David's Space...

You don't impress me much!

(In order to safeguard the identity of this person, I took the liberty to change the details of these people so as not to offend anyone. So, please don't jump to quick conclusions about the identities of these people.)

This afternoon, I went for lunch with this person, who has a sibling in the Dharma. It was a fun vegetarian lunch and everything was hunky-dory, even when we started talking about her cousin. You see, her cousin had been working in the Dharma for a while now. That seemed very noble of her but actually, her cousin had been occasionally helping her out with her stipend but is still receiving crap treatment from her. (Excuse my French but you know what I mean.)

This family member takes from her cousin emotionally and financially but portrays herself to be a smart and loving person to the world. She takes her cousin for granted on very small issues and expect 'family' to take care of the nitty-gritties. She is not even that closely related but demands so much more. Hence, whatever Dharma work this person does, it does not impress her cousin. 

On the bright side, the cousin notices that she has improved and is much better at handling difficult situations without losing her cool. However, this does little justice to what she do at home and all she need to do is to bring Dharma home. I don't really know what advice to dispense and so I would tell her to be patient and give her some time, as her cousin does more Dharma work, she will learn to appreciate others and will transform naturally.

I try to sound as assured as I can although I am not confident inside as the issues momentarily made me introspective as well. 

KMP - Best workplace in the world.

I know this is way overdue but I am going to post up some pictures of KMP (Kechara Media and Publications). I have never worked in such a beautiful office before. The showroom of Volvo (one of my previous jobs) was not bad too but I was a lousy salesman. Anyway, never in my wildest dreams would I ever think that I would be working in a publications' company. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out the cool reception area of KMP. Lovely 3-feet statue of the Buddha of wisdom, Manjushri was donated by my dad, Uncle Lai. So, he sits divinely in KMP, inspiring our work and blessing all who come into the office. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the English editorial room with all its workstations. No hard guesses necessary to know that the pink feather boa belongs to Jamie 'Paris' Khoo. Mine is the one with the money plant (I wished real Ringgit notes grew on it), Manjushri and Herbalife. Just to let you know, I quit Herbalife. Why? I lost slightly over 1 kg after starving myself half to death for a whole month! I gave up on a losing weight, ate myself over a few kgs and saw myself in the mirror one morning and decided to take up midnight jogging again (will blog about it soon).

The Chinese editorial room is next to us and you will see a red Mao figurine to proof that! The fish tank sits in with them and also a gorgeous Vajrayogini altar (makes me slightly green with envy), not seen in this photo.  Both of which is taken cared by Dr Lanse. On the side, Paul (my housemate and head of 3 Kechara departments) said the half glass partition reminds him of his factory office, he used to work in. It was the only negative comment we heard so far. 

This is where the crazy motley KMP crew gather every Monday for their weekly meetings and various meetings as well. The renovations (all thanks to Judy Dudy (I mean Judy Lam, our office admin head.) and Li Kim's (our great CEO, boss, friend and celebrity-to-be) great taste and decisiveness.

Often, we have to remind ourselves that the KMP's office used to be Kechara House's main prayer hall. We are indeed fortunate for its vast space and extra good vibes from all the pujas, prayers, retreats and Dharma talks held there. There's no better place to work in!

The mad crew - I am the only thorn among the roses. 

Setrap Rejuvenates!

I am feeling a little tired and listless after a weekend of flea marketing. It was fun but the whole lot of fun have left me drained. Earlier this evening, I was feeling that I needed rejuvenation. Perhaps a soothing evening massage but I decided to drag my ass for puja at Kechara House instead. Needless to say, the mantras, prayers and recitations (of Setrap Puja) was calming.

Pujas was also a great place to get to know people and I did meet an old classmate, who does art now. I also got a Kudos for coming to Setrap Puja more regularly now, which was an encouragement of sorts. Don't worry folks! I will try to make it every week now! Gotta bring my vajra and bell (my special prayer implements that is gathering a little too much cobwebs) next time. He he!

A Very Special Contest!

 Dear friends,

I have a special request of my blog readers. You can change lives, change thinking, change attitudes and change outcomes if you try and all from the comfort of your homes and Pc’s….You just have to care. Please care. It’s beautiful to focus out..

Cruelty towards animals is against genuine spiritual developement, unethical and inhumane. You should do you best to stop it as much as possible. The first step is to create awareness. Awareness/education are instrumental for fundamental shifts.

 

I have a special request. And with folded hands and great humility I request the below:

1. Take the time to watch all the videos. And write one comment for each of the videos below that is 150 words minimum or more. So that is 19 comments in total.

2.  Either blog, tweet (on 10 categories with link back to this post) or facebook with link back to this post ALL 19 videos. And write in comments where you placed them here. You must write in the comments section where you have blogged, tweeted or facebooked the videos. So it can be verified.

3. Go Vegetarian for a week or more. Everyday on the comments of this post write what you ate that day.

If you do the above and it is verified by KECHARA (Ethan, Bryan, and Nicholas). I will be honoured and very happy to send you a Buddha Pendant or Buddha tsatsa. Shipping will be included.

For Pendants you may pick: 2 armed Dukkar, Tara, Shakyamuni, Setrap or Tsongkapa Pendant.

If you choose tsatsa, then, it can be Tara, Shakyamuni, Buddha or Tsongkapa. They are beautiful.

(As supplies last).

If you repeat all the above once a month continuously for 6 months straight and update on the comments with links where possible, then I will be happy to send you a 9″ brass traditional Buddha Statue of either Tara, Tsongkapa, Medicine Buddha or Shakyamuni. (As supplies last)

 

Why am I doing this, I wish to gift you with special thanks for your compassion in helping me spread the word around regarding cruelty towards animals.

As a Buddhist, spiritual being, or a person with a conscience, WE SHOULD DO OUR BEST TO SAVE THESE ANIMALS. We should put in our resources, time, energy, love into saving animals as much as we can without excuses and without further delays.

Tsem Rinpoche

 

If you have questions or for prize claiming you may contact:

 

Nicholas [email protected]

Ethan [email protected]

Bryan [email protected]

 

Their profiles can be seen here: http://www.kechara.com/support/about-us/our-team/

Terms and Conditions: 
1) Only one pendant per winner per month
2) Winners to submit an email to Nicholas, Ethan or Bryan providing details of the qualifying postings (and links to those posts) for verification

 

 

Is this what you like to eat???

If from the moment that I was born, I get my lips cut off, my skin scalded by a hot branding iron, my ears cut off with a pair of scissors (all WITHOUT anesthetics, so I cry and scream in excruciating pain)…I get forced to eat growth hormones EVERYDAY….I sleep, POOP, pee and EAT in a 10ft x 10ft with another person my size who does the same thing….I sleep on my friend’s poop and pee, then continue to eat from there….I go mentally-unstable because it’s just too hot, too cold, too cramped….ITS SO NOISY….I can’t move AT ALL….I get badly kicked, severely punched, harshly dragged….I get my bones broken…I’m too big so my legs break from my weight…

Have I lived a good and normal life so far??

Minutes…Hours…Days…YEARS pass by SO SO slowly…I then get pushed into a very small car with 20 friends…get pushed out…get electrocuted at all the wrong places….someone then comes and kicks me, punches me in the face, stands on my back and starts jumping up and down…

What have I done to them??

….I get hung up UPSIDE-DOWN on a moving conveyor belt along with all of my friends…I can still hear some of them being tortured in the other room…I see my friend in front of me starting to shake really hard, he’s screaming and crying very very loud….I’m so scared and confused!!…..I feel a sharp pain around my neck and so I scream and scream…I try to get off the conveyor belt but I can’t…I start getting really tired and sleepy but I’m in so much pain…I try to scream again but I quickly begin to drown in my own blood.

If I was still alive, I’d see myself being skinned, chopped, cleaned, cooked …. and finally I end up on someone’s plate.

Did they not know what happened to me or how I got here? Why are they okay with it???

PLEASE DO NOT BE OK WITH THIS……THANK YOU.

(Watch ALL 19 Videos here --> http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/06/19-videos-on-animal-cruelty.html

Flea Market Adventure

We are already on our 3rd Week of our flea market adventure. This adventure is a combined effort of Jean Ai, Shin, James, Bonita and myself based on what the older student's of Rinpoche used to do when times were bad. Rinpoche recalls fondly of this in his blog- http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/12/flea-market-at-amcorp-mall.html So to kickstart this endeavour, Rinpoche gave us a lot of stuff to sell in the flea market. Just in case you were wondering, our flea market is held in the suburban Amcorp Mall, that is famous in all of Petaling Jaya for its weekend flea markets. 

Our flea market is on every Sunday (till Chinese New Year) from 10 am till 6pm. Our stall is usually located on the 1st floor. 

Although for the first weekend, our stall was on the lower ground floor where all the other antique and second hand resellers congregated with their junk, antiques and curios. The crowd there was also thicker but we never got back to the same location again. When I enquired at the event management, they told me that those stalls have been there for more than 10 years and management have allocated newer stalls selling second hand items on the 1st floor. Oh well! 

The flea market begins with layout of our 'haul' of the day on the table. Bonita got us a nice stainless steel rack to display books, CDs and DVDs. Naturally, we also get a lot pre-loved cuddly soft toys as you can see here.

Bonita makes headway with the passerbys while I was just admiring the soft toy. Jean Ai told me the turtle toy was from Wee Liang and I remarked, "It looks just like him!" She agreed with a laugh. 

We were very fortunate to have lots of Nepalese and Tibetan paraphernalia (that were given by Rinpoche as well) that eventually became the bestsellers of the day. Pictured with me are Matthieu and Julian Morriset - Margaret's boys that Jean Ai brought along every weekend. They make good slaves, show-stoppers with their mischievous antics and they do look good in pictures. 

Mr Yee, our regular patron of our flea market stall is proud of the beautiful items he is inviting including the Manjushri fiery wisdom sword held by Shin Tan. I was playing with it for awhile and contemplating to get it but I am happy nonetheless that Mr Yee got it instead. (I know! So YSG and that stands for 'You're So Goooood!' :o) )

Jean Ai loves kids! She loves them and she plays with them and she is good with kids and she's also part of the fledgling Kechara Youth group. She got Matthieu and Julian in to help out at the flea market. Besides them, we had Sharon's son, Sean (pictured here sitting next to Jean Ai), Edward (picture here in orange) and Beatrix (both are Angel's kids) along with mummy Angel. We also had Phillip Yong, the young intelligent guy with glasses in the picture below.

It is great that so many of these young people help out at the flea market. First of all, it is FUN and second of all, they get to spend their time doing something beneficial and if they help out long enough, they might even learn to value money (most parents would heartily agree that they need this) . Not to mention, we spread the name of Kechara, Tsem Rinpoche and the Dharma. 

 

So... Come one! Come all! And enjoy great bargains!

For the Love of Buddha statues...

Last Saturday, Kechara Paradise had a stock party of all the Buddha images and stuff that they have brought back from a recent trip overseas. It was held at the new Kechara House Gompa. It was really exciting and beautiful collection of sacred statues. Here are some of my favourite statues that I wished I could invite back home. 

A small 7 inch antique Manjushri statue.... Just beautiful! 

Manjushri is the Buddha of Wisdom and if we pray to Manjushri, we will be blessed with excellent memory, sharp mind, creativity and empowering speech that is clear and precise in its meaning. I love Manjushri and my lack of these qualities is perhaps why I love him so much...

This is a 3-feet handsome Maitreya that is plated with silver and comes at a extremely powerful merit increasing price of RM108,000. I don't normally admire Maitreya but this image is rather unique and regal. Maitreya's name literally means Great Love and he is the future Buddha-to-be hence, his unusual sitting position, which is reminiscent of a reigning king instead of Bodhisattva. (Actually, he is depicted as the reigning Bodhisattva on the divine throne of Tushita) Having the statue of him and praying to him creates the cause for us to be reborn within his very circle of disciples when his time to descend on to earth comes. 

I love these Vajrayogini statues, especially the Sukhasiddhi form of Vajrayogini on the right. She is the amazing divine mother who kills our ego along with its negative karma and habituations and gives birth to us as fully enlightened Buddhas from her sacred womb. I have a similar statue at home that I invited many years ago from Kechara Paradise.

Vajrayogini in mid-flight. She totally transcends over the ego and takes us to inner and outer Kechara Paradise. What a beautiful object of refuge and prayer!

This is Arya Amoghapasa Lokeshvara and he is a multi-armed form of Avalokiteshvara that seems to have been popular in Nepal, China, Tibet and Japan since the middle ages. The name suggests that he is the Lord of the world with infallible noose which leads suffering beings to enlightenment.

Amoghapasa has one face and wears a saffron skirt. Amoghapasa Lokeshvara has eight hands with the right hands showing the gesture of fearlessness, the boon granting gesture, the noose and holding the string of beads while the left hands holding a trident, a scripture, a white lotus and a water pot.

Amoghapasa Lokeshvara has three divine eyes looking into the 3 major realms of existence of form, formless and desire realms. His first right hand in Abhaya Mudra symbolizes that one who practices the Dharma sincerely is protected from falling into lower realms. The second right hand displaying Varada Mudra shows that those who practice and generate compassion and Bodhichitta receive all desirable objects and conditions. The third hand holding Amoghapasa or infallible noose symbolizes that he has infallible skill and means to convert ignorant sentient beings onto the path of liberation. The fourth right hand holding a rosary signifies that by the recitation of the six syllable mantras of Avalokiteshvara, one frees oneself from the bondage of samsara.

Again among four left hands, one holding a water pot signifies that he has the capacity of empowering all the sentient beings into Buddhahood. The second left hand holding a lotus signifies that he frees the sentient beings residing in hell realms from the suffering of intense heat and cold just like a lotus emerges from muddy water. The third left hand holding a trident signifies that he purifies three poisons of sentient beings i.e. desire, hatred and ignorance. The fourth left hand holding a scripture signifies that he imparts wisdom to the devotees and thereby they attain liberation from cyclic existence.

Lokeshvara Amoghapasa's description taken from http://www.shakyastatues.com/statue/amoghapasalokeshvara

and most of the pictures are courtesy of Peter Hoh

Happenings of the Past Week

I kinda got off track with my blog for the past week so I would just give you a run down of the emotional roller-coaster ride of the past week. After the Gompa opening, we celebrated our Lama Tsongkhapa day at the new Kechara House. We had the great fortune to have Rinpoche grace the occasion, just 3 days after the Gompa opening. 

I gave a little explanation of Lama Tsongkhapa day or Gaden Ngamcho. This is the day of Lama Tsongkhapa's passing into full Enlightenment. Rinpoche on the other hand, gave a wonderful talk and explanation of the body, speech and mind offerings and a whole lot more! 

I managed to squeeze in two movies during the week, one was Inception and the other was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The much hyped Inception movie was a mind-blower. I mean it blew my mind away with its novel idea of entering into people's minds and messing them up. In some ways it was rather Dharmic because the characters in the movie begin to question their reality at some point. The plot was somewhat complicated if you are not quick to pick up on the explanations of how they create dreams within dreams - simulated reality within another fake reality. Great movie! 

Harry Potter on the other hand was not too bad. I think the cast are a little too old for their roles. The plot thickens as Voldermort grows in power and seeks to destroy Harry Potter. Unfortunately, he can't kill Mr Potter with his wand so he seeks other means to get Potter. So circumstances forced Potter to make a run for his very life. It is the most adult and darkest of all the Potter movies. Unfortunately, the movies ends with a horrible cliffhanger. The makers are obviously trying to prolong this franchise and milk as much money/publicity as they possibly can. 

Besides movies, I had a really fun time shopping with Rinpoche along with many others at Giants'. It was a Kechara departmental thingy and we got literally heaps of groceries, good, toiletries and stuff for our various departments and Dharma Houses. It was a massive shopping expedition and a whole lot of fun buying food and stuff for staff and volunteers of all our departments. I think many people who haven't seen Rinpoche in a long time got their chance to talk and be near him. That made many people very happy and energised them. That is an amazing quality that Rinpoche possesses.

Last night was one of the few moments in my life I felt real stupid. I guess calling myself stupid is a huge escape and what really happened was that I had been in a lull of laziness to the point of being irresponsible. I was told it was self-sabotage and I am always tripping myself all the time. That's true but anyway, there is nothing new in this for those who know me. I just have to pick up the pieces and move on and somehow become stronger, push myself ahead and move with everyone else. I got to grow up and take charge of my life. <--I need to remind myself daily now. I find being lazy is real tough actually and I am somehow caught in its vicious cycle of laziness and paying the price. Sorry, don't want to bore you with more poor me stories and will get out of this rut and move on with the 'program' soon! 

The New Kechara House Opens!

Finally! The day that all Kecharians have been eagerly awaiting!

The inauguration of the new Kechara House Gompa has finally come! Well, the inauguration took place last night. The inauguration took just one evening but it was really a culmination of many months of hard work and planning. Therefore, the opening of the New KH Gompa defined 2010 as the year, Kechara House grew another level. 

Enough of the big words and hype, the event was pretty evident on Kechara's street because a humongous marquee was set up. It was no ordinary tent but a fancy with one with air-conditioning, sumptuous hors d'oeuvres (small servings of savoury food for those of you who are exceptionally cultured) from Kechara Oasis' (that means they are delicious, vegetarian and very kind to animals).  

The purpose of the marquee is for our members and guests to settle to conversations about Kechara and Rinpoche while being served with good food while awaiting Rinpoche to arrive. The new KH Gompa would only be opened once Rinpoche cuts the ribbon and offers a few words of benediction. 

Anyway, have any of you been a marquee that was air-conditioned? Well, I haven't and it was really quite a posh experience. I know I sound rather kampung (hill-billie) here but thats truth. There's always a first for everything. 

Check out the purple cocktail tables and the posh ambiance! Who would have thought this was going to be the opening of a Buddhist temple. That is typical Kechara-style for you! Well the food was great too... I heard. I didn't eat much because I was busy playing the host to a visiting Theravaden monk, Venerable B Sri Saranankara Nayaka Maha Thero (pictured here on the right).

I was busy sharing with him about Rinpoche and Kechara while the waiters were coming one-by-one and I wanted to take pictures of the food but dare not. I didn't want to give a bad impression of a Kechara glutton. (although some people might already have that impression of me.)

I realised Theravaden monks are trained to restrict expressions of emotion. Initially, I felt that I was boring him or he wasn't interested in what i had to say. However, he warmed up and later I found that was a trait of a Theravaden monk, which is quite different from Rinpoche's charismatic outburst of wit and humour.

Anyway, just before Rinpoche arrived, there were 3 performances and the first one was my favourite. It was the Vajrayogini dance by Margaret Lee and I must say, she sure did a fantastic rendition of the traditional sacred dance. The background music was a pre-recorded vocals by James Long that was hauntingly similar to the actual traditional chant. Check out these pictures of Margaret as Vajrayogini... Spectacular!

Photos of the performances are from Kok Yek Yee's facebook.

There were two other performances. The next one was the Migtsema Candle dance...

and a Tibetan folk dance... 

But the star attraction came after all the performances....

Rinpoche arrived in his complete monk robes and pandits hat! Looking grand, tall and majestic, he cut the ribbon, uttered a few words of benediction and entered Kechara House New Gompa. 

Photo from Khong Jean Ai's facebook 

At the Gompa, Rinpoche offered the mendel tensum (offering of a world mandala),

...a Buddha body...

...Buddha speech....

and Buddha mind to the Dalai Lama's throne which represents all of Rinpoche Gurus and lineage Gurus.

Then, Rinpoche ascends his own Dharma throne and gives us a fantastic Dharma talk. Before that, he signs a plaque to officiate Kechara House and thanks a whole list of who's who including the Liaisons and numerous guests of honour. We even have the Ambassadors of Argentina, the mentioned Reverend, Mother Mangalam (our own Malaysian Mother Teresa) and come to grace our event. Unfortunately, I didn't take any of their pictures. 

Thus the new KH Gompa is officially consecrated by a wonderful Dharma session on the universality of spirituality, the true meaning of spirituality which is finding similarities instead of differences and transformation into a kinder, more compassionate person. Rinpoche's words were of course more eloquent and meaningful than what I express here. At the end, Rinpoche spent a few minutes reciting a few sacred prayers and all of us recited Migtsema and a simple dedication. The recitations itself was simple, elegant and heartfelt. Rinpoche finally declared Kechara House New Gompa is consecrated and officially opened! 

Photo from Sharon Saw's facebook account.

Enter the Lama's World....

Here is the grand audience room of H. E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche in the new KH Gompa. This is where he meets guests and so the throne is knee-high to make it more 'accessible' to talk with people privately. The silver staff on the left side is a monk's staff to denote the Lama is the holder of the Vinaya or monk vows. The thangka behind is a unique one depicting Lama Tsongkhapa (with the yellow hat) on an elephant with 5 emanations of Manjushri above and various other Buddhist deities around them. An antique Buddha of wealth and generosity, Dzambala sits aptly and grandly on the side table. The yellow Tsongkhapa robes are placed on his seat symbolic of the Lama's presence and his ritual implements are humbly covered with a blue cloth cover so as not to advertise the Lama's Tantric attainments or supernatural powers. 

The back of the room has a row of nice seats for a comfortable and private audience. Powerful and elegant black and white images of the lineage Lamas line the walls depicting Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (left), Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche (middle) and Kyabje Zong Rinpoche (right). The thangka depicts a beautiful red Vajrayogini. 

There is another view of the audience room showing a powerful painted Setrap thangka. I remember Rinpoche mentioned this thangka is very blessed and had displayed miraculous signs before. 

Last part of the little audience room is the dragon carpet. The Tibetan term for the dragon (Tib. 'brug but pronounced drug) refers to the sound of thunder. It is a powerful sign of imperial power and magnificence of the Chinese emperors. This symbolism is brought over to the Dharma to signify the majestic power and awe of the Dharma. The colour yellow on the dragon signify increase of the Dharma and coupled with the symbolism of the dragon, it is a befitting offering to a Lama. It is like saying may the majestic power and awe of our Lama's teachings touch the lives of many who come and meet him for the Dharma. May his works flourish and may it bring much benefit.

Billions of Buddhas in One

Enshrined within the new KH Gompa are three large statues of Lama Tsongkhapa, Vajrayogini and Setrap. Combined, there would be a staggering 493.4 billion Buddha images within these three statues. These images are actually stored upon 27 hard disks collectively and placed within the statues. 

Here are how the actual Buddha images (stored within the hard disk) look like...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manjushri - 48.3 billion images                            Lama Tsongkhapa - 30.8 Billion

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

   Vajrayogini - 30.7 Billion Images                     Dukkar - 41.9 Billion Images

 

 

 

Buddha Shakyamuni - 35 Billion Images      Amitabha Buddha - 37.8 Billion Images

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Setrap - 46.1 Billion Images                     Yamantaka - 175.5 Billion

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche's hand written Vajrayogini mantra - 47.3 Billion

According to the Buddha, just looking at a line drawing of the image of a Buddha in anger will plant a seed of enlightenment in the mind stream of the beholder. Just imagine the merit accumulated if we were to make offerings, prostrations and prayers to this image instead. Now, multiply that by 493.4 billion times for all the 3 Statues in the new KH Gompa and that is a whole lot of merits! Hence, each time we prostrate, make offerings and prayers to the 3 statues, the blessings will be multiplied billions of times over. All this merit is accumulated in relations towards a enlightened body of a Buddha.

That means we create the direct cause towards attaining a Buddha body ourselves. So what does that mean?

By 'attaining a Buddha body', we purify lifetimes of negative karma related to the body - killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, etc. In that way, we attain longevity (a long life), a body free of disease, charismatic, beautiful to look at (especially in future lives) and attain success in worldly and especially spiritual endeavours. We also attain the 112 major and minor marks of a perfect Buddha body. That means we would have understood, realised and embody the entire Lamrim (Entire teachings of the Buddha that is presented in stages by Atisha and Lama Tsongkhapa) because the body of each Buddha contains the roadmap of the entire Lamrim. 

Therefore, the tradition of filling the statues of Buddhas with billions of images and mantras are meant to create as much merits towards achieving a Buddha body for those who supplicate, prostrate, make offerings, prayers and recite mantras towards these holy statues.