There's No Way But Up

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…

(Photo taken from Khong Jean Ai’s Facebook) Dear members and friends, We have acquired 35 acres in Chamang in a pristine wooded area. It is an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur and from our mother Kechara House centre in the city. I wanted a place in the woods (literally) where we can practice Dharma in nature with…

Recently, H. E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche took me out and my housemate, Paul and got us prescription glasses made for us. Paul got a pair of Oakley’s while mine was something else. Then I tried out Paul’s Oakley’s just for fun and Rinpoche really liked it. Amidst the flurry of choosing, we decided to get…

I have heard about the story of the billionaire’s son before but I have never actually read about it until Rinpoche blogged about this recently. I am quite amazed with the spirituality that this family displays although they are so wealthy, their spirituality is pretty much intact. The son is an heir to billions but…

I love horror movies and ghost stories but I would be scared shitless if they were good. For some strange reason, my fear doesn’t lessen my fascination with of the macabre. I love these stories although I was scared shitless. Anyway… A few days ago, I was telling Rinpoche a story of a particular real life…

I am out of ideas to blog so I am doing something silly like document my morning ritual before I head to work. Here in this picture, I just woke up and staring myself at my iPhone camera. I am not a morning person so I don’t look the least friendly. I apologize for that…

(I am not advocating Organic Green Tea with Jasmine but the use of teas, herbs and spices as offerings. Anyway, I love the packaging. Hehe!) We instinctively know that the herbs and spices have a healing effect on our body. Even some animals know that and would instinctively look for certain fruits, plants and shrubs…

Just got my new car! I traded in my old Savvy and got the latest “Lagi Best” Myvi. It was a slightly complicated process but it was done fairly quickly. I will leave the boring details out of this. At one point, I wanted just stick with the old car and hope it doesn’t explode…

Anybody remember these Irish lads? Well, I pretty much have forgotten about them until I was rummaging through my glove compartment for a CD to listen during rush hour traffic. I came across the Boyzone’s Greatest Hits CD and hastily inserted the CD into the player. Well, what blared out of the stereo was not…

Ever dreamt of death? I have. Well, it is not the sort of thing to talk about proudly but I have. I guess it is sort of nightmare but it is not an ordinary nightmare. Someone close to me died in the dream and when I woke up, I was really glad that it was…

Argh! Here is rundown of the Oscar list for the very interesting list of winners. It is not the whole list but the very important ones at the top. Got it from http://oscar.go.com/nominees Wish I had time to watch these movies though… Check it out! Best Picture The Artist Thomas Langmann, Producer (Winner!) The Descendants Jim Burke,…

I was invited to this The Big Fish event last month but I couldn’t make it. That was just too bad. I heard it was a lot of fun! It was an event where people just took the mic and told stories live while following a very simple theme. I found out too late as…

Chogyam Trungpa conjures up a lot of interesting imagery besides being a Dharma teacher. He’s married, he’s an eccentric, philosopher, womanizer, drunkard, artist… and the list goes on. Whatever he is, he’s definitely the product of his time. We must come understand him through his audience first. His very first circle of students came to him…

Yeah! That’s me reading and trying real hard to digest this very technical and deep book called “Tsongkhapa’s Praise for Dependent Relativity” by Lobsang Gyatso and Graham Woodhouse. It is an assignment from Tsem Rinpoche to read this book in a month and digest its entrails. Fortunately, it is only 123 pages long but it…

This is my little office shrine. It is a little quirky and little traditional, which kinda reflects me. I know it seems like a hodge-podge of mismatched devotional and decorative items put together into a space that I call my office shrine. I didn’t realized how it evolved into this but it just came together…

Disclaimer : This conversation is just a friendly discussion of the God creator-theory and I have no intentions to insult any God-fearing person. I found it thought provoking and so I have reproduced here with minimal editing for people to form their own conclusions.  Me :I don’t believe in God Friend : Oh… So you…

Birthday celebrations for most people are usually celebrated with a birthday cake, colourful balloons, shiny bright presents and a huge banquet just for the birthday boy/girl. Well, its Fang’s birthday and I was little late in blogging about this but anyway, here it is. Well, it began with a nice idea from Fang to have…

Welcome to pink city dubbed Jaipur. This is my first time here in Jaipur and I didn’t know what to expect. I came with Li Kim, my CEO boss and my favourite pink writer, Jamie Khoo. Coincidentally, both of them love pink and we are all now in pink city. Apparently, pink is the colour…

2012! New year and new beginnings. I was suppose to blog about this a whole lot earlier but I was too lazy and I got caught up with ‘things’. As I recall what I did last year, I am not altogether too happy with I had done. I know. I know. Nobody is surprised. I…

Justin Ripley from New Zealand, a dear friend passed away last week, just barely a day before his mother and brother came to visit him for Christmas. It was so sudden that it caught everyone by surprise. I was shocked when I found out. The first thing I heard was that he was brought to…

Li Kim and I flew to New Delhi from Kathmandu via Kingfisher Airlines. It was a pleasant flight as you can see the airport is state-of-the-art unlike the crummy Third World charm of the Kathmandu airport. I love the Mudra hand gestures the form the facade of the immigration hall. I think the same gestures are…

My flight was canceled and so I took the next flight to Kathmandu. Fortunately, the second flight was pretty smooth without much hiccups. After a few hours of sleep, I slide the cabin windows open as the captain announced that we will be reaching Kathmandu soon and we could see the snow-capped Mount Everest and…

Its the time of the year for travelling again… For work of course. I just got an email of my flight schedule. Usually, it would just be Nepal but this time, I am going to India as well. New Delhi to be exact and this is going to be my first time in Delhi. Will…

Seksualiti Merdeka (Sexuality Independence)! That’s the big clarion call for an annual festival of workshops, talks, film screenings and letter writings on the issues faced by the LGBT community. LGBT or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender is a broad term to describe the often heard but clearly misunderstood minority. This festival was started by brave folks –…

Look! I brought 3 new friends of mine to Kechara Soup Kitchen last Saturday. Huai Bin, Audrey and Timothy for a KSK run downtown last week. Yes, they are popular bloggers and I brought them because they wanted very much to experience the gritty experience of feeding the homeless and the destitute. As newbies, they filled…

It’s the time of the year again. It’s Rinpoche’s 46th birthday bash and in whole of Kecharadom, there’s no celebration bigger than this. Ok, this is very insider talk going on. But I am sure you know what I mean. Usually, Rinpoche would make his annual appearance at Kechara House Gompa to give an extensive,…

The maternal Tara is one the most widely revered within the old Indo-Tibetan Buddhist world. However, she is not as well-known within the earlier diffusion of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Even then, some Lamas proclaim that Kuan Yin (a popular Chinese Bodhisattva of compassion) as a manifestation of White Tara (one of the more popular forms…

I was in Penang last weekend for the launch of Kechara Soup Kitchen there. It was a relatively low key event but we were still graced by the Chief Minister of Penang, YAB Lim Guan Eng. He seemed rather down to earth, attending the event with his wife and son. It was nice, fair-weathered day,…