In the past few months, many full-time staff have joined Kechara, and I rejoice for this. I got the blog team to interview them, and I hope their stories will inspire you too. The 9 who have joined full-time are:

1. Darren Leong (Kechara Paradise 1-Utama, Retail Assistant)
2. Dawa Wu (to be based in KP Viva Home)
3. James Yong (Kechara Oasis, Floor Manager at Jaya One)
4. Eddie Teoh (Kechara Oasis, to be based at Viva Mall as Restaurant Manager)
5. Grace Cheah (Sales and Administrative Executive, Arts & Crafts)
6. Cynthia Ng (Kechara Care, Operations)
7. Ike Ong (Kechara Media & Publications, Marketing)
8. Karen Chong (Kechara Care, Operations)

Do have a good read through. It’s interesting to see the different personalities who chose to join the Dharma full-time…I personally welcome them and congratulate them for joining a progressive organization who take care of their staff and respect them. As time passes, you will see that working in Kechara is so different than any other jobs you may have had. First the goal of Kechara is to bring benefit to others. You are working for a higher goal besides just survival and paying bills… Your Head of Dept (Liaison) will be kind, ready to listen to you and will make time for you. Our Liaisons are very caring people that is for sure. As work in the spiritual field is relatively new to some, pioneers in fact, take your time and do not have this or that expectations. Come to the work with an open mind and observe, learn, go visit the various depts, meet senior members and take active part in some activities…you’ll find it will enhance your work and perhaps your life….really…

Tsem Rinpoche

1. Darren Leong

(Retail assistant, KP 1Utama)

Darren is a 27 year old guy from Ipoh. He first discovered Kechara in the newspapers when he read an article about Kechara Soup Kitchen (KSK). Moved by what they did, he looked KSK up on the internet to find out more, only to find out about Kechara… and our 13 departments!

When in KL, he would (as per usual!) go out socializing with his many friends. During a conversation, one of his friends started talking about Kechara. It turns out that one of them named Davin, had just started working full-time in Kechara Paradise Sunway Pyramid!

Davin would go on and on about Kechara and whenever they met up, Davin would talk about the organization and about Tsem Rinpoche. This happened so often to the point where Darren thought to himself, “When will he ever stop talking about Kechara!”

Darren comes from an electrical engineering background, having worked in various companies that provide services ranging from air-conditioning services to the maintenance of highway electrical high towers.

He then decided that remaining in this industry was not for him. His passion had always been to cook; he explained how he liked to see the expression on people’s faces upon tasting his food. So he went into the F&B business.

Dealing with so much meat, he soon realized that this industry wasn’t for him either.

During this time, his friend Davin approached him to ask if he wanted to join full-time at Kechara. He was intrigued, but because he was earning a substantially high salary, he felt a slight reluctance to make the shift.

A few weeks went by and the thought of joining Dharma full-time gradually grew stronger. He explained how his previous job was unsatisfying and very stressful. He knew little Dharma, but understood enough to know that he would gain merits by joining full-time.

He decided to go for it, and applied for an interview – only to get the job!

Interested in Buddha iconography, history and backgrounds, he finds it very beneficial to read about various Buddhas. He likes to work with people, and knows that for everyone that comes into the KP 1U shop – he could make a difference, and that he can help. This pushes him to learn more Dharma, and like he says,” I just take it one step at a time.”

He stated that working in Kechara is the most satisfying job so far. Now that he has joined full-time, he admits that he’s THAT friend who now can’t stop talking about Kechara when he’s out with his friends!

2. Dawa Wu

(Retail assistant, KP Viva Home)

Dawa first heard about Kechara 3 years ago.

Then based in Singapore, she was sourcing for items for a gallery owned by a Mahayana center. As her hobby and side-job, she supplied malas (rosaries) to different people around the country and in Malaysia. One of them was a man who was selling malas… and Kechara was one of his customers!

This man, however, didn’t know too much about malas and persuaded Dawa to come along to meet Kechara Paradise Director Henry Ooi and Kechara Paradise SS2 Manager Wan.

During that time, there weren’t many Buddhist centers that had so many different types of Buddhist ritual items, statues, malas etc all in one shop. Stepping into Kechara Paradise – she found it very unique! Discovering this made an impression on her. It was especially rare to find a shop full of Buddhist items, let alone Tibetan items and for a center in the Vajrayana school!

On a trip back to KL to visit her parents, she visited Kechara and really liked it. She particularly liked the Kechara culture, which to her was very open, non-conservative and everyone was prepared to accept something new. She described the Kecharian attitude as, where “people are ready to learn new things”.

She liked how there are young full-timers and that all the full-timers were from different fields and background. The diversity, she said, was very refreshing.

When asked why she thought different Kecharians seemed to have the same open attitude, she responded that it was from hard work. Hard work in terms of educating: teachings from Rinpoche to his students and from the older students to the younger students.

She admits that she doesn’t know what method Rinpoche uses, but she says that whatever it is, it works. The Dharma teachings that cultivated that “open” attitude suits our modern times and the “new-age” generation. She called this change good and that “we need that, not just for Buddhism – but for all religions”.

Dawa has always been interested in Dharma. Since the late 1990’s, she has been a student of Singa Rinpoche and even followed her guru to Taiwan for a year. She stressed how Tsem Rinpoche’s students were “very, very lucky” to have their guru around. She hasn’t seen her guru for 10 years, and feels that Tsem Rinpoche’s students should remember how rare it is to have their guru around them.

Turning 43 this year, Dawa has lived a very interesting life thus far. She grew up in Beijing, where her father was a lecturer in Tsinghua University (the 2nd best university in China). After high school, she pursued a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources and furthered her studies with a Masters in Psychology.

After graduation, she moved to Hong Kong working as a HR Manager, where she was thereafter promoted to HR Director.

So why join full-time in Kechara? She says that she has watched Rinpoche’s YouTube videos and DVDs. She likes it and when Henry approached her with a proposed option for her to join full-time, she thought “Why not?”

Joining as retail manager of (soon-to-be) KP Viva Home, she feels that she can contribute a lot to Kechara, especially in mala-related areas: mala display, mala designing and different accessories. In addition, she has 30 years of experience in Chinese calligraphy (a skill taught by her father) and plans to use that skill, along with her Chinese writing skills, to benefit others.

You would be interested to know that Dawa has only been back in Malaysia for 3 weeks – that is how fast she responded to Henry!

3. James Yong

(Floor Manager, Kechara Oasis Jaya One)

Turning 63 this year, James stands out as one of the older Kechara full-time staff. Even so, he has the energy of a college fresh graduate!

Born and bred in Ipoh, James is the typical genuine hard worker that we now only find within the older generations. He explains that during his time, there were no coffee machines and when he started out in the F&B business, he was posted as a coffee maker. He would spend his long-hour shifts making coffee, straining the beans to produce one cup of coffee – one after another.

Upon turning 20, he moved out of his hometown and headed to Malacca where he stayed for the next 22 years. There, he remained in the F&B business establishing cafes and continued to work hard. In 1972, he found himself moving to the capital city of Malaysia where he decided to stay put and has been for the last 20 years, together with his wife.

In KL, he helped set up food courts in Cheras and took 4 years out to Vietnam on a project to construct a food court in Hanoi. Returning to KL, he served as the supervisor of Rock Cafe in Kota Damansara where he managed a staff of 20.

He first found out about Kechara 2 years ago, when Jeffrey Gan (Marketing and Catering Manager of Kechara Oasis and a neighbor from his apartment) spoke about his new job at Kechara Oasis. Since joining, Jeffrey has been asking James to come on board too.

About 6 months ago, James had just finished a project only to bump into Jeffrey at the lobby of their apartment. Once again Jeffrey asked if he would like to join. This time James took up the offer as he felt that a change in his life was much needed – after all, being in the F&B business for most of his life, he saw a lot of animals being slaughtered. Working in a vegetarian restaurant would be a breath of fresh air!

James is now the floor manager for Kechara Oasis (Jaya One) and has been a vegetarian for 1 month now. He says abstaining from meat has made him mellow down a lot and that he’s less aggressive.

This may also be due to his new working environment. According to him, the moment he stepped in for the first time, he felt that Kechara Oasis had a very good energy . Compared to working elsewhere, the working pressure wasn’t unbearable. He really likes how he learns Dharma while working, and at the same time gets to share the Dharma. He has previously even brought tourists to our new gompa.

It was at the new gompa where James first met Rinpoche – catching a glimpse of him as Rinpoche entered the gompa. James also stayed and attended the first official Dharma talk delivered by Tsem Rinpoche.

James also recalls the second time he met Rinpoche. It was at the appreciation dinner at Kechara Oasis itself! The dinner was held to thank volunteers for all of their hard work during the gompa opening – James was very glad that Rinpoche attended.

4. Eddie Teoh

(Restaurant Manager, Kechara Oasis Viva Home)

Like James, Eddie found out about Kechara through Jeffrey Gan.

Since Eddie was 16, he has worked in the F&B industry. In 30 years, he has seen himself working in hotels, club houses, seafood restaurants and a Japanese restaurant. This also includes working in famous restaurants such as those in Tropicana Golf & Country Resort and Wong Kok (Char Chan Teng).

As a man of the Christian faith, he comes from an open-minded family who supported him joining Kechara. Although it has only been 1 month since he has joined full-time, he feels proud working for “the 1st big vegetarian restaurant in Malaysia”.

In his previous jobs, he has provided catering services to functions of 1,000 people – but they were never vegetarian. Kechara Oasis pushes that boundary, having catered to hundreds of people showing to others that you can have good food (and good businesss!) whilst practicing good ethics.

He expresses how he likes his boss, Irene Lim, who is nice… and he has plans to make a lot of changes in Kechara Oasis; to push it further and making it a greater success.

5. Grace Cheah

(Sales & Administrative Executive, Kechara Saraswati Arts)

It was through the business associates of Grace Cheah’s husband, Eddie Tan, that the couple first got to know about Kechara. Eddie’s business associates spoke about how clairvoyant and powerful Tsem Rinpoche was, and the mystical side of it all really intrigued Grace and Eddie.

Every year on Wesak Day, the couple would visit a Buddhist temple on Jalan Gasing. 4 years ago, it was no different; however this time they decided to pay a visit to Kechara before going over to their usual temple. Little did they know, Rinpoche was there to give a talk that very day!

Unfortunately, as Grace says, “Perhaps from a lack of merit, we did not have the chance to meet him as we were due to pay respects at Jalan Gasing”. So they left, and the close encounter became a non-encounter…

The next time they visited Kechara, they attended the last night of the Migtsema-thon (a long retreat where a group of people gathered to chant Migtsema mantras). It was there that Grace and Eddie met Rinpoche, as he came to give a talk about “death” to the regular Kecharians.

Both Grace and Eddie strongly felt that Rinpoche’s teachings made a lot of sense. She also really liked the feeling of being in Kechara as she says that she has never been to a temple like this before. To her, it felt very “young, contemporary, modern… and “not Cina”’ (‘not Cina’ = not overly Chinese).

She expressed how she simply felt good being around Kechara with other Kecharians.

After a handful of visits, Grace said that she was “hooked”. She was addicted to Kechara; to the energy, the people, the activities and to the Dharma. She started actively volunteering in Kechara Saraswati Arts (KSA). Re-calling how at that time there wasn’t any full-time staff in KSA yet, she contributed by painting. Although she loved to paint, she admits that she isn’t very good. Regardless, she still did it the very best that she could.

After a while, she decided to quit her job and started helping her husband freelance. This was while she started volunteering more in Kechara. A few months went by and Grace thought about joining full-time. However, she soon fell pregnant and told herself that only after the child was old enough, that she’d join.

2 ½ years later, she has now joined Kechara! She always remembered what Rinpoche has said: that doing Dharma work is putting Dharma into action. She felt that it was time to walk the talk, and to put what she has learnt into practice and at the same time to learn more.

As a banker by profession for more than 10 years, Grace has always been a self-driven and focused lady. She says that working in a samsaric job is very different from doing Dharma work. At the bank, she was very specialized in her field and only did certain things, however doing Dharma work… she is now doing EVERYTHING.

She says that by going through the actual experience of working for the Dharma, it helps her realize the mistakes that she has made before. This enables her to improve her mind to be a better person.

She likes how she can help an unlimited number of people, whether it’s directly or indirectly. To her, doing this type of work is a good way of lowering the ego, as in a normal job everyone (including herself before) is full of it, and they have a lot of pride. However, working in Kechara has taught her to be humble.

She does Dharma work to purify her negative karma, accumulate merits for her spiritual attainments and feels that it’s definitely worth the time. She says that, “All of the hard work and effort would go towards the 2 mega projects (KWPC and Menara Kechara) which will help and benefit countless people not just in the near future but also many generations to come.”

6. Cynthia Ng

(Operations, Kechara Care)

Cynthia Ng describes herself as a “normal, typical girl from KL”. Although born in Penang, she has grown up as a city girl and settled down with her childhood sweetheart.

Both her and her husband had previously owned a company supplying spare part for cars. They were the typical couple who would work on weekdays, relax on weekends and go to the temple once in a while to light a joss stick or two.

They first heard about Kechara through Adrian and Phoebe Wee. The Wee couple are regular sponsors of Tsem Ladrang and Adrian is now also a committee member of Kechara Animal Sanctuary.

The two couples have known each other since the 8th grade, and although Adrian and Phoebe encouraged them to visit Kechara, they were initially reluctant. This is because it was around the same time when there were a lot of monk-related scandals all over the papers. This made Cynthia and her husband a little skeptical and they decided to keep their distance.

Months went by and one day, Cynthia and her husband decided to pay a visit to Kechara House. There, they attended a Setrap puja and liked it a lot. A few weeks later and they requested Rinpoche for a divination. The reason for the divination was because Cynthia’s husband had been disturbed by spirits regularly. Since he was young, he has always been able to see spirits, however, this time it was gradually getting worse: the spirit was waiting for the right time to kill him.

Rinpoche’s divination results came out with a few instructions, and according to the couple, after following through with the instructions it helped a lot. Their problems lessened and the spiritual disturbances stopped.

During this whole process, Cynthia and her husband had been within the Kechara community and she saw how many people would put in the time and effort to help others. She was touched to see how other people worked so selflessly, especially when she was on the receiving end of the help.

She realized how if she helped, she herself, could make a world of a difference to someone else’s life – just like how they did to hers.

She really liked how the full-time Kecharians were friendly and would always have a “taking-care-of-others” attitude. She also loved how the environment was welcoming.

It had been 3 years since she has known about Kechara, and she saw how her friends Adrian and Phoebe had changed. She says that, “they changed a lot. Their ego has gone down and they are more friendly… even the way they talk and act is a lot more friendlier”.

Together with her husband’s support, she decided to join full-time. She says that “it’s only Dharma that can help you in life, not your experience, your money, your attachment…” She even remembers how Rinpoche always says, “Don’t say you cannot do it”.

This of course refers to many things; however she was previously worried about her daughter’s welfare. Seeing the Kecharian attitude, she is fully confident that her daughter will be taken care of, saying “Dharma can take care of all.”

She wanted to use her time and efforts to repay back the kindness of others, understanding that it’s not good to just take, but to remember to give back also. Something amazing about her is how she chose to let other Kecharians decide where she could serve the Dharma best. They said that with her bubbly and personable nature, Kechare Care was most suitable for her – how right they are!

7. Ike Ong

(Marketing, Kechara Media & Publications)

Ike Ong is a 57 year old man who has done much in his life. Growing up in different countries including Penang, Australia, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, he finally decided to come back to live in Kuala Lumpur.

Having studied accounting, Ike decided that filming and music was where his true passion really lies – and so he did what most people do not dare to do and pursued his dreams. Through this pursuit, he has won the Accolade Film Competition merit award (from a California-based independent film festival). This was for his feature-length documentary on the Iban’s entitled “Twilight of the Longhouse”.

Now, Ike has come on-board the Kechara team as the marketer for Kechara Media & Publications. Together with his passion for books and reading materials of substance (all books produced by KMP… hint hint), he is geared towards pushing KMP to a global level.

Do say “Hi” if you see him along Jalan Kechara!

8. Karen Chong

(Operations, Kechara Care)

Karen is a 27 year old girl hailing from the southern state of Johor Bahru. Since she was young, she has always loved fashion. She remembers herself as a little girl, at the age of 7-10, wearing her mother’s lipstick and donning her heels.

She recalls how, when she was growing up, her neighborhood held annual “Barbie Doll Clothes Designing” competitions. Competing against the little boys and girls – she won twice in a row! It was since then that she knew she had some form of talent in designing clothes.

Aspiring to be the next Karl Lagerfeld, she admits to having a very comfortable upbringing and remembers herself to be quite a demanding little girl! Upon turning 18, she moved to Kuala Lumpur – the capital city of Malaysia – to pursue higher education. Being respectful towards her parents’ wishes, she attended college undertaking a degree in Product Design.

She revealed that she had reluctantly agreed to this path, expressing how she did it to please her parents. Like any Asian parents, they really wanted her to be financially-sound upon graduation and studying Fashion Design was a risky choice. They didn’t want her to potentially make the wrong decision.

2 years into her degree, she was forced to face the fact that her heart really wasn’t in studying Product Design. Her parents saw how unhappy she was and agreed to let her pursue her dreams to study fashion. It was then when she happily packed her bags and moved to the bustling city of Singapore.

She remained there for the next 3 years, studying Fashion at Raffles Design Institute.

Life after graduation wasn’t as bad as she had imagined it to be – it was worse. She started working for a company where she became part of a team who designed clothes on the company’s behalf. For 2.5 years she struggled with reasons of artistic differences. On the brighter side, she admits that it wasn’t all that bad as she did get to travel and gained a lot of working experience…

Come last October, she decided to quit her job and came back to KL for a holiday. Amongst her hectic social plans, she met up with an ex high-school friend, James Long, who introduced her to Kechara Care. She started volunteering on a sporadic basis – helping out whenever necessary or needed.

James had first introduced her to Kechara 4-5 years ago. One of Rinpoche’s students, Angel Ooi, was having the official opening of her beauty shop and Rinpoche attended the event to bless the area. It was then that she got the opportunity to meet Rinpoche for the very first time! Karen remembers how Rinpoche gave her a mala, a Tsongkhapa tsa tsa and some books.

5 years passed, and she met Rinpoche again for the second time when she volunteered at KSA. Rinpoche spontaneously came by to say “hello” to the hardworking volunteers. He then sat next to her and gave her some personal advice. She remembers how from beginning to end, she just continuously cried. She didn’t know why she kept crying but she remembers how she felt that Rinpoche really cared about her and that he could really understand her. He could express exactly how she felt at that time, when she herself couldn’t. She felt the care, and that the care was real and genuine – like he just wanted her to simply be happy and didn’t want anything back.

She recalled how whatever Rinpoche said – it was all true: that the working methods in Singapore were not her style, that she felt a permanent sense of feeling lost and that the reason why she worked in fashion was really to repay her parents kindness and to make them happy. She felt a sense of guilt for spending so much money on education that hasn’t yet made any returns.

She took the talk to heart, but continued her way of volunteering in KC, while keeping an eye out for a job. However, the more and more she volunteered, the more she realized how it was starting to become her “escape from reality”. She wanted fame, money, a good career and a relationship – just like everybody else out there.

Her Dharma friend, Martin Chow, could feel her sense of loss and advised her to perhaps consider putting her passion together with religion. He showed, with the examples of Dato’ Ruby Khong, Phng Li Kim, Chuah Su Ming and many others – how she could have all the things that she wanted yet still have Dharma.

She said that she was very inspired by her KC team members (Bryan, Ethan and James). She saw how they “gave up” their glamorous jobs and are truly happy and satisfied with what they’re doing now. What touched her the most was that she knew that they were doing everything ALL for others.

It’s surprising to know that at her age, she understands how in life, having money is not everything. She says, “You will never be satisfied and will always want more and more”. It is happiness that she wants, and knows that she won’t get it through making money. Doing Dharma full-time is, she says, following her heart.

She stressed how she really wanted to thank Rinpoche and the KC team for not forcing her to join, but to just be there whenever she needed them to be.

In 4-5 months, she realized how good she felt when she worked in Kechara. She felt really good working for others and realized how she starting to be more patient and a less angry person.

She hopes that by joining full-time, she herself can inspire others like how Bryan, Ethan and James did.

Do watch out for her – here’s to another young, funny and gorgeous woman in the Kechara family!
 

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