March 10, 2011 0
(Taken with my iPhone)
Every month, the liaisons of Kechara have a monthly Liaisons Council meeting in the Ladrang. During this meeting, the liaisons (and invited guests!) will discuss both secular and spiritual issues pertaining to the growth of Kechara.
It is during these meetings that the important decisions about the organisation are made. Therefore to be invited along and sit at the same table as the movers and shakers is a very great honour.
You see, everyone sees all the beautiful, smooth-running bits of Kechara but they never see the hard work and late nights that go into making everything just so. They never see the blood, sweat, tears, heated discussions and long debates that lead to all of our activities and classes and pujas.
After all, why look at what’s going on in the ugly, noisy, loud kitchen when you can sit in a quiet, orderly dining room and enjoy your meal?
Here’s why – coming to these meetings makes you appreciate the departments and their heads all the more, because you see how much effort these men and women make to bring the Dharma to others. And it makes you WANT to support their efforts because well…on my part, I already see how many issues they have to deal with – would it really be compassionate of me to be the source of yet another problem for them to deal with?
Now, everything in Kechara has a monastic basis. Our traditions weren’t just plucked out from the sky, without basis – everything we do in Kechara is traditional and authentic, but given a different face because we’re dealing with Malaysians and the Malaysian culture, and not Tibetans!
In the case of the liaisonship system, it reflects the monastic system of serving the high lamas. All high lamas in the monastery have head liaisons known as changtsos, who are assisted by sopons. They carry out the secular work of the lama, leaving him free to teach and concentrate on spiritual matters.
That’s what the liaisons of Kechara do for Rinpoche, free him from dealing with secular matters so that he can do exactly what he took rebirth for – teaching the Dharma, and mind transformation.
The photo about was taken at March’s Liaisons’ Council meeting. Fang (butch), Dr Lanse (butch) and Susan (femme-butch, hence futch) were listening very intensely to a discussion on Buddha know’s what…at a Liaisons’ Council meeting, anything and everything can be discussed, from where to open a new outlet, to the colour of someone’s shirt, to the name of a new department, to the attitude of different people, to the recent thoughts that Rinpoche has been having, to the next puja training schedule.
Like I said, anything and everything, movers and shakers!
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