1304：Appreciation for the Guru’s Compassionate Teachings

Prostrations to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, the Lineage gurus, Dharma Protector Achi, and the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Greetings, fellow believers and Dharma brothers. I am Chiu Chih Yung of group 7, and my Dharma name is Gong Chu Ding Jie. I am grateful to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche for bestowing me the opportunity to hereby publicly praise the guru’s merits, share with you the blessings and help I received from the guru, and repent the evil habits and nature of indolence and lack of diligence, though I had the fate to take refuge in a great practitioner in this lifetime.

Ten years ago, because of my elder sister and brother-in-law’s introduction, I consecutively attended the ‘Great Indiscriminate Amitabha Puja for Transferring Consciousness’  presided over by His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche for several years. And then, I and my younger sister had the fate origination to seek an audience with the guru and to take refuge as disciples. One year after taking refuge, I was sent to the hospital in critical condition due to acute internal bleeding at home and obtained the guru’s blessings. About this experience of obtaining the blessings from the guru, please refer to Article No. 726 on the Traces of Liberating Beings of the website.
 
I am grateful for the guru’s great power of blessings, ever-present and all-pervading. Around April and May of last year, because a gradually enlarging lump appeared on the left side of my chest, which slowly began to cause pain and affect my physical movements in daily activities and routine, I went to the Chinese Medicine Clinic to see Dr. Huang, who advised me to go to the hospital for an examination at the Surgical department. A few days later, I went to the hospital’s outpatient clinic. The doctor found the lump abnormal and immediately arranged for emergency hospitalization at that time. After blood tests, X-rays, and a CT scan, it was found that about one-third of my left lung was infected and I was diagnosed with a lung abscess with empyema. A date was subsequently scheduled for surgical debridement and drainage.

The attending physician said that the process of scraping out the pus and blood went very smoothly, but he was puzzled by the infection in the lung spreading from the inside out through the chest wall. He was concerned that the range of cytopathy might continue to expand, spreading to the right lung or other organs. However, the cause of the lump was unknown, so he subsequently arranged a thoracentesis biopsy.
 
The test results showed only necrotic tissue, and the bacteria causing the infection could not be identified from the pus and blood. Besides, an X-ray taken weekly also showed the shadowed area had decreased and was no longer expanding. The attending physician said it was like a concluded battlefield that had been cleared. He also didn’t know what more could be done and could only continue regular follow-ups. A year later, an X-ray was seen again and it still showed no signs of other abnormal changes.
 
I know if without the guru’s blessings, the surgery would not have gone so smoothly. After the operation, all my vital signs monitored in the hospital also stabilized and recovered very quickly. I am grateful to Rinpoche.

I was lying in the noisy ward under restricted movement, with nurses periodically checking my blood pressure and pulse, administering medication, and changing IVs, completely at their mercy. Fortunately, I was able to wear headphones to listen to the mantra recordings bestowed by the Rinpoche, and I felt much calmer and had little horror in my mind.

I remembered Rinpoche once bestowed the teaching, ‘These were all created and borne by oneself. One has committed so much evil karma and harmed so many sentient beings through lifetime after lifetime, and shouldn’t they be repaid?’ I am grateful for the guru’s blessings that allowed me to face my karma in the present moment and accept everything that happened to me.

During my hospitalization, because of it, I instead had more time to continue chanting mantras and doing my practice, as well as browsing the puja teachings on the website. All of these are precious treasures bestowed by Rinpoche for sentient beings to accumulate the fate for learning Buddhism.
 
The moment I was wheeled out of the operating room and woke up as the anesthetic wore off, I lay alone on the hospital bed, with my surroundings in complete silence. Suddenly, I heard the guru chanting the Great Six-Syllable Mantra, clear and resonant. In that instant, I felt a wave of warmth, forming a striking contrast with the cold outside the operating room, which instantly calmed my body and mind. I am grateful to Rinpoche.
 
How fortunate we are in this life to have encountered His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, to personally hear the incomparably wondrous Buddha Dharma teachings and witness the true merits of him in liberating sentient beings, all of which solidify the disciples’ resolve to follow and rely on the guru.

During my hospitalization, I had little appetite and totally relied on energizing tonyu and Koshihikari rice to maintain my strength. After the surgery, owing to Bao Yuan Gao, the wound healed quickly and the dark discoloration faded rapidly. Rinpoche gives sentient beings the best tonics and medicines. How could we possibly miss them or not recommend them to our relatives and friends?
 
Having heard a Dharma brother share about doing so, I also placed a bottle of energizing tonyu and a jar of Bao Yuan Gao on my office desk. Whenever I encounter  colleagues who feel fatigued or suffer bruises, strains, and other traumatic injuries, I can immediately offer them the energizing tonyu to drink or the Bao Yuan Gao apply, and it definitely works. The rich and mellow flavor as well as sweet aftertaste of energizing tonyu are widely acclaimed; those who regularly drink soy milk can easily tell the difference between energizing tonyu and ordinary products on the market. When a colleague heard that an elder at home had fallen, he immediately thought of applying Bao Yuan Gao, so I quickly prepared it for him to take home.

I once invited a colleague to attend the pujas at The Glorious Jewel Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, but he often declined with reasons such as it being too far or inconvenient because of looking after children. Yet later, when I asked if he wanted to go to a music concert, he happily agreed and even invited his relatives, friends, and neighbors along. The next day, he specially told me that the elders were very delighted to have attended such a wonderful Glorious Jewel music concert.
 
Moreover, I coincidently met a former teacher I had worked with at a symphony orchestra concert held at the National Concert Hall. When he attended a Glorious Jewel symphony orchestra concert for the first time, he kept praising the program for its exceptional standard and quality. He remarked that there must have been a master guiding behind the scenes so that such a profoundly moving performance was accomplished. He is an art teacher at a school, and indeed, professionals can always recognize quality.

I am grateful to Rinpoche for putting a lot of thought and effort into creating opportunities for disciples to form fate connections with sentient beings in daily life, and also to let sentient beings receive blessings each time they praise the name of the Lord of Drikung Kagyu. 
 
I repent that I was irreverent when imploring Dharma last September and was pointed out by the guru for having the wrong mindset. Living at home, I neither had to pay rent nor give money to my mother, so why was I too lazy even to walk to the bank to withdraw money? I was pushed to the back, and the guru let a monastic Dharma brother explain to me once again the importance of making offerings.

I was wrong. I did not truly make an offering and did it casually and perfunctorily, thinking that merely taking money out of my wallet was enough. I showed complete irreverence toward the Dharma and the guru. I was truly egregiously wrong.

Over the years, under Rinpoche’s protection, I had grown accustomed to good days and took everything for granted. I thought that just doing something was fine and that I was practicing, but it was all merely superficial effort. As Rinpoche repeatedly teaches: ‘You are all accustomed to living according to your own ideas, thinking it doesn’t matter, you haven’t practiced at all. Not surrendering completely and listening thoroughly to the guru just means one lacks belief.’

I am grateful for Rinpoche’s teachings, which directly point out my problems. I just remain unchanged in my evil habits, still calculate this and that, and cut corners to make offerings. I have obviously heard the guru’s ceaseless reminders so many times, but I took them lightly, not believing karma or deeply believing impermanence. I am profoundly ashamed.
 
Without good fortune, one doesn’t even know how to implore Dharma; one should first ask oneself whether one has made offerings wholeheartedly. Rinpoche often says: ‘Making offerings is not a matter of how much money, but whether your mind is right or not. Only by having absolute reverence to the guru and making offerings with a pure mind can one accumulate the good fortune for learning Buddhism and practicing.’
 
Recalling the time since taking refuge, I have always heard the guru constantly  reminding disciples to strictly abide by the Five Precepts and the Ten Meritorious Acts, and to continuously reflect on their own minds in daily life. I repent that over the past ten years, I have not endeavored to correct myself or diligently learn Buddhism. I am exactly the kind of rascal disciple Rinpoche has recently scolded—one who has always been muddling along life, afraid of losing face and giving money. I am obstinate,  conceited, and self-righteous, and I feel ashamed before the teachings of the guru who is compassionate and never forsakes sentient beings. Rinpoche has never abandoned any sentient being. As a disciple, how could I ever live up to the guru’s vow power that is ever mindful of bringing liberation and benefit to sentient beings? I have truly erred and can no longer waste time.

Rinpoche once taught: ‘Being exceedingly indolent, slacking off, and undiligent in learning Buddhism in this lifetime means one has not practiced in past lifetimes. In this lifetime, one should create good causes so that good results will occur in the next lifetime.’ I am ignorant, having failed to put into practice the words of the guru’s tireless corrections for disciples, not ceaselessly remembering all benevolence from the guru, and not watching over my body, speech, and mind moment by moment. I go with the flow, dawdle, and display numerous shameful states and flawed habits. I want to repent to the sentient beings who were killed in the past due to my own appetite for food, also to strive to eradicate all the bad habits cultivated from being indulged and in clover since childhood, and to closely follow the guru who is like a father and mother, listening obediently.

His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche once bestowed the teaching: ‘It is difficult to attain the human form, to listen to the Buddha Dharma and to encounter a guru.’ Having the fate in this lifetime to take refuge in a great practitioner, I must follow the guru’s teachings, absolutely listen and act accordingly, practice in compliance with the teachings, use the Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas each day to examine my body, speech, and mind, and correct all my unvirtuous deeds in order to repay the benevolence of the guru, parents, and sentient beings.
 
I pray for His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s good health and longevity; the Dharma wheel turns unceasingly; his Dharma activities flourish; all are perfectly complete and smooth at The Glorious Jewel Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche; Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Dharma lineage spreads eternally in the world, benefiting all sentient beings. I sincerely thank all fellow believers and Dharma brothers for listening patiently. I am grateful to Rinpoche. 

                      Respectfully written by disciple Chiu Chih Yung, Group Seven, 

 on October 5, 2025

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Updated on October 13, 2025