Something nice from Duke……………..thank you Duke.
Dear friends,
Below is a post on my facebook. It is from Duke. He is going to Gaden to teach English then he wishes to visit us. He really likes to help the poor and very interested in KSK.
More and more professional ppl are leaving their jobs to pursue work that has much more meaning in their own countries. Very beautiful. I hope to do the same here. Money, good job,
relationship, fun and enjoyment is only a small fraction of our lives. The bigger fraction should be doing work that has direct or indirect impact on others.
Please read below.
Tsem Tulku Rinpoche
Spiritual Guide
Kechara House & Kechara World Peace Centre (KWPC)
www.tsemtulku.com
www.kechara.com
Blog:
http://tsemtulku.typepad.com
‘Never say you can’t do, because that is not the real you speaking’.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for your reply.
I am so very glad to have met you. Your passion for animals and the poor have really touched my heart. I feel very connected to your mission and your message.
A little over 3 years ago, I quit a successful job in management to follow my passion for social/animal welfare. Since then I have been working with the poor here in Iowa and Minnesota. I have not regretted my decision for one second and every day is filled with new opportunities to practice the Dharma. What a great way to learn how to put the Dharma into action.(for me anyways)
I will contact Bengkooi when I finish here. I am so excited in the prospect of helping you in whatever way I can with your mission. What you are doing is very important to me and there is nothing that I wouldn’t do to help you continue your important work.
Thank you very much for the gifts. I get chills just thinking about it. I will look forward to their arrival. What a treat! 
I will be in touch.
Your friend,
Duke
extracted:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/?page=1&sk=messages&tid=1350405032904
DearRinpoche,
Thank you so much for your encouragement and kind words. That means much to me.
When I decided to give up the stability of my career, I knew that I was entering a beautiful new era in my life. I had some savings, but somehow I knew that if I followed my heart in my desire to live a life of service, I would be alright and I would not need to worry about my needs.
Here at Hope House, we live a lifestyle of voluntary poverty as an act of solidarity with the poor that we are here to serve. We do not receive a wage, but we are rewarded in a much greater way. This has really opened up my spiritual practice and everything about working with the poor helps me to feel the path beneath my feet.
I also have a deep passion for animals and animal welfare that I have been trying to cultivate as a means to expand my practice of the Dharma. Animals have been one of the keys that have helped me to unlock my caged heart and there is nothing that I would not do to help a suffering animal friend in need.
Connecting with you Rinpoche, and everyone at Kechara, has been very, very exciting for me as I am sure you can imagine. Your passion for serving the poor and your deep compassion for animals has touched me in ways that would be hard to express. I would really like to meet you all soon and share with you in all of your virtuous activities.
I love you all!!!
Your friend,
Duke
here is a link to Hope House:
http://www.thehopehouse.com/
I had the chance to work very briefly (but passionately!) with Duke over the fortunate conveniences of Facebook and emails – and what a great soul this is!
It is always just so refreshing and heart-warming to meet people like Duke who, as he has shared in the email above, willingly and happily gives up some well-paying (but perhaps empty?) job for the sake of going out to help others. Many, many of my peers here within Kechara have been doing the same thing for years now. From 5-figure salaries, fancy titles and a promising climb up the corporate ladder, these noble friends take a huge pay cut, give up all the shenanigans of titles/position/power and corporate glamour, and have joined the Dharma – a brand new career. It still warms my heart whenever I hear of someone joining Dharma full time and committing to a career, nay a lifetime, of working to benefit others. What could be a better “job” than that!
In Asia, this is quite a difficult thing to do – you aren’t considered successful unless you have a fancy title on a namecard, the backing of a multinational company, a matching car/apartment/credit card and most of all, an impressive salary package. We are fighting the tide here, in a society where people regard social work, charities and religion something you turn to only when you have failed in everything else in your life.
What a myth that is – from the few years I’ve been here, I’ve seen only winners emerge from the work they are doing. These are real heroes – people who push way beyond their limits, open up their hearts entirely to others, dare to confront their fears, wounds and insecurities, overcome them and go onwards to doing more more more.
Real courage can be seen in people like Duke, who has left all the prestige of the “outside” world for the sake of others; who has left the comforts of America to live in India for months and work with the monks. People like Duke and my very own Kechara colleagues show me that real courage is giving it all up and not even knowing where you might end up; but also knowing that something or someone else out there is worth that “sacrifice.”
Terima Kasih Rinpoche!
This is yet another great story for me to ponder on…
It is not easy to do ‘renunciation’ when in the eyes of this world and even to one’s family, to explain such life changing decisions..
‘What??? I invested in your education and you FAIL ME????’
‘What about FAMILY LINEAGE? Don’t you care?’
‘What about marriage? What about giving me a grandchild!!’
‘Yeah RIGHT! You care more about the homeless than your own home!’
‘You’re out of your marbles?’
‘Is that your latest high?’
‘Is that a cult you’re into?’
And it goes on…and many are the stories where they are deemed as social rejects/misfits …
I salute ya Duke, I salute ya!
Duke. What can i say… a very kind soul that think of benefitting others first. Knew him through Rinpoche’s blog about what he did and all here http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/03/hope-house-and-dukehelp-themplease.html and we become friend in FB(facebook).
And now he is in India to teach English to the sangha is so meritorious. Leaving all samsara’s commitment to benefit the sanghas. Not many laypeopel would do these, he is a one of a kind. What he did now is exactly what Rinpoche wanted to do last 12 years, teaching English to the sangha if i’m not mistaken, from Rinpoche’s latest talk. It will definitely benefit the sangha and eventually benefit everyone around the world.
Would like to wish Duke a very happy life there!