There's No Way But Up

Bigfoot Dreams To the scientific community, Bigfoot is nothing more than a myth, or more accurately described as a cryptozoological creature. This means that this creature does not exist to the scientific community due to a lack of substantial evidence that proves its existence, despite a growing number of eyewitness accounts, footprint castings and so…

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…

Pastor David has been a student of His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche for over 15 years and within the ‘Tales With My Lama’ series of articles, he explores his spiritual relationship with Rinpoche, sharing anecdotes, stories, observations and little Dharma nuggets. It is all told to inspire others for their own spiritual relationship with their teachers….

I have a gilded statue of Manjushri that sits on a small altar on my desk. I had just offered incense to it when it inspired me to write this piece . This statue is a 9-inch Nepali crafted figurine that became a part of my shrine a little over 14 years ago. What makes…

(Top to bottom): H.H. the 7th Panchen Lama, Ucheyma (Severed Headed Vajrayogini), Vajra Varnani (green assistant), Vajra Vairocani (yellow assistant), Dorje Shugden and Citipati.  (By Tsem Rinpoche and Pastor David Lai) Dear all,  I thought I share the article I wrote with the assistance of the other writers in my department. The result of this…

My furry little white housemate Zamkar is 14 years old and that’s 98 years in doggy years. Although he is a perpetually youthful looking little fella but he has cataract in his right eye. In fact, Paul Yap his owner could not bear to have Zamkar put under the knife for this so he became…

This post was somewhat inspired by a discussion we had with Swee Keong in Kechara Forest Retreat last Thursday. We were discussing about an aspect of the teachings on self-grasping based on what Rinpoche shared with some students. Swee Keong delved a little into the concept of emptiness from what I gathered. He spoke about…

I was doing a reading of my book ‘Tales My Lama Told Me’ to a live audience, which was also screened live onto Facebook a week ago. Rinpoche’s birth and formative years had many aspects of what you would call a fantastic story of a high lama, from the miraculous dreams that Rinpoche’s mother had…

At Kechara Forest Retreat, we have a group blog discussion every Thursdays evening and recently, we have been discussing on  the topic of devoting to a spiritual teacher. Somewhere in mid-discussion, someone asked how can we convince people of the existence of karma and the next life. That was a pretty interesting question and I took…

Rinpoche had a commissioned a series of thangkas and amongst them was one that depicted Dorje Neljorma Uchedma – the severed head goddess. She is an awe-inspiring figure who graphically decapitates herself only to release three jets of blood that falls into her own mouth as well as two other attendant figures. Rinpoche called for…

It was early Friday morning and I was just wrapping up on some work here in Kechara Forest Retreat (KFR) when H. E. Tsem Rinpoche called Pastor Jean Ai, Pastor Niral Patel and myself into his room. Rinpoche spoke about a few things and midway through the conversation, he told us that he would like…

  I have included here an explanation on tantra that I wrote as part of an article for the Indian Hirapur Yogini Temple on tsemrinpoche’s blog. I thought it was a neat little rough outline of the Tantric path. Rinpoche also gave us a profound  explanation of Vajrayogini, the yidam and the preparation to receive tantra….

It’s good to bring your pets and older people to circumambulate around Buddha statues and stupas to collect merit. It will plant Dharma imprints and merits for their future rebirths.   Every morning when it is cool around 7.30am, I would take a walk while carrying my mala around Kechara Forest Retreat where I work. I…

Recently, we saw North and South Korea leaders met in a peaceful manner in order to sign the historic end of the Korean War. In Malaysia, we see the change of government from the leading Barisan Nasional to the coalition Pakatan Harapan party for the first time in Malaysian history. Anyway, the point of this…

As part of the writers’ team, a few of us (Pastor Niral, Pastor Jean Ai and Beatrix) get to meet Rinpoche on a regular basis to discuss the latest happenings and work assignments. Then, there are days that are spent with Rinpoche just watching what would seemingly be random movie snippets and documentaries. Rinpoche is…

Me and my dad in Nepal on a pilgrimage in 2016 My father passed away several weeks ago and I was fortunate because I had the opportunity to be by his side for several weeks prior to his passing. My father had jaundice due to advance stage of cancer and the doctors basically said it…

One day, Rinpoche was looking at a statue of Buddha Nageshvaraja and he asked me if I remember the circumstances in which Rinpoche had first laid eyes on this Buddha. I took a few moments to ponder but in the end, my memory failed. So, Rinpoche took some time out to tell his story again. It was…

I was thinking to tell another ghost story really but I realize that the rest of my stories of that of sleep paralysis that some say that it is a medical condition. I remember the first time I experience sleep paralysis was back in my old house in Taman Mayang, where it was a single…

I have been wanting to blog about a recent reading and sharing of ‘The Way of the White Clouds’ by Lama Anagarika Govinda. The book tells the story of the author’s meeting with the great hermit-lama Domo Geshe Rinpoche. Rinpoche asked me to read the chapter, ‘A Lama’s Vision’ and we were all soon transported to another…

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…

“As a Buddhist, we MUST set aside some food for the 3 Jewels. That’s part of our refuge commitments.” I was told that and immediately, I pictured a divine finger up in the sky pointing at me in accusation, “How come a pastor like you is not doing what you are suppose to be doing?”…

A Tibetan play on the life of Atisha Well, I guess most people online would have met Tsem Rinpoche online via the blog, youtube teachings or via making a purchase on vajrasecrets.com. I met Tsem Rinpoche in the gym, lol! My very first lessons from Rinpoche was how to lift weights correctly. You gotta do…

Just last month, I gave a talk at Wisdom Hall to a Valentine’s Day audience about romance and actually getting it right. I am not really quite the person to go for romantic problems but I have this book that wrote about that was based on Rinpoche’s teachings. Each chapter is based on a vow…

Zamkar just turn 13 years and that’s 91 in doggy years. For dogs in general, you multiply 7 to get their age in doggie years. Zamkar is one old chap but still very much a baby, according to his dad, Paul Yap. Fortunately, he is very healthy and has no health worries. Paul and his…

I remember sharing this anecdote of Naropa with Rinpoche a while ago and he was ecstatic to read it. He said Naropa is definitely amongst his most favourite Mahasiddhas and he definitely would have wanted to meet Naropa if that was possible. I think I know why. Rinpoche’s sense of devotion to his teachers are…

Rinpoche recently commissioned a beautiful statue of the Buddha holding a flower in his hand and I was fascinated and I thought a did a little google to find out the basis and was pleasantly surprised to find its connection with the account that sparked the formation of the Chan/Zen lineage.  Within Chan (Zen) Buddhism,…

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…

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…

In the Western world, people are led to believe that the Devil is in the form of a horned man with shaggy legs and cloven hooves for legs. This is the archetypal image of the devil that has descended through Christianity and its imagery can be seen everywhere in movies, books, artwork and across frescoes…

Recently, I was asked this question and I felt daunted at the scope of the question but I decided to come up with a good short in-a-nutshell single paragraph answer. Somehow, it just grew but I did my best to ensure the answer was easy-to-understand and if you guys have any questions, do drop me…