Rinpoche's Thank-you Cards, Letters and Gifts
Thanks for Your Generosity
A benefactor had contributed to the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to the Sera Je Food Fund. Rinpoche wrote this card, thanking the donor for their kindness.
My most dear wish-fulfilling one,
How are you? Thank you very, very much for your great contribution to these precious teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the eighteen different lamrims. This has never happened in the past, giving all these together.
Thank you very much. Thank you a billion, zillion times. This is to plant the seed of all the realizations, all the path of awakening and to plant the seed of enlightenment from the real Buddha Chenrezig.
This is incredibly rare. You can't imagine the benefit sentient beings receive from you, because of your kindness, your help, so that His Holiness is able to give these teachings, thus giving sentient beings the opportunity to achieve enlightenment.
Thank you also numberless times—thanks from all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and on behalf of all the Sera Je monks—thanks for your great kindness, your incredible generosity, offering for the food each year so they can continue listening, reflecting and meditating, and practicing the Buddha’s teachings and commentaries by Indian pandits and Tibetan enlightened lamas, such as Lama Tsongkhapa and so forth.
This makes it possible to preserve the Dharma and spread the Dharma in this world, now and also in the future—in future lives and universes, by bringing sentient beings to enlightenment. Can you imagine?
In order to give teachings for us, the Buddha collected the merit of wisdom and merit of virtue for three countless great eons, from the Mahayana path of merit, from there up to the first bhumi. From the first bhumi up to eighth bhumi is the second eon and from eighth bhumi to the tenth bhumi is the third eon. He bore so much hardship to complete the two types of merit in order to achieve enlightenment for us. The Buddha revealed the correct teachings for us so that he can guide us correctly to enlightenment.
With much love and prayers...
PS. I hope to see you again soon.
A Billion, Zillion Times Thanks
Rinpoche wrote this card to thank a student for offering service to the FPMT organization.
My most dear, kind, precious, wish-fulfilling one,
A billion, zillion times thanks for your continual hard work and service for sentient beings, the buddhas and for me. And of course also for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Yeshe.
I heard very good praise, the very highest praise regarding you—that you are continually inspiring others and doing the work, that you are very capable and always continuing.
Even though we didn’t really have much time to talk, for me to express to you about life and work, you are taking it very seriously and doing very well. I really wanted to say how kind you are and I hope to see you soon.
I always pray for those FPMT students who rely on me, who I promised to pray for and those whose names have been given to me.
With BIG love and prayer, please enjoy the life.
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...
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...