I Visited This Great Temple in Penang
Tsem Rinpoche Visits Famous Penang Burmese Temple!
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/Malay01-PenangTemple.mp4
I visited the famous Penang Burmese Buddhist temple a few days ago again. I loved this temple and so many new improvements have been added to it since the last time I visited. It is so well maintained, always clean and the staff are very friendly and nice. In my video, I give you some more facts about this beautiful, holy and sanctified place.
This temple is over 200 years old and is still functioning as a major spiritual centre for Buddhists in Penang.
Over a decade back I stayed in Penang for over a month and I was ten mins walk from this temple. I used to go with a group every morning to circumambulate, do prayers, make offerings and recite my sadhanas there in the morning. It holds alot of good memories. Early in the mornings it is very peaceful, quiet, fresh and contemplative to be there.
Penang is a quaint little island in North Malaysia. It’s clean, easy to get around, very green, mountainous, and people enjoy a simple laid back life. There are so many temples, some very huge in Penang. I didn’t visit all, but just a few and I loved it. I would recommend to visit Penang for it’s special unique island life and culture…
Let me take you on a quick tour and introduction. I hope you can visit one day also. But until then, enjoy this blog post.
Much care,
Tsem Rinpoche
Some comments from my Facebook about the video above:
Sara Andreyev: Thank you Seng piow I enjoyed that very much! I had the pleasure of visiting this Temple when I was in Penang. Thank You Rinpoche for sending me to see all the beautiful Temples in Penang.
Steve Tobiash: Very beautiful and great documentary, thank you. I bet all sorts of people will find it on Youtube.
Mandana Doust: beautiful place! thanks for sharing
Fernanda Pinheiro: SO ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL THANK YOU SO MUCH RINPOCHE
Kiran Kc: H.E. Rimpoche thank you very2 much for sharing, This wounderfull and great history of Shakya Muni Buddha. It’s a great privillege.
The entrance to this holy place……
I love this absolutely stunning image of the Standing Buddha in this temple. I use to sit here for hours daily doing my prayers and practice when I was staying in Penang over ten years back. Coming here again brought back so many beautiful memories.
I love all images of Buddhas but this one is breathtaking….
These are Buddhas donated to this temple from various countries. The Buddhas are carved according to the unique style of each country….nice.
To the side of the main Chapel to the standing Buddha is a sacred stupa.
They also have a Bodhi tree on the temple premises reminding us of Buddha’s enlightenment.
This Buddha in the Burmese temple is over 200 years old. I was amazed at the proportions, carving, artwork, and expression on the face…it looks so placid and alive..of course all Buddha statues embody the living spirit of Lord Buddha, but good artwork helps alot. And this image of the Buddha is of the highest quality.
Closeup of this Buddha. I love this image so much. When looking at Him, I feel He is alive…
This chapel houses the holy image of Arhat Upagatta. I love this place. Upagatta is said to grant many miracles such as excorcism from malicious spirits, help school children in doing well in their exams, etc…During examination season, the place is packed with school kids making offerings and prayers to Upagatta. I talk more in the video about this great Upagatta that I have much faith in also.
Arhat Upagatta
This is the great wall of renounciation..where Shakyamuni as a Prince left the royal household on his horse to become a monk (renounciate).
This is the tower of the bell housed in the temple. Each floor houses many carved marble plaques from various countries around the world commemorating the Buddha. Very nice…must visit this Bell Tower in the temple.
This plaque is from Tibet and it depicts Lord Tsongkapa in the centre, left Tsongkapa with disciples and right Dzambala. Behind the Potala.
A bird’s eye view of the Temple complex from the top of the Bell Tower.
This temple in Penang is AN ABSOLUTE MUST TO VISIT. You must visit, make offerings, prayers, soak in the history behind it, meditate, make prayers and pay homage to Upagatta. It will bless your day, your week, your month, your life……
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Dear Rinpoche,
2013 is the year I first stepped foot in Penang as this is the hometown of my husband. Thanks to him, I came to know Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism in particular.
I went to this temple before, Rinpoche. To me, this is just another place of attraction in Penang at that time. After watching the explanations from Rinpoche, I think next time I will appreciate this sacred place more. The Buddhas statues and the place is so serene and beautiful. Rinpoche, thanks for the teachings.
Wish I have the merits to visit this great temple in Penang one fine day in the future to see those beautiful Buddha carvings framed on the wall. 😍.Thank you very much Rinpoche and blog team for this lovely sharing. 🙏😀👏
This temple in Penang is also the location of the first ever picture that I took with Rinpoche (I wish I knew where the original hard copy is!).
When I was a kid, my siblings and I used to BEG our grandparents to bring us here. It wasn’t so much that we understood the significance of the Buddhas, or the significance of the temple but it was more that we wanted to drop coins into the donation boxes in front of the statues and throw them into the spinning bowls around the fish pond. We would save our spare change for this purpose…the 20 cent coins were the best because they were easy to save up (and therefore plentiful) and a good weight so they’re easy to throw hehehe
The temple also sells fish food and our grandparents would take us to feed the fish. They explained to us that when she was younger, my mother would come and pray to Arhat Upagatta before her exams to get good results.
It was also from this temple that my grandmother bought us a Buddhist comic book. On the very first page of the book was the refuge prayer: NAMO GURU BEH, NAMO BUDDHA YAH, NAMO DHARMA YAH, NAMO SANGHA YAH – it’s actually how I learned the refuge prayer.
This wasn’t the only temple we would beg to go to – we also loved going to Kek Lok Si, another famous temple in Penang sat on a hill, to feed vegetables to the turtles.
I’m very happy that alongside all of my other experiences as a child, I had these good influences in my life as well as grandparents who were very accommodating to our demands especially when it was for Buddhism-related activities. And now that I’m older and have the benefit of hindsight, I remember that money was tight for them – they drove a car that could barely get up the hill to Kek Lok Si – but my grandmother in particular always tried to connect us with the Buddhas and the temples even when things were financially difficult.
So for me, I have very good memories of this temple. Parents may think children don’t appreciate Dharma activities, that they’ll complain it’s boring, it’s uncool, it’s too hot to enjoy, etc. but they do especially when the grown-ups participate and it’s made fun. I think it’s important to teach children to associate positive experiences with temples and Dharma so that when they grow up, subconsciously their happiness is not entirely associated with only food, parties, clubbing, shopping, holidays, etc. That is, to teach them that permanent happiness will not arise from external, temporary, impermanent sources.
I am another born-and-bred Penangite who has since been “exported” from my beautiful island. This is a beautiful and serene spot to visit, as with all the other various temples on the island. It has been a while since I last stepped foot inside the temple grounds – must list this as a Must Visit on my next trip home,
谢谢仁波切分享槟城的佛教大寺院，这寺院真的是很壮观又具有泰式风味色彩， 可说是美轮美奂又舒适。 在大马有这样的寺院，真的是我们的福气，让我们百姓有佛法的加持和国泰民安。
wow, amazing
wow, i have never seen a statue of buddha so beautiful, i am sure Rinpoche had a great time in the temple and he deserves to have some time to see temples and explore penang. thank you Rinpoche for sharing this.
Thanks Rinpoche for the sharing. We have such a holy place to visit in Malaysia. And surprisingly Lama Tsongkhapa is found in this temple!! Hope that i will be able to visit this temple in the future.
This is indeed a beautiful temple in Penang! How wonderful it is to be living in a multiracial and multi cultural and multi religious country that is Malaysia whereby we are free to practice our individual religions with peace and harmony.
I do not think there is any other country out there that has such a diverse yet harmonious co-existence. If there is, my apologies for being so naive and I rejoice at that fact!
The intricacy of this Thai Temple truly keeps to its roots of tradition. It is no wonder as Penang has very close ties to Thailand (formerly known as Siam) before. I know because I do have some Thai ancestry that straddle both countries! That is how uniquely blended in Malaysia is which is truly remarkable!
This place is worth a visit when i next head to Penang.
Wow ! I went to Burmese Temple few time and many years ago , but after watched the video and picture , it still well maintenance , appreciated Rinpoche sharing with us the Burmese Temple which to remind me to visit again in Penang. Rejoice
It is really beautiful to see a temple able to appreciate all sides of Buddhism from all parts of the world. I grew up in penang and had always visited the temple with my grandparents and siblings, praying for good health and protection over our family. It was a really fun time then when we visited the temple regularly. I also remember they made it fun for kids or even adults of all ages to donate in a really fun way by aiming into moving offering bowls or distant small offering bowls. I also liked the fact they had fishes that was available to be fed. Thank you for sharing such wonderful photos, I really enjoyed watching the video Rinpoche made.
I like to visit Buddhist temple and make offerings, feel exciting when see the huge statue and enjoy the peaceful moment at that environment. I haven’t visit any temples at Penang, this is nice and beautiful. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
This Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple at Penang, founded on August1,1803, which was then known as “Nandy Molon Burmese Buddhist Temple” is indeed an absolute “must to visit place” to make offerings, prayers and meditation when in Penang as said by Rinpoche. A marvellously attractive and stunning statue of Lord Buddha forms the centre of attraction in this temple. Being one the earliest, this temple was awarded 1st prize in the State landscaping and Beautification programme in 1997 and 2001, still functioning as a major Spiritual centre for buddhist in Penang. Thank you once again Rinpoche, for your kind sharing and caring as usual!
Such a magnificent temple! i must definitely visit this temple in my next trip to Penang. I never knew there’s such a temple there, Thank You Rinpoche for sharing. Look at the detailed carvings on the Buddha statues and the temple itself, it’s so beautiful and believe it or not, it’s 200 years old!! Amazing.
This Burmese Buddhist temple in Penang is truly amazing with many beautiful Buddha statues and very well maintained as described by Rinpoche. Thank you Rinpoche for taking your time to show us and explain to us about this Burmese Buddhist temple in Penang. May all people in this region can receive the blessings spread from this Burmese Buddhist temple.
There are many buddhist temples in Penang,i remembered i have visited this famous Burmese buddhist temple with Rinpoche more than ten years ago while we were on our way to Perlis to do a ground breaking ceremony for a friend of Rinpoche’s student. This place is so peaceful, serene and calm,the energy here is great.I love this place very much and visited again a few years later.Thank you Rinpoche for this beautiful video teaching.
Thank you so much Rinpoche for sharing and explanation on the place. Learned so much with RInpoche’s explanation with compare to a normal tourist visit.
One thing that I am very excited to see is Lama Tsongkhapa is found in the temple too! I didn’t even notice that when I visited that place long long time ago. Must go and visit again.
Thanks you Rinpoche.
Wow, i hope Rinpoche had a great time at this temple. the pictures are breathtaking and the temple is spectacular. Such a nice place. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this.
This is an incredible temple. When I was in Penang, I went to Kek Lok Si and the Sleeping Buddha temple. I dont remember seeing this one. I will ask my mother to take me there the next time we go, it looks beautiful.
Thank you for sharing this Rinpoche!
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.A truly beautiful and amazing Burmese Temple right here in Malaysia.I have past by this temple before but never expected the grandeur behind the fence.
Would make it a point to to visit the temple the next time I go to Penang.
Thank you very much for the guided video tour of this beautiful temple in Penang Rinpoche.
Dear Rinpoche thank you for sharing all these beautiful picture. The temple look very neat and peaceful looking atall these picture I love the standing Buddha he look so real and very beautifully crafted.
A must visit temple, never know about such a beautiful temple in Penang. They even have the plaque of Lama Tsongkhapa in the temple. Love It!!
Finally I make my visit during this CNY with my family and relatives 🙂 Upon entering I remembered I came here once long ago before they have added all these new structures. There are many things to do and see here, ie. getting to know the Buddha story in the main walkway to the the temple, looking at the each different lineages carved on to limestones in the Bell Tower, throwing coins into the wishing pond, making offering to each of the various shrines, getting blessing from the monks. There are monks and nuns here which I don’t remember seeing them before. I am quite a surprised that this temple here has expanded to a sangha community. I could easily spend my whole day hanging around here. I will definitely come back again for more! 🙂
Also across the road there is another temple with Sleeping Buddha inside. They are also expanding I believe. 🙂
Thanks for showing such a beautiful Buddhist temple. Never would I have known it existed at my own hometown. 🙂 😀
Before join Kechara, I really ignorance because to me a statue only a statue which made by stone or marble may be. To me statue is no meaning at all until one day I moved to a new house, when i first enter the house I feel uncomfortable. I don’t know why, but may be because the house is too empty.
Until my housemate moved in his statue which had blessed by his Guru, when the moment the statue in the house then the house energy changed suddenly. I feel warm and bright of the house.
After this experience I knew if your new or old house have a statue actually is very powerful to change whole energy. In Chinese we say good fong sui好风水。Now I believed that a statue can changed the fong sui for a region or an area or a house.
So, today I like statue very much because of the experience I had went through. I feel so lucky actually.
Dear Rinpoche, Thank you so much for taking us and around and sharing about the temple. There is so much to learn from this beautiful temple. Most of us would normally just walk around blind to many of the fine details, but I would definately try to visit this temple if I’m in Penang next time.
Being born, schooled and grew up in Penang until my twenties I have visited this temple a few times but have not since it was renovated. Indeed there are so many new buildings housing beautiful holy images.
Thank you, Rinpoche, for showing us around in this video of this beautiful Burmese temple.
The story of Arhat Upagatta reminded me of the Wen Chang Gong in the Qing Yun Ting temple in Melaka that those of us who were preparing for exams would definitely pray and make offerings to obtain blessings that we would pass the exams.
During the last visit few years back, I didn’t realise there are many buddha statues from various countries (including Afghanistan) behind the standing Budda, nor did I realise the significance of the tree planted in the temple. I also didn’t realise there is a 200 yr old Buddha statue in the temple nor have I visited Arhat Upagatta shrine in the temple. There was so much that I have left out in my previous visit that I need to revisit the temple again, as there are also new building that have finished constructed in 2009 wasn’t ready during my last visit. Dear Rinpoche, thank you for sharing with us the significance and meaning behind the buddha statue, stupa, painting, etc that I would keep in my mind during my next visit and to do offerings, circumambulate the stupa, etc as you have suggested in the video clip. Thank you Seng Piow, Beng Kooi, Justine and others who have followed Rinpoche on this trip who have worked hard to upload and blog Rinpoche’s trip to Burmese temple. Thank you:D
Dear Rinpoche,
I can see you can’t wait for our own KWPC complete with all your favourite images of Sakyamuni Buddha, Tsongkhapa, Setrap, Tara……..
This is an incredible video, one can’t get the information from any other source, was probably extremely hot during filming, I “hope” people watch