It is indeed a very fruitful trip for me this time in Hong Kong. I am proud to say that we have completed quite a few important jobs, especially there are 2 very significant projects that are very dear to my heart and thanks to so many volunteers, helpers and sponsors, we are all making headways. Firstly, I want to take this opportunity to announce that I have decided to offer the Buddha Amitabha statue built for me by my godfather, Felix, to the late Kyabje Adeu Rinpoche. Secondly, the headquarter of Live to Love Charitable Foundation is finally set up in Hong Kong. I will tell you one by one what has been happening. I am sure my beloved friends and students in other places will rejoice in all the positive efforts of our Drukpa heroes and supporters here in Hong Kong.
The Buddha Amitabha statue will soon be installed in Nangchen for the benefit of countless beings. Many monasteries in many places in the Himalayas have been requesting me to offer this magnificent statue to them, however after my visit to Nangchen, I realised it is truly a Gomde, a meditational place of peace and harmony, and the people there are surprisingly very spiritual, despite the material shortages due to the remoteness and high altitute. The statue could have been put in very big cities and it will get a lot of attention. Tourists will take photos with it, the city people will keep looking at it, but it will only become a decoration piece. As I always say, statues, thankas, holy objects are representations of enlightenment and since we are very ignorant, we cannot visualise enlightenment or perceive the true nature of our own mind, we need external objects as support. Therefore a statue has to be a great support for spiritual practice, which means it has to be installed in a location where genuine practitioners can be found. I think I am very lucky to find a suitable home for this spectacular refuge object, and I am also very moved by the support we have received from so many kind and generous friends, whom I have just met. Spiritual heritages are very important to be supported by spiritual practitioners. As I told my friends at the fundraising dinner for the Nangchen Ashoka Stupa Project where the statue will be located, spiritual heritages cannot survive without support of spiritual practitioners. They will be left unattended and these beautiful reminders of the nature of our own mind will be lost forever or will be abused as commercial artpiece without any spiritual values.
Without genuine spirituality, there is no way you can be a happy human being. One journalist asked me, "What do you think about materialism?" I told her, "I LOVE IT!" There is absolutely nothing wrong with materialism, but it has to go parallel with spirituality. Without spirituality, materialism will bring chaos to this world. For example, it is okay to wish to have a Mercedes Benz, that is materialism, but if you don't get it, you are not suffering, and that is spirituality. Without spirituality, you will be suffering because your desires are not fulfilled. So if you get it, it's great, and if you don't get it, it's also okay. We cannot say that all desires or greediness are not good, there are good greediness or desires, such as the desire to do good, and the desire for positive development of your own life.
Desires, compassion and love are in one family, they are very much needed to be alive in this world. Compassion is understanding and love is action. So all these 3 will come together to make life more interesting.
I was also very moved that all these new friends that I met that evening were so nice and genuinely sincere. As long as you have the wish to help others, you are practising Live To Love. Living means surviving in this world, on this earth, so if you don't survive with a loving and caring attitude, you will be wasting all the resources and destroying all the chances of your own survivals. Look at the natural catastrophes and the disasters we are facing everyday, you will understand our attitude that has been taking life or survival for granted is now taking a toll. So it is almost a very urgent need for all of us to Live to Love. Love means taking care of others, by doing that, you are taking care of yourself. Imagine, if you don't love your wife or your partner and you constantly make her life miserable, in the end, you will be miserable yourself, because she will definitely end up giving you difficulties through all sorts of ways. But if you are able to practise Live to Love in everything that you do and with everyone that you meet, at least your own family and friends, you will definitely be a much happier person. For example, all these floods, earthquakes, typhoons and many natural disasters are all created by our own selfish desires and our carelessness. So we end up having to suffer the mess we have created. From now onwards, whenever you can remember, just Live to Love! I am very happy to share these photos with you, because it was such a warm reception and such a nice way to get together for a great cause. I would say that the Nangchen Ashoka Stupa and Buddha project is presently the biggest Live to Love project for all of us. I want to thank, from the depth of my heart, Kyabje Satrul Rinpoche, Xiao Mei, her husband Chee Wah and Chee Wah's wonderful brother, Tan Sri Lim, who is so nice and sincere, as well as my very good friend, Tan Sri Ta, to join in this fundraising or I would like to say "fun" raising event. Surprisingly, I was really moved by the songs sung by Kenny Bee, a very nice man who has a wonderful voice that is so moving. I was hoping that our 2nd ADC will have some very interesting programs, such as something that is like this which can really touch people's hearts. I also want to inform the committee of 2nd ADC that I would like to see, during the 2nd ADC, each centre to perform one song and one dance that is unique to their own country or culture. I think we have to make quality programs and no more boring programs. If I may daringly request, I would be so happy to see some fast and upbeat songs and some interesting and colourful dances, and not just reading long long pages of something about my longevity. We have to consider the interest of the audience and all of us will vote which centre will get the best song award and best dancing award. This is a request from my heart.
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The second thing is something also very happy for me. Finally, Live to Love Foundation in Hong Kong, which is going to be the headquarter of all the Live to Love activities in the world, was officially set up. Last night, we had such a fun time fundraising for a good cause and also sharing a lot of our inspirational visions. I do not have any photos now, but I will definitely share with you whenever I receive them. I want to introduce all of you to the team of our Live to Love Global headquarter, myself as the Chairperson, Vanessa Pong as the Deputy Chairperson, Bonnie Smith as the Secretary General and Carrie Yuen as the Treasurer. I also want to thank Vanessa for making such a great effort to launch the Live to Love with her own initiative called "Project Sunshine" which showed the Power of Children. I think I better stop now before I end up writing pages that dry up your eyesight. Tomorrow, when I have time, I will continue to tell you more about Live to Love party and the wonderful meeting of Drukpa Asia. LIVE TO LOVE!
