Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Spreading Dharma on Jonker Street
Joy has been a student of His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche for over 15 years. Through the years, Joy has witnessed Rinpoche’s compassion and the unconventional methods he uses to benefit others. Some of the short stories she shares will tell interesting miraculous events that Rinpoche will not mention due to his humility. She hopes these stories will serve as an inspiration in your own spiritual journey.
Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Spreading Dharma on Jonker Street
I will never forget the time when Kechara was just a small little cosy Dharma store on the 3rd floor of a shoplot in a Chinese suburban retail area called SS2 in Kuala Lumpur. It was Rinpoche’s first-ever Dharma store and Rinpoche named it Kechara Paradise (KP). It was a quaint and warm little shop where I spent a lot of time volunteering sometime between 2002-2003.
It was unlike any other shop. It had a certain kind of peace to it and a good vibe, that made me feel at ease, at home, and I just loved hanging out there. I loved browsing through all the exotic statues and Himalayan products. To me, it was all kind of very hippie, which was my kind of style at that time. The walls of KP were filled with Buddha images and great masters, although I did not know most of them as I was still very new to Buddhism, let alone Tibetan Buddhism. However, you could feel that they were special and were vibrating with the energy of compassion and wisdom. This was the place, the hub where all of Rinpoche’s works, wishes and visions first started. You could say that all of Kechara’s departments were born from this place.
Rinpoche said that KP was not just a Dharma store but a Dharma outpost to reach out to others who would never have met or crossed paths with the Dharma otherwise. Hence, Rinpoche would also think of new creative ways to spread the Dharma, to benefit someone and sometimes to even save someone’s life.
One day when we were discussing ways to create more awareness for the store, Rinpoche came up with the idea to get a few of us to set up a stall on Malacca’s Jonker Street during the weekend bazaar there. Rinpoche’s motto was to “always try”. Rinpoche’s advice was that, “we should try and fail than to never try at all. If we do not try then we fail by default anyway”. So Rinpoche appointed a few of us to be the ones to go down to Malacca every weekend, if I’m not mistaken it was every Saturday.
This picture was taken in Kechara Paradise SS2 with His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche. From far left: Me, Fat Monk, Rinpoche, Melvin and Irene Lim. One day, Rinpoche dropped in to check on how we were going to set up our little stall and the items we were going to sell. Rinpoche also wanted to give us a boost before we began our journey to Malacca the next day. Seeing this picture brings back a lot of memories of the yesteryears of our first Dharma outlet and our fun-filled days with Rinpoche. Although it was two decades ago, it feels like it was only yesterday. It is the same with Rinpoche’s teachings and instructions, resounding everywhere in space if we care to stop and listen, as was mentioned by our senior Dharma sister Irene Lim.
We packed up selected items from KP every week and headed down to Malacca to set up our little KP stall on Jonker Street. It was fun, adventurous and although we did not make a lot of money from going there, we did connect people to Kechara. Most importantly we were able to plant some Dharma seeds or imprints in people’s minds. This is what I think Rinpoche was most interested in.
The weekend trips also taught us how to skilfully talk to people and share the Dharma with them. This was a two-way benefit as it also helped us test our knowledge as well as our ego, especially when people rejected us. There were all kinds of people, some were curious, but some wanted to ridicule and debate with you. So, we would have to find ways to talk to these people skilfully and learn to be very patient.
The most valuable part of this whole experience was learning how to work together as a team to achieve our goals. All of us came from diverse backgrounds and age groups, but it was quite amazing how Rinpoche got all of us working together for the same mission – spreading Dharma. This is what Rinpoche did all the time, putting people who would never be friends in normal circumstances together, to work together. Every night after we finished for the day, we did a little dedication prayer and headed back to Kuala Lumpur. Our kind and senior Dharma sister Irene was our designated driver, driving us up and down with all the items in her four-wheel drive.
In a normal worldly sense, these activities could simply have been just another activity for worldly self-gain. However, when we set a Dharma motivation, which we were taught to do by Rinpoche, although the activity may have seemed ‘worldly’ or secular, because of the motivation, the purpose became different. The energy of the whole activity became different, it became more meaningful as it had a higher purpose which was to benefit others. Hence, the work we did became virtuous, allowing us to collect tremendous merits. That is how skilful Rinpoche was when he thought of a project or an assignment for us. He always made it extremely beneficial for everyone so that we were always able to collect as much merits as possible.
For more interesting information:
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Buddha Images and Imprints
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – What’s the New News?
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Mission Impossible
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Invoking the Buddhas to Come Forth
- Rinpoche through my eyes – Food and Dharma
- I Witnessed the Compassion of Tsem Rinpoche
- Stories from a Chela – Spiritual Nourishment for All
- Stories from a Chela – Supernatural Protection
- Growing up with Rinpoche: Necessity, not convenience
- Tales With My Lama : Audience With Tsem Rinpoche
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So glad that the activities of spreading dharma is in Jonker Street, Malacca, my hometown. Rinpoche used so many methods to reach out to introduce dharma to others. We are all so fortunate to be able to learn dharma from Rinpoche. It is always important to set the right motivation for all the action and then the work we do become easier when we always look back at the objective i.e to benefit others. Thank you Joy for your sharing.
The title of this reading caught my eyes as it felt warm-hearted. Never meet Rinpoche in my life but his works has inspired me and I would take his advice close to my heart, “we should try and fail than to never try at all. If we do not try then we fail by default anyway”.
Thank you Joy for sharing this beautiful memories.
Wow….Thats how Dorje Shugden and Dharma teachings came to Malacca. Travelling from KP every week and headed down to Malacca those days worth after all.
Malacca is widely known for its harmonious blend of cultures as well as numerous historical sites, and that’s where the famous Jonker Street is located. Jonker Street runs through the heart of Melaka, and is the main Chinatown street. Its one of the tourist attraction there , with many people and foreigners visiting those stores selling from antiques , local handcrafts to a varieties foods and so forth. Hence have a Dharma store there would be wonderful way to spread Dharma.It has indeed benefited many people and more to come. All because of teamwork that begins by building trust in our Lama Rinpoche. Looking at the picture in the blog, and seeing the smiles on all of you tells us all.
Thank you Joy for this sharing.
What Joy said in the closing is so spot on – He always made it extremely beneficial for everyone so that we were always able to collect as much merits as possible.
This is evident in many of Kechara’s projects and our own little assignments. Rinpoche is all about giving us the opportunity to generate as much merits as we can. Sometimes in the shortest period of time, especially if Rinpoche knows that person has a huge obstacle.
Enjoyed reading this. It is nice to read about “the good old days with Rinpoche” when newer students have not even joined yet. Thank you for this & keep the stories coming!