Date: 3rd April Saturday
Time: 2.30pm
Venue: 24G, Jalan Telawi 2, Bangsar Baru, 59100,Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
Tel: 603-22844136
I will be at the store to do a book reading and those of you who would like to know more of There's No Way But Up - my autobiography cum spiritual journey. Feel free to drop by. Do let me know or call the number above. Hope to see you there!
Yup, that was me! In my heyday (not too long ago), the disco was the place to be on weekends and holidays. I was partying at the disco religiously and although I didn't say it, hedonism was somewhat a religious practice for me. Saturday nights was reserved for worshipping the Greek god of the disco and on Sunday morning, I will crawl into church and make frail attempts to keep awake. I was such a great practitioner that when i was not at the disco on Friday and Saturday nights, I felt like something was amiss!
Everything changed when I met H. E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, whom I knew as Kai. I even took him clubbing and instead of being dragged down by all the fun, Rinpoche pulled me up. ~ There's No Way But Up!
KMP and KD had seen a flurry of busy people like little elves hurrying about and doing their best to get the Chinese version of the Vajrayogini book out.
The Chinese Vajrayogini may seem like just a translation but it is not just a mere translation as it took a lot of hard work. Translation is not an easy job as both Chinese and English are two very different languages. Getting the right nuance to convey a particular meaning takes quite a lot of effort. I must say kudos to Liaison Paul Yap, head of Kechara Discovery and KMP translator Dr Lanse and Chua Siong Woan.
Picture above : Kechara House President Dato May Phng holding a copy of the Chinese Vajrayogini book.
This is my housemate and collaborator of the Vajrayogini book. He is also the head of Kechara Discovery (Check his department out at www.kechara.com/discovery/). He has a quirky no-nonsense attitude coupled with unmatched zeal to prove everyone wrong when he feels challenged but underneath that veneer is a truly big heart. He is loyal, stable and is an incredibly generous person.
He has truly come a long way and as a good friend, I am so proud for him especially for the Chinese Vajrayogini book, which he had personally spent a lot of effort in the design and translation. There is no doubt that he is an achiever and a true friend. I do wish him all the best and look forward to many more collaborations in the future along with heartfelt wishes for more growth and expansion in his department and Dharma work.
This is Dr Lanse, my colleague in KMP department. She is a silent intellectual type and she was brought to KMP by Liaison Yek Yee. I remember that she started in KMP on a part time basis and she seemed to be on stop-over in KMP with plans to pursue further studies as a medical doctor later. Although appearing to be wishy-washy in the beginning and we really didn't expect to see her in KMP after her exams last year. However, she had a turnaround after her exams and she suddenly committed to KMP full time!
I am so proud that through much care, love and support from the team (especially from Susan, Sharon and Yek Yee) that she had made the commitment! One of her first assignments as full-time staff of KMP is the translation of the Vajrayogini book, which she took on with no complaints and she patiently translated the text and at times over and over again along with assistance from Paul Yap. If you are reading this, congratulations for your hard work and I do hope to see more translations! (Check out the KMP team I am talking about at www.kechara.com/kmp/)
The other translator that worked on the Chinese Vajrayogini book was Ms Chua Siong Woan. She was the lady who ran a soap/spa items/scented candle store just across from the Kechara Mystical Treasures store that I used to work about 3-4 years ago. I remember that I managed to persuade her husband and her to invite a Lama Tsongkhapa statue to pray.
Fast forward to today, she is an active committee member (Treasurer) of Kechara Soup Kitchen and also does Setrap Pujas. She has her own job outside, is a great mother of two kids, wife to a great husband and also an active member of KSK and KH. Wow! I am amazed and inspired. Plus, she helped in the translation of the Vajrayogini book. What an amazing woman and as far as I know, she is committed towards her department - KSK. I thank her for her help in translating and look forward to all the amazing Dharma work that she will do with her department. (Check her department out at www.kechara.com/ksk/)
P/S: Photos taken from their respective Facebook and Rinpoche's blog
A warm photo of Rinpoche and myself at Naropa's cave in Nepal 2008
Over the years, I had so many amazing moments with Rinpoche that is really too much to write everything in just one blog post. It has been about seven years of knowing Rinpoche. That's right, seven years. I knew Rinpoche even before Kechara House at Sunwaymas was built. Within that time-frame, Rinpoche had accomplished so many incredible things with Kechara House and I was fortunate enough to have stuck along and have since become a contributing member. It's amazing how everything came together since I got to know Rinpoche. When I first met him, I had no idea who he was or what he was doing...
I wrote in chapter 3 of There's No Way But Up -
"A self-professed psychic once told me that there would be three people who would have the potential to change the course of my life. He told me that Jon was one of them (this was after I had told him about Jon) and then he told me that he was the second person (I rolled my eyes at that remark). Then, he said there would be a third person that I would meet very soon. He added that this person is a powerful person. That was all he said. I know this sounds dramatic but that was really how it happened!
I had almost forgotten that Mr. Powerful was going to drop into my life until I met Kai at the gym. The dream I had after that made me wonder if it was coming true but I eventually shrugged it off as mere coincidence. After all, I barely knew Kai and I didn’t see how a person I met at the gym could change my life. However, Kai asked me out for dinner with his trainer one day and this gave me an opportunity to get to know him better. I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner, which was made all the more lively with his wit and Americanised sense of humour. I could see how he could have a huge effect on others and he also seemed to know quite a lot of people.
I guess I must have had good table manners because after the first dinner, from time to time, he would invite me to more ‘din dins’. At those dinners, I got to meet his other friends and everyone seemed enamoured with him. At that time, he already knew that I was bored with my job at Canon and so he would often ask me out after work or whenever I was free. He seemed extremely free himself and all I ever saw him doing was working out at the gym but he was dead serious about getting fit for some reason. In my case, I went to the gym because I wanted to shed my Australian potbelly.
One afternoon, he asked me out to lunch at a downtown mall. It was a boring day of running around town for my job, so I decided to call it a day and headed for the mall. I met up with Kai and was introduced to Chia, Ruby and Mary. They seemed to know him very well and were engaged in a fairly intimate conversation. I listened and although I didn’t know what was going on or whom they were talking about, I still felt involved in their conversation. Just like always, Kai was the star attraction as he did most of the talking and teasing but nobody was unhappy, bored or left out."
That was my initial impression of Rinpoche and I can't believe that premonition/dream that I had really did come true. The amazing thing was that he didn't change my life for me but he made a lot of effort to get me to do it. He insisted that I should write and he told me again and again that it would make a difference for me. Unfortunately, I was skeptical for many years and wasted a lot of time. I won't be able to reclaim the lost time but I do hope that my story (There's No Way But Up) will help people to gain more trust and understanding of Rinpoche so that they don't have to go through the same thing.
P/S : Rinpoche has a spectacular blog where he writes prolifically of issues and events that are of interest and scope of Kechara House.
Click here to check our Rinpoche's blog --> http://tsemtulku.typepad.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/
I love Vajrayogini and I remember that I was so moved and inspired by her on the pilgrimage led by H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche in 2008. The pilgrimage consisted of many sacred places including 4 ancient temples of Vajrayogini in the Kathmandu valley. The numerous teachings that Rinpoche gave during the pilgrimage later became the basis of my book, Vajrayogini and Other Sacred Power Places in Nepal.
You see, Vajrayogini is very much a Buddha in a female form. Buddhas, being completely enlightened can manifest in whatever way that they (with their perfect wisdom) deem suitable in order to be of utmost benefit to sentient beings. Hence, Vajrayogini is female with a somewhat feminist flair for anti-male establishment. However, the way Vajrayogini does it goes beyond gender when she tramples upon our ego and strikes at the root core of our fundamental dualistic view of reality. That means everything about her goes against the norm and this is really a teaching that norms, labels and rules that we hold on so dearly with our lives are restrictive and blocks of our very true potential.... I know! She is one pretty neat Buddha-chick!
Vajrayogini is red in colour which reveals her somewhat show-stopping need to devour all our addictive and destructive passions in one quick sensual kiss. The imagery here is decidedly Tantric in nature because Vajrayogini's meditations is Buddhist Tantra of this highest form. (I will talk more about Tantra in a later post) Anyway, this may sound all mumbo-jumbo but it really means she is a rocket-speed angel to blast you all the way to enlightenment in this very lifetime... if you are a willing devotee...
This Vajrayogini statue that I posted earlier (I posted again below) came from a temple in Kathmandu that is easily accessible from Thamel or Bouddha. The temple is known as Bijashwari Bajrajogini Mandir and it is basically family-owned like many of the other Vajrayogini temples in Nepal. There are three other unique statues within the inner shrine of the temple that represent different manifestations of Vajrayogini. A picture of these statues is available within the Vajrayogini book....
This state-of-the-art MacBook Pro 17" is what I have been dreaming of...
The one below is my current machine. It is an aging 14" MacBook that is 3 years old. It may look pristine and white here but it is really an aging grey in real life. The software is ancient and running as fast as a snail but fortunately it still allows me to do my blogs and writings. But for how long?
Anybody giving free handouts? Hahaha! I guess there is no such thing. What? I can dream on? Thanks for bursting my bubble!
I love this Vajrayogini statue the most out of the many ancient statues featured in the Vajrayogini book. Just look at her face! Her three beautiful eyes seemed to be staring back from a different time and place. Every time I see her face, I always get a little excited and a little mesmerised.
This haunting face always reminds me of the secret prayers I whispered to her when I was at her temple. They were sacred wishes and fervent prayers for enlightenment, Dharma work and worldly fulfillment. I remember having promised Vajrayogini-master HE Tsem Tulku Rinpoche in her temple to complete There's No Way But Up. I am glad to have kept my commitment to Rinpoche and her.
This is my hero and he currently rests on my office desk constantly watching benevolently and gracefully upon me as I work away on my laptop. In his heyday, my hero was known by his nickname, Bhusuku or three lower actions - namely eating, sleeping and defecating. Well, that was all that everybody saw him do everyday. Yes, you now know why he is my hero now...
He was a monk of the prestigious Nalanda monastery where scholasticism was highly regarded and monks like him was often the butt of many monastic jokes. However, everything changed when a large group of monks decided to play a prank on him.
They built a high teaching throne for him and in front of the entire assembly of monks, requested him to teach. Everybody expected him to make fool of himself but suddenly, Bhusuku floated up into the sky from the throne. While afloat, he gave the most profound Buddhist teaching that eventually became known as the Bodhicharyavatara. It has since become one of most definitive text on the Mahayana tradition. Everyone was stunned and began prostrating to him and sought more teachings in genuine awe.
You see, Bhusuku slept most of the day and just had his meals and went back to sleep. Nobody at the monastery knew that he was diligently meditating and studying at night. His Yidam was Manjushri and often had visions of his Yidam and he would receive many teachings from Manjushri as well. Bhusuku is better known to scholars and practitioners as Shantideva today.
I love Shantideva! I love his life story! I just love how he is such a secret and attained practitioner under the guise of a lazy pig. I relate to that so much! I relate to the lazy pig of course and maybe one day, I will become an enlightened pig too.
Blogs are not really a new thing for me as I had been blogging many years and moons ago but I stopped. Perhaps I had been very lazy or I was just caught up with what was happening in my life to continue with that blog. (Stop rolling your eyes! It might stay up that way!)
Well, the real reason, I think....I would leave that to your imagination...
Anyway, now that I have continued with my life and I happened to have a book published right now and I have become somewhat of a writer of KMP - Kechara Media and Publication. Therefore, I was told to hone my craft by writing a little more and so I had to start a blog! Fantastic idea! Now all I had to do was to fiddle with the technical details and voila! A spanking new blog is born!
If you guys like what you read on this blog, feel free to go right to http://www.kechara.com to buy my book. It's called There's No Way But Up and its cheap and fun to read! It has nice pictures of me and other people in my life on each chapter for those who are imagination-impaired. The book has heaps of little interesting stories of how me - a lazy fun-loving disco-trotting fella managed to get into Dharma (spirituality) and on top of that managed to write a story about it!
By the way, I also written another book and its called Vajrayogini, and Other Sacred Power Places in Nepal. This is my favourite little coffee table book with all its wonderful photography of Nepal's most exotic locations along with succulent descriptions and background information. I based most of these information that was given by H. E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, who also started a blog of his own.
Before I go on and on...I am going to take a breather and will be back for more.
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