By Gelek Rimpoche
I had a very successful trip to Malaysia and Singapore at the end of this summer. I would like to send my apologies and regrets to the people in Penang that I couldn’t make it this year. Hopefully I will visit you soon. I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew for providing me a beautiful residence and meeting space in his 6-star hotel, Palace of the Golden Horses.
As I was writing this, I asked myself, “successful? What is the measure of success? What is meant by it and how do you determine it?” During my visit to Malaysia and Singapore, individuals came and told me that the teachings have been extremely helpful. Some say they struggle on the path, some say they struggle in the dharma, and some say they struggle in life. So for me being told that the teachings are extremely helpful is the measurement of some signs of success. Otherwise how do we measure success? By the bucketful? The handful? By the tons?
Since some people asked me whether the teachings were good, I asked myself what ‘good’ or ‘successful’ means. Other than determining for myself what I consider ‘good’ and ‘successful’, it is not for me to judge whether they were good teachings. I think it is meant for each and every individual who attended the teachings to judge for themselves.
