To welcome the Year of the Rooster, Tham Wah Wan Buddhist Temple and the Ratnasri Buddhist Centre jointly organized the Yellow Zambala Puja. The Puja or Buddhist Religious Ceremony was organized to usher in the New Year with wishes for blessings and peace at Tham Wah Wan in Old Klang Road and attracted a very large crowd of devotees.

This Yellow Zambala Puja is a rarely encountered Buddhist Religious Ceremony. The organizers invited Buddhist Monks from the Tibetan Buddhist Order to conduct the Puja. The Tibetan ‘Guru’ in attendance was the Most Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoches.

Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche was born in Tsari, Tibet. He is the Great Abbot of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage of Tibetian Buddhism. After escaping the Chinese takeover, Venerable Khenchen received his Acharya degree; He studied with highly realized masters of different lineages, and completed the traditional three-year retreat. Venerable Khenchen founded the Tibetian Meditation Center in Federick, Maryland and other affiliated centers, and has authored and translated many significant Buddhist texts.

In this materialistic world, many people thought that Buddhism is not a way of life and it has nothing to do with us. But in actual fact, there is a close relationship between Buddhism and our daily life. The propagation of loving kindness and compassion in Buddhism has made the world a better place to live in. We have also enjoyed a certain degree of peace and prosperity.

There are three categories of Buddhist practitioners, namely, the ‘Yogi’ who has renounced all worldly things and spend all of their lives in retreats and meditation practice. Secondly are the members of the ‘Sangha’ (monks and nuns) who observe the precepts and are full time practitioners of the Dharma. The third being the ‘ lay persons’ like us who live in this materialistic society, taking care of our families and friends. In the process we face with all sorts of problems. To cope with these, we practice Buddhism to subdue the negative or afflictive emotion by participating in and organizing Dharma activities.

Since we have already acquired this precious human rebirth, we should treasure it and make all efforts to learn Buddhism and listen to the Dharma teachings for the benefit of ourselves and all sentient beings. During the Puja, Venerable Rinpoche presented several Dharma talks and led the group in the recitation and chanting of ‘Om Mani Padme Hung’ sessions.

The Yellow Zambala Puja started with the ‘Purification and Auspicious Opening ceremony on the evening of 25th February 2005, at 8:00 p.m. On the second day, Saturday 26th February there were three sessions of Dharma teachings interspersed with the chanting of ‘Om Mani Padme Hung’ followed by the Yellow Zambala Empowerment and Dharma teachings in the evening. The practice of this Wealth Deity in Tantra teachings provides one with the most expedient way to practice Buddhism. Through the practice and the blessings of Zambala, one obtains wealth and in the course of doing so, we should help the needy and the poor. We should also donate generously for the propagation of the Buddhist Dharma. The more one gives the more merits one accumulates, thus resulting in more good fortune and wealth to oneself.

Two sessions of Dharma teachings and chanting were conducted on Sunday 27th February followed by a special Jangchok prayer for the deceased.

From 28th February to 2nd March 2005 at 8:00 pm daily, Venerable Rinpoche conducted teachings on the Jewel Ornament of Liberation. The Jewel Ornament of Liberation is a teaching of Dharma Lord Gampopa. It is a masterwork of Tibetan Buddhism, providing the complete foundation for study and practice in Buddhism from the beginning to the attainment of Buddha hood.

The Bodhicitta and Mahamudra teachings were given from the 3rd to the 6th March 2005. The compassionate wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others is called Bodhicitta in Sanskrit; bodhi refers to our enlightened essence, and citta means heart. So we could translate it as “the heart of our enlightened mind”. Bodhicitta being the spring, source and root of the entire spiritual path to Buddha hood.

Mahamudra teachings refer to the path to enlightenment taught by the Buddha and transmitted through the spiritual lineage of Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa and Milarepa. Dharma Lord Gampopa, a disciple of Milarepa who lived in the eleventh century, brought together these teachings of the Buddha into one five-fold path consisting of an enlightened motivation, deity yoga, guru yoga, mahamudra and proper dedication, to which his main disciple, Pakmo Druba, gave the name, “The Profound Five-Fold Path of Mahamudra”.

During these Dharma Assemblies, the Venerable Rinpoche used English to deliver His Teachings while Mr. Chooi Shee Hoong, a devotee translated it into Chinese. We were very lucky to have Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche here to give us these very important and precious teachings of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage.