Putting Gratitude into your Hands

Putting gratitude into your hands
JJ Chong

MBF didn’t come by chance or by coincidence though. It was a labor of love and kindness pouring from every direction. Thinking about the kindness of Rinpoche and all He has done for not only myself but everyone He gets into contact with, I thought that would be the best way of sharing the Dharma with the people here.

The first of the 6 perfections of a Bodhisattva is the perfection of Giving. No Buddhist tradition can be passed out as being a tradition which is not charitable. The Buddha, the founder of the entire Buddhist doctrine gave up his entire life, kingdom and family for humanity. His Eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche was of no different. Rinpoche gave his life tirelessly to the people from all walks of life.

It was Chinese New Year and while the entire Chinese world was merry making He was busy giving gifts of encouragement to people, working on his blog, taking students who didn’t have a family out for meals and of course at the end of the day making sure that everyone was well taken cared of. It was at this time which Rinpoche texted his ‘infamous’ line of sms: “Where are you and what are you doing?”

So I told him what I was doing back home and explained that I was raising funds to renovate the studio for MBF. Initially I intended to bring my 3’ Lama Tsongkhapa statue from home to be placed as the main object of veneration here as I thought that would be a great statue. Then a call from His private office came and the next thing you know is that Rinpoche was planning to induce a new idea of having a 5’ statue on your altar instead!

The next thing that came was that his entire household was in search of a 5’ statue of Lama Tsongkhapa and I was to visit Rinpoche as soon as I can to pick out the statue which I think would fit the studio@MBF. This I did and had it arranged to be transported back to Singapore. A lot of hard work and red tape had to be endured to ensure that Lama Tsongkhapa had a safe travel here to Singapore.

All these wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Rinpoche. For a man his position, Rinpoche gives out tirelessly to humankind. I for one have received innumerable kindness from Rinpoche directly and  hence this has been a propelling factor of what I do today.

So the next time you visit the Studio@MBF, do make a prayer and dedicate it towards your loved one for Tsongkhapa represents the perfection  of Giving, the leading factor out of the six qualities of a Bodhisattva.