Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

28 Sep

The first time I heard of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? was over seven years ago because I was introduced to it by Tsem Rinpoche. He seemed to love the dramatic acting of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Rinpoche would love to get into character and act out Bette Davis’ character with key scenes from the…

Great Olympic Courage…

7 Aug

I have not been following the Olympics at all. However, I saw a post on this Olympic hurdler, Liu Xiang who was once a great champion but was unable to perform in the last Olympics due to his injury. His story was quite touching and one of the most memorable stories of this Olympics. He…

Conversations In Love

31 Jul

Omigawd!  What a crazy exciting month! I haven’t been blogging much because so much is happening in the  organisation. Just fresh of the printing press was Tales My Lama Told Me and now, Conversations In Love. Well, this conversation book was born out of an instruction from Rinpoche to me and I am glad that…

Tales My Lama Told Me

16 Jul

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…

Lost In Space

28 Jun

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…

The Impetus

23 Jun

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…

Jigger & Pony

18 Jun

With a name that evokes the bar-tending  stainless steel cup (I learnt this from Wikipedia), my cousin’s new cocktail bar was something to behold. I just learnt of its existence from my cousin, Khai Yan, just 2 weeks back. It was apparently, a neat little collaboration between my cousin Guo Yi and her boyfriend, Indra. We…

My Mother

5 Jun

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…

How Tsem Rinpoche Came To Malaysia…

26 May

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…

Thank You Emilio O.Lopue.

23 May

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…

A Portrait of Rinpoche’s Mother

15 May

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’…

The Tale of the Fighter Pilot

9 May

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…

My Favourite Pictures of Rinpoche

7 May

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…

Clowning around with Rinpoche

5 May

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….

The Shopping Experience

3 May

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…

Rinpoche’s Take On Liz Taylor

1 May

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…

Kechara Forest Retreat @ Chamang

12 Apr

(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…

Utterly Useless Post About New Glasses

29 Mar

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…

Rich Dad, Renunciate Son

27 Mar

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…

The Scream

23 Mar

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…

Morning Ritual

20 Mar

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…

Herbs and Spices for Offerings?

19 Mar

(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…

New Set of Wheels

15 Mar

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…

Yesterday’s Boyband…

7 Mar

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…

Death Dreams

6 Mar

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…

Late Review of the Oscars…

3 Mar

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,…

The Talking Post – The Big Fish

1 Mar

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…

Of Crazy Wisdom & Spiritual Guides

28 Feb

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…

Reading List

27 Feb

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…

My Office Shrine

23 Feb

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…