There's No Way But Up

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…

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…

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…

A week ago, Tsem Rinpoche told us a wonderful story of the 1000-armed Kuan Yin. He had just received a book called Words of Power by John Blofeld. The author of the book wrote about his journeys to Hong Kong and China and his studies of Buddhism. In this particular book, he wrote a story of the…

Last Christmas, which was nearly 4 months ago, I did a little Christmas Santa free giveaway of my books (http://www.davidlai.me/2013/11/26/christmas-surprise/). Interestingly, I received 4 requests and come 2014 New Year, I decided to fulfil them. My apologies for taking this long to blog about the winners of this little giveaway. The next time I do…

Hey guys, I have been busy writing scripts and filming of 11 videos that are meant to promote Kechara’s publications. The following pictures are those filming me in my apartment. The premise of this video is of me writing my books. And its not make belief guys… I do write my books in these comfy…

  Let’s just say I love books and bookstores although I don’t have that much time to read these days. I had always loved books. For as far as I could remember, the moment my parents brought me out to the mall for a weekend stroll, I would immediately gravitate to the bookstores. Well, that…

Picture taken from nickwinter.com I heard of fascinating stories of how rigorous and rewarding the monastic education system can be within Gaden monastery. So, I did a little bit of research to find out more about it. From what I know, the entire education system culminates with the Geshe examinations. Geshe is Tibetan derivative of…

A friend recently asked me what a Kangyur is and I gave her a brief explanation. So, to expand on that explanation, I did some research and here it is:- During the Buddha’s time, many of his disciples became arhats or great disciples that had achieved cessation of suffering through listening to the Buddha’s teachings….

   The superheroined Enigma or Tara Virango makes her appearance in the Spider-Man series. Comic book lovers from around the world would find this very interesting! The scriptwriters at Marvel Comics had adapted the popular Buddhist deity Tara into a superheroine character in an episode of the Spider-Man comics. It is interesting to see how…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

A Moleskine is basically the most expensive notebook in the world! Well I can’t vouch for that statement but it is the most expensive notebook in any bookstore in Malaysia. Only a few stationery shops carry these yummilicious notebooks. Well, this is not a paid advertisement although I wouldn’t mind if it became one. They…

One of my recent projects was to organise the launch of the cookbook, Eat Healthy, Daily. Li Kim (my boss) wanted it to be more than just a launch, she wanted it to be a platform to promote vegetarianism and turn the whole world green. Well, I wasn't really very keen with the idea as…

Everybody loves Christmas and I love the songs, the Christmas tree, the decorations, the sales, the holiday and of course the gifts. Some think it is all just commercialism and I agree too but that doesn't keep me from loving it. I don't own a Christmas tree but I guess liking it doesn't mean I…

Alas, Paris and Sharon Saw are back in KMP office today after a 3 week hiatus. Naturally, they were touring America like a rockstar troupe. Well, not everything is rock’n’roll as they were doing some serious interviews and research on Rinpoche’s background in America. The research, video footage, photos and contacts would lead to amazing…

1.  I recently had a nice interview with Jojo Struys in Kechara Paradise Bangsar store. She is a pretty girl, speaks well, is street-smart and seemed deeper than her makeup. It is part of StarProperty's efforts to have us in it with her talking about Buddhist art. I love Buddhist art, especially Tibetan Buddhist art….

Recently Kechara House has been engaging in a Lamrim recitation retreat to create the cause for the new Kechara House Gompa to arise. Just imagine KH1 and KH2 combined together to form into one massive temple in Sunwaymas! Yup, that’s whats going to happen in the near future. Such a massive project require certain pujas…

   It's time for another book reading session at MPH Midvalley. So instead of reading it to just a bunch of strange passerbys. I am asking all you folks out in cyberspace to come support me… Venue         :  Midvalley Megamall Date            :  Sunday, 30th May 2010…

(Just another one-of-a-kind piece that I wrote during creative writing class and it was inspired by a surrealistic picture of a girl rubbing lipstick all over her mouth) I think I am god-damn beautiful! I must be and I don’t believe what my mum tells me or any of my friends. They are just so…

Yes! I was on TV last Monday morning on NTV7's breakfast show! I was a nervous wreak but it turn out not too bad. At least I didn't fall flat on my face while talking. 

I know I have been lazy and not been blogging for the longest time. But that doesn't mean that I have not been doing stuff. I just had my media launch of my book at MPH Bookstores in One Utama…well 2 weeks ago. Here are some nice photos that Fang, KMP's designer, photographer and singer…

Today is the 3rd week of my creative writing course with Sharon Bakar. I missed last week because I was just plain stupid – no made up excuses to give.  However, today's class was very interesting. We were to first write a word to describe a feeling and then write a word to match the…

Yup, its me and my book again….

Look at me! These great fantastic advertisements are making my book famous at MPH! Yes, my book is making me, Rinpoche and KH more and more famous! Everybody trawling the malls, please buy my book! The sensor panels are at :- MPH 1 Utama  MPH Midvalley Megamall  MPH Subang Parade  MPH Sunway Pyramid  MPH The…