I am a regular columnist in No More Caves (NMC), which is the quarterly newsletter of my Dharma Centre, Kechara House. Jamie Khoo is the editor of NMC, so thanks to her, I can share my experiences to everyone through NMC.

I wrote an article regarding gurus around a month ago in the latest issue of NMC. In case you have never seen it before, I have posted what I wrote in my column.

The title of the article was  Madman or Mahasiddha. This is referring to my guru , H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche who has his own brand of "crazy" wisdom that will benefit others.

Here is my article:

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I believe that the guru is the kindest person in the universe. He
loves me and cares for me like a son yet he treats everybody else the
same without expecting anything back.

Rinpoche is one of the few REAL people in the world, meaning that he
cares for anyone with no agenda. He always shows care for everyone he
meets, even strangers. When I met Rinpoche for the first time, he gave
me a Lama Tsongkhapa Tsa Tsa. He gives so many gifts to everyone and
treats everyone equal regardless of race, gender etc.

I heard many stories about how Lamas have this sort of "crazy wisdom"
where they would push and prod you and you will become a better
person.  Rinpoche advised me to volunteer at the Kechara flea market
every Sunday. I find that experience very good. I learn a lot from
volunteering in the flea market, like calculation and also patience
because you have to really wait for customers to arrive. This proves
that Rinpoche's advice helps me be a better person.

There are times when I don't listen to his instructions such as
studying hard. It makes people feel sad. I know that all the
instructions that Rinpoche gives is to help me make others happy. So,
I am working on following Rinpoche's advice and everyone becomes
happy.

My guru is important to me because he is the only one who is able to
guide me when it comes to the Dharma other than my Mama. He is the
only person who can help me in the course of spirituality and mind
transformation. He is the most important person in my life.

Everyone needs a spiritual guide to help us be better. That is because
they are all the Buddhas in one nice package. At least that is what I
believe!
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 Please share with me in the comments regarding what you think of your guru, such as how has he helped you, does he have any form of "crazy wisdom" etc.
I would love to hear from my readers. For now, bye and have a nice day.



Sincerely,
Sean
Seansays Production
(Tenzin Khenchen)

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I most likely would not be a poet of any sort but I just thought of writing this. Do not blame me for any bad poetry skills.

The Guru is so great,
Learning from one would be the greatest fate.
The Buddhas are so kind,
Creating a beautiful treasure to find.
The Dharma is so wonderful,
It is a treasure so beautiful.
The Sangha are so wise,
They will help you rise.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I bet some people out there may not think it is good. But to me it is good enough. This is actually the first original poem that I composed.

Well, at least I am not telling you the days of the week like Rebecca Black. Oh, is that outdated. Never mind.

The thing that inspired this poem was this refuge prayer:

Namo Guru Beh,
Namo Buddhaya,
Namo Dharmaya,
Namo Sanghaya.

As you might have figured it out by now that I placed the Guru, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha top to bottom respectfully.

I hope you guys like it. May everyone have a good day!

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I am going to be writing down everything I learned in Simplified Lam Rim Class yesterday. If there is anything I missed out, please tell me. Please correct me if I am wrong. If there is something you do not understand or if there any questions you would like to ask me, please do so. I will do everything I can to look for the answers.

According to the Nalanda Teachings, before we can receive teachings. We need to know the three purities. That is the purity of the Dharma, the purity of the Guru and the purity of the student. Guess which one we can relate to the most. If you thought that it was the purity of the student. You are right!

We can relate to that the most as we are currently Dharma students. Our mind must be pure when learning the Dharma. Pure meaning uncontaminated. You do not want to be like the dirty pot. I will talk about that later.

Every word of the Dharma is about reflecting yourself.

If we see someone that is going to die or past away of sickness, old age etc. What do you think? Most humans would think, "Whew! Lucky that was not me!" that is a bad way of thinking. We should be thinking, "I will be like them one day." or better, "I want to find the cure." The cure is the Dharma. You will be liberated from all suffering when you get enlightened after learning and practicing.

Why do we go and learn the Dharma? My answer would be that I can learn how to open my mind and reflect with my inner Buddhist.

Whatever things we have now will be lost at Death. All the money, all the Gems, everything you like will be gone when you are either six feet under, ashes or vulture food. Many people think that Buddhism is very pessimistic because we usually talk about death. In Buddhism, Death is one of the main subjects as it is applicable to all. We cannot challenge Death. Death comes to all.

Last week, Mr. Ngeow talked about profound and vast path. Noy just to let everyone know a bit more. The profound path comes from Manjushri and the Vast path comes from Maitreya.

Let's talk about Aitsha now.

When Atisha was born he had already had all the good qualities of a Buddha yet he still was humble. His first talk was, "I need a Guru".

Atisha got Enlightened in 12 years. Why am I telling everyone this? It is to prove that there is hope. We can get Enlightened in this lifetime.

There is no contradiction in any of Buddha's teachings. It is very consistent with our goal of Enlightenment, freedom from Suffering and permanent happiness.

Buddhadharma is all personal advice to be practiced.

Buddha's ultimate intention is for us to understand all of the stages of the path. The path is already paved out for you. It is your choice to take it. The path to Enlightenment caters for all. Even if you are black or white or yellow, you can get Enlightened.

When we study the Lam Rim, we will become wiser and when we become wiser, our motivations will change. When we are not so wise, our objectives will be very worldly but when we are wiser, we will think about others and our motivations will be more spiritual.

Why do we need a guru?

The reason is that a guru can see our mind and help us correct it. Here is a video on guru devotion by H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche




Listening to the Dharma

By listening to the Dharma, you will experience the following:

- Understand the meaning of the Dharma
- Cease non virtuous actions
- Abandoning meaningless pursuit
- oversome suffering

Listening is a lamp that dispels the darkness of ignorance.

Listening is the best gift we can have.


It is a gift because you can learn the Dharma by listening.

We must not be like the three pots.

Here is a picture of the three pots I drew. Please forgive me for my horrible art skills. I could not find a good enough picture online.

From right to left ----- Overturned pot, smelly pot, leaky pot.

Overturned pot - Nothing goes in

Smelly pot - Contaminated with wrong view and there is no result or improvement when in the Dharma.

Leaky pot - Things come in from one side and come out from the other side.

We are at least like one of these pots. Which pot are you?

We must not be like these pots. That is why we have the Dharma. We can use the Dharma to stop us from being like the pots or if you are any of the pots, it will stop us from remaining as any of the pots forever.

Rinpoche once said that a Dharma centre is like a hospital. We must regard ourselves as the sick people. We may be physically fine but we are mentally sick. The Dharma is the cure to our disease. The guru is our supreme doctor.

Our faith will increase when we overcome doubts.

Holding precepts or vows helps us to remind ourselves to be mindful.

What to buy to learn for today?

Gurus for hire, Enlightenment for sale published by KMP

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