding me that I could read Rinpoche’s book, Happiness and Suffering, to my mother. My mother was suffering greatly at that time and could not accept why things had become this way. Yet Happiness and Suffering made my mother understand where suffering comes from and how to face it. Every time I returned home, I would read Happiness and Suffering to my mother. Gradually, the furrows in my mother’s brow relaxed, and her body also became increasingly relaxed. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s compassionate (maitrī and karuṇā) blessings, which helped my mother let go of her attachments and accept the suffering.

My mother once sought an audience with Rinpoche because my grandfather was suffering from illness in old age. At that time, Rinpoche admonished my mother and my aunts for being unfilial. After being scolded, my mother kept it in her heart and felt that Rinpoche scolded people. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s compassion (maitrī and karuṇā). Rinpoche once expounded, ‘You remember my fierce appearance. When you are dying, if you remember it, you will not fall into Hell. If I am too easy on you, you will not remember me, because you are talented at remembering grudges, but not so good at remembering gratitude.’Therefore, when my mother was suffering the most, upon hearing the contents of Rinpoche’s book Happiness and Suffering, she remembered Rinpoche and believed in Rinpoche, so that she could receive Rinpoche’s compassionate (maitrī and karuṇā) blessings. Rinpoche’s every thought is for sentient beings, and his merry, laughter, anger, and scoldings are all blessings. I am grateful to Rinpoche!

One day, I received a call from my elder brother saying that, judging from the various indicators, my mother would pass away soon. I immediately rushed home to stay by my mother’s side. A little after 3 a.m., my mother stopped breathing. I immediately placed the incomparably wondrous nectar pill bestowed by Rinpoche into my mother’s mouth. I am grateful to Rinpoche! My mother looked as though she were sleeping, with a very peaceful expression. From the moment she stopped breathing, my mother was left completely undisturbed for the following eight hours, and the home was also very quiet.
 
My father and mother shared the same room, and my mother’s passing did not disturb my father. After my father awoke, I told him, ‘Mother has passed away.’ My father looked at my mother and felt only reluctance, without sadness, and then went to the hospital for rehabilitation, following his previously arranged schedule. None of the family members felt sorrow, and everyone stayed very quietly by my mother’s side. Eight hours later, my mother’s body was extremely soft, and her slightly open mouth also slowly closed. Even the foreign domestic helper who cared for my mother found it very miraculous and helped adjust my mother’s head to the proper position. As for all of this, I should be grateful to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche for his teachings of Buddha Dharma to the disciples and for his great compassionate (maitrī and karuṇā) blessings, which enabled my family members to have no fear or sorrow when facing my mother’s passing.
 
After my mother became ill, apart from making offerings to Rinpoche on Saturdays during that period, I had already had a certain amount in mind that I hoped to offer to Rinpoche when my mother passed away, imploring Rinpoche to transfer her consciousness. But at that time, I did not have that much money. Then, the company suddenly announced that it would buy back all the shares that had originally been given to its employees. It was too miraculous. Once we give rise to the mind of making offerings, the guru, the Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas can always fulfill our vows. I am grateful to Rinpoche for compassionately (maitrī and karuṇā) accepting my offerings, granting permission to transfer the consciousness of the sentient beings harmed by my mother in the Chod Puja, and helping my mother not fall into the Three Evil Realms.
 
Here, I would also like to share how Rinpoche cared for his disciples when I followed Rinpoche to attend the pujas in Ladakh, India, in 2013. Ladakh is located at a high altitude, with little green vegetation, a dry climate, and thin air. Rinpoche’s every thought is for his disciples. Rinpoche instructed that all the disciples should drink the ancestral summer-relief beverage from Rinpoche’s family, and even had it recorded whether each disciple had drunk it.
 
As soon as my son arrived in Ladakh, he developed severe altitude sickness and felt extremely uncomfortable. When he smelled the summer-relief beverage, he did not dare to drink it. I said to my son, ‘We should listen. Since Rinpoche asks us to drink it, we should drink it.’ Right after my son drank the summer-relief beverage, he vomited everything in his stomach, and the altitude sickness instantly disappeared. All his discomfort was completely gone. I am grateful to Rinpoche!
 
On the first day of the pujas, it was my turn to experience altitude sickness. I felt extremely weak and had no strength throughout my body. After the pujas ended on the third day, Rinpoche instructed all disciples who were feeling unwell to drop by others’ places. At that time, all of us disciples were staying in 11 different hotel rooms. I took the walking stick thoughtfully prepared for us by the Sino Travel Service Company and dragged my weak and powerless body to visit the hotel room next door. At that time, a Dharma brother shared some wild large-leaf Pu’er tea with me. After drinking it, I felt more and more energetic. At dinner, Dharma brothers also felt that I had recovered. I am grateful to Rinpoche! It will be all right to simply listen and do everything as instructed.

Rinpoche has bestowed us many treasures. For example, all the food products at Japanese Food Shops are carefully selected; to maintain food quality, Japanese Food Shops insist on removing the products from the shelves and destroying them 15 days before the manufacturer’s shelf life expires. All the restaurants and catering businesses in the Glorious Jewel Group use ingredients that are carefully selected, safe, and free from toxic substances; even all the seasonings undergo strict inspection. These are to help us maintain good health. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s meticulous and painstaking thoughtfulness.
 
Here, I repent for having eaten the meat of countless sentient beings and killing ants, mosquitoes, flies, and other small insects. At my wedding, engagement, and subsequent reception, I hosted banquets featuring meat dishes. When I was young, I caught earthworms to fish for frogs. I was unfilial toward my parents and talked back to them. After entering the workforce, I took the stationery of the company home. During the 14 years since I took refuge, Rinpoche once expounded that I neither practiced nor made offerings, and that I was extremely arrogant and did not use an impartial mind to treat all things around me.
 
I repent that my mind was not right and that I did not listen, yet still implored for the Dharma. Rinpoche has always emphasized that the Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas are the foundation of being a disciple of the Buddha. Every night before bed, we should calm down and examine ourselves. Yet I did this in a desultory kind of way and didn’t do it every day, so my problems haven’t changed, and my mind grew lax as I lived a good life. I deeply know that my evil karma is deep and heavy, and that many evil habits are impossible for us to change by relying on ourselves. Only when we rely on the guru’s teachings, completely believe in the guru, and have not the slightest thought of our own can the guru’s blessing power enter our minds, enabling us to correct our faults.

Had Rinpoche not meticulously and painstakingly attracted (Puja Teachings Index 22) my arrogant mind, I would have always looked at other people’s problems; I would also have thought only of myself and never of the suffering of sentient beings. Rinpoche teaches us to practice the Bodhisattva path. Only the Buddha Dharma can truly help all sentient beings and truly resolve all suffering. In this lifetime, it is difficult to attain a human body. We also have such great good fortune to be able to take refuge in His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche to learn the right Buddha Dharma, which is incomparably wondrous and rare! I should listen. Every night before sleep, I must examine my mind according to the Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas and take it as my guiding principle, correcting all actions that lead to reincarnation.
 
I pray for His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s good health; his Dharma lineage spreads eternally; his Buddha Dharma activities flourish, benefiting all sentient beings; the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche is all perfect and auspicious! I thank all fellow believers and Dharma brothers for listening patiently. I am grateful to Rinpoche!
 
 

Reverently written by disciple Xu Hui Jia, Group Two, 

 on August 16, 2026

 

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Updated on August 20, 2026