Rinpoche's Thank-you Cards, Letters and Gifts
More Meaningful Than the Olympics
A director had arranged a visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Dharma center. Rinpoche sent this hand-written card to thank the director.
My most dear, kind, precious, wish-fulfilling director,
A billion, zillion times thank you, in general for studying the Dharma, opening the mind and giving yourself freedom for ultimate happiness—not just temporal but ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara and full enlightenment.
Especially you have been incredibly, dauntlessly and courageously going through and overcoming the difficulties skillfully, solving the problems and accomplishing the great achievement—preparation for His Holiness’s visit. So many people were able to see Chenrezig directly and receive teachings and guidance, and so many people were guided on the path to happiness and full enlightenment.
As I said, it is much, much, much more meaningful than arranging the Olympics.
I hope to see you soon.
With much love and prayer. Thank you...
Gift of Erma Jam
Rinpoche made some peanut butter and erma mixture and offered it to one of his neighbors. This was a hand-written card. Erma (Zanthoxylum alatum) is a spice, like red peppercorn, that grows in the Himalayas and is found in Solu Khumbu region, Nepal. It has medicinal qualities and is used in Tibetan and Nepali cooking.
My very dear one,
I’d like to see you and invite for lunch, but I’m busy in retreat now. In the future, later, if there is time. However, I want to send this peanut butter mixed with the Himalayan mountain herb called erma which is cleansing for the blood, I think. It also controls AIDS as well. It came out very beneficial to help with AIDS.
I made this myself. This is the first time I made it for you, after many years of thinking to make it. It took a long time for the idea to be actualized.
We just eat the erma putting it in food. Please put it on thinly at first and if you like it then you can put more. HA HA HA! If you can’t use it at all, please return it.
With love and prayer...
PS. The card says I woof you! But I think it means I love you. HA HA!
Skies of Thanks For Your Sincere Heart
This card was written by Rinpoche to thank a student for their devotion and dedication, despite many difficulties.
My most dear wish-fulfilling one,
How are you? Thank you very much.
Skies of thanks for your sincere heart, your devotion to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, your compassion to sentient beings and your heartfelt dedication. I know the work has many difficulties but it is the greatest purification for you, purifying negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths and collecting most extensive merits.
Please continue with wisdom, compassion and bodhicitta. This brings all the happiness—temporal and ultimate happiness, liberation from oceans of samsaric suffering and full enlightenment. And it fully enlightens the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, suras, asuras and numberless intermediate state beings.
With much love and prayers...
Heartfelt Thanks For Helping the Center
In this letter to a benefactor, Rinpoche explained the benefits of helping the Dharma center. Rinpoche said this advice can be shared with others who are generous and in this way are bringing sentient beings to enlightenment.
My very dear one,
This is my heart message to you. Of course we put effort into the center not just [teaching] Dharma, but in other areas such as social service, where people really need help. Also to have other Western Sangha there would be good so we can help others, and to do consultation, like counselling. We need to research what is most needed in that area.
The Buddha’s teachings are priceless. Their preservation according to Hinayana and Mahayana, and within Mahayana Tantrayana, is really, really, really important. Mahayana Tantrayana is especially important.
Even if one sentient being just hears the Buddha’s teaching, that not only causes higher rebirth but liberates from samsara. There really is unimaginable benefit; unimaginable, unimaginable, unimaginable benefit. This is something really priceless; something hard to imagine and this is the result of your kind contribution. That is the result of your compassion for sentient beings and that is the reality.
Skies of thanks, with my two small hands, putting my palms together with one hand in stroke aspect. My heartfelt thanks to you.
With much love and prayer,
Get Well Soon From Samsara!
Rinpoche wrote this card to thank a student for their hard work serving the center.
My dear one,
Billion, zillion, numberless thanks that you listened to me, to serve at the center longer. I am very happy.
I know the work has many difficulties, but it is the greatest purification for you, purifying negative karma collected since beginningless rebirths, and the greatest way of collecting most extensive merits. Please continue with wisdom, compassion and bodhicitta.
This brings all the temporal and ultimate happiness, liberation from the oceans of samsara’s sufferings and full enlightenment, and then to fully enlighten the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, suras, asuras and numberless intermediate state beings.
With much love and prayers...
Countless Skies of Thanks
This letter was sent to a very kind benefactor who had helped a number of FPMT centers.
My very dearest one,
Great, great benefactor for the teachings of the Buddha and sentient beings, so they can be free from the oceans of samsaric suffering of the six realms and free from the root of samsara—the grasping at an inherently existent I, which has never existed since the beginning of time. Particularly for FPMT to be able to serve the teachings of the Buddha and sentient beings; and particularly Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings, which are the stainless teachings. Also you are serving His Holiness the Dalai Lama and of course Khadro-la and Geshe-la, and of course, little me, the small mouse!
There are no words or way to thank you. Countless skies of thanks!
Regarding the center that you are helping—it has been a big problem that they did not have their own place. It can be so helpful and we should use the new center in different ways, for example, doing social work in the community. It’s very important to help others not only with Dharma. There are things we can do right now, especially to pacify the physical and mental problems of others. People will come to Dharma through the other methods and then they can be happy with the teachings of the Buddha. People have so many problems, physical and mental.
Also thank you for helping the retreat place. I have to say again how really helpful this is, unbelievable! There is so much benefit to sentient beings. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! So that people can actualize the path to be free from the oceans of sufferings and achieve the state of sang-gye, thus achieving completion of all the realizations. Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing! Thank you. Skies full of thanks, again and again.
And now you are also helping the monastery, so now their wishes get fulfilled. You are more than a wish-fulfilling jewel. You are helping others to practice and achieve the three higher trainings and ultimate happiness. Your help is supporting them to generate the three principal aspects of the path. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!
I am so happy that you have manifested such kindness. That is another way to help many sentient beings and bring them to full enlightenment, the state of sang-gye.
It is mentioned by Sakya Pandita that even though the beams of the sun are extremely hot, without a magnifying glass, nothing will catch fire. Like that, even with the blessings of the buddhas who are numberless, without the guru we cannot receive those blessings. Therefore, by pleasing the guru it pleases all the numberless buddhas. This is a quick way to achieve enlightenment—the total elimination of all the obscurations and accumulation of all the qualities. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart with my two hands together in mudra at my heart.
Also Sakya Pandita mentioned,
The merits from a thousand eons of practicing the paramita of charity of one’s limbs—even the merits received from giving away one’s limbs countless times—all that merit which took one thousand eons to collect, is collected in one second by the path of the guru.
That means when you fulfill the guru’s wishes, all the merit is collected in one second. That means it is the quickest way to achieve enlightenment.
From the tantric text Drop of Mahamudra:
When wood is burned by a fire, it becomes ashes in one second. Like that, by pleasing the guru, the negative karma is burnt in one second.
So, heavy negative karmas like abandonment of the holy Dharma, destroying all the holy objects, the five heinous crimes, and so forth. Even the heaviest negative karma with the guru gets purified in such a short time. So many eons of negative karma get purified.
Thank you so much. I don’t want you to get tired by reading my long letter. Thank you.
With big love and prayers...