Thursday, May 23, 2013

Wesak Day is Here Again.

Time really flies.

Wesak is upon us again. As usual we are all busy preparing and planning for event to celebrate this Auspicious Day. Like the year before, we will have a one month of event to mark this special day.

The following is our Wesak Programme:




Please look at it, and we hope to see you all at the centre.


The highlight of the Wesak Celebration at SDC

This year we have managed to invite Geshe Konchok Tashi to Malaysia for Wesak, He would help us to construct a Sand Mandala.

Geshela and Monks arriving at SDC

Geshela and Monks arriving at the centre

the sand mandala in the process of being constructed.

What is a sand mandala?

Sand mandalas are an ancient sacred form of Tibetan Buddhist art. It is a Sanskrit word meaning “circle” and at its deeper levels, a mandala represents the wholeness and harmony at the heart of the Tibetan Buddhist universe. In Tibetan, sand mandala is called Kulston Kyilkhor, which means “mandala of colored sand powder”

On a more abstract and perhaps a deeper level, every aspect of the mandala - its color, architectural pattern,deities, and so forth - represents the various qualities of the exalted body,speech and mind of a fully enlightened being.

There are five types of mandala

1. Sand
2. Painted
3. Three-dimensional
4. Visualized
5. Body.

The Purpose of a sand mandala

In Tibetan Buddhism, sand mandalas are used as a tool for consecrating the earth and its inhabitants.

In general, all mandalas have outer, inner and secret meanings. On the outer level, they represent the world in its divine form, on the inner level, they represent a map by which the ordinary human mind is transformed into an enlightened mind; and on the secret level they depict the primordially perfect balance of the subtle energies of the body and the clear light dimension of the mind. 

The creation of a sand mandala is said to effect purification and healing on all three levels.
In Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism, it is said that wherever a sand mandala is created, all sentient beings and its surrounding environment are blessed and upon seeing the sand mandala , one is left with positive imprints 

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Saturday, April 21, 2012

[Event] Wesak Day 2012 Celebration Programme


How time flies, Wesak will be here soon. As in previous years, we have planned many activities for Wesak, we will once again be hold a series of programmes for the whole month of May. Thanks to our good karma and also the compassion of the Sangha members, five monks would travel from India to join us for the celebration.

the details of our programmes are as follows:

(Wesak Day) 5 May 2012, Saturday
 9.00am -  4.00pm  Bathing of the Buddha
10.00am - 12.00pm Thousand Offering to Namgyalma Puja
12.30pm -  1.30pm Free vegetarian Lunch
 6.30pm - 10.00pm Float Procession
                                (starts & ends at Brickfield Maha Vihara)

6 May 2012, Sunday
10.00am - 12.00pm Medicine Buddha Puja
 6.00pm - 10.00pm Float Procession
                                (starts & ends at Chempaka Buddhist Lodge, PJ)

8 May 2012, Tuesday
 8.00pm -  9.30pm 400 Offering Puja -
(all participants to bring a piece of cutting from worn clothing)

12 May 2012, Saturday
 2.00pm - 4.00pm  Purification Puja- (individual blessings)
 8.00pm - 9.30pm Dharma Talk - "Where Does Suffering Come From?"

13 May 2012, Sunday
10.00am - 12.00pm Grand Tara Puja

15 May 2012, Tuesday
 8.00pm -  9.30pm Guru Puja & Tsog Offering

20 May 2012, Sunday
 6.00pm -  7.30pm Jangwang Puja - (prayers for the deceased)

26 May 2012, Saturday
10.00am - 12.00pm Dzanbhala Puja (Part 1)
 3.00pm -  5.30pm Dzambhala Puja (Conclusion)
 7.00pm -  9.30pm vegetarian Dinner (for members, friends, & the public)
(pls bring in your weath vase before 25 May 2012)

For more details, information, and sponsorship of the Pujas,  
pls contact: 
Sis Chrisinte 019-2415781;
Bro LS Khor 012-2908816;
Bro Sak Chung 016-2386971


The following is the location map to our centre:




The following are some photos from Wesak last year:












Tuesday, April 17, 2012

[Video] the Power of Forgiveness by HHDL

In this world, there is too much anger....
Maybe we should learn about "the Power of Forgiveness".

 Pls watch this talk by HHDL.
May all of us find peace in our hearts.  Tashi Delek.
 

Monday, April 2, 2012

[EVENT] Memorial Puja on the 2nd Anniversary of the Passing of Lati Rinpoche





This April marks the 2nd anniversary on the passing Lati Rinpoche.

To mark the occasion, we at the centre, will be holding a memorial puja in honour of Lati Rinpoche at the centre. We would like to invite all of you to join us to rememeber such a great and kind teahcer and also to pray for the swift return of Lati Rinpoche. Thank you.

The Details of the event are as follows:

     Date :      Sunday 8 April 2012
     Time :     11.00am - 12.30pm
   Venue :     Sakyamuni Dharma Centre,
                    No 18 Jalan 18/17,
                    Taman Kanagapuram,
                    off Jalan Kelang Lama,
                    46000 Petaling Jaya

The Location map to Our Centre
(the point marked as "A")
Some old photo taken during Lati Rinpoche's last visit to our centre.








Monday, March 5, 2012

Annual Report for the Year 2011




We held or Annual General Meeting yesterday (4 March 2012). The following is our Annual report presented yesterday during the AGM. We are sharing this with you, so you could have an overview of our activities last year. Thank you.

==============================================


Annual Committe Report for the Year 2011
(for presentation during the AGM 2012)


A Year of Significant Happening.
This year was a year of significant happenings, one that brought us joy and satisfaction, but as well as great sadness. The two events are (1) The Parinirvana of Our Guru and the Spiritual Advisor to the Centre, His Eminence Khensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche; and (2)The Completion of the Payment of the Installments for the purchase of Our Current Premises.

The Parinirvana of Our Guru and the Spiritual Advisor to the Centre
On 29 July 2011, days before our Guru was scheduled to leave for his visit to Singapore and Malaysia, we received a sad news that Rinpoche had manifested entering into Parinirvana. It was a great shock to all of us, especially when we were all busy preparing for his visit to the centre. Fortunately, we had the help of Geshe Konchok Tashi (our former resident teacher, who was visiting Malaysia at that particular period) in organising the Pujas at the centre. During the Puja, we were also honoured to have the presence of the Most Venerable B. Sri Saranankara Nayaka Maha Thera Chief Adhikarana Sangha Nayaka of Malaysia (Chief Judiciary Monk of Malaysia). Chief Reverend who has known Rinpoche for years, gave a short speech of guidance and subsequently led the members in a short prayer in memory of Rinpoche.

After memorial pujas at the centre, many of us at the centre, and many Rinpcohe's students from all over the world, traveled to India to pay final respect to Rinpoche. For those members who could not travel to India, Guru Puja was performed every Thursday, until the 49th day of the Rinpoche's passing. The final day being 15 September 2011.

Having been pronounced clinically dead on 29 July 2011, Rinpoche remained in the clear light meditative state for ten days. This has allowed many of Rinpoche's students in India and overseas to travel to Rinpoche's house to pay homage to him.

Rinpoche exited his meditation on 7 August 2011, and the cremation puja was held on 8 August 2012.

It seems Rinpoche had chosen many auspicious dates for his parinirvana. Rinpoche entered into parinirvana and into clear light meditation on 29 July 2011 (Protector Puja Day), exit on 7 August 2011 (Tara Puja Day) and his holy body would be cremated on 8 August 2011 (the day for Guru Puja and Tsog Offering).

Such manifestation by Rinpoche has increased the confidence of his students (especially the lay students) in the greatness of Buddhist teachings and its practices. It also shows that our Guru was indeed a greatly accomplished Buddhist Practitioner.

We sincerely pray and request that Rinpoche return swiftly to continue to guide us and all sentient beings. All students are requested to recite the two quick return prayers composed in honour of Khensur Rinpoche by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and His Eminence Khen Rinpoche Jangchup Choeden (the abbot of Gaden Shartse Monastery, Mundgod, India) respectively.


Dharma Activities
Normal Puja
Fro the most part of the year, we had no resident monk at the centre. but we continue to carry out many activities. Every month we would hold (according to the Tibetan Calendar) Guru Puja, Tara Puja and Protector Puja. We would also arrange special puja on other auspicious dates.

Wesak Day
This year Wesak we saw the visit of our Geshe Jampa Lobsang to Malaysia. This was his first visit to Malaysia after he obtained his Gehse Lharampa degree. We were delighted to see Geshela after so many years and were honoured to be able to have him to guide us in the activities of our month-long Wesak Day Celebration. The response to all the events was very good and we all rejoiced at the excellent result.

Blood Donation
The blood donation campaign for this year was held on 23 October 2011. The response to the blood donation drive has been declining. We again plead to all of you to support and take part in such a noble and life saving charitable events


Building Funds Committee
The Completion of the Payment of the Installment of Purchase for Our Current Premises
It has always being the wish of our Guru that we should have a permanent premises to call our own. The reason being that with the stability of not worrying about rental and also the threat of needing to move from time to time at the mercy of a landlord, it would allow the centre to focus on the purpose of its existence, i.e. to perform Dharma and Charitable activities so as to help more sentient beings.

Therefore, it seems more than a coincidence that the date for us to pay our final installment should fall on 16 September 2012, the day after we have completed our 49 day cycle of Guru Puja in memory of our Guru. Many of us was amazed at the all dates which seems to be auspiciously arranged.

To mark the occasion, we held a small thank giving dinner. The Building Fund Committee felt that a small but solemn event would be more appropriate in view of the recent passing of our Guru. The event was attended by many of the sponsors, friends and members. The Guests of Honour for the dinner were he Most Venerable B. Sri Saranankara Nayaka Maha Thera Chief Adhikarana Sangha Nayaka of Malaysia (Chief Judiciary Monk of Malaysia) and Datuk Dr Victor Wee. We were honoured to have the presence of these two distinguished guests, who have been great friends to our centre.

A further note on the matter, although we have completed the payment of installments, the transfer of the building has yet to be executed. The transfer can only be done after all the legal requirements has been fulfilled, all the legal processes are now being handled by our solicitors and also the relevant authorities.

It has taken us five years to reached this stage, it would not have been possible without the kindness and hard work of all the members, sponsors, families and friends, we would like thank all of you for your help.

A special note of thanks should also go to all the members of the Building Fund Committee, namely Bro HP Lim, Bro Lai SK, Bro Loo CK, and Bro David Cheong Kian Young. Their planning, persistence and perseverance had made the whole exercise less taxing on the centre and committee members.


SDC Education Fund Committee
The Start of A New Journey
We have been preparing for the launch of this project pending the completion of the purchase of our premises. It was started in 2009 with a seed money donated by the Building Fund Raising Dinner Organising Committee (with the blessing of the Building Fund Committee). Now the time has arrived for us to push forward this project.

Education is an important asset to have in the lives of everyone, especially for young children. However, in the current economic climate, many underprivileged children are suffering as their parents struggle in their livelihood.

Over the past years, a small group of us at the centre have been working on this project, the aim of which is to promote education by helping those who is in need of help, financially or otherwise. After some effort, we have now managed to put two schemes in place.

The first is a bursary fund for schools near to our centre. Through the effort of both Bro Wan Yew Hoong and Bro Lam Chook Hong, we have managed to identify three primary schools and they are working with us to set up an yearly book prizes which are awarded to the top students of the respective years. The reason we chose these schools is because they all have a very high proportion of underprivileged students.

As we are a Buddhist centre, we also tried to promote Buddhist Education. In memory of our Guru, His Eminence Khensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpopche, we have established a bursary funds for the education of young monks in the monastery in India (we intend to name it "Khensur Jampa Yeshe Education Fund").

We hope we would become more active and more organised in the coming years. We sincerely hope with your assistance and the additional fund, we could take our project to the next level. Some of the plan we are thinking of, includes school meals, free tuition, transportation...etc.


Note of Thanks
We would like like to start by thank our Guru His Eminence Khensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpcohe for his blessing and guidance, it is with Rinpoche's blessing that we were able to achieve all the things we have done. Although Rinpoche is no longer with us physically, we would strive to keep our Guru alive in our hearts and our minds through our devotion and through our practice.

We again sincerely pray and request that Rinpoche return swiftly to continue to guide us and all sentient beings.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all Sangha members. Their continued help and guidance has been of great help to us in such challenging time. It is with such inspiration that we are able to strive forward in our work in the centre.

Once again we would to thank the Building Fund Committee for their work in ensuring that the purchase of our current premises could be completed in such short time frame. Kudos to Bro HP Lim, Bro Lai SK, Bro Loo CK; and Bro David Cheong.

This year will mark the end of the term of the current committee, the outgoing president Bro LS Khor would like to thank all the committee members for all the effort and hard work that they have put in during their tenure.

To conclude, we would like to dedicated all the merits of all the good deeds we have done to all sentient beings

“ May All Beings be able to achieve the Ultimate Liberation quickly;
May all beings never be separated from the Dharma;
May all being always be Well and Happy. ”

Thank you and Tashi delek!



--------------------------------------------
Khor Lai Siew
President
(on behalf of : )
the Committee. 2010-2011
Sakyamuni Dharma Centre
Petaling Jaya/Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

Saturday, March 3, 2012

[HH Dalai Lama Quote of the Week] What is Progress?

We been writing a lot on our activities, I thought of doing something different, I would like to share with all of you what I received through my email today,  "HH the Dalai Lama Quote of the Week" (coutersy of Snow Lion Publication, my favourite online Buddhist bookstore)

May You Have A Peaceful & fulfilling Weekend!

===================================

Dalai Lama Quote of the Week 

What is Progress?

What is progress? How do we recognize it? The teachings are like a mirror before which we should hold our activities of body, speech, and mind. Think back to a year ago and compare the stream of activities of your body, speech, and mind at that time with their present condition. If we practice well, then the traces of some improvement should be reflected in the mirror of Dharma.

 The problem with having expectations is that we usually do not expect the right things. Not knowing what spiritual progress is, we search for signs of it in the wrong areas of our being. What can we hope for but frustration? It would be far better to examine any practice with full reasoning before adopting it, and then to practice it steadily and consistently while observing the inner changes one undergoes, rather than expecting this or that fantasy to become real.

 The mind is an evolving organism, not a machine that goes on and off with the flip of a switch. The forces that bind and limit the mind, hurling it into unsatisfactory states of being, are impermanent and transient agents. When we persistently apply the practices to them, they have no option but to fade away and disappear.

 Ignorance and the "I"-grasping syndrome have been with us since beginningless time, and the instincts of attachments, aversion, anger, jealousy and so forth are very deeply rooted in our mindstreams. Eliminating them is not as simple as turning on a light to chase away the darkness of a room. When we practice steadily, the forces of darkness are undermined, and the spiritual qualities that counteract them and illuminate the mind are strengthened and made firm. Therefore, we should strive by means of both contemplative and settled meditation to gain stability in the various Lam Rim topics.(p.176)


 --from The Path to Enlightenment by H.H. the Dalai Lama
edited and translated by Glenn H. Mullin,
 published by Snow Lion Publications

Thursday, March 1, 2012

SDC Education Fund Letter of Appeal

As some of you would know that as our building fund is drawing to a close, we have now started to push forward a new community project, namely the SDC education Fund.

The following is a letter of appeal from the SDC Education Fund Sub-Committee;


====================================================


Letter of Appeal for SDC Education Fund



Education is an important asset to have in the lives of everyone, especially for young children. However, in the current economic climate, many underprivileged children are suffering as their parents struggle in their livelihood.



Over the past year (namely 2011) , a small group of us at the centre have been working on a new project, the aim of which is to promote education by helping those who is in need of help, both financially or otherwise. After some effort, we have now managed to put 2 schemes in place.



The first is a bursary fund for schools near to our centre. Through the effort of both Bro Wan Yew Hoong & Bro Lam Chook Hong, we have managed to identify three primary schools and they are working with us to set up an yearly book prizes which are awarded to the top students of the respective years. The reason we chose these schools is because they all have a very high proportion of underprivileged students.

As we are a Buddhist centre, we also tried to promote Buddhist Education. In memory of our Guru, His Eminence Khensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpopche, who recently entered into parinirvana, we have established a bursary funds for the education of young monks in the monastery in India (we intend to name it "Khensur Jampa Yeshe Education Fund" in memory of our Guru).

 
 



The two existing schemes need approximately need an annual budget of RM3,000 each. In order to give confidence to the parties to work with us, we have given them a commitment of minimum two years.

As we just entering into the first quarter of 2012, so we are in the process of seeking donation for our Education Fund Project. Therefore, we, members of The SDC Education Fund Sub-Committee, are asking for your assistance in helping for our project to move forward.

(1) We would grateful if you would willing to make a small donation to bolster the finance of our project; and

(2) Further, if you have anyone in mind whom you think would like to take part in such meaningful project, please pass us his/her contact so we could approached them directly.

(our contacts are sdcmalaysia (at) gmail.com or sdcedufund (at) gmail.com)

We sincerely hope with your assistance and the additional fund, we could take our project to the next level. Some of the plan we are thinking of, includes school meals, free tuition, transportation...etc.

We have also just entered into a new Tibetan Year, it is said that any merits accrued during this period are multiply many folds, so we hope you would do whatever you could to assist in our small project.

Finally we would like to share with you a letter from the lower school of the monastery, it really moved us and make us more determined to do more. We hope after reading it, you would feel the same too.

Letter sent to us from Gaden Shartse Norling School (8 Dec 2011)





Thank you for your time and kindness in reading this letter of appeal. We look forward to hearing from you.


Yours sincerely,
SDC Education Fund Sub-Committee
sdcedufund (at) gmail.com