So special!
When I was growing up in my family home in Howell, New Jersey, USA, we had a beautiful shrine that was tri-level with various Buddha images and pictures. Our family home was four bedrooms and one bedroom was dedicated specially to the Buddhas as a shrine room. I used to go into the shrine room often to prostrate, offer incense, offer butterlamps or just sit and do thousands of mantras. We had various statues, paintings, framed pictures of Buddhas and lamas. I loved that room. I loved the shrine and I was very attracted to the shrine very much naturally from a very young age. It was the favorite room in the house for me. I would spend hours looking at the pictures, paintings and images of the various Buddhas on our family shrine when I was free. There was a Buddha Shakyamuni print surrounded by images in circles of his life and framed. I use to stare at this. Last week I came across the same image on the internet (very small resolution though and could not print out) of this particular Buddha print and recalled it was the same print as on my childhood shrine. It instantly transported me back to my childhood home. I was hoping to find an exact copy of this Buddha one day again and keep near me. I posted the picture on the internet and just casually mentioned this exact picture which was printed in Bombay, India use to be in my family shrine in Howell and then left it at that.
Well my parents have passed away, our family home sold and my parents items gone. Most of the precious Buddha items on the shrine I think went to my sister and onto her shrine I assume. Today, to my COMPLETE surprise Lew and Cynthia offered me framed picture of this beautiful Buddha print that I use to have on my family shrine!!!! I was totally surprised. They found the exact print on line, purchased it and presented to me!! Someone else had a print of this same as the one we had and Lew and Cynthia obtained it! Amazing care, tenderness and sensitivity on their part to do this for me. I am so touched! I am so thrilled and I love the print so much.
I will definitely keep a framed copy of this on my current altar. Every time I see the holy image of this Lord Buddha print I will remember my family home, shrine in Howell and my parents. I will remember the thousands of hours I spent in the shrine room in my family home staring at this picture of Buddha and praying and chanting mantras. I loved spending time in front of this shrine and I use to pretend I was teaching dharma, composing texts and that I was a high lama. LOL. Yes, I use to pretend this as a child when I was in the shrine room many times. No one told me to do this, it just came naturally to me. I didn’t tell my parents but I pretended to be great teacher composing text at my young age back then. I would wrap the bed sheets around me and pretend it was maroon robes. I would pretend I had thousands of disciples and teach them Buddhism. I will remember the incense wafting through the air past this Buddha image as I chanted. It brings back a good part of my childhood to me in such a blessed manner.
I can’t believe I just posted this picture online last week recollecting my childhood shrine and home and Lew and Cynthia went out of their way to find this actual print for me!!! Some gifts may not cost a million dollars but they are worth a hundred million dollars and more! Because they are the best kind of gifts as they are gifts of the heart given with tenderness, care and so much love. Again I am so touched. Dear Lew and Cynthia, thank you for your thoughtfulness, spontaneity, generosity, tenderness and sensitivity. I love this print of the Buddha. I didn’t get the actual one from my parent’s shrine room, but this duplicate copy is just the same, maybe better because it came from your hearts. How did you find it???!!! LOL.
Thank you for your care, friendship, hard work always for dharma, spirituality and being in my life……
Thank you so much. Thank you very much.
Tsem Rinpoche
The beautiful message on the card from Lew and Cynthia. Lew and Cynthia are wonderful people who work in the E-Division department of Kechara. I am so happy to be working with them and they are very kind people. They are spiritual people yet practical and they work super hard. They thrive on work and producing the best they can. Very honorable people. I wish to work with them for the rest of my life if I have the good fortune and I mean it. Click on image to enlarge.
The beautiful framed gift. Thank you!
The actual close-up of the holy picture of the fully enlightened Lord Buddha surrounded by the illustrations of His great life and deeds. This is the exact print that was in my family shrine in Howell, New Jersey when I was growing up. Thousands must have been printed over 40 years ago. I have not seen an exact print for over 40 years now until today. It is amazing another person had this same print as my family’s and Lew and Cynthia found another copy. Amazing!
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This gift is so precious and meaningful as it reminds Rinpoche about his childhood, the feeling he once had with Buddha in his family home.
I can feel the passion of Rinpoche when he described how he spent time with this picture of Buddha. He was so so cute, he even wrap the bed sheets around and pretend it was a robes hehe. He was really into Dharma since childhood.
Those familiar feelings are nurturing and beyond time. Thank you Lew and Cnythia 🙂
Thank you Lew and Cynthia I learnt new method to search for images.
Thank you for sharing this post with us, Rinpoche. There are people who really can be our best friends for life. We should cherish these friends if we do have one!
Lew, didn’t know that we can actually find an image through uploading and google it. Thanks for sharing your little ‘secret’ here with us. To Lew and Cynthia, thanks for showing me on what a wonderful and unbelievable way to serve Guru. A gift that came from the bottom of your heart and it’s priceless.
Thank you dearly Mr. Lew and Cynthia, for being so wonderful in making our Guru so radiantly happy and delighted! Both of you are the source of goodness, bliss, and perfection in their respective order, that our Rinpoche has expressed the wish to work with spiritually “for the rest of my life”. Both of you are practical, yet superbly hard working and honarable with such inherent display of the essential qualities of virtuous conduct of wisdom and loving compassion! It indeed be a beneficial and excellent example for all to follow suit, in the practice of superb guru-devotion! Even though if we cannot do everthing, just to be able to please and make one’s guru happy and glad, is worth all its hardwork, especially for a Guru who is such an amazingly good guru to all!!! Thank you once again, Mr. Lew and Cynthia for showing us how. Om Mani Padme Hung.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing such a well-thought out gift from Lew and Cynthia. The effort behind this offering is wonderful and also serves and an inspiration and reminder of how Buddha manifested his Buddha-hood in this world system.
Dear Lew and Cynthia,
Thank you for such an amazing gift to Rinpoche. Your sincerity showed in the message on the card.
And also thank you for the tips on how to search for images…
Kudos to both of you!
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this post.
Regards
Leonard Ooi
(KPSG)
This is amazing! 😀 What a great gift to Rinpoche. 🙂 Good integrity on Mr. Lew and Ms. Cynthia’s part. 🙂 This post made me really happy. 🙂 Thank you, Cynthia and Lew. 😀
You guys are amazing and thank you for being so thoughtful. Being so sincere and that efforts are countless.
Without your sincerity we people had no chance to learn more…
Lew the link that you have post is so useful.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!
Dear Lew and Cynthia,
Thank you for the amazing gift you gave to Rinpoche. The message on the card was also very heart warming.
You have shown the love and affection Rinpoche always gives us and gave Rinpoche the same love and affection too!
Thank you for the wonderful tip on how to search using images…
Thank you once again.
What a smart, creative and very sincere gift from Lew and Cynthia. Yes some gifts may not cost a million but the effort and care put towards obtaining a gift, even if it is a piece of note… can worth more than a million. For sincerity is priceless. How wonderful to see Rinpoche’s little piece of childhood being brought forth through the findings of this vintage Buddha image by Lew and Cyn. Simply beautiful.
Thank you Lew and Cythia for this thoughtful gift, the Buddha image very nice and clear very bless to look at it what a wonderful idea.
Dear Rinpoche,
I used the “Google Image Search” function to find the image. To do this, type: https://images.google.com/, and as shown in the image below, click on the “camera” icon, and you can then upload the image to Google for it to search. Google will then show a list of “Visually similar images”, and then I go through the links one by one and finally manage to find the seller.
Wow!! didn’t know can do that. Thank you Lew! 🙂 Yours and Cynthia’s offering is really very thoughtful. You guys don’t get things just to get things..you guys see what people need/like/want, and then go through ends to search for it and get it.
I didn’t know you can do that. There is a very old Vajra Yogini print I received as a kid over 40 years ago. It is just two toned red/white. The face on this VY is so real and done well. I’ve only seen a tiny print of it and my original print was left in New Jersey and don’t know what happened to it. Now I will look for this by the way you described here. Thank you.
Brilliant. Thanks Lew for sharing… learnt something new!
Thank you Cynthia & Lew for your generosity & effort, it is very thoughtful & remind us to always be kind to those who r kind to us. Rejoice.
Lew and Cynthia have a beautiful heart. They worked very hard in their department. It’s very nice to have someone like them in our life. So caring and lovely. I’m moved with their strong guru devotion to Rinpoche. A good example for all of us to follow.
Beautiful great gifts given to Rinpoche from His students with much love and care. This shows that how devoted and dedicated Lew and Cynthia are to their Guru. They are the shining example to all.
Beautiful and priceless gifts from the heart from two beautiful people. Lovely!!!
Gifts such as this – Priceless! Thank you for sharing this, Rinpoche. And thank you, Cynthia and Lew, for showing us that thoughtful gifts from one’s sincere heart is worth so much more than one that costs millions.
This is such a beautiful gift , more so that it is from the heart. Such sincerity. Cynthia and Lew are a reflection of Rinpoche’s actions too : thoughtfulness, spontaneity, generosity, tenderness and sensitivity.
Very very cool