During my journey to Nepal......

I am writing this article while I am on the way to Kathmandu, flying Thai Airlines from Bangkok to Kathmandu. Earlier from Singapore to Bangkok, I had a sleepy journey because it was early morning and moreover I couldn't sleep well last night. Now I feel better so I started to write and also do a little contemplation over what happened in the past few days. After my journey back from Hong Kong, I had a very busy schedule yet felt lots of joy, so mentally and physically I do not feel tired. Besides people coming for consultation, I felt good seeing members of Karma Kagyud Buddhist Centre gathering at the centre just to have a casual meeting and also motivating each and everyone to participate in the various noble activities of the centre.

It was some of the active members who conceptualized this kind of gathering. I liked the setting of the seating arrangement which was very informal, like a family gathering. Everyone sat close to each other and there were lots of snacks like cakes and also tea to enjoy. While taking a sip of tea, there were some motivating slogans and pictures projected, creating a friendly atmosphere , which I think made everybody felt comfortable.

In between, they asked me to say something and I actually was not prepared to talk, so at first I was hesitating about what I should say but when I saw all my disciples and devotees eager to hear what I was going to say, I started to feel more at ease and talked very informally but yet from the heart, to encourage everyone to be involved in the activities of the centre more effectively.

I can't recall exactly what I talked about but more or less my message was that our members and my disciples and devotees who contributed in the past were the cause for the development of Karma Kagyud Buddhist Centre and because of that, KKBC still exists and there are many Dharma and social activities going on. In Singapore, there are many centres established since early 1980 and our centre is one of the earliest Tibetan Buddhist centres and was actually inaugurated by His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. HH Karmapa had the aspiration to grow this centre in order to benefit lots of people, particularly the locals and people of the neighboring countries. If we just look at the other centres, we can see that over time many centres have been setup and some of the centres have developed well and are very firmly rooted due to the support of active members. I do not feel that our centre is one of these centres that have had great development, but we have maintained our centre pretty well so far.

Now I think it is the time for us to develop Karma Kagyud Centre to be one of the most active centres and beneficial to others in terms of Dharma as well as charity for Singaporeans and everyone else. We are the followers of the great Bodhisattvas like Gampopa and Milarepa,whose practice is renowned and whose skilful ways of guiding disciples are unique in that within a single life-time, they can realize Mahamudra and attain the state of enlightenment. So it is our many life-times of accumulations of merits which resulted in our being able to meet with such a lineage and receive the blessings of that lineage.

It should be our joy to serve that lineage, uphold the teachings and make it accessible to the others for whom we can create the opportunity to come into contact with this lineage. One thing we must know is that once we follow this lineage we must uphold the qualities of that lineage such as being compassionate and having the determination to sacrifice our worldly concepts and selfish thoughts which do not have any meaning and are lacking in any basis.

So with that quality, we always try our best to render helpful thoughts and actions toward others, regardless whether they bring temporary or permanent benefit. I strongly believe that to create a conducive environment to benefit others, we should develop the centre as a base and firstly develop the centre well. Once that development is achieved, then spontaneously our aim to benefit others will take place not only during our life time but continuously for many life times to come. The legacy will be carried on for many generations and will inspire future generations to come. Indeed that is the greatest Dharma work we can accomplish in our life time. Such opportunity may not come always as sometimes opportunity comes but we do not have ability to do anything or sometimes even though we have the ability, no opportunities arise. So this is the right time for all of us as we have the ability, the opportunity and also the inspiration to do Dharma activities. With that, we should not waste our time and effort on activities of small purpose but aim towards developing Karma Kagyud Buddhist Centre to benefit mankind for future generations.

Maybe by now you feel bored reading all these feelings on what we should do but I actually had spoken most of these to our members during that gathering and it seems everybody felt motivated and shared my thoughts and submitted their names for involvement in the upcoming KKBC committee.

I am very happy and inspired by their positive response. Centres of the Karma Kagyud lineage have spread all over the world and most seem to be developing well from what I personally know. I have visited Bodhipath centres in various states of USA and Lama Ole’s Diamond Way centres in Europe and elsewhere and Dagpo Kagyud affiliated centres in France, shared whatever little knowledge of Dharma I have and many of the members became good friends of mine. So I can see everywhere that they are developing pretty well and one common thing they share is the everybody has so much devotion to HH Karmapa Thaye Dorje and HH Shamar Rinpoche. This devotion is somehow the instrument that motivates them to work for the cause of the lineage, to expand and benefit more people. Such a united spirit comes from our devotion to the lineage and knowing how important this lineage is for us in our lives. Without this, we are full of darkness and wandering within the ignorant state of Samsara which has totally no happiness in future but only suffering. So this is the turning point for us to be involved in all these wonderful Dharma activities of the Centre and in this way we develop wisdom, compassion and fulfill the wish to benefit everyone. So if we by our body, speech and mind, think like a Bodhisattva, act like a Bodhisattva, eventually we become an actual Bodhisattva.
Finally, thanks for reading this writeup and in fact reading my article is like reading my mind.
There were so many obstacles in writing this article such as the stewardess serving lunch, the persons sitting next to me had to go to the bathroom and I had to get up and give way for them, some people coming to ask me to help them fill the immigration forms etc.

Anyway now I have arrived and the whole journey was smooth as silk as what Thai Airlines always say. In fact, the staff are really nice people.

That’s all for now and there are many things I need to do because tomorrow I will be going back to Pokhara so today I have to finish whatever works need to done in Kathmandu. I will write something from Pokhara and upload to my blog so don't lost contact with my blog yeah.
Have a nice day and I will make good wishes for all to eliminate the difficulties brought by the economic crisis which people experience everywhere and once again everyone will enjoy prosperity and happiness, together with the Dharma.