H.E. Dungyud Tulku Rinpoche's visit to Kuching from 3-17 August 2010 (Part I)

I'm not unusually holy or a religious person so to say. Yes, I do occasionally say my prayer and make offerings at the temples (and yes, I'm a Buddhist). Most people think I was born a Christian because I attended one of the oldest missionary all girls' school, St. Mary's School in Kuching during the elementary years up to my Form 5 (equivalent to the O' Levels) before I did my Form 6 (A' Levels) in St. Thomas' School which is the oldest mission school in Kuching, set up by the Anglican missionary.

I remembered it was August 3rd, 2010 and that was my first eye-opening experience meeting with the 14th H.E. Dungyud Tulku Rinpoche on his visit to Kuching which also marked the beginning of my spiritual journey so to say. I remembered that I got a call from Mike telling me to join the entourage to drive Rinpoche and the lamas around the city and to bring them for dinner as he was caught up in the preparation of the event that night. Rinpoche and the lamas had just landed at KIA from Singapore. I was not thrilled in fact to be honest as I had no idea what does Rinpoche means or how Rinpoche was like. Mike had no clue either but I went along with another friend of Mike, Dennis to pick up Rinpoche and the lamas for dinner at around 7.00pm that evening. We went in two separate cars as there were eight of them altogether, Rinpoche, 4 lamas, Rinpoche's brother, Tsultrim and a local couple from KL, Karen and Gordon, sort of like the student cum cameraman for the event.

As Mike has reminded us to bring Rinpoche and the lamas for Indian food, the only thought that came into my mind was to bring them to Bombay Masala, one of  the leading Indian restaurants cum coffeeshops in Kuching. So Dennis and I brought Rinpoche and the lamas to one of the Bombay Masala at 4th Mile (the one opposite Boulevard Hypermall). Before we ordered anything, one of the lamas told us to go for vegetarian food as they are here for spiritual event. So I ordered tosei, chappati, roti canai, some plain water, some plain fried noodle and of course lots of dal. Apparently Rinpoche and two of the lamas can communicate very well in English except for the other two elder lamas. Well, it's no surprised anyway since they are well learnt and has attended college in India besides their normal spiritual education. Later I noticed that they loved the roti canai and dal so much and to my disbelieve, they even commented that our roti canai tastes better than the ones they usually have in India.

Before the dinner, we all sat down and Rinpoche led the prayer followed by the lamas. I suppose I was too hungry that night, I didn't really ask much but I was really indulging on the roti canai and the dal. Hmmm, perhaps they taste superb in the presence of Rinpoche and the lamas....Lol. Karen and Gordon were the two louder ones joking around with the lamas and also Rinpoche's brother, Tsultrim. The lamas later told me that they are from Nepal but currently based in a monastery in India. I later learnt from one of the lamas that Rinpoche was originally from Nepal and he was in India for a long time but now he is residing in Sydney. That explains why Rinpoche speaks good English.



If you are wondering how does Rinpoche looks like, Mike and I had the privileged to snap some pics with H.E Dungyud Tulku Rinpoche and his brother, Tsultrim. Check out more about Rinpoche at http://www.sakya.org.au/

After we finished dinner, it was another round of prayer. I peeped at my watch and it was around 9.30 pm and Dennis happily picked up the bill. Rinpoche told us he wanted to take a look at the venue and the hall decoration for the spiritual ceremony and so Dennis and I drove them to Kenyalang Hall behind the Kenyalang Wet Market in Kuching. I was made to understand that the ceremony will only start on Saturday, August 7th. When we arrived at the hall, Mike and uncle James and his wife, Jenny were already there. All were busy with the stage decoration and before I knew, Jenny called out to me to help her in making the traditional Chinese flower balls (the one they usually have for occasions such as marriage and they usually hang in on the door). That night, I learnt to make these flowers and I think I made at least 200 pcs of that flower balls in white colour. Yep, indeed proud and by the time I finished making all those, it was already 11.00pm and Mike was waiting for me to complete those. In another corner, I saw the 4 lamas were busy making torma and the mandala. At around 11.30 pm, uncle James called out to all that it was time to go back and this time around, some other people drove Rinpoche and the lamas back.

If you wondering what are torma and mandala, well, torma is made from flour and butter, that was what I was told and the lamas actually made lots of them. Mandala is a sand offering and both torma and mandala are considered sacred in Tibetan Buddhism.

These are tormas made from flour and butter and placed on the shrineas they are considered sacred in Tibetan Buddhism. Tormas placed on the shrine represents particular tantric deities

Close up pic of the torma made from flour and butter and beautifully decorated with colours to represent the different deities

One of the most senior lamas happily posed for me when I was trying to snap the pic of the tormas

Look at the beautiful mandala made from sand. Amazingly, the lamas took just a day to design the mandala and put colours to the top layer of the sand and the sand was taken from the monastery back in Tibet



August 4, 2010 - I told Mike to ask uncle James if we can drive Rinpoche tonight and was told that Rinpoche was booked by someone else. According to uncle James, I was the lucky substitute driver as not everyone gets to drive Rinpoche and the lamas around. It was suppose to be Mike last night but as he was needed for the stage decoration, hence, I was the substitute.

Anyway, although we didnt have the opportunity to drive Rinpoche tonight, Mike and I went again to the hall at Kenyalang to help with the stage preparation. If you are wondering, how complicated was the stage that they had to take several days just to get it done, well, mind you, it involved lots of handicraft work, sewing, designing and cartons of raw cloths of various colours, i.e. white, red, blue, green, yellow, purple etc.

Check out the main stage. If you notice all the flowers were made from raw cloths except for the Yellow fresh flowers on the bed of the stage.

It can be seen from this pic that some lamas and others were busy with the stage decoration

Anyway that evening, I continued to help with the stage decoration while Mike helped with the installation of racks in the hall and we headed back home around 10.30 pm.

August 7, 2010 - It was the launching of the spiritual ceremony so I brought mom with me that afternoon. Mike was seen busy helping the rest of the commitees so mom and I hanged out inside the hall while waiting for the ceremony to start. In fact it started early that morning around 8.00 am but we only went there around 1.30 pm and apparently, the organiser told us that Rinpoche will commence the next session at 2pm. At about 2pm, everyone was already in the hall and the emcee announced the arrival of Rinpoche. We were all told to chant the Buddhist sutra. As he walked past, I could see that almost everyone's face was in awed to see Rinpoche as though we are all Buddhist, we don't usually get the opportunity to meet with a Tulku Rinpoche which is one of the highest Buddhist guru in the lineage, in fact this is is like an opportunity of a lifetime. Everyone was in awe as we normally expected guru lamas and monks to be fierce, strict and older but Rinpoche was completely the opposite. He was cheerful, smiling all the way from the entrance up onto the stage and in fact young. I suppose that was how naive I was.

H.E. Dungyud Tulku Rinpoche making his way to the stage

As mom was sitting next to me and we were sitting at the side of the walkway, mom quietly whispered to me that she was surprised that Rinpoche was so young. Never mind that, I admitted that mom and I were both shocked and naive but I bet everyone in the hall was thinking the same way.

H.E Dungyud Tulku Rinpoche sat on a high chair on top of the stage

When Rinpoche sat on the high chair made specially for him on top of the stage, I noticed that his chair was covered with a sacred sutra cloth. One of the lamas would normally bring the sutra cloth along and it will be layed on the chair everytime before Rinpoche is seated. Now I don't exactly know the real explanation behind this but I can guess that perhaps it has to do with something like the protection of his sacred body, mind and soul as the Chinese believes that there is wandering spirits everywhere and hence, I believe the sacred sutra cloth was meant to protect him from these spirits but anyway, that's just my guess (so don't quote me). I believe there is better explanation to this.

That afternoon throughout the 3 hours spiritual ceremony, all chantings were led by Rinpoche followed by the lamas while the rest of us just sat down and got on with our meditation. During the ceremony, Rinpoche also carried out some spiritual rituals and Buddhist sutra was chant throughout the ceremony not only to benefit ourselves, but also to all the other souls so that they will be joyful and transquil and there will be liberation from "samsara" or sufferings.

In between his chanting of sutras during the spiritual ceremony, Rinpoche also spoke and explained on karma, the theory of cause and effect and hence the importance of practising the pure mind, body and soul for the attainment of happiness, joy, health and wealth. Rinpoche also stressed on the importance of cultivating good energy through positive thinking. According to Rinpoche, when a person cultivates positive thinking, this will translate into good words, positive actions, good feelings, wisdom and all these indirectly attract good chi or energy and with this, happiness, joy, good health, luck and fortune will come to you on its own. When a person is able to cultivate such pure mind, body and soul, he is said to attain enlightenment. Hence, Rinpoche explained that it is importance to rid ourselves of greed, attachments and hatred towards others for these detracts us from the Buddhism practice of pure mind, body and soul for the attainment of happiness and joy. In other words, Rinpoche stressed on the importance of having great compassion and wisdom. Rinpoche explained that this practice of Boddhisatva's Way of Life is one of the most important part of all Mahayana practices in Tibetan Buddhism. It is only through the attainment of pure mind, body and soul or englightenment that the person will achieve liberation from all sufferings or "samsara". Rinpoche also spoke about the importance of meditation and chanting of sutras to attain pure mind as all words and actions are manifested from our minds. One can achieve great peacefulness when he meditates and it is with this that a persons attains great compassion and wisdom. Rinpoche further explained that in Tibetan Buddhism, it is believe that any sentient beings may actually be hidden bodhisattvas if they can cultivate a Bodhi mind and become fully englightened in order to help all sentient beings.

Rinpoche on the far left together with the lamas chanting to the souls for liberation of sufferings

As I was sitting just at the side of the walkway I had the opportunity to snap Rinpoche from close up

That's another pic of Rinpoche during the ceremony (No thanks to the emcee who just stood in front of my pic while I was trying to snap Rinpoche)

Before the ceremony ended, Rinpoche conducted a Blessing Puja for everyone in the hall. Each of us, one by one, we knelt in front of Rinpoche while he chanted some Buddhist sutra and put some sacred sands on our head as a form of blessing. After everyone has had their share of the Blessing Puja, it was time for Rinpoche and the lamas to make their way back to their rest rooms outside the hall and before we ended, once again, Rinpoche stressed on the importance of four Brahmaviharas in the Tibetan Mahayana practice, - the practice of loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity (if you wondering what is equanimity, it means calm and composure, respect, patience and disposition free from emotion). Later, we all stood up and bowed to him when Rinpoche walked passed us and made his way out of the hall.

Mom was overjoyed, so do I as we headed home. On the way back, mom told me that it was an eye-opening experience as some people never get to meet Rinpoche in their whole life and I nodded. We are very grateful to uncle James for inviting us to this ceremony and this indeed is one of our most spiritually enriching experience this far and  I look forward to more spiritually enlightment sessions like this in near future.