The Gyalwang Drukpa

Meeting Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat again was also a very pleasant experience. The last time when he went with us to Chicken Foot Mountain, he was the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and now when we met again, he is already the Minister of Transport. Thanks to Datuk Seri Ong and the government of Malaysia, from the time we landed, we received the warmest reception that I have ever experienced in Malaysia, even though I have been to this country for more than 20 years. I want to thank Datuk Seri Ong for his tremendous support for me and my lineage.

Of course in several other instances, I was rather disappointed in the way Lama Pemba's visa was not applied in time for my visit to Drukpa Kuala Lumpur and of course in the way the centre had been left not well-taken care of despite such a gigantic and beautiful building offered to me and my lineage by Dato' Sri Norbu Wong and Datin Sri Norzin Loo. In fact this time I have left two monks in Drukpa Kuala Lumpur, not only for this particular centre but for the entire Malaysia and they will be directly under my instructions, not to be pulled or pushed around by anyone. Disrespecting or taking advantage of monks and nuns is a great way to accumulate negative karma, if this is what you intend to do.

On the other hand, there was also a very encouraging meeting for me and Her Royal Highness Princess Pema Lhadon Pem Pem Wangchuck and her family who had come all the way from Bhutan to support the Live to Love Charity Dinner organised for me by Paul Thong, Jigme Phende and Jigme Migyur, these three golden sons of mine in Malaysia. It was very hard job for them and they never complained. I was told that the response was fantastic and the event caught a lot of attention from the public media, which was a great way to spread the message of Live to Love.

What I was really happy about was that all the reporters were asking both Her Royal Highness and myself about the key to happiness. For me, I feel that happiness is about appreciating your own life, appreciating those people around you and appreciating even the difficulties you are going through. In fact, appreciating your life is the best investment you can ever make, because this will eventually make you such a happy person that even when the worst situation happens, you will be fine, you will be still calm and happy.

Most people that I met this time constantly told me about the stressful life they were living and they started to scream and get angry all the time at people who didn't agree with them, whom they felt irritated with, who gave them a different opinion. This is not right. I would be very embarrassed if anyone of my friends and students does this to their Dharma brothers and sisters, to their family members or to their colleagues. People need to be appreciated, even we ourselves need to be appreciated. If we call ourselves practitioners or if you are known to others as my friends or especially as my students, then before you get angry with others or before you raise your voice to others, please take one step back and think if your actions will encourage or discourage others to follow the path of spirituality that is taught by the Dragon Lineage. I always tell my friends and students, talking is very easy, but actions especially they way you treat others will tell whether you have improved or not. You can check yourself, whether you are more stressful and more angry after going on the spiritual path or even after meeting me, if you are, then it is now time for you to change. Some of my friends and students told me that I have to accept them as what they are. I don't agree with that. Spiritual practice means you have to improve, you have to be more calm, more understanding, more loving and more kind, not the other way round.