I Am Grateful to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. I recall that it was 2007. At that time I just changed my job and thus was very busy. Sometimes I had to work overtime for the whole night and still had to work the next day. Doing that for long was more than what my body and mind could bear. I was like a robot working continuously without stop. I felt that human life was just for the three meals and I had to work incessantly.
Also, I had to spend considerable time and mental effort. Therefore, sometimes I would feel sad for no obvious reason. It was until my friend led me to the Bodhi Monastery in LA to listen respectfully to the recorded dharma discourses expounded by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. Then, my whole person was like being fully charged and my heart was filled by indescribable joy, as if I had found a treasure that could let my mind feel satisfaction and pleasure. Since then, I always went to Bodhi Monastery on holidays and whenever I had time.
Also at that time, due to being too tired from so much work, I had chronic headache. When the pain came, it was truly horrible. I felt so painful like being hit by a hammer. My nose bled sometimes too. I went to doctors for that and had all kinds of examinations, but no cause could be found. At that time, I thought about reducing my workload, but was afraid of affecting the work progress. Also, that could not alleviate my problem of headache either. I was very much plagued and did not know what I should do.
Once, after listening respectfully to the recorded dharma discourses expounded by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, I chatted with a dharma master of the monastery about my physical situation. The dharma master gave me a red-colored holy pill (nectar pill) and let me take it orally. After returning home, I felt that my body was like being pinched by needles, as if undergoing a session of acupuncture. The feeling traveled like flowing throughout my body. I did not give much thought about that at the time. Then, without knowing how long it was after that, I suddenly realized while at work that I no longer had headache or nose bleeding recently. At that time, I recalled the sense and feeling I had after taking the nectar pill and returning home. I was moved to tears. I had this illness of headache for quite a few years. It could not be cured by treatment. I was very excited and shouted spontaneously:
I am grateful to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III! I am grateful to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III! I am grateful to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III! His Holiness the Buddha let me have this karmic condition to encounter the true dharma of the Tathagata and let me receive empowerment physically and mentally. I am willing to continuously make my effort in my entire life to follow H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III to learn the true dharma of the Tathagata and I will never stop.
One day in 2006, I suddenly received a phone call from an unfamiliar woman. Her voice was loud and direct: “Are you so-and-so, my boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend?”
What?! How did I become my own husband’s ex-girlfriend? I was completely confused.
The woman didn’t give me a chance to speak. She continued sharply: “I’m six months pregnant. Stop clinging to my man!”
Oh no! Could this be true? Was this what my husband—the man who always claimed to love me—had done? The sudden news struck me like a bolt of lightning on a clear day.
Recalling the life I shared with my husband, everything was still vivid in my mind. Back in the year 2000, despite strong opposition from my parents, classmates, and colleagues, I married him. Two years later, we had a child.
At that time, I worked at a state-owned enterprise with a stable income and had even been allocated a housing unit. He, on the other hand, came from a rural background and was unemployed. But he treated me very well—he took care of all the household chores and our baby. On the day our child was born, he surprised me by announcing he had passed the national tour guide exam, saying he wanted to take me around the country in the future. He expressed his love through real actions. I was deeply moved.
In 2002, he wanted to start his own company. He said working for others had no future, but running his own business, though hard, would be meaningful. I thought, a man with a career would be more confident. Plus, I wanted to prove to everyone—especially those who doubted him—that I hadn’t made a mistake. Considering all he had done for me, I decided to support him.
I took out a bank loan of 50,000 dollars and mortgaged my property to raise a total of 100,000 dollars for his business startup.
He worked extremely hard. Even when busy, he’d call me every day. At the end of that year, he handed me several thousand dollars, saying: “Your husband won’t let you down.”
At the time, I loved him deeply—I was swimming in a sea of happiness. I thought, “I chose the right man. A happy life is ahead.”
Starting in 2003, my husband moved to Shanxi for business while I stayed in Hunan, raising our child and working. He would only come home for Chinese New Year each year. Though he was away, I didn’t worry much. I rarely called him, thinking he must be busy with clients.
But just four years later, my nightmare began. He had racked up debts of hundreds of thousands of dollars and—worse—he had a mistress and a child outside. The financial loss wasn’t the worst part—money can be earned again. What broke me was that he had started another family behind my back.
The cruelest part? That woman called me claiming I was the “third party” and told me to stay away from “her man.” She and her sister even took turns harassing me with phone calls. I felt like a total fool—living as if I were the home-wrecker in this story. I was devastated, emotionally shattered, yet I had no one to confide in. I urged him to return home, and we quickly divorced. I even paid off the 100,000 dollars in loans he had taken for his failed business.
I had given everything to this marriage. I hated myself for being blind and not listening to my parents’ and friends’ warnings. I had fought for this man, raised money for him, and now I was left with nothing—not even dignity. I swore I would never forgive him. But the bitterness inside me had nowhere to go. I didn’t have the courage to tell my parents, fearing scolding. I couldn’t tell friends either, fearing ridicule. Every New Year, I didn’t dare return home. The pain was unbearable.
This suffering led me to Buddhism. As I studied, I slowly realized that all of this was karma—bitter fruit from the negative seeds I had planted in the past. Fellow Buddhist practitioners guided and encouraged me. So after the divorce, I didn’t hold much resentment. In fact, I even helped him again when he was in trouble.
I remember once, his child with his second wife was sick, and they had no money for treatment. He had tried borrowing from everyone and failed. As a last resort, he called me.
I pitied the child—after all, this was adult drama; a child shouldn’t suffer. So I lent him the money.
I asked him: “You hurt me and our daughter—why would you think I’d help you?”
He replied confidently: “Yes, I hurt you. But I know you’ll still help me.”
After marrying his second wife, his business thrived for a while. They drove luxury cars and lived in style. But things didn’t last. His wife made poor investments and lost a lot of money. Then his own business started failing. Eventually, they lost everything and divorced. He now lives a life of hiding, and recently even approached our daughter to borrow money.
Today, I study Buddhism and am fortunate to listen to the Dharma discourses of Namo Dorje Chang Buddha III. I’ve come to understand the workings of karma.
“All present suffering arises from the bad karma I created in the beginningless past. These are my own debts being repaid, not misfortunes caused by others.”
When a person harms another, they must face retribution. That is the law of karma. The complicated entanglement between my ex-husband, his second wife, and me—isn’t it all the result of our past negative actions?
Every encounter in this life, whether good or bad, is a karmic connection. Once I understood that, the hatred in my heart dissolved. My ex-husband may have hurt me, but he is still family. He once loved me deeply. For that, I should feel gratitude and offer help.
But how could I truly help him?
Yes! The best way to escape suffering is to lead him to Buddhism!
So I did just that. I called him and said:
“Practicing Buddhism can transform karma, build fortune, and change your life. If you want things to get better, study the Dharma with me…”
He was touched by my kindness and sincerity. I could hear the gratitude and trust through the phone.
In Mid-October 2011, when layperson Ling-Xian Chen from New York came to San Francisco to visit Hua Zang Si (a temple in United States that propagates the dharma of H.H.Dorje Chang Buddha III), she came to my place to listen to the Dharma. When I saw her, she seemed very gloomy. After a few words with her, I learned that her daughter-in-law, Su-Qing Chen in Taiwan was suffering from an unknown illness. She had gone through several examinations at various hospitals and still could not find the cause of it. She was in agonizing pain and her body was so weak that her weight had gone down to 39 kilos. Layperson Ling-Xian Chen was very worried about this and was about to rush back to pay her a visit in Taiwan.
At that time, I recalled that I had the Dharma water empowered by H.H.Dorje Chang Buddha III. I made a small bottle for her and asked her to bring it to her daughter-in-law. I also asked her to tell her daughter-in-law to have faith in Buddha Dharma, truly repent her beginning-less karmic hindrances and sincerely beseech empowerment from the Buddhas.
How Dharma Water Reveals the Power of the Buddhas
After layperson Ling-Xian Chen arrived in Taiwan, she then learned that her daughter-in-law had suffered from the illness since the beginning of the year. Her symptoms started with skin rashes and itchiness. She had sought cures from everywhere to no avail. Then in October her illness got worse. She was not able to swallow. If she drank, the water would flow out of her nostrils; if she ate, the food would get stuck in her throat. The last resort was nasogastric intubation for feeding.
On October 18, they found the name of the illness – dermatomyositis, but there was no cure for it. They could only treat her with corticosteroids or antibiotics. Afterwards, she experienced chest pain as a result of liquid retention in the lungs. They took out the liquid, yet the chest pain did not go away. After another check-up, they found a tear in the esophagus. Feeding through a tube was then stopped.
November 5 was the first time when layperson Ling-Xian Chen fed her daughter-in-law the Dharma water. She poured the pure Dharma water in the tube and asked her daughter-in-law how she felt about it. She said that it felt good and tasted fragrant. Afterwards, layperson Ling-Xian Chen poured the rest of the Dharma water evenly in several mineral water bottles. Every day she gave some of it to her daughter-in-law and comforted her daughter-in-law saying that with the Dharma water, she will receive the empowerment from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. As long as she has faith, she will have hope.
The prolong use of antibiotics and corticosteroids lead to anemia and malnutrition. At one point her limbs almost fell paralyzed and she could not even take care of her biological needs. To restore the tube feeding, the tube was inserted all the way to the small intestine which was a very painful process. After the evaluations were done by several departments, they decided on a surgery to suture the tear on the esophagus. On December 16, while in the surgery, the surgeons found that the tear of the esophagus had gotten too big, like the shape of a trumpet, to suture. They also found two additional small holes next to the heart. At the end, they redirected the tube from the top to a lower position and decided on a gastrostomy tube placement surgery which was then scheduled on January 4. After the surgery, her daughter-in-law was placed in ICU.
The Blessings of Dorje Chang Buddha III and the Compassion of All Buddhas
During this period of time, layperson Ling-Xian Chen insisted on feeding her daughter-in-law the mineral water mixed with the Dharma water. She had drunken seven or eight bottles all together. Gadu Rinpoche had chanted a sutra and beseeched blessings for her. The monastics of Hua Zang Si also have dedicated their merits to her.
While she was waiting for the g-tube placement surgery, a miracle happened. On January 3, before the surgery, in an endoscope exam, they found that tissues around the tear had grown and as a result closed the opening. The doctors were stunned by this and said that a surgery was not necessary any more. After two weeks of observation, the feeding tube was then taken out. After taking another X-ray of the esophagus to ensure of no opening, she was then released. One month after, she gradually recovered. She was then able to swallow without problems. Now, she is strong enough to talk and move freely.
Sincere Faith to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
The entire family of layperson Ling-Xian Chen was very moved. Her daughter-in-law also truly thanked the empowerment from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. She took refuge in Buddhism and sincerely took on the Bodhi path of Buddhist practice and cultivate. This true story again proves that Buddha Dharma is magnificent and the highest. It manifests immeasurable power that is true and not false. As long as one is sincere to the Buddhas, truly repents the beginning-less negative karma as a result of ignorance, becomes determined to learn from the Buddha and do only good, and cultivate in accordance with the Dharma, one will definitely receive empowerment from the Buddhas, eradicate all afflictions and sufferings caused by karmic hindrances, and obtain peace and happiness. Amitabha!