Friday, December 25, 2009

CGC Organising Highly Acclaimed "Siddhartha The Musical"


Chokyi Gyaltsen Center (CGC), Than Hsiang Temple (THT) and Pu Ai (PA) will be co-organising and bringing to Penang, the Musical On Stage Productions (MOSP), a musical group from Kuala Lumpur, who has been performing a number of shows, particularly the highly acclaimed "Siddhartha the musical". This musical has had successful performances in various cities including Singapore, Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Jakarta with a total turn-out of 70,000 spectators. For more information on the show kindly go to www.musicalonstage.com.

The expected dates for the shows in Penang are 19th (8pm-11pm), 20th (8pm-11 pm) & 21st March 2010 (2pm-5pm & 8pm-11pm) which coincides with the school holidays. Prices of tickets are RM50, RM70 and RM100. The show will be held at Penang's Dewan Sri Pinang. For furthur inquiries or ticketing reservations, kindly contact cgc.ticket@gmail.com.

A short video clip on the musical is attached below. Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Welcoming Address To Kyabje Choden Rinpoche By CGC's President, Dr. Daniel Yeoh On 22nd December 2009


Earlier this year, I went to Borobudur for pilgrimage with Kyabje Choden Rinpoche, and with the great advice of anila Osel, I made request to invite Rinpoche to come to teach at Chokyi Gyaltsen Center. Rinpoche with so much compassion accepted my request, and Rinpoche, all of us at CGC are extremely happy that Rinpoche is here today to teach us.

Over the next 7 days, we request Rinpoche dispel the darkness that has been clouding our mind, and we request Rinpoche to ripen our mind stream so that we could quickly achieve many realisations. We request Rinpoche to ripen our mind so that we are ready to practise highest yoga tantra very soon.

Many of us here serve dharma and work very hard for dharma according to the holy wishes Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche. We also request Rinpoche to dispel all our obstacles, secret and outer obstacles, so that we have perfect conditions to serve dharma and practise dharma, and have a lot of realisations.

Rinpoche you mentioned in your teaching recently that if a qualified student relies on a qualified master, inner realisation is as easy as "ABC".

We have no doubt that Rinpoche is a perfectly qualified spiritual master, and on our side we will try to be a qualified student; we will try to have our mind freed from biased, 2) we will try to develop some wisdom discriminate between right and wrong 3) and we will strive hard to develop strong aspiration to achieve inner realisation.

Rinpoche, your holy presence here is so rare and so precious, and I hope all of us here at CGC will sincerely aspire to be your qualified students and seek to practise dharma and make our dharma practice as offerings to Rinpoche.

Once again, thank you so much Rinpoche for coming to CGC.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Kyabje Choden Rinpoche's Programme


Here is the programme for Kyabje Choden Rinpoche’s visit to CGC, Penang on 22th Dec 2009 - 29th Dec 2009.

22/12/2009 (Tue)

6:00pm Welcome Kyabje Choden Rinpoche's (expected time of arrival)


23/12/2009 (Wed)

7.30pm - 9.30pm Teachings on Three Principles of the Path by Lama Tsongkhapa


24/12/2009 (Thu)

7.30pm - 9.30pm Medicine Buddha Initiation


25/12/2009 (Fri)

9:00am Visit to Kek Lok Si Temple

12.30pm Lunch with CGC members and the public at CGC

(Those interested, kindly register your name with Ms.Stephanie at 012- 428 2929 or email: fpmt.cgc@gmail.com before 20/12/2009)

4:00pm - 6pm Teaching on Tong Leng Meditation


26/12/2009 (Sat)

7:00pm - 7.30pm Short Teaching: Why purification is so important & What will happen to us if we do not do the purification practice?

7.30pm - 9.30pm Vajrasattva Initiation


28/12/2009 (Mon)

Consultation day. Kindly call Yeoh at 012 428 5528 for appointment


29/12/2009 (Tue)

7.30pm - 9.30pm Teaching on Daily Preliminary Practices

For further enquiries, kindly email to us fpmt.cgc@gmail.com or call Ms. Stephanie at 012 428 292


Monday, December 21, 2009

A Wish Granting Tree‏ In Conjunction With Medicine Buddha Initiation By Kyabje Choden Rinpoche


A wish-granting season in conjunction with Medicine Buddha Initiation

by Kyabje Choden Rinpoche

on 24th Dec, 2009, 7:30pm @ Chokyi Gyaltsen Center, Penang

On this beautiful festive season when many people are celebrating Christmas Eve with family gatherings at home, hotels, or restaurants, CGC has the great pleasure to share with you this “evening of lights” with the most precious Tibetan Buddhist master, Kyabje Choden Rinpoche.

In conjunction with Medicine Buddha Initiation by Kyabje Choden Rinpoche, CGC offers you a chance to pray for your wishes to come true. We will assemble a wish-granting tree decorated with beautiful ornaments. For each of your wishes that will be hung up on the tree together with the ornaments, we will request Rinpoche's blessing for your wishes to come true.

Medicine Buddha is known for his powerful vow in fulfilling the wishes of sentient beings especially at this degenerate age. The wish-granting tree, as stated in the Mandala Offering practice, is a particular enjoyment in the “Southern Continent”. It is a huge tree made of the seven precious gems and for whatever wishes that you pray for, your needs will pour down from it like rain.

Let us all come to pray for everyone's wishes to be fulfilled, and to benefit all other sentient beings in an extensive way.

Name:

Mobile No:

Email:

Address:

Your wish list:

We appreciate donation of RM5 for every wish that you make. The donation will go towards supporting the Center activities. Thank you.


Kyabje Choden Rinpoche's Biography


Kyabje Choden Rinpoche was one of seven children born to a noble family in Dahi, the Khampa region of Eastern Tibet. Rinpoche’s connections to past spiritual masters were evident from early childhood in his exemplary conduct and superior intelligence as well as in the miraculous signs often witnessed in his presence. Reting Rinpoche, the Regent of Tibet, officially recognized the small boy as the living reincarnation of the previous Choden Rinpoche, who had been one of the finalists in the search for the 13th
Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.

At the age of seven, Rinpoche took novice ordination from His Holiness Pabongka Rinpoche. His Holiness reportedly said, “I found your name in Ganden Monastery’s Golden Stupa.” His Holiness named the child Losang Gyalten Jikdrel Wangchuk. Since his novice ordination, Rinpoche has been observing his monastic vows just as one protects one’s own eyes.

Rinpoche traveled to Central Tibet at the age of seventeen and enrolled in Sera Je Monastery where he was trained in the Five Canons of Buddhist philosophy. While mastering this twenty-five year course of study, Rinpoche became an outstanding student of His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche and His Holiness Pabongka Rinpoche as well as numerous other prominent lamas.Under their tutelage, he received empowerments, oral transmissions and personal instruction. He was given complete pith instructions and ear-whispered transmissions as well, which led him to an internalized understanding of the teachings. Rinpoche was also tutored during this period by the Abbot of Dawak Monastery who taught him Tibetan grammar, Sanskrit, poetry, literature and astrology. By virtue of this lengthy apprenticeship with many renowned lineage masters, Rinpoche mastered the Five Canons and earned the title pandita. He was chosen to represent Sera Je in debate when His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama stood for his Geshe Examination in 1959.

During the 60s, in response to the devastating destruction of Tibetan culture and religion at the hands of the Chinese, Rinpoche undertook a solitary retreat for 19 years. He never left his tiny, dark room in Lhasa for twenty years relying on the metok chuelen practice for sustenance. When practicing metok chuelen (literally: flower essence- to-take-of), one refrains from all common dietary habits, sustaining the body with a substance made of flower essences. Rinpoche states unequivocally that his productive practice, his accumulation of merit and his accomplishment of clarity of mind are directly attributable to his metok chuelen practice. When the Chinese accused him of 'disgracing the motherland' by practicing dharma, Rinpoche was forced to abandon this retreat and take up residence in a Lhasa household.

The Cultural Revolution was a dark period in Tibet marked by forced participation in cultural degradation and by the protracted suffering of atrocities. Concurrent with these rampant human rights abuses in his homeland, Rinpoche chose to remain in solitude in household retreat for more than nineteen years, practicing the Lam Rim, lo jong and tantra from memory.

In the 80s, Chinese policy became more lenient toward Tibetan religious activity. Endeavoring to exploit Rinpoche’s reputation as a distinguished scholar, the authorities invited him to serve on the board of a cultural committee. Rinpoche readily rejected the offer, having the forethought that he would be required to criticize his root guru His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Instead he used this five-year period of leniency to give extensive teachings, empowerments and oral transmissions to thousands of Tibetan Buddhists. In 1985, Rinpoche was able to escape Tibet, traveling through Nepal to India. In Dharmasala, his paramount wish, the opportunity for an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, was finally realized. This auspicious and poignant occasion touched Rinpoche’s heart indelibly: it was as if he had met with Buddha Shakyamuni himself.

The political destabilization in Tibet having reached a particularly volatile juncture, His Holiness advised Rinpoche to not return but rather to remain in India in order to teach. Therefore, while destruction of monasteries, temples and stupas continued unabated in Tibet, Rinpoche traveled to South India and, for the next twenty years, taught the precious Buddhist canon to thousands of monks in the diaspora’s monastic communities.

Rinpoche was regularly invited abroad to teach in monasteries and dharma centers, thereby benefiting people from all walks of life. He has traveled extensively throughout South Asia, Mongolia, Europe and America. Thousands of practitioners have taken novice ordination from Rinpoche in the course of his travels outside Tibet.

In sum, Rinpoche spent twenty years of his youth studying Buddhist logic, the Perfection of Wisdom sutras, Middle Way philosophy, Treasury of Knowledge treatises, and monastic code and conduct at Sera Je Monastery. Subsequently, he dedicated another two decades to contemplation, meditating on the Five Canons in order to internalize the teachings. Most recently, he has devoted a third span of twenty years to teaching in South India and abroad, disseminating the Buddhadharma to benefit humanity.


Thursday, December 17, 2009

Geshe Tenzin Zopa Conducts Two Day Death & Dying Workshop At CGC


Geshe Tenzin Zopa, Losang Drapa Centre (LDC)'s resident teacher conducted a very successful and enlightening two-day workshop on death and dying on Saturday, 5/9/2009 & Sunday, 6/9/2009 at CGC. The teachings touched on various areas that can be clustered into the following topics:

a) Death & dying in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
b) How to prepare for and not be afraid of death.
c) How to benefit the dying and the dead.
d) Practices to prepare for the time of death.
e) Practices to benefit the dying and the dead.

Photos of 1st Day's Teachings





























Photos of 2nd Day's Teachings








































Geshe Tenzin Zopa's teachings in this death & dying workshop is available on CD. Kindly contact our Spiritual Co-ordinator, Ms.Stephanie Teoh at fpmt.cgc@gmail.com if you wish to have a copy. Thank you.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Kyabje Khenrinpoche Geshe Lama Lhundrup Visits CGC

Kyabje Khenrinpoche Geshe Lama Lhundrup, the abbot of Kopan Monastery in Nepal, visited CGC from Friday, October 16th to Wednesday, October 21st this year. We were all very fortunate to have him, his attendent, Ven Kunkhen and his translator, Ven Sherab stay with us for 6 days.

Khenrinpoche arrived that Friday evening and was welcomed by members and their families carrying khatas and flowers. He was driven from Kuala Lumpur to Penang by CGC's President, Dr. Daniel Yeoh and was accompanied by LDC's resident geshe, Geshe Tenzin Zopa.




























During the second day of his stay (Saturday, 17th October 2009), Khenrinpoche presided over prayers for wealth and success, a Chittamani Tara puja and attended a vegetarian dinner at a local restaurant with members of CGC. Tara the Wisdom Mother is invoked in times of personal difficulties, family and business problems, and when there is a need for a quick wisdom action. She manifests in twenty-one different forms to benefit all beings. In the aspect of Cittamani Tara, she responds quickly to requests by those who pray to her.














































On his third day at CGC (Sunday, 18th October 2009), Khenrinpoche presided over an animal liberation ceremony and a recitation of the "Sanghata Sutra" by all who attended. The animal liberation ceremony was featured in an article in "The Star Metro" on 29th October 2009. To read the original copy of the article, kindly click on the following link:
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/10/29/north/4994152&sec=North

















































Khenrinpoche gave teachings on the "Introduction to Tantra" during the evenings of the fourth and fifth day of his stay (Monday, 19th & Tuesday 20th October 2009). Audio copies of the "Introduction to Tantra" teachings in MP3 CD format can now be obtained from CGC's office.

During his visit, a book entitled "Living in Harmony" which contained Khenrinpoche's teachings was launched. The book was transcribed and compiled by our very own resident sangha Ven. Osel.




























Khenrinpoche departed for Kuala Lumpur on the morning of Wednesday, 21st October 2009.