A Personal Account of Events With My Teacher – Breaking Out of The Vicious Cycle of Karma
Martin has been a student of His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche since 2010 and in that time he has had the privilege of closely witnessing how Rinpoche works, the unfathomable things Rinpoche does for people quietly, how lives have miraculously changed because of Rinpoche’s Dharma and what drives Rinpoche. As someone who came to the Dharma at a mature age, Martin shares interesting insights, stories and his experiences with Rinpoche both from a secular as well as a spiritual perspective.
Breaking Out of The Vicious Cycle of Karma
It is one thing to meet the Dharma and another to be able to study and practise it. These days, it is even more difficult because everything in samsara conspires to draw us away from the study and application of the Buddha’s teachings. By the time most of us meet the Dharma we are already trapped in the vicious circle of karma. Chasing careers, paying bills and meeting family; responsibilities are all normal things that an upright and responsible person would do but such is the condition of our time that even behaving ‘normally’ takes us away from the Dharma. For most people, at best Dharma practice becomes a ‘part-time’ endeavour even though the desire to practise is sincere.
Practising Dharma casually may well be fine, except for many of us, it is a luxury we cannot afford. Without enlightened foresight, we cannot see the negative karma that lies ahead waiting to ripen in the form of personal tragedies. And so, in effect, many people are just running down and exhausting their good karma and it would be wrong to assume that our next rebirth will be a good one and with the opportunity to practise the Dharma again. Because we live in idleness, focussing only on our own needs, we unknowingly reinforce our attachments, and so having a good rebirth is most likely a wrong assumption.
To put it simply, as human beings born out of ignorance and karma, we are wired to fail unless someone changes that trajectory for us. And it is here that we see the difference between a teacher who imparts the precious Dharma and leaves us to our own devices to practice or not practice what we have learned and an enlightened being who reincarnated in our midst with the sole aim of changing the flight path of our karma.
And this is what separates Tsem Rinpoche from many spiritual teachers I have seen and observed. Rinpoche is not satisfied with just imparting the Dharma and giving teachings and leaving it up to our own capacity to practice it. Rinpoche knows that left on our own, it would be extremely hard for us to break away from our own vicious cycle of karma. And so Rinpoche has to take on the burden. The entire setup of Kechara House, Kechara Forest Retreat, the unique Kecharian culture of Dharma as a career, and the living aspiration of a Dharma community reflect Rinpoche’s intention which is to provide not only the knowledge but also the means, tools and opportunity for us to actualise the Dharma. Something similar would be like a teacher we meet in primary school who then takes us through secondary school, college, university and then goes on to start myriad businesses to ensure that we are all gainfully employed and enjoy a fulfilling career and then taking steps to buffer us from the vicissitudes of life.
Kechara Forest Retreat itself represents Rinpoche’s great wish. That wish is not to have a vibrant place to attract spiritual tourists. That wish is for everyone who is sincere about the Dharma, to have a place to practise; to have their own safe and functional retreat ‘cave’; for the sick and ageing to spend their remaining days in a positive Dharma environment where they are mentally at ease; where practitioners can come and accumulate badly needed merits; for the aged and sickly to pass away on holy ground which makes a tremendous difference to the path of their rebirth; and to have a place to return to in our next rebirths. No one else will or can think so far ahead and with such depth, purpose and completeness as a kind teacher for his students whom he has looked after lifetime after lifetime with endless care and love.
The length that Tsem Rinpoche goes to, to ensure that our physical, mental and spiritual (karmic) needs are looked after is not something an ordinary person can do. Most people struggle having to cope with a couple of children or an infirm parent. The worries consume them and occupy all their energies and mind. They lie in bed worrying about their children and parents. And that is just one family and with concerns that are mundane and worldly. How much more burdensome it would be if the concerns were for hundreds of people and way beyond the mundane and ordinary.
How Rinpoche does it is not something Rinpoche talks or boasts or complains about. But for certain it is not something ordinary and cannot be accomplished by an ordinary being. Tsem Rinpoche doesn’t go anywhere, doesn’t take holidays, doesn’t rest or sleep much and in fact stays awake all the time working. I use the word ‘working’ because the right vocabulary to describe how an enlightened guru absorbs our negative karma that would have prevented us from having the Dharma, how he generates sufficient merits to literally afford us our Dharma practice, how he sustains the secular and spiritual wellbeing of countless people, how he ensures that lives are extended so that those who are sickly have more time to purify their negative karma, how he keeps harm away from those who have sought his spiritual protection, is something beyond my capacity to describe. If the compassion of the Buddhas has a form, surely it must look something like this.
Even After All this time The Sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me.” Look What happens With a love like that, It lights the whole sky.
~ Hafiz
For more interesting information:
- A Personal Account of Events with My Teacher – Perfect Clairvoyance
- A Personal Account of Events With My Teacher – Nantuo’s Lamp
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Thank you to Mr. Martin Chow for this excellent account of life with Rinpoche. Thank you to Rinpoche for making it all possible for us to gather here, to share ideas, stories and friendship in a common cause. Having found Rinpoche’s teachings in 2011, I was grateful to come to know all of the people behind the scenes who work to bring Rinpoche’s teachings to us all here. One such helpful student, of course being Martin Chow. As important as the teaching Rinpoche cared to impart are those who went to all lengths to see the teachings reached as many as possible, by their kindness and concern in sharing, Rinpoche was able to help so very many like myself who knew great struggle. Rinpoche was the hand up from an ocean of suffering which Samsara holds, showing me that enlightenment were possible and necessary to a better word. I can honestly say I owe Rinpoche for having taken the time to change the course of my life, altering and forever changing my Karma so I may benefit others on the path. Thank you once again Martin for being so dedicated and true to Dharma. Thank you to Rinpoche for helping us realize our fullest potential is in helping others, to help ourselves. Keep up the great work and be well Martin.
Thank you Martin for sharing with us your personal experience with Rinpoche. A real Dharma teacher wants the student to progress in their spiritual practice. The teacher does not want anything from the student except for the student to be liberated and not to suffer anymore.
In order to help the students to practice, Rinpoche has created many platforms for the students to put what they have learned in practice. Rinpoche cares very much about the spiritual welfare of the students and also the public. The creation of Kechara Forest Retreat is not only for the students but it is for people who need healing or help. It is a place that gives hope to people.
Rinpoche’s blog site is another place where people can come and learn Dharma for free. People can come here to learn more about Buddhism, how to practice and all the resources needed to start the practice can be obtained from the website as well. Rinpoche is a very good example of what generosity is.
Thank you Mr. Martin for sharing your personal account of events with our Guru. In life there are numerous people who truly deserve our gratitude other than our parents. Next our teachers or our Guru someone who has touched our life in a way that is very special and taught us an indelible lesson of life. Let no man in the world live in delusion. Without a Guru none can cross over to the other shore. A true teacher would never tell us what to do. But he would give us the knowledge with which we could decide what would be best for us to do it. Tsem Rinpoche have it all …. an enlightened guru absorbing our negative karma for us to learn and practice Dharma. Taking on the burden to setup Kechara Forest Retreat and Kechara House benefiting countless of people. We are very fortunate to have Rinpoche here in Malaysia . May Rinpoche’s great wishes come true.
Thank you Martin for this article, describing clearly how much we are trapped in the vicious cycle of karma and still most of us view it as ‘normal’ and how much Rinpoche has done for all of us, so we can be out of this trap. Many of us keep finding excuses not to practice dharma whole heartedly because we are so engaged with our selfish world which we deem is right thing to do. We are very fortunate to have Rinpoche here to guide us and builds KFR so can have a center to practice dharma in a conducive environment. Hence we should take the right path to be out of the vicious cycle and engage in the journey that provides us the real happiness.
I truly sympathize with Rinpoche who has been working almost round the clock and not having much rest or sleep himself helping people who sometimes needs help urgently, and feeling exausted himself most of the time. Over- seeing projects in Kechara Forest Retreat, and long hours of meetings. Thank you very much Martin for this enlighening highlight about Rinpoche which not many people realises. May all of Rinpoche’s wishes come true to benefit all sentient beings, and live long and healthy to bring Dharma everywhere???????
By reading this article, i agree that people nowadays being ignorant about karma and Dharma. Their lifestyles priorities wealth than on religious. They run for their dreams, being wealthy where they have no time for prayers, meditations and so on.
But when they were facing problems, they started to point their faults on God. Complaining is the only thing they know. So, i think following religious practices may reduce their Karma. Thank you.
Thank you Martin for this beautiful tribute to our Guru who is exactly as you have described. Rinpoche hardly ever sleeps and will go to great lengths to care for everyone, even those he has not met personally and whether they know it or not. Often Rinpoche will carry out pujas for people quietly to help them or send someone to give a quiet advice. He is just one great Guru who’s compassion is immeasurable and often acts ahead to help us before our karma ripens or reduce the impact of the karma. May Rinpoche always achieve his wishes and for us to realise the gratitude towards our precious Guru.