Newsletter of Losang Dragpa Centre

Transcription

1 Newsletter of Losang Dragpa Centre - Celebrating Shakyamuni Buddha s Birth, Enlightenment, and Parinirvana Losang Dragpa Centre No, 1 Jln 17/21F, PJ Selangor, Malaysia ldc2u@yahoo.com Tel: Web:

2 Newsletter of Losang Dragpa Center M M aa yy -- JJ uu nn ee Contents I. Saka Dawa Pg. 2 II. How to Educate Our Youth Pg. 3 III. Up Close & Personal - an evening chat with GTZ Pg. 4 IV. Dharma for Kids - 16 Guidelines (Humility) Pg. 9 V. Mother, Volunteer & Dharma Student Pg. 13 VI. Dharma Shop Pg. 14 VII Sacred Hymns of Power - Pujas Pg. 15 Losang Dragpa Centre ldc2u@yahoo.com Tel: Web: 1

3 Amongst Buddhist of the Tibetan tradition, Saka Dawa is one of the holiest celebrations. What does Saka Dawa mean and how does it compare with the more universally celebrated Wesak? Read on SAKA DAWA Saka Dawa (Tibetan Calendar) and Vesak (Theravadan Calendar) actually celebrate the same sacred occasion, namely the enlightenment of the Buddha Shakyamuni. The reason why the dates of Vesak and Saka Dawa differ is because the Tibetan calendar is structured solely according to the life and deeds of the Buddha and less so by planetary factors. Saka Dawa therefore commemorates Lord Shakyamuni s birth, enlightenment and parinirvana and is regarded as one of the most important sacred Buddhist days. Celebrated for close to a month, the whole 4th Tibetan month especially from May 9th to May 23rd, is celebrated by Tibetan Buddhists world wide. On the full moon of this holy month, Buddha had performed three most important holy deeds showing the aspect of birth, attaining enlightenment and parinirvana (manifesting the aspect of passing away as a means to teach the impermanent nature of all phenomena). During this month, Tibetan Buddhists in particular, place special emphasis on Dharma practices like circumambulation of holy stupas (manifestation of the Buddha s holy mind), prostrations, taking precepts, reciting mantras, offering mandalas, performing ritual services and saving animals lives, etc as a means to accumulate the most extensive merits and purifications. Saka Dawa Delights Special visit by the Kopan Nuns in M a y - J u n e Last year, we had the pleasure of hosting the nuns from Chokyi Ling Nunnery (Kopan nunnery) and under the auspices of FPMT. This year, we are pleased to invite these Chokyi Ling nuns back to LDC once again for the coming Saka Dawa celebrations! This time round, the nuns will be involved in the following activities: Grand Consecration of our new Namthose and Mahakala statues and consecration of wealth vases (available for sponsorship, please call William/Evelyn or us at ldc2u@yahoo.com with a message titled "Wealth Vases") Pujas at LDC, in homes and in offices (for sponsorship/ enquiries/ reservations, please call William/Evelyn or us at ldc2u@yahoo.com with a message titled "KN home/office puja") Charity Dinner Setting up of Dharma stalls to offer items for sale. All proceeds will be shared between the nunnery and LDC. The nuns will also be visiting other FPMT Centres. Please visit our website for info and updates every Wednesday and Saturdays! 2

4 Lama Zopa Rinpoche reflects on the particular problem of violence among today's youth and the need for schools and centers to educate students' hearts as well as their minds, emphasizing the power of one person to affect the world for better or for worse. How to Educate Our Youth Even if people have learned many subjects at university, college, schools, starting from kindergarten, even though they have so much education, receive so many higher degrees, what makes their life full of problems to themselves? They become so destructive to the world.. For example, in the United States a few years ago, a couple of schoolboys killed many other people with guns - such things happen all the time. So many young people become violent, very unhappy with their lives, dissatisfied and opposed to their families. Life has become so uncontrolled, bringing so much dissatisfaction, unhappiness, and harm to others; harm to the world. If there is compassion in the hearts of the people, no matter how many guns there are in the world, how many atomic bombs there are in the world, they cannot harm. If people's minds have generated compassion - a good heart - then weapons don't become dangerous, harmful. As you well know, terrible things happen in the world because of the powerful speech of one influential person who lacks Dharma wisdom or compassion - understanding what is right to practice, what is wrong; what brings problems and suffering in one's own and others' lives now and in the future; and the right thing that brings only peace and happiness to oneself and others, from life to life. With this lack of wisdom and compassion toward others, the person brainwashes or teaches the wrong way of thinking to many millions of people and, instead of making life easy, that wrong philosophy brings so many problems into their lives and causes so much harm to others. So you see, even if you don't have any weapons, with a lack of compassion and wisdom you harm the world with your mind. Even though there are many things to teach - the whole path to enlightenment - the essence is to educate students in compassion and wisdom, and even of these two, the main thing is compassion. In many countries young people have become very uncontrolled and violent. The government and the parents just cannot control them; the government doesn't know what to do and the parents don't know what to do. It is because of a lack of education in the schools about a good heart, loving kindness and compassion. With this education naturally comes respect for others and an ethical life of abandoning things which harm you and others - killing, stealing, all that harmful negative karma. If the education of a good heart is given in school and put into practice, then one will live an ethical, disciplined life, protecting one's life from those negative actions which are harmful to one's self and others. When I was listening to the radio in Australia some years ago, there was a discussion about how there is something missing in school education. The discussion was shown on TV for a few nights but during the times I was watching I didn't hear one person mention the method to bring peace - the need to change the attitude of the young people. Rather than changing outside; changing the attitude into compassion, transforming the thought of harming others, anger and so forth, into a good heart, compassion - you never heard that word from all those who spoke, never heard the word "compassion." Meditation centers, which offer complete teachings on how to develop the mind, play a most important role in world peace; not only peace in this world but peace for numberless sentient beings, even those in other universes. 3

5 Personal & Close Up Up an evening chat with Geshe Tenzin Zopa It was over a tall, cool glass of 100 Plus drink on a warm Sunday evening, that Geshela shared with SHABDA his thoughts, hopes and personal accounts candidly, in response to questions posed to him. Question: Geshe-la, what would you like to see happening at LDC over the next 5 years? Geshe-la: M y wish, prayer and purpose from the very beginning till now has been the same - that is to dedicate my life and to contribute whatever capability I have and to do my best to fulfil Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche s vision. Rinpoche s vision for LDC is based on LDC s karma, local culture and the interest of the people who have made and will make connection with Him though LDC. Here, we must have a clear understanding of Rinpoche s exact vision because Rinpoche s vision is as infinite as space, as vast as the ocean. I personally regard Rinpoche as a role model of the Bodhicitta practitioner, whose vision is to benefit sentient beings based on the bodhicitta precept. And benefiting sentient beings can be actualised through undertaking various stages of Dharma education one that is for now, later and beyond. Dharma education is just two words but it embodies all aspects of compassion and Dharma in action, starting from loved ones to all beings in the world. Dharma education I believe was the principal purpose of people who established the centre, of those now in LDC and who will be coming to LDC in the future. There is no 2nd agenda for connecting with LDC. Up till today, we re trying out best. In order to bring infinite benefit, we need infinite hands, infinite wisdom and infinite platforms upon which we can carry out our service to benefits others. We have 3 sister Centres KHC, RJL, CGC this makes a large number of students studying Dharma, engaging in social service due to Dharma inspiration. The most beautiful thing I can see is the harmony and sense of family between different FPMT centres here. As such, the vision of all Buddhas and Gurus and that of sincere volunteers becomes definitely possible. Within the next 5 years, I would like to see more people coming to the Dharma and LDC; everyone putting more effort to cultivate an attitude of understanding each other well, to have deep concern and respect for each other and have wholehearted devotion to the Guru and all the while being filled and nourished by the nourished by the bodhicitta inspiration to benefit all. If we can have this attitude, then from 4

6 Up Close & Personal an evening chat with Geshe Tenzin Zopa complete the proper learning of Lam Rim in Sutra & Tantra, as well as put effort in contemplation and meditation; I d like to see students apply these studies in their daily life conjoined with the preliminary practices (ngondro) such as completing 110,000 prostrations, 110,000 mandala offerings, this moment right now to the next 5 years, we can achieve in being of infinite benefit to numberless beings and contribute to world peace (I m becoming dramatic here). I strongly believe that this is one of the strongest ways to please the Guru s holy mind. I d like to encourage and inspire whoever is reading this message, for you to understand what we are doing now, what is our vision, what we are capable of and to please join hands with us to make all activities effective on account of your support. If we can have the attitude as mentioned above and whatever we do, we do happily with that outlook, that is a powerful way to collect merit, purify past negativities which are bringing problems now and remove obstacles. It is an amazing tool to create causes and conditions for success, lasting happiness and enlightenment for self, family and others. If we act according to this attitude, we can achieve our goals in 5 years. Everything is in the nature of impermanence but I still pray with a joyful mind that I can be here for the long term and will not die tomorrow. As long as my time to remain here continues, a few things I d like to see established before I depart whether that time be 1 month, 1 year, 10 years more than that this is all dependent on causes and conditions I d like to see established, the complete study program consisting of Discovering Buddhism, as well as the Basic Dharma Program (about a dozen texts,) where students can 110,000 Vajrasattva mantra recitations, 110,000 Refuge & Bodhicitta prayers and the greater preliminary practices example Vajrdaka (dorje Khadro) fire puja practice; deity yoga practices on Yamantaka, Vajrayogini and the like, depending on individual karmic affinity; that students get to receive proper initiations through qualified enlightened Gurus and be able to commit to do serious retreats of at least 2 weeks duration each; for students to live their lives in Lam Rim combined with the practice of self-initiations once a month at LDC on Yamantaka, Vayjaryogini and such. If we can at least do this much, then whatever happens to me, I will have deep satisfaction, joy, appreciation, rejoicing and this will give me peace at the time of my death. This has been my thinking from a long time before to establish all the above things, together with all Centres here being like a family, even though there may be many obstacles for us to go through in order to accomplish this. I mentioned all this to Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Kopan last 5

7 Up Close & Personal an evening chat with Geshe Tenzin Zopa year and Rinpoche s reply was That is EXACTLY what I want. These words confirmed my wish and aspirations for my being here at LDC. Whatever I do, I would like to create the conditions for these to be actualised. Right this moment, since coming back from my retreat, I see it is already happening. I d like to see every aspect of LDC s activities be self-sustaining and able to continue whether or not there is a Lama available in the Centre. It is of course an advantage to have a Lama teaching but if one day there is a gap in having a Lama present, LDC students must be able to carry on Centre activities without interruption. Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche Khenrinpoche With inspiration from Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Khenrinpoche, my wish is also for the senior lay-students to conduct Dharma classes, not just in English but in Chinese also because due to the community, some people find it easier to listen in the Chinese language. I proposed this idea of leading Lam Rim classes to Huei and Wong, in order to assist me. It was not easy and I had to push them, as they are humble. I personally requested them on behalf of Gurus and on behalf of people who need different tastes and different approaches to studying Dharma. Finally, they accepted. So, it is happening now. That is very uplifting for me and my Gurus and it will definitely bring Dharma to many people. At the same time, another example of senior students taking the lead at LDC is Quah, who steadily leads several meditation classes; and Kieren, who leads pujas and knows what is involved. And Edwin, who joyfully volunteered to lead the 110,000 prostrations practice because he fully understands the benefits of this practice. For myself, I will carry on the Dharma classes. So you see, we are already on the journey towards fulfilling Rinpoche s vision. I clearly remember Rinpoche mentioned in public and in private at LDC and elsewhere that one of the main purposes of establishing Centers is to bring extensive opportunity to study Dharma because that is the sole Refuge able to protect us from suffering; to liberate us and bring us to enlightenment. For the future, I d very much like to see more study groups in different cities in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur has LDC and KHC under the guidance of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and that is an optimum situation; that is enough. But as for the other cities, both Rinpoche and I see that having study groups in other cities is very necessary to spread Dharma, to gain extra hands and extra avenues to bring the blessing and protection of the Gurus and the Dharma to people everywhere. And I can say this is possible. To do this, we need more experienced Dharma speakers; we need a pool of such resource and not be overdependent on foreign teachers being invited. Therefore, I d like to encourage senior students who have studied much and for so long to help with this. However, if one doesn t as yet have the confidence to undertake such tasks, then I urge you to continue studying and put effort so as to be able to perform the best generosity = the generosity of giving Dharma. Presently, LDC is providing all levels of Dharma study, including Dharma for Kids. Everyone knows children are our future the future of Dharma, of LDC and I d encourage parents already connected to LDC to bring their children to DfK. In short there are multi-opportunities offered by LDC for individuals and families to progress on the path and each person must choose at least ONE for your own benefit. I m very inspired by the 16Guidelines and the workshop that was held at LDC recently. I especially felt that Rinpoche s recent visit to the Centre granted me full blessings. I m living my life here at LDC in total rejoicing and all the time in bliss. Sincerely, I d like to thank the Exco team, volunteers, all the students, members and friends. 6

8 Up Close & Personal an evening chat with Geshe Tenzin Zopa Question: Common problems in today s society mostly relate to relationships, money or health. What is Geshe-la s heart-advice for each? Geshe-la: Hmmmm (Geshe-la shifts in his seat and moves forward with an earnest look a look Hwhich clearly comes from the conclusions drawn by Geshe-la due to his enormous hours of consultations with people seeking his advice) Relationship problems For most relationships (other than in relationships where there is violence), I would say this Always try to look into yourself rather than judging your partner. Discover the I (one s ego and how it works). Try to learn not to take every detail or small matter too intensely. After all, you entered the relationship because you wanted to be happy, therefore, look to saving the relationship with a mindset that understands that the purpose of a relationship is not just for my partner to please me but also my responsibility to accommodate the needs of my partner. Similarly, the partner should think that a relationship should not be a self-centred one. Learn about the partner s needs and try one s best to fulfil those needs and NEVER compare partners with others partners over material things. Practice contentment. The main principle is trust, sincere love, help each other and be ethical so as not to break commitment due to gross sensory attractions. Try to see that your partner as loving and attractive in his/her own way. Express love at least once a day to each other whether overseas or in the house or no matter how busy since these days, there is text message on mobiles. When we study the Vinaya sutra, in it there are teachings on the nature of women and men. Based on my understanding of the Vinaya teachings and based on what I encountered during my consultation sessions, I would advise this: To men: Don t take your female partner for granted, thinking that she is not worth even 1 stick of flower right now and only having the thought that When I m rich, I will buy her an expensive bag. If you don t take the present opportunity to pluck one flower for your partner and merely work for a long time to buy that expensive bag for her, by the time you get enough money to buy that bag, you may already be heading for divorce! Even one stick of flower plucked form the roadside with your whole heart and presented to your partner, can bring an experience of love to her, which is worth far more than an expensive bag (even though I m told that an expensive bag these days can be same price as a house). The nature of women is not about seeking expensive things but to have the sense of security and being loved by their partner. For men, they think this kind of thinking is rubbish-reason and what is the value in expressing love. For women, this fills their world with happiness and security. To women: Men s nature is one of a strong ego. This ego follows things at a more gross level and they tend to see things on an overall view, rather than small details. Men might express love once a year on Valentines Day and think it is enough because they are already committed to their women, so why the need for so much conversation, so much expectation? To them, the women should know that they love them. In such cases, women should understand the nature of men. When a man comes back home, he might be expecting an immediate cup of tea and so-on. When faced with this expectation, sometimes, a woman might think since I love you, why should I be treated like a slave? You should serve me as I m your partner. Men s desire can be self-centred, superficial and they may be quick in their reactions and complaints about their women having too much expectations from them. This then leads to looking for more freedom outside. Just these kinds of expectations and disagreements over small details can cause relationships to fail. Men and women interpret things and situations differently. I was told (I have not read) that there is a book called Women Are From Venus and Men Are From Mars which talks about the differences between how women and men interpret things. Perhaps people facing this difficulty might want to read this to get another viewpoint on this. 7

9 Money problems Up Close & Personal an evening chat with Geshe Tenzin Zopa $$$! My advice is simple almost instinctive. Learn to be professional in managing money. Don t spend as if your wallet is full. If you budget for 1 month without managing it, it will finish in 1 hour. Be mindful. Manage money not just on 1-year basis but even for 1 hour at lunchtime. My knowledge of accounts is zero but I m being realistic. Be mindful. If you budget and stick to it, you ll get to enjoy it. Otherwise, there s only suffering. Especially during recession time, learn to be contented with what you have food, clothing, home, holidays, etc. The purpose of clothes is to provide protection and as long as it is presentable, clean without holes, it is OK. You can wear it everyday for one whole week the same clothes. The problem is that you think that everyone is noticing you. It s just your own mental creation. Buying clothes again and again is suffering because it is not for real self-interest (benefit) but for your misconception-interest. Suffering when one has no new clothes or not having various colours for various hours, suffering because no money to buy an expensive dress all this is just your misconception-interest. Learn to disagree with this misconception-interest. For example, you observe me for one week. Can you tell me whether you can be sure that I am wearing the same robe for the whole week or not? For me, my robes are of the same colour and if I wore robes thinking how people are noticing it, it would be real suffering for me to try to make people notice whether I m wearing fresh robes all the time! In my case, if I get the chance to wash, I will; if not, I wear it. Save money, save energy and be happy and think of what you re wearing everyday is brand new. Otherwise, it can be a suffering. On the subject of investments be careful. Here, the colour of impermanence is easily seen. Don t throw money that you really need to save, into investments. When the world economy is stable, don t be lazy and work hard. When the economy slows down, create more right causes for wealth i.e. do virtuous deeds, Dharma practice, generosity with mind transformation. Truth is, even when an economy is in crisis, there are people living prosperously. This shows that it is all dependent on causes previously created. Sufferings related to economy is due to the exhaustion of merits or having no merits at all. But with effort in creating positive causes, this can change. But we need to be persistent in creating positive causes because we aim for prosperity beyond our imagination. This is the nature of human greed. Health problems Must do exercise physical and mental exercise. Mental exercises influence physical conditions. To be mentally positive, learn to appreciate every single present moment, in every single moment. In physical terms, be sensible and be realistic. Be careful about what you eat, drink and if possible, eat more home cooked food (best is without Ajinomoto!! Hahaha). Qigong exercise and the like in natural surroundings with plants etc. are beneficial. If this is not possible, then in one s room or gym. Breathing exercises can be helpful example being in the open air, take in one long inhalation through the nostrils and draw the breath down until one s navel and exhale air through the mouth until the breath is completely expelled; start again. At least 3x or 10 minutes during the morning. But personally, I think the best is to do long prostrations to cure digestive problems, weight problems and loong problems i.e. mental unease due to internal inbalance in the nervous system, which sometimes arise due to over-stress, anxiety etc. Doing 110,000 prostrations in one retreat session over several weeks would be very effective to overcome such problems. Applying Lam Rim and Dharma understanding in one s daily life is particularly beneficial in all aspects one becomes mentally happy and physically well. "This Interview to be continued in the next edition of Shabda where this was asked of Geshe-la - Question: Could Geshe-la share with us ONE lesson learned from Geshe-la s (i) childhood (ii) days as a young monk (iii) days as a Geshe " 8

10 Dharma for Kids 16 Guidelines Part 1: How we Think 1. Humility Humility means. people possessing a quiet strength which allows us to learn from everybody, keeps us from being too proud, and reminds us not to think or act as if we are better than other 1. Humility We share these with our children We are all connected and dependent on other people. Everyone has unique roles to play in each other s lives Let me think. How do I feel about that? 2. Patient 3. Contentment 4. Delight I learn from all and knows that each leaf is important to help the tree. How we think... determines how we feel inside ourselves. 9

11 Dharma for Kids 16 Guidelines Part 1: How we Think Surrounded by little children as young as 5 years old is the best practice for humility. Being years older, we probably think proudly, hey I definitely know more than them. Yes, I Know what humility exactly is, but hmm do I practice it in my life? So what s the difference from knowing and not knowing it when we don t have humility in our life? I must say, although I only attended 1 out of 4 classes, I did learn a lot from just merely one lesson. In that particular lesson, I learn that every single person plays an important role in our life, it could be a MPPJ sweeper or fruit seller. It made me appreciate them more than ever. From then on, I hope to be as humble as possible and greet them and not ignore them. To everyone thank you. Jasmine 10

12 Dharma for Kids 16 Guidelines Part 1: How we Think Dear Mummy and Daddy, You have made a wonderful choice of sending us for Dharma Class. We have learnt many things such as about being humble. In the past lessons, we have learnt about humility. Humility is about being humble and we should not act as if we are better than other people. We ve also learnt that practice can improve a person s mind. And another thing we have learnt is that our minds play tricks on us; called illusions. We also have many things to learn from other people, making us have something to learn from everybody, which means there is nobody we can t learn from. Illusions also make some positive things seem negative, causing us to be sad often. To: Mummy and Daddy From: Your daughter Su Ern 11

13 Dear compassionate, kind, gentle, loving, wonderful and great - hearted Dharma for Kids team, It is so encouraging to read about the DfK classes. I can proudly say that all the benefits and success of DfK is due to your team's selfless effort and generosity in giving your precious time. Most importantly, due to your compassion, kindness, loving and Bodhicitta heart, DfK will definitely enlighten hundreds of Kids and Teenagers by bringing them to virtue, compassion and ethical spiritual life. And they will definitely bring their virtues, compassion, respect, kindness and ethics to their families, country and to whole world. They are our future of world peace and happiness. How great and meaningful this program is! How fortunate that we hold DfK programs in LDC! So much to rejoice! I have been praying and hoping very very hard since I first came to Malaysia that programs for the young will flourish in LDC and be able to reach thousands of kids and teens in the coming days and years. I have faith that with the compassion and great-heartedness of volunteers like you all, you will able to actualize this great vision of our gurus. Please kindly keep up with this the great, selfless and virtuous contribution works. My prayers and support will always be with you and see you all soon in DfK classes. with lots prayers and best wishes Geshe Zopa 12

14 Wife, Mother, Volunteer & Dharma student Juggling life as a Mrs. Gan is a mother of 3, a selfless volunteer at LDC, a devoted housewife and an ardent Dharma practitioner, all rolled into one. In this issue, Mrs. Gan shares with Shabda on how she juggles and balances her multiple roles. My faith in the Buddha Dharma started after the birth of my 2nd child in After giving birth to her, I began to have a lot of doubt about life and about life and I was interested to know what Dharma is. I started exploring Dharma books and one day in 2004, due to the forces of karma and since faith had ripened, I managed to read the Lam-Rim text. Towards the end of 2005, I found LDC. Learning from Geshe Deyang & Geshe Zopa later, I found in retrospect that there is a huge difference between reading and understanding the text by myself and attending the teachings. By attending the teachings, there is an opportunity for me to seek clarifications and to delve deeper into the topics than from mere reading texts alone. The Gurus guide us in many ways, so I suppose how each one of us discovers and appreciates Dharma is dependent on our own disposition and individual karma and faith. More importantly, whatever I ve learnt from the 2 Geshe las, I try my best to put into my daily life. I can see the positive changes in myself and my family members. There was once when one of my children mentioned to me, Mommy, luckily you have learnt the Dharma, or else, I would be one of those children you see headlined Runaway child went missing in the newspapers. That revelation shocked me for a while and I thought, Oh, I was THAT frightening! One topic of the Lam Rim - the topic on Precious Human Rebirth truly inspired me to spend more time in serving the guru and helping others. I would say that I m quite fortunate and blessed that I have a very supportive family who gives me free and flexible time to perform my duty as a wife, mother, volunteer and dharma student too! I also appreciate the kindness of my brother and sister-in-law, Mr & Mrs Chua who have been taking really good care of the house and my two Buddhas - my parents. Because of their understanding, I have less to worry about and now have more time for dharma. Communication within the family is vitally important. From time to time, I share the beauty of Dharma with my family and request them to observe and contemplate what I have said to them from the Geshe-la s teachings. Next, I will make sure the house chores are done, and the family members are informed before I go out (we don t want our children coming home hunting for us) then you re all set to provide service to others without worries! When offering food to the sanghas and others, don t forget to cook delicious meal for the children too! They will appreciate it very much. Once in a while, like any others family, there are arguments, but this has given us a chance to look into ourselves and practice tolerance and patience. And I guess that s why the children started to understand how good the Dharma is from the positive changes they see! I was not an easy person to be around with in the past and I am still trying to change for the better although I am far from perfect (there s little improvement though, hahaha)! p/s: Let us all spend our life with beneficial activities because when you start to benefit others, that is when you really see the positive changes in your own life. Try it! Mrs Gan. 13

15 LDC Dharma Shop is always abuzz with activity and THE place for members and visitors to hang out before and after teachings, retreat and pujas. This little shop carries a rich display of merchandize coming from the exotic Himalayas to the bustling presses of USA, to the refined mills of Taiwan. Uplifting fragrant incense from different trees and flowers, crystal pendants, stone and colored malas, hand-held prayer wheels, ornate ceramic bowls, designed and classical, plain khatas, brocade fabric, Dharma books, Buddha statues, stupas...just to name some of the delightful piece available to you at the Dharma Shop. It s a mini shopping-paradise-with-a-difference to immerse yourselves in, to bring home something precious or provide a meaningful gift for friends and family. The Dharma Shop never stops providing you new ideas, promotions and sacred artifacts. VISIT our Dharma Shop now! Open during Centre office hours (Tues-Sat 10am 6pm with lunch break) and during Centre activities. Shop Dharma The Dharma Shop is also LDC effort at self-help i.e. while serving you, the Shop contributes towards the upkeep of LDC, our Sangha and its Dharma programs, which is our way of serving the community and the continued teachings of our Holy Gurus, Buddha Shakyamuni and Lama Tsongkapa. Help us to help ourselves! NEWSFLASH: Since the beginning of this year, the Dharma Shop (or DS in short) has started its "Budget Corner" as well as monthly promotions, which are the extended benefits to all members. Do look out for our "Star Buys" when you re next in the DS. For the next 2 months, the items on promotion will be as follows; May Promotion June Promotion Essential Buddhist Text (Volume 1 and 2 of all the prayers you need to reach only RM50 per set Dharma Caps (available in various colours) - Get 2 caps for the price of RM

16 The abundance of merit when we recite them or just listen to them with devotion; Sacred Hymns of Power - Pujas The abundance of blessings that come from the unbroken lineage of the Gurus, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas; The sound of pujas bring many forms of abundance The abundance of positive imprints that the sacred words of pujas bring; The abundance of balance & tranquility that flows to us, those around us and our environment when pujas are heard. It is so easy to harvest this abundance. Have the sound of pujas float through your home, work area, garden, car, pets area, anywhere. Let the abundance flow 4 special CDs of: Cittamani Tara puja Medicine Buddha Puja Guru puja Protector Puja all benefits and specially to remove obstacles for stable life and success in all our efforts Vast accumulation of merit, purification & restoration of vows to protect and nurture were lovingly recorded by Geshe Tenzin Zopa with the pure motivation to enable all these richnesses to come to LDC members and friends. Get your own copies today from the LDC Dharma Shop! Enjoy the abundance. Despite LDC s wish for the proceeds to be applied towards the life-transforming Tsum Project and the support of precious Phuntsok Rinpoche (reincarnation of the late Geshe Lama Konchog, pillar of the FPMT and teacher to Geshela), Geshela has magnanimously offered back to LDC, half of all the proceeds from the CD sales. Even if you are not into where proceeds go, EVERYONE is into peace, tranquility and abundance. Do yourself and your world a favour - get your copies of the CDs now and play them only at RM118 for the set of 4 or the individual CDs at a price range of RM30 to RM40. 15