On this Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 11, 2025), as has become my tradition, I celebrate the memory of my kind father, Bobo Tashi. My father was the kindest person to me in my life. He was not only my father, he was also a mother to me. I was only three months old when my kind mother and an uncle and other members of my family died of starvation under the oppression and torture of the Communist Chinese government. My father was young at the time. My father, himself, was imprisoned for nine years. It was thanks to my father surviving and taking care of us that my siblings and I did not die of starvation and are still alive in the world today; it is solely due to his kindness. Not only in this lifetime, it is impossible for me to ever forget his kindness in all of my lives. To read a bit about my father, please check out my blog or YouTube.

“Karmically ordained kind father, it has been
Twenty-two years since you left for the Buddhafields.
This brown wooden bowl by which I remember you
Is testimony that I will never forget you, great father!
You were my father as well as my mother;
You were also my Teacher and Master.
You are everything to me;
Your kindness is vast, dear holy father.
My being here today and being a kind person
Is all due to your benevolence.
My being alive in this world and all the good
That I accomplish is due to your kindness.
In order to repay your kindness, your son promises
To fulfill your deepest, innermost wishes:
To make my life meaningful and to powerfully benefit others;
I will never give this up until it is accomplished.
On this world-wide Mother’s Day holiday,
I remember this wonderful person, my father,
By means my brown wooden bowl, and Tibetan food
Celebrating in memory of you, never forgetting.
By power of the profound loving bond between father and son,
And my life-long perseverance in the practice of holy Dharma,
I pray that we, father and son, will meet in future lives
In Buddha Amitabha’s Pure Land of Bliss, Sukhavati.”

Written by Khenpo Karten Ripoche, originally posted to facebook and instagram on Mother’s Day 2025.  Image is a likeness of Rinpoche’s father and Rinpoche, artist unknown.