[Report] Talk on Globalisation of Tibetan Buddhism @SDC

Photo of Mr Dodin during his talk

It was a first time we had the opportunity to organise an event of such nature in our centre, I guess it has either never crossed our mind or there was no such opportunity previously. So when one of more senoir members Bro Lai told us about the visit of a well known Tibetologist, Mr Theirry Dodin, to Malaysia and that he has agreed to share his knowledge with us, we were very apprehensive as we were worried about the response, as it is a scholastic topic and it is not a topic which naturally interest the common members. But nevertheless we went ahead in organising the talk. We also invited members of the Executive Committee of the Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia (VBCM) to attend. (VBCM is an umbrella body of made up of Vajrayana/Tibetan Buddhist Centres of all lineages in Malaysia web site of VBCM ,facebook page of VBCM )

In fact when the time of the talk approaches, the number of attendance we saw worried us,  then we proceeded with our monhtly Guru Puja (brought forward to 7.00pm to accommodate the talk at 8.00pm). 

By the time, i.e. 8.00pm, Mr Thierry Dodin took to the stage, the number had actually built up to quite a good number (taking into consideration the nature of the topic). Furthemore, several of the EXCO of VBCM had also shown up. It was only then our hearts were at ease.

Like all things in life, things also have the amazing abilities to surprised you. Contrary to our preconceived ideas, the topic of "Globalisation of Tibetan Buddhism" given by Mr Dodin was not boring at all. Mr Dodin was an animated speaker and his depth of knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism was apparent during his talk. What had impressed the audience the most was how impartial and informative the talk was. Mr Dodin also made the talk more interesting by injecting many entertaining and humourous anecdotes.

After about 40 minutes, Mr Dodin concluded his talk and open the floor to question, the portion was even more informative and entertaining. He shared many of his experience during his research with us.

The Captivated Audience

When the talk concluded at 9.30pm, we felt that the 90 minutes seem too short. Many of the audience commented how informative the talk was and how much more they had learned during this short talk.

Different Perspective....?? :) 

Despite all the skepticism we had, we were very glad at the outcome and would certainly look forward to organise talk of such nature.

Thank you, Thierry Dodin, 

for giving such impartial and scholastic insight to Tibetan Buddhism which many of us never had previously.