1316：The Guru Paved a Path of Learning Buddhism for the Disciple

Prostrations to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche, His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang, Dharma Protector Achi, Drikung Kagyu Order Lord Jigten Sumgon, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the Lineage gurus, and Dharma Protectors. Fellow believers and Dharma brothers, I am Sheng Zhong Jie from Group Three, and my Dharma name is Gong Chu Ding Men. My wife is Huang Yu Qian from Group Four. My mother-in-law is Huang Zhang Qing Mei from Group Two, and my wife’s younger brother’s whole family consists of Huang Yuan Cong, Wang Miao Li, and Huang Guan Bo.

I am grateful to His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche for granting me to praise the guru for how he has helped my family, share with you the fate origin of my taking refuge, and to repent for the evil karma I have committed. 
 
Our whole family originally lived in the United States. In 2016, my wife and I returned to Taiwan with our two sons to visit relatives. Dharma Brother Wang shared that His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche would hold the incomparably wondrous ‘Great Indiscriminate Amitabha Puja for Transferring Consciousness’ at the Nangang Exhibition Center and invited our entire family to attend the puja. Recalling my father, who had passed away several years earlier due to cancer, and the suffering he had endured during his illness, I therefore registered to attend the Great Puja, hoping that my father’s consciousness could be transferred by Rinpoche. This was our first time personally seeing Rinpoche, and it was also the year when Rinpoche opened to believers the opportunity to donate to the construction of the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. I am grateful to Rinpoche for bestowing us with the fate for donating to the Monastery.

In 2022, my elder son developed pain throughout his body due to temporomandibular joint problems, and even psychological issues occurred. He resented his parents, suffered from severe insomnia, and had thoughts of ending his life. He believed he needed orthognathic surgery, and then he began searching for a doctor he approved of and constantly reviewed related medical reports. In the U.S., once a child turns eighteen, he can independently make his medical decisions. Coupled with the deterioration of our parent-child relationship, we, as parents, did not know how to help my elder son, and the child refused to communicate with us. Dharma Brother Wang suggested that we could return to Taiwan to seek an audience with Rinpoche, but how could our son possibly be willing to go back to Taiwan with us? We then wrote to Rinpoche to implore for assistance. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s reply. Rinpoche instructed us to read Happiness and Suffering frequently, and advised that if my child needed help from the Buddha Dharma, we should bring the child to Taiwan and, with the utmost sincerity and reverence, personally implore Rinpoche for the teachings of the Buddha Dharma and for blessings.

I began reading Happiness and Suffering while simultaneously trying to persuade my child to return to Taiwan, but the child was unwilling to return with us. Only by reading Happiness and Suffering did I realize that my child’s problems were not just physical suffering, and my own parenting style had more problems. I was overly self-willed and acted on my own, self-believing that everything I did was for my child’s own good and all correct. In truth, I had been overprotective towards my child, never giving my child the chance to fall or be injured, and I hoped that my child’s life would unfold under the shelter of my care. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s incomparably wondrous teachings. Each time I read Happiness and Suffering, it felt as if Rinpoche was bestowing us blessings once again, and settling our minds that were originally anxious and helpless.

At the end of 2023, my son decided to undergo orthognathic surgery. This operation requires cutting the jawbone, moving the upper and lower jaws nearly three centimeters, and then fixing them with screws, with a significant possibility of damaging the nerves around the mouth. At that time, I was extremely anxious and wanted to seek an audience with Rinpoche, imploring Rinpoche to bless my child. When I mentioned this to Dharma Brother Wang, she asked us, ‘Are you imploring for protection?’ Immediately, I reflected: ‘Do I want to implore for protection? Clearly, Rinpoche has repeatedly taught us in Happiness and Suffering that learning Buddhism is not for the sake of imploring for protection.’Thus, my wife and I decided to return to Taiwan in January to seek an audience with Rinpoche, no longer to implore Rinpoche for helping my child, but to repent for our family operating the meat restaurant, which had harmed countless sentient beings.
 
In January 2024, we sought an audience with Rinpoche. I repented to Rinpoche for our family operating the meat restaurant and implored for permission to attend the pujas. Rinpoche asked, ‘How many years has the restaurant been operating?’ Just as I was thinking that it had been over twenty years, Rinpoche spoke first and said: ‘29 years.’ Then Rinpoche asked, ‘How will you attend the pujas?’ I replied, ‘We will move back to Taiwan.’ Rinpoche told me to think it over carefully before answering. Indeed, since immigration, our family has been in the U.S. for 41 years. My family, work, and the life circumstances I was familiar with were all in the U.S.; moving back to Taiwan was a difficult decision in my life. Rinpoche saw through my mind and knew that I had not yet truly made up my mind, and then Rinpoche instructed me to continue reading Happiness and Suffering 36 times. I am grateful to Rinpoche. Rinpoche then compassionately (maitri and karuna) asked me who was in my family. Lacking good fortune, I actually did not think to mention my child’s surgery.

But as the date to return to the U.S. approached, we once again sought an audience with Rinpoche, imploring Rinpoche to help our son, who was about to undergo surgery. Rinpoche expounded, ‘Your child does not believe; he thinks he is very smart and has found a good doctor. The Buddha Dharma can help his surgery be perfectly completed, but he might think it is because of the excellent doctor he has found, not the help of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.’ Rinpoche then expounded that he will not let my son die on the operating table.

That day, the surgery began at 8:30 a.m. and was expected to conclude at 2:00 p.m., but unexpectedly, it continued until 4:00 p.m. before it was completed. After the surgery, the doctor stated that he knew my son’s jawbone was very thick and had previously prepared screws that they believed were long enough. However, midway through the operation, he just discovered that one side of the jawbone was thicker than expected, and the screws he had prepared were not long enough. The situation was urgent, and he had to find a way to fix the bone. Thus, it took two extra hours. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s blessings, which prevented my son from dying on the operating table and allowed the surgery to be completed.

Rinpoche’s incredible blessings did not end there. The doctor my son had found, a specialist in orthognathic surgery, travels every year, leading a team, to various countries to serve as ‘Doctors Without Borders.’For two years, he went to Nepal to provide free medical services. Every morning, before starting his free medical services, he would go to a Tibetan Buddhist monastery and follow lamas to do the morning prayers. So when our son was admitted to the hospital and prepared for the surgery, we asked the doctor to allow us to play the sound of Rinpoche chanting mantras in the operating room. The doctor readily agreed and respectfully took the mantra player with both hands. I am grateful to Rinpoche. Rinpoche’s compassionate (maitri and karuna) power is everywhere.

After the surgery, I relayed Rinpoche’s teachings to my child, saying that he thought he was very smart and had found a good doctor. My child asked astonishedly, ‘Really?’ A few minutes later, he asked again, ‘Really?’ My child could not believe that Rinpoche actually knew what he was thinking. We marveled that it was Rinpoche’s incredibility, instead of my son’s cleverness; the doctor was arranged by Rinpoche, even far from being found by my child.
 
In October 2024, my wife and I returned to Taiwan to seek an audience with Rinpoche. We expressed our gratitude to Rinpoche for having helped our son’s surgery be smoothly completed and implored Rinpoche to bestow us permission to attend the pujas. Rinpoche asked, ‘How will you attend?’I reported to Rinpoche that we would be moving back to Taiwan next year. Rinpoche asked, ‘When is it next year?’ I replied, ‘As soon as possible.’ Rinpoche then asked, ‘What do you mean by “as soon as possible”?’ I answered, ‘April or May.’Rinpoche expounded, ‘You will  often  fly back and forth, and you will be deeply exhausted!’ At that time, I wondered to myself, ‘Why will I often fly back and forth? Won’t I move back to Taiwan to settle down?’
 
After returning to the U.S., I reported to my supervisor that I would be moving back to Taiwan to settle down. I had originally prepared to resign. I am grateful for Rinpoche’s blessings, and I am now still able to continue to work in my current position. My supervisor agreed that I could work remotely via video calls on ordinary time, but hoped that I would fly back to the U.S. for a few days roughly every 45 days. I have also prepared myself for the back-and-forth travels. But up to now, having settled back in Taiwan for eight months, I have only returned to the U.S. once for a meeting. This is entirely due to Rinpoche’s compassionate (maitri and karuna) blessings, sparing me from the suffering of flying back and forth.

I am grateful to Rinpoche. In May 2025, we smoothly returned to Taiwan, and on June 21, we took refuge in Rinpoche. I am grateful to Rinpoche for granting me to perform the grand prostrations at the Buddhist Center.
 
Here, I would like to share how Rinpoche has helped my mother. My mother suffered from dementia, and just a few days after we moved back to Taiwan, we received a message late at night from my elder brother. He informed us that my mother had left home on her own in the middle of the night. It was only when the police called our home that we realized she was not at home, but had wandered far away to knock on someone else’s door. My mother, who had mobility difficulties and disliked going out, had left home in the middle of the night. Despite having suffered from dementia for many years, she was astonishingly able to clearly tell the police her own name and our home phone number. The U.S. phone number has ten digits, which is not easy to remember! After that event, I asked my mother once more whether she remembered our home phone number, and she hasn’t been able to answer it. I am grateful to Rinpoche. Without Rinpoche’s protection, how could my mother have returned home safely without any accident? At that time, we were not yet Rinpoche’s disciples, but our family members had already received the compassionate (maitri and karuna) help of Rinpoche.

I would like to repent the evil karma I have committed from accumulated past lifetimes. From a young age, I had been working in our family’s meat restaurant, harming countless sentient beings. While working there, I did not pay taxes. I repent for being arrogant， selfish, and self-interested, for my divisive speech and harsh speech, lying, stealing bicycles, misusing company resources, disbelief in karma, defying my parents, and showing disrespect to my elder siblings.
 
I am grateful to Rinpoche for teaching the incomparably wondrous Buddha Dharma, and for teaching disciples to use the reverent mind to learn Buddhism, deeply believe in karma, introspect ourselves every day using the Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, listen to the guru, and to ceaselessly modify the body, speech, and mind.
 
I pray for His Eminence Vajra Guru Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s longevity, auspiciousness, and good health; the Dharma wheel turns unceasingly; his Buddha Dharma activities flourish; his Dharma lineage spreads eternally; and the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Monastery of Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche benefits all sentient beings. I thank all fellow believers and Dharma brothers for listening patiently. 

 

 Respectfully written by disciple Sheng Zhong Jie, Group Three, 

 on February 1, 2026

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Updated on February 10, 2026