1341：Appreciation to the Guru for Bestowing all Virtuous Fate and Deeds

Prostrations to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, Dharma Protector Achi, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Greetings, Dharma brothers and fellow believers. I am Chen Yan Hao from Group Three, and my Dharma name is Gong Chu Ding Cu. My father is Chen Xiang Hua from Group Three, and my mother is Zhuang Jin Zhi from Group Four. I am grateful to Rinpoche for bestowing me the opportunity to hereby publicly praise the guru’s merits and repent the evil karma I have committed.
 
The Fate Origin of My Refuge: My family and I had previously learned Buddhism at another Tibetan Buddhist center. Beginning in 2012, we started looking for a new Tibetan Buddhist Center. That year, because of the Vajra knot around my father’s neck, my father came to know Dharma brother Chen, who was serving at a hospital. This began the fate origin of my family members taking refuge in Rinpoche. Please refer to my father’s sharing before the puja on February 11, 2013 for details.
 
When I first sought an audience with Rinpoche in May 2012, Rinpoche expounded to me that I would leave my position at that time. (I was the Director of Academic Affairs at a private high school at that time.) Because Rinpoche learned that I had previously learned Buddhism at another Buddhist Center, Rinpoche mentioned that the principle of transmitting Vajra was that the Dharma was not transmitted to six ears, nor to Han Chinese, and asked whether I had ever been to the ancestral monastery of the lineage, and so forth. However, it was not until I implored to take refuge for the seventh time that Rinpoche granted me permission to take refuge. Only then did I begin attending the weekend general pujas at the Glorious Jewel, while my parents had already been attending the pujas for over two months.
 
On September 23 that year, it was the parents’ meeting at the school where I worked. Without a second thought, I did not attend the puja and stayed at school to work overtime. Rinpoche held a refuge ceremony at the weekend puja that day, and because I did not attend the puja, I lost my qualification to take refuge. A Dharma brother at the Buddhist Center reminded me to register to repent before Rinpoche and implore again to take refuge. I am grateful to Rinpoche for having already begun teaching me to put learning Buddhism first, and not ‘take care of the stomach before taking care of the Buddha.’ At that time, I did not even have the thought of asking for leave! Only after I implored Rinpoche for permission to take refuge two or three more times, did Rinpoche again grant me permission to take refuge.
 
By May of the following year, it seemed that I was faced with a similar test once again. The Chod Puja on May 1 fell on a Wednesday afternoon. At the time, Labor Day was not a national holiday, so I took leave from school to attend the weekday puja.It was not until June 2, 2013, that I finally took refuge in Rinpoche, more than half a year after my parents took refuge. Just one full year after I took refuge, I was indeed transferred from my position to serve as Director of the Library, a position the school had never had before, and my salary scale was exactly the same as before. It was also because I served as the Director of the Library that I was able to take leave in September 2015 to join the pilgrimage trip to the ancestral monastery in Tibet, led by Rinpoche with 300 disciples. I am grateful to Rinpoche! 

Next, I would like to share how Rinpoche has transferred my girlfriend’s consciousness and helped my parents:
After work on April 22, 2021, as usual, I drove home with my girlfriend of 12 years, Dharma sister Chen Zi Mei, who was then from Group Four. I remember her saying she felt unwell as soon as she got in the car. It was because her health had always been poor. However, because having taken refuge in Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, she had attended the September 2015 trip when Rinpoche returned to the Drikung Kagyu ancestral monastery, ‘Drikung Thil Monastery,’ several pujas at the Buddhist Center in Japan, and other activities with virtuous fate. She also had the good fortune to do some work alongside Rinpoche. I always felt that she would receive Rinpoche’s protection, so I did not pay particular attention to it at that time. Little did I know that this would be the last time we saw each other in this lifetime.
 
In that year, after imploration, we were both granted to perform the Grand Prostrations of the Four Extraordinary Foundations of Vajrayana Ngondro. After 9:30 that evening, we exchanged messages with each other, saying that we would go together to do grand prostrations. At 10:30, her mother (Dharma sister Chen from the Fifth Group) suddenly called my home and said that Zi Mei had already been unconscious in the hospital. When I rushed to the hospital, she had already been covered with a large white cloth. Zi Mei’s passing was the first time in my life that I faced the impermanence of the death of a close family member! I am grateful to Rinpoche for quickly bestowing protection upon Zi Mei’s consciousness and transferring her consciousness in the Chod Puja three days later. During the puja, Rinpoche also bestowed upon us teachings of Buddha Dharma on Dharma sister Zi Mei’s passing from impermanence. For details, see the Puja Teachings on April 25, 2021. I am grateful to Rinpoche!

My mother, Dharma brother Zhuang Jin Zhi, was diagnosed by doctors with a hepatic hemangioma at the age of 40. She did not undergo active treatment at that time. In her fifties, upon a friend’s introduction, she once went to Kaohsiung for dietary therapy and health conditioning with biotechnology products. For most of the rest of the time, she regularly underwent blood tests and follow-up examinations at the hospital.
 
In 2012, after taking refuge in Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, my mother began to recuperate at the Glorious Jewel Chinese Medicine Clinic. The following year—in July 2013—she followed Rinpoche to Pingyang Monastery in Ladak, attending the opening ceremony of the Hevajra Monastery supported by Rinpoche; as well as the Avalokiteshvara Empowerment Puja, the transmission of the Drikung Great Phowa Dharma, and the Amitayus Empowerment Puja presided over personally by His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang. In September 2015, she also followed Rinpoche back to the Drikung Kagyu ancestral monastery, ‘Drikung Thil Monastery.’
 
Last June, my mother’s alpha-fetoprotein level in her blood test reached three digits. The doctor who had been monitoring my mother’s alpha-fetoprotein level for more than 20 years asked my mother to be hospitalized for further confirmation and prepared to begin treatment. My mother was unwilling to do so. By September, when the level had risen to over 600, my mother still insisted on refusing invasive confirmation and treatment, causing the doctor-patient relationship between them to break down! I am grateful to Rinpoche for allowing my mother, within the big family of Glorious Jewel, to transfer to the outpatient clinic of Dharma brother Dr. Xie for continual blood monitoring, and to constantly recuperate with Chinese medicine at the Glorious Jewel Chinese Medicine Clinic.
 
At the end of October, my parents and I registered on Saturday to seek an audience with Rinpoche. My mother spoke about the abnormality in her alpha-fetoprotein level and implored to be able to be reborn in the Pure Land. Rinpoche admonished my mother that since she didn’t practice and had no good fortune, how could she go to the Pure Land? Rinpoche did not accept our offerings at that time. Afterward, my mother reflected according to Rinpoche’s teachings, and in mid-November, our whole family sought an audience with Rinpoche again. My mother repented for the evil karma she had committed, and Rinpoche accepted our offerings. My mother’s alpha-fetoprotein level reached a high of over 4,500 in January this year; it fell again to over 300 in June. I am grateful to Rinpoche for bestowing on my mother a life like that of an ordinary person for over a year. She could appear healthy and continue to attend the Sunday pujas at the Buddhist Center, pujas at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, visit the Buddhist Monastery, and participate in the morning and evening prayers at the Buddhist Center, etc. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s blessings and protection! At the end of July, the site of my mother’s tumor began to ache, and the pain was unrelenting. She felt that perhaps she did not have much time left in this world, and hoped that she would still have time to personally implore Rinpoche to transfer her consciousness, and to express her gratitude to Rinpoche for his teachings in this lifetime.
 
My father, Dharma brother Chen Xiang Hua, has shared at the Buddhist Center twice, namely the sharing before the puja on February 11, 2013 and Traces of Librating Sentient Beings, Article No. 717. He mentioned that his carotid artery had originally been more than 70% blocked, but miraculously decreased to below 50%, and he was grateful to Rinpoche for transferring my aunt’s consciousness. My father and mother are Dharma brothers who took refuge in Rinpoche together in September 2012. In September 2015, both of my parents followed Rinpoche back to the Drikung Kagyu ancestral monastery, ‘Drikung Til Monastery.’ The two elderly people showed absolutely no signs of altitude sickness at an altitude of 3,000–4,000 meters in Tibet. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s protection and blessings! In the over ten years since my father took refuge in Rinpoche, he has undergone two surgeries: one was the placement of a stent in his neck in November 2017, and the other was surgery for a hernia this year. Both surgeries went very smoothly. In fact, because my father had been taking anticoagulants for years, the risks of such surgeries were much higher. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s protection and blessings!
 
Next, I repent for the evil karma I have committed. In the following year after I took refuge, I left my original position as Director of Academic Affairs and became the Director of Library. In fact, it was only because I held this position that I was able to follow Rinpoche to the ancestral monastery for a pilgrimage not long after the beginning of the new semester in 2015. In June 2016 (near the end of the semester, when academic affairs were busy), I also followed Rinpoche to Bhutan to attend the incomparably wondrous ‘Three-In-One Puja of Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara, and Padmasambhava,’ the ‘Amitayus and Empowerment’ puja, and the ‘Acalanatha Fire Offering’ puja. I am grateful to Rinpoche!
 
Yet, I repent for failing to grasp the virtuous fate bestowed by the guru. During my time as Director of the Library, I spent my days reading various worldly books and novels, forgetting the guru’s benevolence. This was meant to be time for learning Buddhism, not for being immersed in worldly matters. I did not even reverently read the guru’s book, ‘Happiness and Suffering,’ and therefore failed to promptly do the virtuous deed of donating to the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche that Rinpoche planned to construct. I repent that at the time I thought it was fine by simply following the usual routine of donating to the Buddhist Center. I squandered the expectations behind the Dharma name ‘Gong Chu Ding Cu’ bestowed upon me by Rinpoche. I simply was not proactive in participating in the virtuous deeds granted by the guru. I repent!

In August 2016, I returned to my original profession–Director of Academic Affairs. I am grateful to Rinpoche for taking pity on this disciple. Six years later, I left that position again and became the Director of Student Affairs, a position I have held ever since, thereby avoiding the incident that has still been recorded on Wikipedia until now. Since taking refuge in Rinpoche, I volunteered in the Dharma Affairs Group most of the time, allowing me to do a little work in Rinpoche’s Buddha Dharma activities. In 2020, Rinpoche bestowed a virtuous deed, allowing the disciples of the Dharma Affairs Group to learn Tibetan. However, I repent for failing to carefully seize these good fates. After completing the Grand Prostrations of the Four Extraordinary Foundations of Vajrayana Ngondro in August 2021, I did not actively implore for the Dharma. It was not until after attending the Japanese puja in August 2024 that I suddenly realized I had procrastinated for too long. At the end of September that year, when I implored to redo the Grand Prostrations, Rinpoche reprimanded me that ‘he didn’t know me,’ and gave me six months of observation. By the end of March 2025, my mind was again distracted by other matters. It was not until April 2026 that I once again implored for the Grand Prostrations of the Four Extraordinary Foundations of Vajrayana Ngondro; I implored for the Dharma six times in total. During this period, Rinpoche scolded me for not having a fervent aspiration for the Buddha Dharma and for not respecting the guru and revering his teachings. When I implored for the Dharma for the fifth time, Rinpoche instructed the monastics to speak with me. Only then did I suddenly realize how terribly wrong I had been, having completely failed to be grateful for everything Rinpoche had bestowed upon me. Therefore, I expressed to my group that I wanted to repent and share before the puja! I repent that, as a history teacher in the world, I am accustomed to using rules based on experience to judge matters; it is like that when I implored for the Dharma for the sixth time, Rinpoche expounded that I regarded Buddha Dharma merely as one kind of worldly knowledge, and regarded the guru merely as a worldly teacher. I was terribly wrong. I repent!
 
Nevertheless, Rinpoche still compassionately (maitrī and karuṇā) took pity on me! In late July, after finishing my volunteer work at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, I drove several Dharma brothers back to Taipei. On that hot afternoon, I wanted to refresh myself with essential oil, but due to my carelessness, a large amount of essential oil flowed into my left eye. My left eye became irritated, painful, and burning. Driving with only one eye, I continued for several kilometers on the Wuyang Elevated Highway at a speed of more than 80 kilometers per hour. Just at that moment, a thought suddenly arose in my mind: I should get off the elevated highway! Just as my right eye was about to close as well, I finally managed to stop the car at the Zhongli Service Area. The Dharma brothers in the car bought saline solution for me to rinse my eyes and waited for Dharma brothers’ parents, also Dharma brothers, to come to the rescue. That evening, when I went to the hospital emergency department, the doctor said that my left eye had suffered a moderate burn and that I could not drive for at least three to five days. However, when I returned to the Buddhist Center on Saturday and Sunday, Dharma brothers could hardly tell that there had been a problem with my left eye. As for all of this, I should be grateful for Rinpoche’s blessings and protection throughout the way!
 
From the fate origin of my refuge to the process of me imploring for the Dharma that I have just described, it’s known that I am a very stubborn and self-righteous person, a seemingly harmless good person, and a person who ‘forgets the pain once the wound has healed.’ I am grateful to Rinpoche for not abandoning me, this evil disciple. Had I not taken refuge in Rinpoche and sheltered beneath the protective umbrella of Rinpoche’s merits and good fortune, I might have long since made the social news, lost my job in middle age, ended up behind bars, or died an untimely death. More than that, before taking refuge, I had the various evil habits that made me break away from the Five Precepts: I loved eating the meat of various sentient beings to satisfy my craving for food; I often failed to distinguish public from private matters and stole school property for my own use; when the relationship between a girl I fancied and her boyfriend was strained, I took advantage of the situation and stole her away, yet beautified it as being a prince who rescued a princess; when interacting with others, I often spoke in a harsh and cutting manner, leaving them no room to respond; after entering university, I used cigarettes and alcohol to look pretentious, and even prided myself on being a refined scholar. My evil deeds are too numerous to record. I repent here!
 
I pray that Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s disciples all can listen to the guru’s words 100%, practice according to Rinpoche’s teachings in our daily lives, change the habitual tendencies of reincarnation from accumulated past lifetimes, and ultimately be able to transcend reincarnation! All sentient beings who see the Dharma appearance or hear the sacred name of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, or hear the Dharma teachings expounded by Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, or the mantras Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche chants, etc., can plant the seeds of fate for learning Buddhism, and, in this lifetime and future lifetimes, follow a virtuous friend to step onto the path of learning Buddhism!
 
Lastly, I pray for His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s good health, longevity, and auspiciousness; the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche is perfectly constructed; Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Dharma lineage spreads eternally, benefiting all sentient beings from ten directions. I thank all Dharma brothers and fellow believers for listening patiently. 

Reverently written by disciple Chen Yan Hao, Group Three, 

 on August 23, 2026

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Updated on August 27, 2026