There's No Way But Up

I had always loved the way Rinpoche told a story. I could sit there for hours listening and be enthralled by the amazing experience. His words always seem to draw me into his magical world of devotion, passion and power. His experiences are not an arbitrary experience with people and place but an incredible chain…

I just received this beautiful copper Mala (prayer beads) from Emilio O.Lopue. Jr, a Philipino boy who is studying in Renmin University in Beijing. I found out that he is an avid follower of Rinpoche’s blog, as well as my blog. I hope you are reading this and I just wanted to give a big shout out…

Just on the eve of Mother’s Day, I was up at Rinpoche’s residence, helping to move some fake trees into Rinpoche’s apartment. Yes, I know it is all sort of weird to do that but Rinpoche loves trees and being in the forest. So he has gotten quite a few fake trees arranged and ‘planted’…

I was at Rinpoche’s residence last night and he called me up along with Paris, Bryan, Ethan, Jean Ai and Jean Mei. We were going to bring up trays upon trays of glorious Wesak Day gifts for rinpoche to go through, one-by-one. Yes, Rinpoche would go through every single note, letter, card and gift. They…

Rinpoche is unusually photogenic although there are many times, I think the pictures’ don’t really reflect his real life charisma and powerful presence. We just celebrated Wesak Day here in Malaysia and we celebrated it here in Kechara House with a series of events, a fish liberation event in the morning, a baby blessing in…

Rinpoche had for the longest time been affectionately calling us clowns because of the way we work and conduct ourselves. It just makes him laugh when we do thinks in fixed ways and we expect a different result. Hence, we were clowns. So, I cleverly bought a court jester hat one day to amuse Rinpoche….

Yesterday was one of those rare days that Rinpoche decided to go shopping. It seemed to be a spur-of-the-moment decision that was typically of Rinpoche. Now, shopping is not exactly a favourite pastime and unless he was shopping for someone, he would have to drag himself out of bed. He dreads the mall crowds and…

Two evenings ago, I rendezvoused with Tsem Rinpoche at a neighbourhood Italian restaurant for dinner with Seng Piow, Bryan and Ethan. I just had Minestrone soup (because I already had dinner) while the rest had pasta or salads. Then, we adjourned to Wendy’s next door for dessert – French fries and baked potatoes (not exactly the healthiest…