Writing

Tales With My Lama: Why Rinpoche Has To Suffer

18 Mar

One of the questions that might come to mind while reading His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche’s biography is why does a high lama like Rinpoche have to endure so much abuse, problems and obstacles? Interestingly, it was Rinpoche himself who admitted thinking along this line before I even thought about it. At times, Rinpoche wondered aloud why an…

Appearance as a Meal Ticket

1 Jul

Appearance is  important to most people including myself. But I do come across people who prioritise it above all else. I guess I am in no position to judge people’s priorities in life but from a few people I personally know, I can see very clearly how things don’t really work out. In this world that…

Old Statue of Dorje Shugden

1 Jan

This old and quaint statue of Dorje Shugden is one of the many exhibits in the Mongolian museum of antiquities. I was told of a very special story of this Dorje Shugden statue from a monk-friend of mine. Apparently, this statue receives a lot of silk-khata offerings from the visitors to the museum. This was strange…

Pilgrimage Through India & Nepal

1 Dec

I wrote this travelogue of my recent trip to Serpom and Nepal for http://www.tsemrinpoche.com/ Since my mother had passed away earlier this year, H.E. Tsem Rinpoche advised me to take my dad on a holiday. He suggested several countries like India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand and so forth. Rinpoche said that we should go to these places…

Alexandrite Dharma

7 Jun

Earlier this year, I was invited to have dinner with Rinpoche, Pastor Seng Piow, Albert and Pastor Niral Patel. It was a fun occasion with Rinpoche and as always, casual dinner and light conversation was always infused with Dharma one way or another. This was no different. We had dinner and in between lots of…

Encountering Dorje Shugden

27 May

The first time I have ever heard of Dorje Shugden’s name was when I had the fortune to visit Tsem Rinpoche’s house more than a decade ago. I had just gotten to know Rinpoche long enough that he would invite me over to his place. At that time, Kechara House was not established yet. I…

My new promo video…

10 May

There you go… What do you think of my new video? Actually, it was your Jean Mei, the producer who suggested that the advert should be about me, which I protested initially as I really didn’t want to go on screen. My initial idea was to have another person on screen to read my book and…

Wanna hear a real ghost story?

19 Apr

I am not psychic and so, I don’t have the ‘third’ eye to see spirits like the way some people do. I guess I just happen to be in the wrong place and in the wrong time. The first time, I ever saw a ghost… a REAL ghost mind you – was when I was…

Norwegian Double-headed Troll

2 Mar

Tsem Rinpoche sent me these pictures of a 9 inch statue of double-headed troll from Norway. He said it looks pretty realistic and went on to tell me a little bit about Norwegian folk beliefs in Trolls. Rinpoche said that the trolls that live in Norway can be scary, friendly, helpful, temperamental and so forth….

My Attempt at Animal Love

3 Oct

Let’s be honest. I am not really a great animal lover. However, I love Zamkar. He’s an all-white Schnauzer that belongs to Paul, my housemate and confidante. Naturally, they are both in the picture above that I recently took of them. Zamkar loves it when daddy tickles his tummy and when he does that, Zamkar…

Relationship Woes

8 Jul

Well, I have a friend who had been in a relationship with a girl for few years now and apparently, they had a rocky relationship from the beginning. They tried to give a shot at it for far too many times and this was my friend’s diagnosis of it. From day one, the girl had…

The Russian Princess Who Became A Nun

16 May

      Zina Rachevsky as a Hollywood actress in 1953 The legendary Zina Rachevsky was the earliest Western student and patron of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Everything about her including her royal heritage had become legendary. Her family was incredibly wealthy to begin with. Her grandfather established SW Straus & Co. that…