There's No Way But Up

Just a couple days ago, I was with Rinpoche, Pastor Moh Mei, Pastor Jean Ai, Pastor Niral, William and Jean Mei and we were cruising towards West Hollywood. It was late and so the only thing that was still opened was this rainbow bookstore on Santa Monica. After browsing, shopping and taking touristy pictures, we…

Last night, I was with Rinpoche when I heard that my friend’s mom was passing away. I had arranged for my friend to call Pastor Yek Yee to help him with the final rites. Rinpoche heard and immediately came out with this wonderful and simple prayer to Kuan Yin/Avalokiteshvara. It seems my friend had a…

I used to think like Homer hehe… When I was 5, I hated eating vegetables. My mum used to tell me to eat my carrots as they gave me good eyesight. But I told her that was not a rabbit. I was no Bugs Bunny. Back then, I was this nasty little carnivore. Nevertheless, she…

Dear People who are karmically connected with me, As you know I love beautiful mountains, dwellings in the mountains. Pastor Seng Piow on his own initiative has been just looking through various beautiful properties. Some are just breathtaking and when I see something beautiful I just want to share with others whom I feel might…

Last night, Tsem Rinpoche, Pastor Seng Piow and myself went down to Walmart to do some shopping for offerings and batteries after dinner. Walmart was 24 hours so we didn’t have to rush and worry about closing time. Like other Walmart outlets, this one was huge with wide aisles and long line of shelves that…

Well, I love stories and was told quite a few in the last few weeks with Rinpoche. Some of which, I have never heard before and some of which Rinpoche had already told and was even recorded onto YouTube. I shall try to recollect the stories I have been told for posterity sake. There was…

Just two nights ago, Tsem Rinpoche asked Pastor Jean Ai, Pastor Niral and myself, which statue we would pick out of a selection of Amitabhas, Chenrezigs and White Taras. I pondered for awhile and finally, I forced myself to pick Tara. It’s a difficult choice! It’s not that I am so holy but I am…

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche was known to be an accomplished debater and Tantric master who developed occult powers due to his meditational practice.  Kyabje Zong Rinpoche is Tsem Rinpoche’s root Guru and is one of the greatest masters to have escaped Tibet after the Tibetan exodus into India. In the late 1980s, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche arrived…

All stimuli that serves to excite or disgust are based on lack of true permanence therefore only exist in a projected manner. Tsem Rinpoche http://www.tsemrinpoche.com  Recently on facebook, I was asked by Rinpoche to elaborate on this quote for the benefit of Victor Choi. This teaching was recently given to a bunch of students who…

Recently, Tsem Rinpoche shared another powerfully intellectual and yet practical teaching regarding the difference between the perception of an ordinary being and that of the Buddha or an enlightened being. I transcribed it for your reading pleasure. It’s a good thought-provoking read and if you have any questions, you can pop me one and I…

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche offering sticks into the fire – mouth of the deity.  Here’s another set of teachings that Tsem Rinpoche recorded on his phone and sent to a few people including myself. It was all about fire pujas also known as Jinsek in Tibetan. It took me quite a bit of time to transcribe…

A very old statue of Vajrayogini at a shrine in Nepal A week ago, Tsem Rinpoche forwarded a bunch of audio messages that formed an advice given to an old friend. It seemed that this person had made plans to fly over to the monastery to seek out his aging lama in order to request…

Awhile ago, I was involved in this project to film some really cute instructional videos of how to care for Tsem Rinpoche’s mumus. Mumu is Rinpoche’s term of endearment for his little cute Schnauzers. They were homemade videos so they are a little jerky but they are nonetheless, very cute. The videos are taken of…

Kechara recently celebrated the ordination of new Buddhist Pastors and the renewal of existing Pastors in our very own Wisdom Hall at Kechara Forest Retreat. I couldn’t make it…. Boohoo! Anyway, I heard that it was a simple affair but steeped in the Buddhist tradition of taking upasaka vows or layman vows. This is the 3rd…

Just a few days ago, I was with Rinpoche sitting in front of his Manjushri altar. As the picture above shows, the dominating icon is this large wooden statue of Manjushri with a thousand arms fanning out around him in a complete circle. There were of course various other smaller forms of Manjushri and exotic…

I took these photos a couple of weeks back on my phone when Rinpoche took us out for supper. We had just watched Star Trek and we were just enjoying supper. As usual, Rinpoche was cracking really funny jokes and posing really uncomfortable but hilarious questions at Moh Mei. There were several uproars and I…

Caring for animals is linked to the Buddhist teaching on compassion. It is obviously a physical expression of compassion and one of the noblest because unlike humans, animals are basically unable to reciprocate kindness. And that’s one of the reasons why Tsem Rinpoche encourages people like me – a typical self-absorbed, self-centered modern individual to…

Audience room of Tsem Ladrang. One of the most commonly asked questions when I am explaining about Tsem Rinpoche and Kechara is the question what is a ladrang? Well, the standard answer is that a ladrang is basically the Guru’s residence. However, it is not just the place from which the Guru lives, it is…

I am not sure if you had noticed this before but I have. Over the years, I have witnessed Rinpoche snapping his fingers just as he ascends onto his teaching throne. You know what’s funny? I used to think it was a signal for us clowns (Rinpoche’s term of endearment for us spiritual infants) to…

Well, I wanted to blog about something and I had no clue whatsoever as usual. So, I  just started to browse through some old pictures hoping to glean some inspiration and I came across a series of photos that I had taken with my old phone and I thought, hey, these would make an interesting…

Well, its about time I blog about my new book, Tales My Lama Told Me. I enjoyed working on it although it took way too long to come out with this book. Can you believe that I started working on this book way before I even began writing There’s No Way But Up? The idea…

While I was working in the Ladrang assisting Tsem Rinpoche as an attendant, one of things we used to do was to watch hours of TV.  Mind you, it was not the ordinary crappy TV shows on air nowadays but classic TV series from his childhood. He ordered those from Amazon and they came in…

I was with Rinpoche just 2 nights ago and he was talking about a lot of things including the pressures that he was facing. He was in tears talking about it and as he talked, he turned to face his computer and played a song on YouTube. A wave of nostalgia swept through him as…

Over the weekend, I was down in Singapore with my parents and Paul. I haven’t had the opportunity to spend so much time with my ma in a long time. It was a nice short car trip down to the island nation of immaculate streets and drab buildings. My ma loves Singapore and we were…

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’…

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…