There's No Way But Up

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….

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

This is somewhat a controversial topic in itself but I think it does warrant to be mentioned. There are a lot of horny people out there. Being horny is not bad in itself (some may even consider it healthy) but when it has reached high levels of sexual addiction, it can be damaging. Addiction usually means we…

If you are a friend or student of H. E. Tsem Rinpoche, you would have heard or you had been an unwitting participant of a Pick Game. Naturally, I had been a part of this for many years now and naturally, the pick game exchanges of those involved – participant and audience would descend into belly-aching…

Tsem Rinpoche recently published in his blog a comprehensive sharing and explanation of Dorje Shugden. I am simply amazed by the scope in which Rinpoche spoke at length with regards to Dorje Shugden, the lineage that he had received and all its pertaining issues surrounding the ban on Dorje Shugden. I was there in the audience and I…

The magnificent Buddha statue in Bodhgaya that was believed to be carved in the Buddha’s likeness by a woman who actually beheld the golden face of the Buddha  During this Wesak period, I thought it would be nice to blog about the Buddha. After all, he is the founder of the faith that I profess…

Yesterday, I was hanging out with Rinpoche in his room and Pastor Jay Jae came walking in with a huge poster of the Himalayas (the exact picture is above here). He was going to mount the picture onto a frameless board. Unfortunately, the picture was a hue too dark and so the poster had to…

I have been away for 6 months in LA and people often ask me if I miss LA. Yes of course I miss LA but then again, its good to be back home in Malaysia and to be with familiar people. I guess, one of the more memorable places of my travels through Tinseltown (Hollywood/LA) was a…

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…

I have always known Nepal to be a beautiful and spiritual country. It is a nation full of old and powerful pilgrimage sites for Hindus and Buddhists alike. I have travelled there for like 6 times already over the last 10 years. However, behind the spiritual facade lies the heart of a very bloody tradition…

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…

I have been reading up on Buddhist view of homosexuality. Although the view on homosexuality was not clearly defined by the Buddha but was later defined by Indian masters as ‘sexual misconduct’ – one of the ‘karmic sins’ of the body. However, contemporary Buddhist masters like the Dalai Lama and others are prone towards 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…

Amidst the flurry of messages all over social media calling for people to pray for MH370 and various speculations as to what happened to the Boeing plane, there were some Buddhists telling people to “practice the Dharma while we can”. If you are Buddhist, you would instantly recognize the meaning behind this simple statement. If…

I had just watched this and I find this entertaining and interesting. At times, I couldn’t help myself from laughing at some of the remarks. Anyway, the video is about the negative feedback regarding an upcoming blockbuster movie featuring the life of Noah, one of the early prophets of the Bible. And because of this,…

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….

Christmas is coming around the corner and I love Christmas along with its pretty little presents. Before meeting the Dharma, I have always looked forward to receiving Christmas gifts. Well, I still treasure Christmas but I thought I be different this year. I thought I be a good little generous person and give some gifts…

America is hardly the place you would associate with the impoverished. After a whole decade of a stellar economy, America is really hitting it hard on a downward trend these days and this documentary highlights the lives of 3 different kids experiencing life in a bad economy. In all honesty, I feel for these kids……

My trusty current Samsung touchscreen Recently, I have been itching to change the gadgety gadgets that make my life go round. Well, before you jump to conclusions, I think I have pretty valid reasons. I currently own a Samsung Galaxy Note and a Apple MacBook Pro 17 inch. Both were wonderful gifts from Tsem Rinpoche…