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Petaling Jaya, Malaysia — June 18, 2010
From Ven. Roger Kunsang:
Teachings in Malaysia are going very well. There is quite a full schedule. The program is mostly being held in a nice hotel. We met the owner, one of Malaysia’s wealthiest citizens and a very devoted Buddhist, several years ago. We had lunch with him yesterday at another of his hotels. The hotel has a few exhibition halls. The Chenrezig nyung nä program was originally to be held in the biggest hall for 10,000 people. But at the last minute, the hall was not available.
We visited Losang Dragpa Centre for an afternoon and evening program. It went like this (often when with Rinpoche, things don’t go to the conventional plan):
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has come to Losang Dragpa Centre to bless stautes of the 17 Nalanda Pandits.
We arrived and were greeted by many students. Gradually, Rinpoche made it into the gompa. Rinpoche was supposed to consecrate the new statues of the 17 Nalanda Pandits in the garden as well as a large Dzambala statue, etc.
Instead, Rinpoche lead all the gathered students in prostrations. That became a teaching for a few hours. Then there was a tea break. Some confusion arose as the statues had not been blessed and now it was time for the evening talk.
Rinpoche came up to his room for tea and some people came in a little later. In the process of talking with them, Rinpoche started to give refuge … Meanwhile, people in the gompa are not sure what is going to happen next!
Then, the altar in Rinpoche’s room catches on fire! I scramble to put it out. There is lots of smoke because plastic is burning, and out of the corner of my eye I see Rinpoche — he hasn’t missed a beat and is still giving refuge. It takes some time to put out the fire and there is lots of smoke. We put a fan on near Rinpoche trying to blow out the smoke — and Rinpoche is still giving refuge!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offers khatas to one of the statues that adorn Losang Dragpa Centre's garden.
Rinpoche finishes giving refuge and says he will give the talk. Suddenly, the power goes out. Darkness! No mics, no fans or air conditioning. After an hour, and getting the electrician to fix the problem, we start again. The talk starts and finishes near midnight. People come up for blessing, which takes a while. Rinpoche wants two lines coming up to him, one from the front and the other from the back! It is awkward, but what to do? Malaysians are coming from the front and Singaporeans from the back — it is nice, quite cool. We are getting through the crowd a little quicker!
Lama Zopa Rinpoche offers a flower to a statue of one of the 17 Nalanda Pandits.
Now, it’s after midnight and people are speculating what’s going to happen next! Because the consecration hasn’t happened yet, there is some pretty wild speculation. Rinpoche says to me that the blessing can be done another time. Geshe-la also agrees. Rinpoche gets off the throne and starts blessing the statues one at a time, offering prayers, khatas and flowers. Each of the pandits takes time. Then there are the prayer wheels and stupas. The crowd is thinning out as it gets late, we finish with dedication around 2:30 a.m. — not too bad! Then we drive half an hour back to the hotel and have dinner … and relax!