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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

I recall Rinpoche first telling this story of a mahasiddha making offerings to his dakini teacher many years ago during a fantastic teaching called Gurus For Hire. Since then, Rinpoche had re-told this story a number of times and it never failed to fascinate me. Over the years, I tried to look for the story in…

In 2014, Tsem Rinpoche, myself along with Pastor Seng Piow, Pastor Jean Ai, JP and William were travelling up North California. We were on the freeway when Rinpoche saw the Mt Shasta signboard and we were all intrigued. Rinpoche decided to delay our travel plans for a few days and we veered off towards Mt…

Today is my late mom’s birthday and Rinpoche said that she had a strong affinity with Tara and so my dad, Paul, Zamkar (White Schnauzer) went to the Tara shrine on Kechara Forest Retreat to offer 21 candles, mantras and prayers to Tara there. Here are just some cute little pictures that we took with…

I have known about Bigfoot for the longest time since picking up my very first book on the paranormal when I was just a kid browsing through the library. I have to admit that I was not particularly fascinated with the notion of an elusive giant primate as compared to other topics like UFOs, ghostly…

I came across this article a year ago and had bookmarked it to read later. It was extremely fascinating to read of this seer the likes of Nostradamus. In Buddhism, clairvoyance to see into the future, past and present (in faraway remote places) is not impossible. In fact, when we become enlightened, we achieve omniscience to…

Today is Wesak day here in Malaysia and this is when Buddhists celebrate the birth, enlightenment and final parinirvana (passing) of Lord Buddha Shakyamuni. That is why I thought I do a little blog post on how to be a Buddhist and contrary to what some people think, it is not about offering joss-sticks, lighting candles…

Rinpoche had been working closely with a few of us on a number of projects. For Rinpoche, a project is not just a job. It is also a means by which Rinpoche is able to work with our internal issues simultaneously. It is obvious that all of us are heavily influenced by our parents during…

Hello people, its been awhile since I have blogged and I am just amazed that my blog views continue to increase. I guess they are mainly bots and trolls looking for a means to advertise. I get a ton of advert messages in my inbox. Anyway, I thought I start the year this time around on…

Recently, I saw someone asked this question on Facebook and then, I saw someone else post the meaning of life is to study hard, get a job, get married and have kids. My jaw dropped and there were a few exchanges back and forth with me sharing my feelings about the matter. I realize that…

Recently I was in New York and I had a little bit of free time and so, I did my best to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Met. I took a long walk from the the hotel where I was staying to First Avenue next to the lush trees of Central…

During the month of August, I found myself travelling to America for several spiritual appointments on the east coast. What was not planned was this road trip to Tsem Rinpoche’s stomping ground, Howell, New Jersey. I had taken plenty of pictures so you guys can have a glimpse of Rinpoche’s American upbringing. The cool thing…

August has been a fortunate month for me. Prior to that, I had just completed a 25,000 Migtsema retreat and midway, I was told that I would be part of an entourage who would be travelling to Italy to have audience with Kyabje Gangchen Rinpoche. Wow! I have never had the chance to have met…

I came across this little writeup by Frederick Law, a friend and fellow Kecharian on Facebook and I must say that it is pretty sound in his logic and relatively comprehensive. I share similar sentiments about this whole issue and I thought I share what this fellow Kecharian has to say about Rinpoche, lineage lamas…

I was reading Tulku Drakpa Gyeltsen’s story and when I reached the part where he was ordained as a monk, he was described to be like the second Upali. I googled only discover a lot about this student of the Buddha. He has quite an incredible story of one of the Buddha’s student. It showed…

Way back in 2012, I recall these 2 original cabin containers. sitting under these white canopies. The one on the left is where Rinpoche’s cabin is and the one on the right is Rinpoche’s assistant’s cabin. Rinpoche’s sacred cabin is not a focal point in KFR as a holy spot and from where everything began….

Beautiful statue of Yellow Manjushri with his gentle hands in the Dharmacakra mudra. Yellow Manjushri bestows the wisdom to teach/share the Dharma I love Manjushri! I think I got this infatuation from Rinpoche. But anyway, I do have to acknowledge the fact that any Buddha practice that helps me to be smart would be my…

I was with Rinpoche at a bookshop just the other day and he flipped through a Bhagavad-Gita and he came across a painting of a sadhu meditating in the jungle with a deity appearing next to him. Rinpoche said that this picture will always remind him of his childhood. He recalls drawing Buddhas and deities…

Recently, I was very fortunate to have received a beautiful thangka all the way from the United States. It was from Tsem Rinpoche who was pleased that I was doing a bit of teaching lately along with doing some other works. The thangka was unusual because it depicted the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) Sutra arising…

Recently in a Dharma discussion, a friend proclaimed that, “The Buddha had said that all of us have the right to question anything…” That didn’t sound quite right to me and so my mind race to find a rebuttal. I didn’t dare object something that was proclaimed by the Buddha. So, I said, “Yes, but we…

Last weekend, I had to be down in Singapore for a cousin’s wedding and so, Pastor JJ invited me to go to Modern Buddhist Fellowship. I thought it was a good idea and so, I agreed. When I got to Singapore, Joshua Sim told me that they were going to have a gathering on Sunday…

That is a very good question because besides being a celebrity host, I am still trying to piece together the multifaceted nature of her personality and the many roles that she plays. I had a very good time working with her during my time as writer and sales executive of the publication arm of Kechara….

Well, I wanted to blog about something and I had no clue whatsoever as usual. So, I  just started to browse through some old pictures hoping to glean some inspiration and I came across a series of photos that I had taken with my old phone and I thought, hey, these would make an interesting…

2012 came by just like that and I have been totally neglecting my little blog here. I am not sure if I still have an audience out there in cyberspace. Perhaps just a few clicks from Facebook and that’s it. Last year saw the publications of 2 books, Tales My Lama Told Me, which I…