David Lai Speaks At Interfaith Seminar!
David Lai was invited by Reverend Thomas George to participate in a seminar: RELIGION IN THE MARKETPLACE at the Swami Satyananda Memorial Lecture 2011 at the Pure Life Society earlier yesterday (16/7/2011, Saturday). This event, the 3rd in the series was jointly organized by The Pure Life Society and INSaF (Inter-faith Spiritual Fellowship).
David is a talented young writer and a great dharma teacher. He also has a huge interest in Buddhist iconography and is an avid collector of statues, thangkas, tsa tsas, paintings and any type of Buddhist art.
He has authored two books under Kechara Media & Publications (KMP) – his autobiography, There’s No Way But Up and Vajrayogini and Other Sacred Power Places in Nepal. His books have been gaining more and more popularity and I have heard many times that people say it has given them so much more insight into their relationship with their spirituality.
Apart from working in KMP, David also works in the Education Department of Kechara House. I hope he will be a young Buddhist Pastor later.
Other credits to David’s name include:
- Being featured on the NTV7 Breakfast Show with celebrity hosts, Daphne Iking and Nazrudin Rahman (Naz) together with another KMP writer Jamie Khoo (Paris) to talk about what life was like before they stepped onto a spiritual path and how Dharma has made a difference to their lives. The interview was centred largely around their books, There’s No Way But Up by David and Call Me Paris by Paris, and what makes them so different from other young people.
- Given a talk on Iconography of Buddha Statues
- Given a talk on Bodhisattva Vows
David has come a long way since he embarked on his spiritual path. I wish him well and may he continue to progress on his spiritual journey. May his leap forward be in great bounds in the future.
Tsem Rinpoche
The Theme of the Seminar: RELIGION IN THE MARKETPLACE
The market place in any society is supposed to reflect peace, oneness and fellowship with one another and with GOD. However, this space has become a controversial space in Malaysia due to religious misunderstanding and prejudices. Religious groups take different approaches on the questions of the function of religion in our society. However, it remains a fact that the public space, which is common to all people in any society, is denied when a single religion, or a single tradition or ideology within a religion seek to dominate the society. Such approaches deny the legitimacy of other streams and bent to marginalize the ‘other’ in the public space. It is in this context, we ask the questions: “What is the role of religion in the marketplace? How much do we have to exercise our religion in the marketplace? How far should we go? Are there boundaries? What should be the role of religion in the marketplace?”
Speakers
- Rev. Thomas George
- Ms. Zarina Nalla
- Mr. David Lai
- Mr. Haridas Nair
- Mr. Harbinbder Singh
Date and Venue: Saturday, 16 July 2011 at 3.30pm – 6.30 pm in The Pure Life Society
The speakers giving their presentations on the podium before an open discussion with the audience
David presenting a bouquet of roses to Reverend Thomas George to thank him for the invitation to the talk.
David presenting a bouquet of roses to Mother Mangalam on my behalf.
David talking with some of the speakers and their friends.
Or view the video on the server at: http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/ReligionInTheMarketPlacebyDavidLai.flv
Update: 21 August 2011
David Lai was again invited to participate in a sharing organized by Interfaith! Ms Geetha Madhavan, the executive assistant to Mother Mangalam, invited David to speak in the multi-purpose hall at Pure Life Society.
Hosting the Interfaith sharing was Dr Amir Farid, and on this occassion each speaker, representing the different faiths, spoke about the virtues of fasting. This topic is relevant as it’s the month of fasting for Muslims.
There were four other participants covering major religions such as Hiduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Baha’i, Islam… and David gave a short speech on the virtues of fasting from the Buddhist perspective.
Together with David was Paul Yap, Philip Yong and Su An Ngeow (Mr Ngeow’s daughter) who went to show their support. They recorded David’s speech… do watch it below and listen to what the Buddhist view is on fasting!
Tsem Rinpoche
David with Datin Paduka Mother Mangalam. She is the co-founder of Pure Life Society and also known as Malaysia’s Saint of the Poor.
Mother Mangalam gave David a gift on behalf of Pure Life Society for speaking that day.
Dr Amir Farid gave the opening speech and also shared on the virtues of fasting according to the Muslim faith.
Or view the video on the server at: http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/The-Virtues-of-Fasting-by-David-Lai.flv
Such sincere and genuine speech and reply David Lai gave! Excellent job more than well done!
Well done, David! Your motivation to spread your message across was well received by the audience. You were so genuine and sincere and you spoke with passion and an open heart!
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for the honour and privilege. Indeed, it has been a long road and an even longer one ahead. I have not always spoken with confidence as I do not possess many of the qualities that I speak about. However, I wish to get better and be beneficial to as many as I can.
My dear David,
You gave a talk at Manjushri class back in 2008, I was there, it was one of my first time coming to Kechara, it was a small group then, maybe 5 people, and you asked us to sit around you closely and you talked about your journey, you talked about Tsem Tulku Rinpoche and you talked about Buddhism.
You had impressed me then, your tenure, your confidence, your admiration for your Guru, your energy, I liked it very much.
That day I left thinking that it would be wonderful if I could have the same drive, if I could get close to a Guru myself.
That day I wanted to be you.
So thank you David.
Thank you to all well-wishes. I am glad you like my speech.
Syabas to our talented and up-coming and inspiring dharma teacher, David Lai, who was invited to represent Kechara House to speak at the interfaith seminar jointly organised by The pure life society and Insaf(Interfaith Spiritual Fellowship). It is said that Interfaith dialogue, gatherings, and meetings serve to increase understanding of each other religion, leading to peace and sincere harmony. As a result, love, acceptance and true spiritility is both created and strengthen amongst each other, no matter how different they are from each other. Religions should be used to encourage acceptances of any differences from each other, which ultimately will lead to peace, both inner and outer. As our Rinpoche has taught, whatever religion others are, we must respect; everyone has the right to be who they are, no one religion can cover the minds of all beings in this Universe!!!
Dear David,
Thank you for your sincere speech. You spoke with passion, you spoke with an open heart, and as always, you spoke in a simple, clear and direct manner that was easy to understand. You represented Kechara and what Rinpoche has taught you well. It was very easy to relate to you, as you were at ease, confident and you were yourself.
I like the fact that you started off with a quote from If Not Now When; and the quote was universal. It wasn’t talking about religion, but what religion can make you realise, what religion can make you achieve, and what everyone ultimately seeks – happiness; which you can gain, not from external sources, but internal realisations, strenghts and belief. Very nice.
Your speech touched me alot. Thank you for your effort and may you have many more opportunities to benefit others through sharing of your invaluable knowledge.
Thank you, Rinpoche, for posting this up, and nurturing all of us, as you have exemplified in David and the many students of Kechara.
Much care,
Carmen
Could you imagine a young and rich lad who used to go clubbing and thought a weekend without going to the night spots would not be a weekend is giving a talk with all the other honourable speakers from other faiths?
David, we are so proud of you, and I am sure your parents are too. What we witnessed here in David is that Dharma does benefit tremendously in a person’s life, by installing a mind set that understands reality so that we will not get carried away with ignorance.
I am looking forward to more dharma talks from you David.
Dear David,
Congratulations! Your speech is really wonderful. It’s really power packed.
What you said is so true and if one put in the effort, results will show.
I felt Mother Mangalam enjoyed your speech and admired your talents.
Well done!
Dear David,
CONGRATULATIONS! Your talk was filled with passion! It’s wonderful to use Rinpoche’s quotes at this talk to touch people’s hearts. I like it when you talk about our embodiment of our faith and how we can inspire others with our faith. And yes, you look like you are the youngest speaker present, and yet spoke with such confidence! Keep it up!
Thank you Rinpoche for posting this and sharing with us.