The Indoor Relic Stupa is the first and most important milestone of the Tsem Rinpoche Relic Stupa Project. Standing 8-feet tall, the Stupa is completely handmade from 999 silver and adorned with 24k gold and precious stones.

The interior of the Stupa enshrines Rinpoche’s precious white relic pills and holy remains. The remaining space is filled in the traditional manner with hundreds of thousands of mantras, tsatsas and holy items.

Sited on an idyllic field in Kechara Forest Retreat, the 20,000 square-foot Tsem Rinpoche Relic Temple comprises of:

1. The 20ft Outdoor Relic Stupa that enshrines Rinpoche’s precious white relic pills and holy remains.
2. The 15ft Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen Stupa that enshrines Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s precious relics and those of his incarnations.
3. The 7ft Tsem Rinpoche Statue, a larger than life likeness of our beloved spiritual guide.
4. The 7ft Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen Statue, the erudite master who arose as the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden.
5. The 3ft Incarnation Statues of all 24 of Rinpoche’s previous lives, as formally identified by Dorje Shugden.
6. The Tsem Rinpoche Incarnation Chapel, a ring-shaped two-storey permanent structure that houses the indoor reliquaries and statues, and the Wall of Merits, dedicated to everyone who has supported this project.
7. The Relic Temple grounds, a circular courtyard with landscaped gardens, outdoor seating, candle offering grottoes, circumambulation paths, prostration decks and quiet spaces for students and visitors to engage in prayer and practice.
8. 12-in Holy Reliquaries, crafted from 999 silver in the style of the Stupa of Enlightenment. They allow visitors to view and receive blessings from Rinpoche’s precious white relic pills and the relics of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen.

The first of its kind in Malaysia, the Relic Temple is more than just a tribute to the rich legacy left by Tsem Rinpoche. It is a sacred site filled with the enlightened energies of our precious guru and the lineage masters before him.

In the Buddhist tradition, the teacher is the source of blessings for our positive potential to ripen, the root for our spiritual activity and the enabler for us to gain attainments, even when the teacher is not with us. In the scriptures, it says that “if you petition the guru, you will achieve all good things and everything you desire in this life and the next.” This means that the sacred objects of worship in the Relic Temple are supreme sources of merits for all who visit Kechara Forest Retreat.

Most beneficial of all, the prayers and offerings made at the Relic Temple will generate the merits for Rinpoche’s next incarnation to manifest the great deeds of his previous lives, and for his work to grow even more.

An emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri, Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen was the erudite high lama who arose as the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden. It was always Rinpoche’s wish to construct a stupa of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen in order to create the causes for his incarnation lineage to flourish, which includes the lineage of Dorje Shugden. Rinpoche’s work for the growth of Dorje Shugden’s lineage was one of his greatest legacies. Thus, it is only apt to enshrine Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s stupa within the Tsem Rinpoche Relic Temple, given their undeniably close connection.

Standing 15-feet tall, the Stupa enshrines the precious relics of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen and his previous incarnations, including a piece of Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen’s robe (chogyur) which originated from the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet; and a piece of Panchen Sonam Drakpa’s robe and hat which originated from Trode Khangsar Chapel, also in Lhasa, Tibet.

The Stupa is casted from tin bronze and adorned with 24k gold leaf. The space inside the Stupa is filled in the traditional manner with hundreds of thousands of mantras, tsatsas and holy items. Upon completion, it was consecrated through elaborate pujas by high lamas and esteemed monks.

The Tulku Drakpa Gyaltsen Stupa is the only one of its kind in the world, and an incredibly important source of blessings and merits for everyone who makes offerings and prayers at this sacred site.

Each of Rinpoche’s previous lives made a tremendous impact on the preservation and growth of Buddhism, whether they were visionary teachers, meditating hermits, outrageous mahasiddhas, ruling emperors, or simply shining examples of guru devotion and perseverance in the face of adversities. Taken as a whole, they are a powerful reminder of what a single individual can achieve over lifetimes when their entire being is devoted to benefitting others through compassion and wisdom.

In honour of this sacred heritage, 3ft statues of Rinpoche’s twenty-four previous incarnations have been installed in the Relic Temple. These illustrious masters include erudite scholars, prolific translators, tantric adepts, lineage progenitors and even founding fathers of the various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, all of whom were formally identified and confirmed by Dorje Shugden via the Venerable 7th Panglung Oracle.

Each statue is a one-of-a-kind piece, sculpted from clay then casted in copper and tin bronze, and filled with thousands of mantras, images of the enlightened beings and holy items.

The Outdoor Relic Stupa is the main spiritual monument of the Tsem Rinpoche Relic Temple. Standing 20-feet tall, the Stupa enshrines Rinpoche’s precious white relic pills and holy remains. Other sacred items of the lineage masters have also been placed within the Stupa including:

• Relics of His Holiness the 4th Panchen Lama – A piece of his mala string
• Relics of Pabongka Rinpoche – His blessing pill
• Relics of Trijang Rinpoche – Pieces of his robe & blessing pill
• Relics of Zong Rinpoche – Pieces of his robe & blessing pill
• Relics of Zemey Rinpoche – His blessing pill
• Relics of Gangchen Rinpoche – His blessing pill
• Relics of Domo Geshe Rinpoche – His blessing pill
• Relics of Denma Gonsa Rinpoche – Pieces of his hair, robe & blessing pill
• Relics of Lati Rinpoche – A piece of his robe
• Relics of Kensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche – Pieces of his hair, nail, robe & mala bead
• Relics of Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen – His hair
• Relics of Gen Nyima Rinpoche – His mala bead

The Stupa is precision-cut from solid granite and adorned with handcrafted gold ornaments. The interior is filled in the traditional manner with hundreds of thousands of mantras, tsatsas and holy items. Upon completion, it was consecrated through elaborate pujas by high lamas and esteemed monks.

This beautiful Outdoor Relic Stupa is the first of its kind in Malaysia and one of very few in the region. It is an incredibly important source of blessings and merits for everyone who makes offerings and prayers at this sacred site. Most significantly, the Stupa will help Rinpoche’s students and followers create the energy and merits to swiftly draw Rinpoche’s unmistaken incarnation back to Kechara Forest Retreat.

The Tsem Rinpoche statue is one of the main objects of veneration in the Relic Temple.

Standing 7-feet tall, this larger-than-life statue will be sculpted from clay in Rinpoche’s likeness then precision-casted from tin bronze. The interior of the Statue will be filled in the traditional manner with Rinpoche’s holy remains in the form of blessed relic tsatsas, alongside hundreds of thousands of mantras, statues of the enlightened beings and holy items. Upon completion, it will be consecrated through elaborate pujas by high lamas and esteemed monks.

We hope that this lifelike statue of Rinpoche will serve as a reminder of our beloved guru and his precious teachings, as a source of blessings and inspiration for his devoted students around the world, and as a commemoration of Rinpoche’s extraordinary life and deeds as a humble Buddhist monk, prolific author, beloved spiritual guide and Dharma pioneer.