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Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Losang Dragpa Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
On the last day of March, Lama Zopa Rinpoche arrived at 1:30 a.m. at Losang Dragpa Centre (LDC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after driving from Penang, where he had given teachings and initiations organized by Chokyi Gyaltsen Center. There were a few people in the LDC gompa when Rinpoche arrived and the first thing Rinpoche did there was extensively offer divine cloth (khatas) to all the main holy objects (of which there are many) in the gompa.
The next day, Rinpoche began teachings for the Chittamani Tara initiation at LDC, which went April 1-3. Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, resident teacher at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore and abbot of Kopan Monastery; Geshe Deyang, resident teacher at Chokyi Gyaltsen Center; and Geshe Tsungdu, resident teacher at LDC attended. Each night Rinpoche went until after midnight.
Between the teachings, Rinpoche filled up his “free days” with many holy activities, extensive pujas and outings. Rinpoche also spoke at Kasih Hospice and blessed the hospice’s new building, which serves as a headquarters for the hospice volunteers and is where they receive training. Kasih Hospice is a successful FPMT service, helping about 150 people transition into death in their own homes.
During the hospice visit, LDC center director and president of Kasih Hospice Goh Pik Pin explained how the idea of starting the hospice came from Rinpoche and did a presentation on their work.
Rinpoche giving a talk at Kasih Hospice, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Rinpoche gave a talk and general advice while he was at Kasih Hospice, which you can watch on FPMT’s Livestream page. In order to help Tibetan Buddhism flourish in Malaysia, Rinpoche recommended reciting “The Prayer that Spontaneously Fulfills All Wishes” (“Sampa Lhundrup”). Rinpoche also gave advice on practices to do to help the Malaysian economy.
On another outing, Rinpoche took the 40 Sangha attending the Kuala Lumpur events out for tea and cake. Then they walked around eCurve, a giant mall not far from LDC. Rinpoche explained a meditation on emptiness, on how to look at everything as a dream, a hallucination. Then Rinpoche took the Sangha out to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant
Beginning in the morning of April 6, Rinpoche offered a White Tara initiation. The center offered lunch to the hundreds of people who attended, and the event was webcast live. (You can watch the motivation before the initiation here.)
Rinpoche facing the garden inside the LDC gompa with Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi, Geshe Tsungdu, Sangha and students doing a ritual for purification, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
The next day Rinpoche did a special ritual for purification for the center, country and all beings. The following day Rinpoche led an extensive offering practice that included offering actual flowers (potted orchids and wreaths) to each of the 17 Pandit statues in the garden at LDC.
The center’s staff and volunteers took incredible care of the 40 ordained Sangha who were there from around the world, offering breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and arranging places to stay, rides to the teachings and sightseeing on days off.
On Friday, April 8, Rinpoche left from LDC to go to Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Centre in Triang where he gave a Great Medicine Buddha initiation, April 9-11, and led a Medicine Buddha retreat, April 12-19.
Rinpoche with Geshe Tsungdu and Losang Dragpa Centre’s exco and volunteers, Malaysia, April 2016. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche having lunch with (from right) Tenzin Osel Hita, Chung Han and his wife, and Gomo Tulku, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Video from Rinpoche’s teachings at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore and at Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Losang Dragpa Centre and Kasih Hospice in Malaysia are now available at:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.