Sean's Sharings: India

Last Saturday, I went to Kechara Forest Retreat that is in a forest (hence the name) near Bentong which is in Pahang. It is located in a place called Chamang.

According to the website:

"The Kechara Forest Retreat will be a place like no other, nestled in the deep mountains of Chamang, Bentong, about 1 1/2 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. This village is being created within the green tropical forest, with natural streams of crystal clear water running through it.

Within this lush eco-friendly environment, there will be buildings and features designed for students and visitors to enjoy various activities to calm the mind within the beauty of nature.

The land has been successfully acquired by Kechara House under the leadership of Kechara House President, Datuk May and her team. Datuk May is working hard with her team and everyone else in Kechara to fund raise for the development of the land and servicing of the loan.

Ground works have already begun with the team building a temporary abode for our Lama, His Eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche to live in. With the sheer dedication and hard work of Datuk May and her team, the temporary abode has been constructed, and soon, Rinpoche will frequent the land to do prayers and blessings in preparations for the construction works."

Here is a picture of the site from the website of Kechara Forest Retreat.

We left after lunch in a bus. The trip included a talk from Pastor Susan about Pujas and Stupas. The puja is fueled by our motivation. For example, if we pack out things for the trip with a good motivation, our puja begins there, at home, while we pack.

In the bus, some people were sleeping, some people were talking. Lucas Tan and I were joking around with some of the people near us by asking riddles and telling jokes.

She even gave the attendees quizzes to win some incense, which you can purchase at Kechara Paradise outlets throughout Malaysia.

The bus arrived at KFR at 5:30 p.m. Everyone bought candles and flowers to do their offerings. I did a candle offering. The people who came had the meritorious opportunity to offer candles and flowers to both Vajrayogini and Shakyamuni. Some of us also circumambulated the butterlamp house.

After giving a tour of an area, Pastor Susan lead us in a very short but effective prayer. It was the refuge prayers and Shantideva prayers.

The lovely dinner was catered by Kechara Oasis. (The word "Kechara" will bring you to the website, whereas the word "Oasis" will bring you to the fan page )

The food mainly consisted of Bi Hun, Fried Rice, White Rice, Fried Chicken and many other local and international delicacies and the best part was that it is completely vegetarian (obviously!).

I waited for the older people to get their food first to be polite. When I went up, the fried chicken was finished but I got some delicious fried rice and some international-style food (I think Indian but not sure :P )

I sat with my friends, Lucas Tan, Lucas Roth, Julien, Jenny and Jason and many, many more of my friends and some new faces too!

Then, the movie began after everyone sat down on a mat laid out for us. I will post the movie, which is The Village, right here:

It was a very interesting movie. It was not scary but it makes you think deeper of certain things. I shall not have a complete review of the movie or else I will completely spoil it but I can say that there are a lot of twists and turns in this movie. Hint: The thumbnail is already a spoiler :(

Amazingly, there were no mosquitos but there were a few bugs who sat on the screen because of the light. I was also surprised that it was not too hot and not too cold. The temperature was just right.

A big thank you to the KFR team who organised this trip!

Okay! Gotta go! Bye!

Hey guys, I just came back from an amazing trip. I went to Bodhgaya, India and Bangkok, Thailand.

DAY 1

Mama woke me up very early in the morning. We quickly packed our stuff into a taxi and drove off to KLIA airport.
First, we took a flight to Bangkok. We stayed in Bangkok for about 3 hours. We went shopping and before our flight, I grabbed a snack at Subway. I had a veggie patty sub. It was 165 baht. That means that if I were to convert it to ringgit it would be 16.90 MYR! That was insanely expensive. Mama had a veggie burger at Burger King. It was 211 baht, which would mean that it would have cost 21.59 MYR! The veggie patty sub was very tasty. I really liked it. The patty was made out of corn, carrot, potato and other vegetables.

After that, I met up with Ah Kong and Po Po, my grandparents. Mama showed Rinpoche's video to them. The video was a video specially made by Rinpoche as a message to my grandparents. I was so touched. Here is the video:

My grandfather was smiling after the video. It was the type of smile I never seen on him for a very long time. I can't even remember the last time he smiled like that.
After saying hi to them, we boarded the plane to India. The flight was a bit boring as I spent the whole trip playing Tetris.
Then, we landed in India. We loaded our stuff in the car. Some people helped us. They asked for money in return. It was such an annoyance.
The car was driving so freaking fast. It was dodging all the cars at the last second. I was really surprised that we did not end up in a car accident. It was such a scary experience.
Then, we reached our hotel. I did not expect much as I was in one of the poorest states of India. The hotel was called Vishar International. I went in there. The place looked clean at the time. The "restaurant" looked very simple. They gave us internet that was very stable.
Then, things went bad. My bed had bed bugs, black stains and holes. The TV was badly coloured. There was no toilet paper. My grandfather's toilet had some plumbing problems.
During the day, Mama and Dato' Ruby went to Mahabodhi to check it out. She came back with many robes, one of each colour. I then remembered from the video that we were going to do the offerings to the Buddha statue.
Then, a glimmer of hope. We went to a hotel called Naranjana Hotel. It was 100x better.The place was much more comfortable. The toilet was functional. Everything was better.

Day 2:

I went to Mahabodhi temple. My grandfather was very happy and energetic. That made me very happy.
Before we went near the stupa, we went to the market that was near the entrance to the temple. We bought some fruits and we also bought another set of robes.
The first thing we did in the temple was go to the stupa. There was a very big statue of Buddha in it. It was very beautiful. I really felt happy looking at it. Then, we offered the robes and the fruit. The fruit was offered in bowls in front of the Buddha. Then, something cool happened. There was a monk in a glass casing. I found out that robes that were offered to the Buddha will be given to the monk and the monk will hang the robes across the Buddha statue.
Then, we walked our first round. The surroundings of the stupa were very cool. There was a place with the actual footprints of the Buddha in the stone. It was so cool. The Bodhi tree towered above half of the temple. People of all ages would dash towards each leaf. I thought it was very cute to see even an elderly lady chasing a leaf around.
While my grandparents, Mama and Dato' Ruby walked around the stupa. I sat down to collect leaves. It was very fun. At the end of the day, we collected many leaves. After walking around the stupa 21 times, we sat down and did dedications.
At night, we went to do butterlamp offerings. The night was illuminated by the tables that were filled with lit butterlamps. It felt very nice lighting the butterlamps. The people who sell the butterlamps kept on asking us to light more, even when we lit around 500.

Here are some photos:

Here is the stupa at night. It was very beautiful. In some other photos (which I will not put in this blog post), it looked like a pillar of light.

The stupa during the day. It was very beautiful. The sun was just setting.

This is the platform where Buddha walked back and forth in deep meditation. Each lotus is where he rested his feet.

This is the Bodhi tree that towers over half of the temple. There is a covered area near the Bodhi tree. There is where the Buddha sat and gained Enlightenment.