TRANSCRIPT

Chef Au is our wonderful Head Chef. He leads Kechara Oasis and works very closely with Jeffrey Gan and Head of Department, Irene. He’s got to clean up the kitchen and make sure everything’s done before he can get here. So, he’s late for a reason. Chef Au used to work in restaurants that killed thousands of animals per day. He told me. Thousands. So, when he joined our vegetarian restaurant, he stopped. No more.

He knows all the wet markets everywhere in KL where they sell fish, animals, goats, whatever, because that’s what he had to do. And he stopped. When we went for our first expedition of releasing fish, Chef Au himself arranged 200 kgs of fish! We went to the park and we released the fish. And he told me about his history, I was very moved. And after we released the fish, we went to give a Dharma talk.

I gave a Dharma talk at the TTDI park on the virtues of vegetarianism and saving lives. After the Dharma talk it rained very lightly and a rainbow appeared. Yes, a rainbow appeared which was a good sign for me. We believe that when a Dharma talk is given in sincerity and it is real, the local deities will show a sign. A rainbow appeared. It has happened many times.

So, that’s how I got to know him, I found out what a wonderful person he is, that he’s able to face himself. You know it’s a matter of livelihood. But you know what he said, “I’m not going to kill anymore”. So now he’s gone vegetarian and he has joined our vegetarian restaurant. And through the vegetarian restaurant, we’re going to promote vegetarianism. I’m going to go all the way!

I am looking for a five to ten acres of land. I want that. I want to own it because I do not want people to say, “I want it back”. I want a piece of land and I want someone to give it to me because I’m going to open an animal shelter. I’m going to do that.

It’s going to be called Kechara Animal Sanctuary – KAS. And I already have people who are interested in working in it, doing things, and being involved. But I don’t have the land yet and I want to get that land.

Kecharians liberating fishes at Kepong Metropolitan Lake Garden

So, if anybody’s got an extra 10 acres, please let me know. I’ll even have lunch with you. After everything has been signed over to me, thanks. Yes, I’ll even have lunch with you and I’ll even stay for one hour and be nice.

I’m looking for a piece of land if anybody can help me. I need it. I’m openly begging. That’s my job. That’s why Buddha has a begging bowl. Why do you think he has a begging bowl? To store gold from Fort Knox? Well, kind of, yes. Anyways, I’m begging. I need a piece of land. Not five acres. Ten acres. Thanks.

I want to keep all types of animals. I don’t want to just keep dogs because dogs, they catch and kill them, I can’t take it. I run around the pet stores rescuing dogs that are undernourished or that nobody wants. I haven’t been doing more because I don’t have a place to put them.

Recently, I rescued a little dog. A two-month old Schnauzer. I named him Gonkar, which means White Mahakala. He’s on YouTube. Do you know he was weak, very skinny, and malnourished? I was told, dogs like that they feed two spoons of food per day to keep them skinny, so you’d buy them because you’d feel sorry for them. He could barely put his little head up.

Gongkar the Schnauzer

I had a feeling. I was walking around SS2… yes, Rinpoche hangs out in SS2. I went to the vegetarian rest… oh! That one I really slipped. Sorry, Irene! Yes, I went to that horrible, disgusting restaurant there which after I went home, I threw up. I learnt my lesson Chef Au. Any vegetarian food that doesn’t belong to KO is not delicious, sorry. I didn’t name any names, so I can’t be sued.

So anyway, when I was walking around SS2 I saw the pet shop, and I walked in and I saw the dog. The feeling I got was he’s going to die soon. That’s the feeling I got very strongly. It’s going to die soon. So, I frantically SMSed everybody. Most of the people never responded back! They got big houses but no space for a teeny, little dog. And I got one response back from Paris.

And her mother said that she’ll keep the dog and nurture it and look for a new home because she’s got a lot of friends who love dogs, and I was like, wow. And I sent my troops there, I didn’t care they didn’t sleep all night, to buy the dog immediately. We got it back.

She took it to mama. And I wrote a nice little letter to mama. When she got my letter, you know what she said? She’s going to keep the dog, she’s not giving it away. So now little Gonkar is playing, happy, alert, very cheeky and all the bigger dogs love him. He leans on them, he sleeps with them and they just let him do what he wants. Even there’s this one dog they have, I forgot the name, quite territorial, doesn’t like any of the other dogs but he protects little Gonkar and sleeps near him. Gonkar is this big. That’s right. This big. Compared to your egos, he’s very teeny. He’s ok now.

Kadro the rescued tortoise in Tsem Ladrang

And that’s what I want to do. I want to go around rescuing dogs and animals. We’re rescuing a tortoise because I saw him locked up in a little cage. I felt really guilty. We’re setting up an accommodation for the tortoise. He’s that big. No, you’re not coming over Chef Au, we don’t want turtle soup! When I said I’ve got a turtle, he was like… Cut that habit away! We only eat veggies! Anyway, we’re rescuing a little turtle that’s going to be at the house. So, when you come visit me, some of you, don’t step on the turtle because if you do, he’ll bite you. He’s this big.

So, yes, we are going to rescue more. I really want an animal shelter. I really want it. Please, for my birthday I want an animal shelter.

I want to create awareness, you know why? Because a lot of people around the world are writing in to me saying they are going to do this and that because they’re inspired by what we are doing. A lot of people from other centres are writing to me and saying that they go on our website constantly as a resource for learning and information to do what they are going to do in their centre because they don’t know what to do. I’m like, wow! We’re an information centre for other Dharma centres now. That’s fabulous!

So, I want an animal shelter to save animals. Because I really love animals, that’s why I don’t eat them. You see I believe in Kuan Yin, that’s why I don’t eat animals, hint, hint. That’s right.

Now, if anybody wants me to live long, go vegetarian for a period of time stably. A week, a month, a week out of the month, whatever, a month out of the year. I don’t know what. And dedicate it, to your mother, to me! That’s the best gift.

And I want this animal shelter because I want to inspire other people, I want to create awareness of not killing animals. So many people out there will come to spiritualism through our animal shelter because it is public awareness.

And once we have it up, we are going to have wonderful cute little kids come. You know we have programmes with schools where they can come and touch the animals? Touch the animals and create awareness. I want to do all that.

We have Manjushri kids’ class which is very successful and that will be connected to the animal shelter in the future because we’re going to train kids how to care for animals. You know why? Because once your kids start caring for something alive, they’ll learn to care, full stop. And they’ll stop being selfish. They will start to care. And what’s more important is that kids grow up caring about others, not just saying, “What do I get next, mama?”

That’s what I want to do. So, this animal shelter is very important to create awareness. For kids, for people, for us.

So that’s what I want. I want a piece of land. I want 15 acres! Because there’s one centre that has 50 acres, some Datin gave it to them, I was like… I was at the beach when the Datin was donating. I don’t know who it is though. There’s this welfare line for Rinpoche who wants to get donations to build things. I was at the beach when this lined up. “Yes, I want a piece of land, 20 acres”.

It’s got to be more than five acres, alright! You know, it’s not just the animals; they’ve got to run around, there’s going to be different kinds of animals. You don’t want to go there and discover there’s no space for them.

I’ve seen animal shelters in Nepal, which I support. I do support one in Nepal called KAT, it’s on our website, you can take a look. And their place is tiny. They have another piece of land, but it’s rented so they have to keep moving, and it’s hard. And the lady in charge, Jan Salter, she’s already older. It’s not easy.

So, I learned my lesson, I don’t want to rent a place. I want an animal shelter and I want you guys to help me. I want you guys to pray for it to manifest and I want you guys to be involved. Save the animals, save the trees. Save yourself.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and ease of understanding.

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