Chapel in Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Mar 14, 2010 | Views: 679
I went to Johor Bahru (JB) in south Malaysia to commemorate the opening of a sacred Setrap Chapel started by my students.
Tsem Rinpoche
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The original location of the Kechara Southern Jewel Chapel or KSJC was not in Johor Bahru, but in Batu Pahat at a house belonging to Steven Chew who has kindly offered it to KSJC to set up their centre. Later, d they decided to move closer to Johor Bahru so that KSJC can serve more people in Malaysia and people in Singapore can cross the border to come to Johor Bahru for Dharma activities in KSJC. KSJC is also going to be like Malacca Study Group expanding very fast. It is through the hard work, enthusiasm and harmony among the members that will make a Dharma centre grow.
Kechara Southern Jewel Chapel was formed by a small group of dedicated Kechara members in Johor. The first chapel was setup in Batu Pahat, in the home of Steven Chew who had offered up the use of his house for the chapel, creating causes for the manifestation of our Protector Chapel in the southern region of Malaysia. Every weekend, the committee members took turn to travel from Johor Bahru to Batu Bahat to clean the chapel and organize Setrap puja session to benefit people in that area.
Since then, Kechara Southern Jewel Chapel had moved to a bigger premise in Johor Baru town. Under the leadership of Alan Chan, KSJC had managed to draw in more members and friends.
Our education committee from our mother center in KL travels down to KSJC fortnightly to conduct dharma classes, ‘feeding’ dharma knowledge to those who are willing to learn.
Like Rinpoche always say, doing puja alone will not take us far. We must listen to the dharma, internalize it and practice it in our daily life and transform our mind, this is the best offering one could offer to our Guru.
Those who are interested to know more about KSCJ or would like to join in the classes there, please visit http://www.kechara.com/shopping/news/jewel-of-the-south/ for more information.
Sorry, here is the Setrap explanation in a boxset:-
http://www.kechara.com/publications/publications/vajra-series/setrap-the-protector-box-set/
I remembered the amazing consecration day when Rinpoche first arrived at the Southern Jewel Chapel. It was beautiful and amazing offering to have the Chinese lion dances to great our Lama. Rinpoche looked grand in his maroon and yellow robes along with his golden pandit’s hat. Southern Jewel is a chapel specifically dedicated to the Dharma Protector Setrap so he can alleviate the sufferings and problems of people in the area and beyond.
Many people because of the Setrap will gain some measure of faith in the Dharma and will practice the Dharma or at the very least respect it. That is one of the reasons Rinpoche propagate Setrap so much here in Malaysia. We have the benefits of Setrap’s practice can be proliferated far and wide and Amitabha’s emanation as a general will ride all over the Johor state. For those who need to learn about Setrap can find out in the following link :-
Wow, Kechara has really expanded since the Kechara Southern Jewel Chapel (KSJC) was opened ( http://www.kechara.com/kechara-house/study-groups/ )! We’ve now got a prayer group in Malacca that’s going strong, as well as an Ipoh study group that’s very active, thanks to dedicated facilitators like Wai Meng who is also part of the Ladrang’s e-Division ( http://www.kechara.com/?p=2788 )!
A new group has sprung up in Kuantan, which is our eastern-most group at the moment. We also recently started a study group in Penang, which is run by Patsy Gooi, the manager of Kechara Paradise in Penang.
Go go Kechara!
Actually, like the KSJC group, the Penang group’s main activity is Setrap’s practice. They have weekly Setrap pujas that anyone is free to join. When you look at all of this Setrap-related activity, you can’t deny he really has a strong connection with Malaysians. He is the wrathful emanation of Amitabha who Malaysians already really like, and his prayer even mentions that his cudgel is made from wood from the forests of Malaya!