Thekchen Choling

  Chapter 12: Dharma Ambition We all have the ambition to live a comfortable, happy life, and so we put in effort in our studies, careers, business, relationships and so on. This ambition is typically married with the intent to have a good job or successful business, a spouse or partner and comfort in terms of a nice house and car, holidays in enjoyable places and so on. Singha Rinpoche has often said that we tend to put in a lot of effort, make sacrifices and do whatever we deem necessary to fulfil our ambitions as we pursue the happiness and pleasures of this life. However, for dharma practice, ambition is typically not as great for most people – certainly not for me.  However, I did have one experience - which I ascribe to the Guru’s blessing - which left a deep imprint in my mind; the impression of the need to practice the Buddhadharma. I will  recount it here in case it might benefit others. In 2003, Dagri Rinpoche was in Singapore and Singha Rinpoche called a few st...

  Chapter 11:  What Is This For? That was the question Rinpoche asked me each time I made an offering. This was some 20 years ago. I would babble some reason in response, usually to say it was to repay his kindness, to thank him for teaching etc. I wondered why he kept asking me that question. A possible answer and a probable reason as to why he asked this question dawned on me many years later. Quite recently, I was with some other disciples - some of whom have been with Rinpoche for at least 15 years - and he asked the same question as we made an offering together. They had the same reply that I had in the past. This prompted me to share an experience and my thoughts.  We had just moved to the new temple at 2 Beatty Lane. I had requested Rinpoche for teachings on the day that commemorates Buddha’s first turning of the wheel of Dharma. Rinpoche said this was auspicious and agreed. That evening during the teaching, I sat in the audience as the long-life mandala recitation...

  Chapter 10:  In the most difficult of times... Many people seek Gurus who are internationally famous with titles who are recognised and respected. I suppose it is beneficial to develop such a karmic link, but these very busy teachers - who travel the world with tens of thousands of disciples, students and followers - are typically very difficult to contact. I consider myself unbelievably fortunate as Singha Rinpoche makes himself available to us pretty much 24/7. I will now recount two instances - of many - when I was filled with gratitude that he was there in the most difficult of times.   In 1999, I was traveling abroad to see my grandmother who was about 100 years old. At that time, my wife was expecting our first child. She had been well enough in her early pregnancy and so I decided to take a trip.  I came back to learn that, on Chinese New Year’s Eve, she had experienced a little bleeding and was very worried. She was alone and, despite friends and relatives ...

Chapter 9:  Meanings In modern day communication training, we are told to be clear and concise. We use various means to check whether the person we have communicated with has understood our message etc. Over the years, I have realized that this expectation of communication that we, as a listener, often have does not apply to conversation with our Gurus. Does that mean they are not clear and concise? No, they are - but our interpretation of what we think we have heard them, makes a difference.  The Catuḥpratiśaraṇa Sūtra states (of the Four Reliances): - Rely on the message of the teacher, not on his personality  Rely on the meaning, not just on the words  Rely on the real meaning, not on the provisional one  Rely on your wisdom mind, not on your ordinary, judgemental mind  Rinpoche communicates in many ways, sometimes with silence as Buddha did, sometimes saying something to one person but in fact the message may be intended for someone else who is prese...

  Chapter 8:  All you do is talk; you have not done anything ... Ouch. That was what Rinpoche said at a temple committee meeting. It was not directed at me personally but was in relation to something I felt responsible for - so the words stung. In previous musings I mentioned how we should try to take what Rinpoche says to us positively. Giving advice like that is easy but when it happens to you, it is not always easy to be objective and dispassionate, remain calm and unaffected. The interesting thing is the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I got. I mean I felt I had done so much over the years and I did not deserve that comment.  For the observant, you would have noticed the word “I” mentioned 5 times in the last two sentences... When you are so wrapped up with a thought that just does not seem to go away though - the Tibetan term for this is “rlung” or “wind” - it is not always easy to snap out of it. In his book Direct Expressions, Rinpoche provides some guida...

  Chapter 7:  Is This a Pilgrimage? It was early 1999. Singha Rinpoche had advised a student that he should have 100,000 Tsa-Tsa - the small statue you can wear in an amulet or sometimes bigger - of Lama Tsongkhapa made. Rinpoche also wanted to go to visit the stupa of his Buddhist teacher Phra Mahathongkum outside of Bangkok. So off we went, a handful of students and Rinpoche to Bangkok for a sort of “pilgrimage”.   We took a tour, visited some temples in Bangkok, and did the usual touristy things. In my mind, I thought the main purpose of the trip was to ensure that the Tsa-Tsa was made and the visit to the stupa. Anything touristy just seemed so worldly and not in line with MY idea of a pilgrimage. You can then understand how frustrated I was. There they were, my fellow pilgrims and Rinpoche, inside a jewellery shop in a shopping mall, spending what seemed like forever looking at jade and various precious and semi-precious stones. I decided to wait outside the sho...

  Conversations With My Guru Chapter 6 WHWWHHHHHHYYYY? Chapter 6:  WHWWHHHHHHYYYY? In Buddhist teachings, short instructions given by your Guru are called “pith” - meaning the essence of something - instructions. This story is about what I viewed as a very simple pith instruction given by Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup Rigsel (late abbott of Kopan Monastery and one of Singha Rinpoche’s root gurus).  I first met Khen Rinpoche at a dinner at a friend’s home. After dinner, we were told we could have a meeting with a Lama. I had no idea what was going on but my spouse was keen so we went to see him.  Lama Lhundrup (as he was known then) said, “Do you have any questions?”.  I said “No”. My mind was blank, as usual, and not being a Buddhist meant I had no idea what to ask the “monk” who sat in front of us. And then, he said to both of us, “Be Happy”.  There was a pause as I considered that – it was said not as a command or a request, but almost like a wish for us...

Conversations With My Guru Chapter 5: The Rude Lady Chapter 5:  The Rude Lady The lady was crying.  Rinpoche had just spoken to her and the three of us stood there, somewhat awkward.  Rinpoche said, “You three better talk to her”.  We looked at each other, a bit lost. We invited her into a room, turned on the air conditioning and sat as she recounted her story. “That man (Rinpoche) was so rude. I came to ask for advice because my friend asked me to come and he told me the way I talk is the main problem – that I am rude.” We tried to placate her, asked some questions about her as an icebreaker and tried to keep the conversation going. As we were talking, I recall at one point she said, “You see, the three of you are so nice and kind, not like that man “.  As we were talking, she suddenly raised her voice and snapped at us. “Can you please turn down the aircon? It’s so cold you know”.  Silence. One of us turned the aircon temperature up. We looked at one anot...

  Chapter 4:  C reating Experiences  There is a contradiction in all of us - we always seek a peaceful, stable, serene life with no problems. Yet, for probably all of us, when we look back at our lives, we realise that we grew, learnt and changed most as a result of (very often) challenging, difficult or stressful situations.  In some Buddhist texts, it mentions that a Guru has to “pull the rug from under your feet” so we “progress” on the path. For some older students, from our experiences with Singha Rinpoche, it is something that he does quite well. Year 2000. Mid or late I can't quite remember. Anyway, exact dates are not important.  The group of students had grown a little and what was to become Thekchen Choling operated out of a private property in the Thong Soon area. Complaints by residents about parking and noise meant the presence of the authorities - specifically URA. They came and told us we had to vacate.  A few months later, we found an altern...

  Chapter 3: Buddha’s teachings as medicine It is 1999.  The digits on the clock reads 8.10pm. The phone rings.  A familiar voice drifts out from the phone. “Why are you not attending teaching?” It is Singha Rinpoche.  He does not sound pleased. I make up some lame excuse and he brushes it off.  "Come now,” he says.  My spouse and I arrive and try to sneak in unnoticed. It is extremely difficult as there are less than a dozen students and the room is small. Lama (that’s what we called him then) – his face is unsmiling and clearly very annoyed. He says nothing and we all look uncomfortable. Unlike the usual times, he sits on the floor this time and not on the sofa (teaching throne).  At that time Lama had just begun to teach, so each student had agreed that we would make a monthly offering to him. We were in effect his “sponsors”. This did not influence him, because for about an hour that evening, we all received the most severe scolding any of us had e...

  Connecting all with divine hearts – what does that mean? Dunbar’s Theory based on some research suggests that the human brain is limited in the number of individuals with whom it can maintain a “social relationship”, suggesting a maximum of 150.  Most of us have a lot of acquaintances - just look at our social media list - but quite often we really don’t know that much about each other, sometimes even about our own family and closest friends.   Over the many years reflecting on the activities of my Guru , I have felt that Singha Rinpoche is extraordinary. How? Some say because he “reads minds”, others say he has “powers”. For me, it is quite simply because he makes a genuine, personal connection and has done that with SO MANY of us across ages, locations and cultures – well beyond that number of 150.  The question is why? Why bother so much? On many occasions he has mentioned that a lot of people have connections with him but his students and disciples don’t h...