Every little bit counts

Sometimes, volunteering at the outlets doesn’t mean a whole day full of big sales and inspiring every customer towards Enlightenment forever! Sometimes, the days that I volunteer at the outlets are very quiet and volunteering means helping the store manager to clean shelves, clear stock or run out to buy supplies for the store.

Sometimes, I admit, I wonder if maybe I’m not being useful enough. On those days when the cash till moves slowly, it can be frustrating and you wonder what you’re doing there. I’ve come to learn though, that every little bit helps, even if you are polishing endless numbers of glass shelves, or running out to buy flowers for the in-store altars.

Our Lama, H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche reminds us constantly that the four Dharma outlets are extensions of our temple, mini gateways that introduce Dharma and a happy spiritual path to all the countless people out there in Malaysia and the region.

To volunteer some of our time there therefore, is not merely just about working for a few hours in a shop, but about serving the temple directly. When you clean the shelves, you are beautifying and wiping dust away from a special, sacred place – the very spot which may inspire somebody towards the beginnings of their own Dharma practice, or relieve someone’s sufferings.

And we mustn’t forget all the many, many, many beautiful Buddha images all over the store! Every little bit of help can be offered up to the many Buddhas there, with a personal prayer that our work can somehow benefit and inspire others – the shelves are not merely displays but mini, 21st-century altars where the Buddhas bring their Dharma to the new world.

Also, by pitching in and doing whatever needs to be done at the outlet – no matter how small it may seem ­– you contribute towards partially relieving the workload of the full time staff and managers there so that they can spend more time talking to customers and sharing Dharma with them on the days that you are not there. All of it, I believe, contributes directly towards making it as easy and accessible as possible for people walking into our stores to get Dharma!

Ultimately, we must remember that the purpose of all departments and branches within the Kechara family is to share Dharma and bring benefit to others. In this way, they are all part of the temple, and volunteering our time in each department is equally important as any other.

And what better place to start than the outlets, where any level of skill, effort and time contributes directly towards having an impact on anyone who walks through the store doors.

When volunteering is just about being yourself

Ok, I’ll be real honest. I love, love, love Gaden and working at the outlets is a small way of service to them but if we’re being really honest, I totally suck at sales. The Buddhas are compassionate though, they never stop smiling and I think that just by virtue of being around them, I am very slowly getting better.

Then again, it isn’t and never has been purely about the sales. Rinpoche encourages us to volunteer some of our time at the outlets as a precious opportunity to flex our Dharma muscles and put what we learn into practice. This is all about sharing the Dharma that we hold as so precious. After all, what good is it to talk endlessly about how much Rinpoche and the Three Jewels have benefited us if we can’t even share it or show it?

I have found that one of the best ways of sharing the Dharma is just to be there at the outlets. Visitors to the store are often happy to discover that our volunteers are not just little, old, retired aunties with nothing better to do. It is young Little Miss Chatterboxes like Suzan Ng who really know their stuff and talk in a way that shows she cares more about the person than the sale.

I was volunteering not long ago at Yogini Mystical Treasures with Suzan when a couple and their daughter-in-law dropped in to the store. They didn’t buy anything but were incredibly excited and interested in talking to us about Dharma. Suzan and I must have been a sight – Suzan in her colourful clothes and a dozen Buddha pendants around her neck, and me in a loud, swirly tube top.

The man looked at us and said, “How come you are both so young, you dress like that and you’re Buddhist?!” It sounded like something straight out of the examples that Rinpoche often gives us. We explained that it was precisely because we are “like this” that embodied the spirit of Rinpoche’s teachings, which are all about practising Dharma without compromising who we are.

They were intrigued and very happy to learn that young people can be spiritual too. They kept gesturing and saying to their daughter-in-law that she should go check out our centre and we invited them to a Dharma teaching that was happening that very weekend.

Unfortunately, they didn’t make it but another valuable lesson learnt during my time at the outlets is that though we do encourage people into Dharma, we also shouldn’t beat ourselves up if they don’t appear at our centre’s doorstep the very next day. What is most satisfying and happy is knowing that we’ve created a connection with them, made new friends and given some parents the hope that it’s always possible for their children to follow a spiritual path also.

Much of it entails just being yourself – young, old, girls, guys, crazy, subdued, talkative, flamboyant – because, as Rinpoche always says, “there’s always more of us than there are of them,” and that is the best way to inspire people to bring Dharma into their lives, just the way they – and we - are.