David's Space...

A Walk Down Kechara's Memory Lane

We just celebrated Rinpoche's birthday last night at the main Kechara House's prayer hall, which is also affectionately known as KH1. The hosts for the event, Margaret Lee and Dino (for Chinese) pointed out that it would the last major event held at KH1. I don't know about everyone there but I felt a wave of nostalgia pass through me and more so later, when Susan Lim showed slides that highlighted old pictures of Kechare House.

For a moment, I was transported back to Wesak Day of June 2004, Kechara House was first inaugurated on the auspicious day 6 years ago and I do remember being there. There were around 30 of us with Rinpoche and we sat on mats and flattened cardboard boxes. There was a makeshift altar with some offerings and we did a quick and short blessing puja before we adjourned to Chia's apartment for the Dharma talk. I remember just as we did dedications, there was a sudden gust of wind. It was a cool respite from the sweltering heat of that morning. Rinpoche said that it was an auspicious omen for Kechara House. 

This picture of KH1 was taken before the renovation and this was how KH1 looked during Wesak Day. 

Kechara House opened its doors finally after months of renovation and headaches. A row 15 biographical thangkas of Je Tsongkhapa grace the walls of the odd shaped prayer hall. To breakaway from traditional Tibetan cabinet altars, Rinpoche decided that KH would be a modern setup and so the altars were "loose" little platforms. On the central altar was placed the Je Yab Se Sum set - statues of Lama Tsongkhapa and his two spiritual sons. The others are Buddha Shakyamuni, Guru Rinpoche, Vajrasattva along with a stupa.

A Panoramic Picture taken by Liaison Seng Piow of the prayer hall. 

In the above picture, the biggest throne is actually offered by Rinpoche to H. H. the Dalai Lama, which he said represents all his Gurus and lineage masters. Therefore, a picture of the Dalai Lama was placed there. The second throne, which is much shorter and more modest in its ornamentation is Rinpoche's own throne. He wanted his throne made smaller than his Guru's throne to denote his humility and his devotion to his Gurus. 

The Setrap Chapel at the back of the Gompa which is partitioned off with a 'foldable' wall. 

Lama Chopa held to celebrate Rinpoche's birthday on 24th October 2004

The above Puja was one of the first major event held after the initial renovation of Kechara House. Just check out the amount of students that Rinpoche have at that time in KL. We felt Kechara House was actually very beautiful and very spacious back then. 

Je Tse Zin Ma arrives in Kechara House on 9th October 2005 (Photo taken in Dec 05)

Rinpoche was inspired by an exact statue of Je Tse Zin Ma in his Guru's Ladrang in Nepal so he ordered one for our center. He felt it would be a very beneficial form of Lama Tsongkhapa for our center and it arrived on the 9th October 2005. Je Tse Zin Ma which means Lord who is the Holder of Life Force is a long life emanation of Lama Tsongkhapa. The long life vase he holds in his hands overflows with Amrita (divine nectar) symbolic of his supreme ability to bring all worldly and spiritual conditions for our spiritual practice. 

 Picture taken in KH1 during Wesak of this year 2010.

From the above picture, you can already tell that KH1 is already bursting at its seams. It has been like that for the past 2 years. The current KH1 sits around 250 to 300 max (if we pack the people like sardines) Hence, we have our new Gompa that is coming up and it will sit a max of 700 people! (Plus did I mention that Lama Tsongkhapa has grown to 10 feet! Exciting!) The new KH Gompa is thanks to Datuk May Phng, Mr Ngeow, Thierry, Wee Liang and the extremely hard working Liaison Council. It has been an amazing 6 years of great Kechara history and growth...

Picture taken yesterday of the brand new KH Gompa just before the Puja celebration of Rinpoches's birthday.

... And there  would be many more years of spectacular growth for Kechara House to come! I actually can't wait for the new Gompa's launch. 

(Old KH1 Pictures courtesy of Susan Lim's slides & the New Gompa Picture was taken by Ms Han)

My Birthday Gifts For Rinpoche

Yesterday was H. E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche's birthday (24th October)

 

and so I offered the following gifts to Rinpoche....

The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia... Why Wonder Woman? Well, she is Rinpoche's all time favourite comic book heroine and I think she is somehow related to Vajrayogini. 

And...

10 Bunches of red-film wrapped Vajrayogini Incense. I believe they are Rinpoche's favourite and to create further causes to uphold my vows. We offer incense to create the causes to uphold morality or our vows. (Need to create more merit in this department)

My last gift is a pewter Amitayus tsa-tsa - The Buddha of Boundless Life force. It is my hope and prayers that Rinpoche live long to teach and benefit lots of people, which I believe he will. A closeup of the beautiful tsa-tsa is as follows. (If you like to get one... Check out http://vajrasecrets.com/tsa-tsas/pewter-collection/pewter-tsa-tsa-of-amitayus-buddha-of-infinite-life-2-inches-tall.html)

 

So with this offering, I would like to wish...

 

Rinpoche!

 

The Next Step for Kechara...

The Kechara organisation is on the verge of a major expansion again with the renovation of the NEW KH Gompa (prayer hall) nearing completion. I am extremely excited about it and have been taking and posting almost daily photos of the progress on Facebook. So I shall present here some of the highlights of what I have taken so far.

This photo is taken at ground level of the New KH Gompa's facade. Unfortunately, the trees were blocking but you can still see the scaffolding on the walls as the workers are still working on it. 

I went to the third floor of the carpark building nearby and took this beautiful shot of the KH Gompa. You can even see the windows on the roof that lets sunlight into the main hall.

This is a 10 feet statue of Je Tse Zin Ma or the 'Lord of Life Force' that will be installed in the main hall. This is also the long life emanation of Lama Tsongkhapa. He will be the largest statue of Lama Tsongkhapa in South East Asia! We are very fortunate because he was especially commissioned by Kechara Discovery's Liaison Paul Yap. On top of that, there will be a 7 feet statues of Vajrayogini and Setrap arriving soon to flank Lama Tsongkhapa. 

This photo shows the main prayer hall is filled with scaffolding as the workers put the finishing touch to the ceiling. The hall is a massive one and would be able to fit 700 people for teachings and pujas. 

Anyway, for those of you who can't wait, here is how the facade of the New KH Gompa will look like when it's lit at night. It looks like a sleek and modern cinema hall to me! But it is going to me so much more than that.

Rainbow Buddha

A while ago, the thought of addressing homosexuality in Buddhism did arise in my mind and I wanted to blog about it but that idea was shelved as I was lazy (my biggest vice) and I had to do some research on this matter. So I was inspired by men dancing in tutus (not related to their sexuality) during a recent fundraiser brought it back to my attention and I thought it apt to actually write about it.

In Kechara House, it is painfully obvious that all types of orientations are welcomed. What is even funnier is that those that would never see themselves in a dress have donned a sexy dress, stockings and makeup, all in the name of ego-busting and fund-raising for Kechara House. I found them brave and worthy of mention as it ain't easy wearing those killer heels, tutus and dancing in those tight little shimmery dresses.

A few years ago, Rinpoche told me to read up on a very interesting article about homosexuality and Buddhism and we had short discussion on it. The article was a long drawn out campaign to deconstruct what Buddhist scriptures and what the Dalai Lama thought about this issue. Unfortunately, I can't find the article anymore but I will try to  recall the gist of the article and especially my conversation with Rinpoche. 

Buddhism generally prohibits any form of sexual behaviour, whether gay or straight. But the list of prohibition doesn't really stop at sexuality and it goes on to attack the self-cherishing mind itself, the root of all our problems. Hence, almost everything we do is motivated by that mind. Therefore, we are creating negative karma every minute, just by existing with that mind. So, why get stuck on sexuality when there are bigger issues like laziness, stinginess, manipulation and other self-serving agendas that we may have that are even more harmful to our spiritual practice. 

Hence, whether it is heterosexual or homosexual relationships, you are creating negative karma but as long as you are not hurting or causing harm directly through your relationship, then it is not as harmful as other types of negative karma. At the end of the day, Buddhism is not just for monastics (of which celibacy is of primary importance) but also for lay people as well. Hence, actually there are more important issues in Buddhism to talk about that even Lord Buddha, in his full omniscience had very little to say about it.

 

 Men in Tutus!

Chasing Rainbow Dreams

These two rainbows appeared during the Wesak funfair last Saturday. When I first saw it, immediately I thought that the gods are very happy with what we were doing at the funfair. 

Later, I heard that the main brighter rainbow seemed to be emanating somewhere above shop lot No.7. Datuk May Phng along with a few people standing right in front of the shop witnessed this spectacle. 

What's so special with lot no.7? 

Well, it is going to be the new temple of Kechara House. KH1 and KH2 is going to be consolidated into 4 shops starting with lot no.7! It seemed to be a very auspicious omen and a divine premonition of how beneficial the new Kechara House temple is going to be. The rainbow must be a divine omen placed there by Setrap and his 'friend' as a sort of manifestation of our collective dream - KH and KWPC. After all the hard work and braving through obstacles, it is really a sight for sore eyes indeed.