Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Something Beautiful - August 21, 2010.

"Dear friends,

I’ve been asked by Khadro Crystal Chu Rinpoche to say a few words on behalf of His Holiness Professor Lin’s many godchildren. Our godfather had literally hundreds of godchildren, spread all over the world, of all ages; in some cases, his godchildren have had children of their own, and those children have become the newest godchildren. Some of us were his godchildren for decades; he was my godfather for thirty years. Others of us knew him for only a few months. But there are many things that we all share in common as his godchildren.

To have him as our godfather was to experience a sense of safety and security that few people in this world ever experience, either as adults or as children. It was the feeling of knowing that nothing truly bad would happen to us as long as he was around to watch over us. Even now, he continues to watch over us and remains in our lives, deeply inscribed in our hearts and in our karma. And if any of you have any doubt that he’s still there and watching over us, all you have to do is go into your own heart and ask him. Even if you are a lazy godson like me who did not study or practice meditation properly, he will still answer.

Here are a few other things we share in common as his godchildren.

He touched our lives deeply. He watched over us and helped us in so many ways, some of which we will never even know about. And in some cases, he even saved our lives.

We loved him, and we loved to spend time with him. Like true children, we did not always listen to him, even when he truly knew what was best for us, and we did not always learn from him even when he tried to teach us. But, he loved us anyway and tried to help us anyway. He was a father figure none of us could ever outgrow or ever wanted to outgrow, more wise and understanding than any of us could ever hope to be. And that is one reason why we miss him so much.

He accepted us as his godchildren, he chose to bless us with his wisdom and protection, because he saw in each of us the potential to be a good person who would make the world better, and he wanted to help us realize our potential. In other words, he saw the good in us and wanted to make us even better. And he knew that we would be his living legacies.

There are three things we must do now that he has left this world: we must honor him, we must carry out his wishes, and we must make the most of the many blessings he left us. How do we do these things? We can do these things by being worthy of him: by leading worthy, generous, compassionate lives, and by making good use of the many gifts he left us. He left us his teachings, his advice to us, his spiritual blessings. He also left us so many happy memories of being teased by him, or being forced to sing karaoke by him, or being grilled publicly about our girlfriends and boyfriends in the most embarrassing possible manner. But above all, he also left us each other.

We are deeply fortunate to be connected to each other through our Godfather. By making us his godchildren, he didn’t just forge strong spiritual bonds with each of us; he also forged strong spiritual bonds between all of us – even those of us who have never met each other in person. It is now our responsibility to him to develop those bonds. I am told that his last words before he died were: <>. Work hard to stay together. And that is what we must all do, godchildren and followers and disciples alike. We must make contact, we must stay in contact, we must find ways that we can help each other. And in doing these things, we are literally blessed to have Khadro Crystal Rinpoche to guide us. All of the godchildren know that she cares deeply about all of us, the same way that our Godfather did, and we feel comforted and reassured whenever we see her or talk to her. I hope we can let Auntie Crystal know that we care deeply about her too. She is a source of strength to us. We must also be a source of strength to her.

We must learn never to take each other for granted. This is what our Godfather would have wanted, for our own good. We miss you, Godfather, and we will work together, as you asked. It is hard to believe that this day has finally arrived, but here it is. So on behalf of all your godchildren: thank you for being there for us when we needed you–even when we didn’t know we needed you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for a gift we can never repay. Goodbye, and see you in your next life." - David Law

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Namo Amitoufo.

I miss you now more than ever, but I know that you are still here in our hearts, watching over all of us.

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