Sūtra Sponsor and GEM Donor Huilien Chen’s Profound Path of Offerings and Devotion
When Huilien Chen looks back on her life, she’s the first to admit: she never expected to become a Buddhist.
Originally from Taiwan, Huilien grew up in a traditional Taoist household. “Every family had a shrine,” she recalls. “Even though it was often to Guanyin, we didn’t call it Buddhism. It was cultural—rituals, incense, reverence—but the Dharma wasn’t something we talked about.”
Now living in Fiji with her husband, Huilien’s relationship with Buddhism has transformed dramatically. Her husband, a longtime practitioner, had introduced her to Buddhist ideas and practices over the years, but nothing truly resonated. “He tried for decades,” she laughs. “In my mind, Buddhism meant sitting cross-legged on the floor chanting all day. I’d seen a lot of arguing and scolding around temples growing up—it just didn’t appeal to me.”
That changed in 2023, when her husband traveled to the U.S. and met a student of Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. That meeting led them to teaching events and to a copy of Not for Happiness, Rinpoche’s book on the Buddhist path. “I read it and felt like someone had turned on a light inside of me,” says Huilien. “It just made sense. It clicked.”
After that, everything changed. “I fell in love with his teaching. It was so clear, so powerful. The moment I heard him speak, I became a thousand percent Buddhist.” She took refuge shortly after.
Huilien began giving to 84000 as a Give Each Month (GEM) donor in January 2024, and a year later, she became a sūtra sponsor. Through 84000’s Sponsor a Sūtra program, supporters contribute to the translation and publication of a Tibetan Buddhist text, preserving the Buddha’s wisdom for current and future generations.
For Huilien, the decision to support 84000 was easy. As she beautifully expresses, “Rinpoche says that if you dreamed you won the lottery, you would give it all away because it’s just an illusion. Everything I see and own, I offer to the Three Jewels.”
With that view in her heart, she sponsors the translation of The Supplementary Tantra to the Higher Tantra of the Deity Ḍākinījālaśaṃvara (Toh 367), and continues to give regularly to Rinpoche’s Dharma projects. “Supporting the translation of the Buddha’s words felt like the most direct way I could contribute to something timeless,” she says. “I’ve benefited so much from the Dharma—my confidence has grown, my family sees the change.”
Huilien’s days have become grounded in devotion and practice. “I’m not a scholar,” she says humbly. “I’m a beginner. But I listen to Rinpoche’s teachings on YouTube every day. Sometimes I fall asleep listening and he appears in my dreams. He says it doesn’t mean anything, but I like it.”
She makes offerings every morning—flowers, incense, butter lamps, water, and even gin—to the Three Jewels. She chants the Hundred Syllable Mantra while walking, and recites the Seven Line Prayer daily. “These small practices bring me joy,” she says. “They remind me of impermanence, of pure perception.”
She now practices Longchen Nyingthig Ngöndro in Fiji with her husband and continues to make strong aspirations. “I aspire that Rinpoche will turn the wheel of Dharma here in Fiji. I try to share the teachings with others. Some are interested, some aren’t. That’s okay. I keep making aspirations.”
Asked what she most wants others to know, Huilien simply says, “I don’t have much to share. The only thing I have is devotion. I pray that in all my lives, I can be Rinpoche’s servant, to help spread the Dharma. That’s it.”
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