Lam Rim lineage surprise!
Sep 26, 2012
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
Dear friends,
I was on the blog chat last Friday September 21, 2012 and read about the Lamrim class taught by a Kechara pastor happening in the Gompa at the same time. I was very happy that the pastor was conducting the class as she is qualified because she walks the talk. I heard there were also a few new people in the class therefore I spontaneously decided to visit the class and to give a talk on the Lineage of the Lamrim. I gate-crashed..hehe…
My assistants and I did not inform anyone prior because I wanted it to be a surprise visit. While I was there I gave a short talk to the class on the Lineage of Lamrim which was also the topic of the class last night. I spoke about how Atisha was the founder of the Lamrim which later was compiled into easier reading by Lama Tsongkhapa who was the reincarnation of Atisha Himself.
The teaching on Friday was recorded by my assistant Pastor Loh Seng Piow. You can watch the video below this post. After the teaching, I blessed those who were present with Buddha images previously owned by my teachers, a Vajrayogini tsatsa and a small Shakyamuni Buddha statue . The Vajrayogini tsatsa was given to me by one of my teachers, Geshe Yunden Gyatso who I often visited to receive teachings from when I was in Howell, New Jersey. And the Shakyamuni Buddha was previously owned by my teacher Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen. So these images are very holy. I wanted to place them on the heads of everyone as they can be blessed by these holy images.
After the blessings, I gave out some Dharma gifts to the new people in class as well as a few young people who were there last night. Some of the gifts I gave out were greetings cards made and modeled in-house by our talented Kecharians, The Promise which is my pictorial biography, Lord Tsongkhapa’s tsatsas and beautiful Buddha pendants made by Kechara Discovery. Some were designed by me and some by my Liaison, Paul Yap. The nicer ones were designed by me…hehe..just kidding.
All in all, it was a great night at the Lamrim class. I was very happy to meet all those who were present and gave the teaching to them. I will make more suprise visits to classes and pujas…so I might see you there… Now that they know the lineage of the Lamrim, I hope very much everyone will study well and be great teachers of the Lamrim in the future. It is very blessed to be able to share the Lamrim teachings with our family and friends.
Tsem Rinpoche
The floor was open for questions. There were very good questions asked that day
Over here I was blessing everyone with the two sacred Buddha images I have
Here I was blessing Mdm Lim Han Nee, a senior member of Kechara
This is Beng Kooi’s father, Mr Ooi
Both Lew and Wei Theng are very devoted to Kechara. They are the power couple working in E-division
I gave out some gifts to the new people who attended Lamrim class
I was showing everyone the greeting cards we made in house!
Dedication to end the night
An extra video for you: Learning about what pujas are
For more interesting information:
- 2011 LAMRIM CLASS!
- Teachings on Lam Rim Retreat-June 2011
- LAMRIM Mind Map
- Lam Rim Retreat – to be in Book of Records!
- Making History, A Visual Journey: Lamrim in Malaysian Book of Records
- Lamrim Teachings by HH Kyabje Zong Rinpoche
- H.H. KYABJE PABONGKA RINPOCHE (1878–1941)
Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:
If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
Wow…that’s really wonderful having learn and listening to Rinpoche’s teachings directly . Rejoice to those attending the class at that moment and receiving blessing from Rinpoche. Lamrin is a beautiful book to read and learn to increase our knowledge. I am still reading it , I am learning a little a day to increase my knowledge of Buddhism . Beautiful videos , I can say it’s a great teaching for us.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you so much Rinpoche, it is always wonderful to read and learn about lamrim. I wish to meet you and get the blessing on it.Lamrim is supreme to all the teachings as it contains all sutra amd tantra matters which is conferred by many learned teachers. _()_
It is wonderful that Rinpoche took the time to come to teach about the Lamrim during Lamrim class. many people learned and were blessed. i wish i was there.
谢谢仁波切的分享与教诲。能在菩提道次第广论念诵会遇到仁波切到访，是我们前世修来的福，这也让大家加持了佛法能量和证悟。仁波切时时刻刻都提醒我们一定要念诵菩提道次第广论和领悟它的解说以便我们更容易达到修行的证悟。感恩仁波切，祈愿您长驻在世，常转法轮。
The Lam Rim is such a beautiful thing. Its like instructions on how to live your life well. I have always wanted to learn the Lam Rim. I think that it can really make a change in our lives.
As students of the Je Tsongkhapa tradition we must let everyone know about the greatness of the the Lamrim. Not act in a haughty manner that we have the best system and best literature type of attitude, but more to let people to let people know the how amazing the Lamrim truly is. That we had the top dharma scholars the peerless Lama Atisha and the Second Buddha Lama Tsongkhapa who put the Lamrim and made commentaries to it. The Lamrim is so so great because it contains all instructions necessary for us to be enlightened. If there was no Lamrim for us to have a complete path towards enlightenment we would have to read thousands of sutras and figure which sequence is which.
The Lamrim is there for us in its complete form, all we need to do is to study it, how fortunate we are in our time.
Thank goodness Rinpoche has a blog, or else wonderful teachings like this would be unavailable for the world. Studying the Lam Rim is the path to Enlightenment. We will learn what Samsara truly is and how to leave Samsara.
Rejoice to all of the participants.
I had attended the monthly Lamrim recitation for a few times. Before i attend, i thought that Lamrim is a book that is very difficult to understand. After i attend the Lamrim recitation, i found that the content is interesting.
I have a copy of chinese Lamrim too. Hope that i can understand the whole book in the future.
Thank Rinpoche for the sharing.
Thanks Rinpoche for the sharing, it make us learn more details of LamRim lineage.
Lam Rim is truly a GPS to Enlightenment, we are so fortunate to meet Rinpoche hence Rinpoche bring Dharma to Beautiful Malaysia. We sincerely wish that we may Transform to be a Better person hence able to help Rinpoche to succeed all Rinpoche projects…
Thanks for Rinpoche’s sharing . This is really important for us to know the Lamrim Lineage , this is represent the the path towards enlightenment.We are fortunate to receive this preciousness teaching and guideline which definitely it will help us on our spiritual path. Thank you Rinpoche, Without Rinpoche, we can’t meet this precious teaching.
I’m grateful to know the simple fact that lamrim teachings are the basis upon which the rest is built. They also made it clear that if anything was overlooked in the lamrim teachings it may show up later if a higher endeavor falls like the proverbial ‘house of cards’. Painfully true, perhaps but very helpful to know.
亲爱的仁波切
感谢您的博客和YouTube，因为我们能得到您的教诲与开示在任何时间，任何地点，当我们拥有一台笔记本电脑。我们将永远不会感到厌倦的听闻您给予我们伟大的教诲与开示，仁波切您的开示与教诲总是深深地打动我们的心，给予我们注入了证悟的能量
菩提道次第广论，没有仁波切您，我想我这辈子也许没有机会接触到，然，感恩仁波切您成立了克切拉佛教中心，然我们有机会接触到那么难能可贵的佛法教育，这也是如此殊胜的传承能在仁波切您那里得到菩提道次第广论的开示与教诲，让我们透过这伟大与殊胜的佛法教育，我们成长，与改变我们的心识，让我们变得跟好，让我们放下一切的执着，让我们能时刻地保持良好的发心，与一切有情众生，一步一脚印地迈向证悟
感恩仁波切您总是随时随地地给予我们惊喜，我们都知道您的这一份惊喜其实是源自您对与我们的关怀与大爱，您总是心系着我们每一位弟子，帮助我们也给予我们无限的教诲与鼓励，为的就是要我们领悟佛法
感恩您尊贵的仁波切，因为您无私的大爱，让我有机会在这里成长
祈愿您长驻在世，常转法轮
We always learn something new from Rinpoche even though we have been taught the subject before from Rinpoche in the past. It is never the same because Rinpoche caters to the now at the moment of time, the audience presents’ mind set and level. Hence each time, a teaching is tailored to suite the overall people’s mind set that is receiving the teaching at that time.
I think why Rinpoche teaches so well because Rinpoche is speaking through experience or some kind of realisation, it is kinda like His Holiness Pabongkha Rinpoche who taught the Lamrim to thousands of people in the audience and many people could understand from many different levels of perception! Read more on HH Pabongka Rinpoche here http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/great-lamas-masters/h-h-kyabje-pabongka-rinpoche-1878%E2%80%931941.html
We are definitely so lucky to have a qualified Guru with us to expound the teachings and explain to us so that we can understand even more… this is the beauty of Vajrayana Buddhism in having a Guru. I think it would have been much more difficult and slower for us to understand if we did not have a Guru whom we can explain to us, answer questions and speed up our practice! Thank you Rinpoche for teaching for without it we would be groping in the dark!
How fortunate received Lam Rim lineage teaching from Rinpoche directly.Rinpoche always come unexpected to surprise us yet giving us knowledge.
There 5 person in the class are very lucky to received gift from rinpoche and make closer connection to the dharma and rinpoche.
仁波切总是喜欢给人意外的惊喜，他也很关心所有的学生，时时刻刻都希望我们这些学生能在佛法修行的道路上能有所成就，他总是把我们放在第一位，能遇到仁波切并且皈依在他的座下是我的福气，我会认真的修行，希望有一天能和仁波切一样，去帮助更的人。。。
In order for us to fully understand the contents of the Lamrin,there is no other way thaj to incorporate the teachings into our daily lives. When we see positive results from practising dharma and how the positive change in us have help or inspire others, we would want to do more and learn more about dharma Thank you Rinpoche for the wonderful teachings on the lineages of Lamrin.
Jay Jae is akin to the modern day LamaAtisha in bringing dharma to a neighbouring country that only thrive on materialism and wealth. Jay Jae loves Rinpoche very much and he always told us how much he wanted to be with Rinpoche to serve Rinpoche instead of staying in Singapore. But due to his devotion to Rinpoche, he stepped out of his comfort zone and set up a center in Singapore. Within months, the center has shifted to a bigger premise to accomodate more people. One can find out more of Modern Buddhist Fellowship at http://modernbuddhistfellowship.com/
[…] Surprise visit to Kechara House […]
[…] one with your yidam84 MahasiddhasA Special Setrap meditation – inspired by Datin Jennifer KhooLam Rim lineage surprise!What is God? What is Buddha?Manjushri Initiation in Gaden Shartse7 FEET-1000-armed Avalokiteshvara […]
[…] Lam Rim lineage surprise! […]
What a surprise for so many of us that Rinpoche came to the class. Pretty sure the newbies were in awe to be in the presence and receive direct teachings from Rinpoche, the new people also receievd dharma gifts to encourage them on their way.
Dear Rinpoche,
What a pleasant surprise and I rejoice in the visit and the Dharma talk. Amazingly, Rinpoche just continued with where Pastor Susan stopped on the Day 2 of the Lamrim about Atisha a gave a very clear and profound “Lamrim Class” of this topic. I do not know if it is a coincident or not, but Day 2 of Lamrim is where the first heading “The Greatness of the Author” is. In essence, Rinpoche just blessed all of us from the first heading of the Lamrim. A very auspicious beginning. Thank You Rinpoche.
I will use the Dharma to rid myself and others of the 3 poisons as per instructed in the “The Actual way to listen to the Dharma” heading in the Lamrim.
When Rinpoche was explaining how brave and compassionate Atisha was to be willing to hazard so much to go and spread the Dharma to the Tibetans who were barbarians, it made me reflect on how equally brave and compassionate Rinpoche was to accept his Guru’s advice to come and spread the Dharma in Malaysia. Like the Tibetans in Atisha’s days, we , Malaysians, do not have a propensity or inclination for Dharma. In fact, in our ‘ignorance’ and delusion, we feel that Dharma is so binding and , like a chain and a millstone around the neck, robbing us of our freedom to pursue the things we love in this life. We are so mired in our delusions and delusory pursuits and so ignorant what is real peace and happiness that we are spiritually, ‘barbarians’ too.
Rinpoche’s surprise visit and teaching on the Lamrim Lineage was a stupendous experience. Pastor Susan had earlier already set us on the course of trying to appreciate the greatness of Atisha, even at a young age.
Rinpoche clearly elucidated the authentic Lamrim Lineage from Buddha Shakyamuni, through Atisha( and later Lama Tsongkapa, who was actually an emanation of Atisha) to Pabongka Rinpoche and then to Trijang Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche, and Tsem Rinpoche(our Guru), and then to us.
Rinpoche explained how compassionate, brave and heroic Atisha was to decide to go to Tibet. For one thing, the journey to Tibet was most arduous and dangerous from the physical point of view and also because of wars between rival states in Tibet. Atisha chose hardship to go to Tibet (because on top of this arduous and dangerous journey, Tara told Atisha, he would have to endure great hardship to spread the Dharma in Tibet, a lawless place, whose people were barbaric) over an easy life, if he were to stay back in India. This choice was made because this great Bodhisattva was told, by Tara, that despite his life being shortened by twelve years, he would cause the Dharma teachings, including tantric teachings ,to spread widely and many Bodhisattvas, monks and great Masters would result from this.
In Tibet, Atisha composed the great classic and masterpiece, Lamp of the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, the authentic Lamrim. Later Lama Tsongkapa wrote the commentary The Lamrim Chenmo. Years later Pabongka Rinpoche gave the legendary teachings on the Lamrim, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.
We must have tremendous merits to be studying this authentic Lineage teachings, which contains all of Lord Buddha’s 84000 teachings!1
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank Buddha for your blog and youtube because we get to watch your teachings at any time and any place when I just have a laptop and computer. I will never tire from listening to Rinpoche even if its the same story. Rinpoche has a way of telling stories that keeps the listener enthralled.
I think Rinpoche is so good because you have a natural way of telling stories that is meant to implant a certain blessing and impression upon us. Even the flow of the teachings has the ability to hold people’s attention span for hours on end. All in all, I enjoyed and learned quite a bit from these talks.
Yes you are so right to say that you are never tired of listening to Rinpoche even if its the same story. I read in one dharma text that even if you attend the same dharma discourse over and over again, you may not hear anything new BUT you may understand something new. And then you can apply that new knowledge.
Rinpoche made a surprise visit to Friday’s Lamrim class. We have a bonus extended teaching on Atisha travel from India to Tibet, blessing of a Lama’s mandala, and benefits of supporting and sponsoring temples, statues and the Sanghas 🙂 Rinpoche told very nice story and gave a very good explanation on learning and practicing Dharma on many levels. 🙂
Studying the Lamrim gave me a number of insights:
Knowledge inside this book help us realize what ‘samsara’ or our world had always been, help us see the reality of how things work on earth for all sentient beings. After helping us identify these ‘problems’.
Then the book introduces us to ‘how we can learn to reduce these problems’ using different methods. It is like showing us the entrance to the ‘door’ of the rightful path.
Then the book will walk us through that path. At some point, it tells us we can take a rest to reflect upon our own experiences and think deeper about them. Somehow it keep on relating back to the knowledge studied inside Lamrim.
It is so mind boggling to realize that knowledge inside the Lamrim is so powerful to help us attain happiness in us for now and for our future.
Thank you, Rinpoche for sharing Atisha’s Biography. Without masters like Atisha and teachers like you to teach, we will not have the opportunity to realize happiness.