Audience with the 14th H.H Dalai Lama
Audience with the 41st H.H Sakya Trizin
Inauguration of Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center, graced by the 42nd H.H Sakya Trizin
On
21 September 2019, 46 of us, the Dzogchen practitioners, boarded a Singapore
Airline flight to New Delhi in India. It was a pilgrimage tour in the region of
Northern India this time, with the primary purpose of attending the inaugural
ceremony of the new Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center.
We checked into a hotel immediately upon our arrival
in New Delhi. On the following morning, we set off to Dehradon where the
retreat center is located and the journey took us 7 hours. On the third day
morning, we went to the new Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center situated within a
beautiful Tibetan settlement. The center is a two storey building, with the
main shrine, a rest room and a kitchen on the ground floor, and five rooms on
the upper floor used for retreat.
At 11am, the 42nd H.H Sakya Trizin, Vajra Ratna
Rinpoche, arrived at the retreat center. The junior Sakya Trizin appeared very
steady and calm, exhibiting the charisma of a great spiritual warrior. Soon
after Kunde Rinpoche and I offered a long life prayer to Vajra Ratna Rinpoche,
the latter conducted the inaugural ceremony for the retreat center and a few
mani wheels erected within the settlement. Vajra Ratna Rinpoche joined us for a
vegetarian lunch reception including a Tibetan cultural performance; I chatted
with him over lunch and learnt that he travelled quite often to Singapore for
some important prayers organised by the Singapore Sakya Center.
Originally, Kunde Rinpoche invited the 41st H.H Sakya
Trizin to preside over the inauguration ceremony. However, the senior Sakya
Trizin had some leg problems and went to US for treatments; he still had
problem walking after returning to India.
So, the junior Sakya Trizin presided over the inauguration ceremony
instead. A day before the inauguration ceremony, we were informed by the India
Sakya Monastery that the senior Sakya Trizin still had difficulty walking, that
he could not grace the inauguration ceremony.
On the fourth day morning, we went to the Sakya
Monastery in order to pay respect to the senio Sakya Trizin at his abode. I
presented my book entitled “Dancing Over the Rainbow” and a piece of khatta to
the senior Sakya Trizin. I informed him that I took refuge in him 35 years ago
in Singapore. It was just an inconceivable spiritual connection between us.
Kunde Rinpoche also presented his new book entitled “A Happy Family” to the
senior Sakya Trizin. At the end of our audience, the senior Sakya Trizin gave
us a Vajra Kilaya Empowerment. The most surprising thing was that, after the
audience, we saw him walking back to his room on his own. He had suffered from
leg problems for about half a year by now but he could now walk after having an
audience with us. It was just another inconceivable occasion, don’t you think
so?
The day after the inauguration ceremony, Kunde
Rinpoche and I jointly presided over a Guru Rinpoche Long Life Prayer
participated by about 2,000 local Tibetans. Dharma Brother Shao had a vision of
me transforming into a wrathful form of Guru Rinpoche, who blessed all the
participants with rainbow lights. After the prayer, Kunde Rinpoche showed me a
video footage taken on the day before the inauguration ceremony, whereby there
was a huge flock of birds circling above Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center for a
long time. The local residents said they had never come across such phenomenon
in the past. When we went up to the rooftop of the center to admire the scenic
view of the Himalayan range from afar, suddenly a huge number of birds of
different species and sizes appeared from all directions; they were dancing
above the sky for nearly one long hour! It was a truly majestic looking show
which actually signified the celebration of millions of dakinis of this
wonderful occasion.
On the fifth day, we went to Tshok Padma (Lotus Lake)
in Mandi. We reached the place at 2am and had our late dinner. On the next
morning, we circumambulated the sacred lake and did a Guru Rinpoche Prayer.
According to legend, a king attempted to burn Guru Rinpoche and Princess
Madarava alive in this location but Guru Rinpoche turned the fire into a lake
instead, and with him and the princess sitting on a lotus right in
the center of the lake unscathed. We circumambulated the lake before visiting a scared
cave nearby where Guru Rinpoche did his retreat in the past. The whole hill was
engulfed by fog upon our arrival. Both the sacred lake and cave were exuberant
with strong spiritual energy.
Next, we continued our journey to Dharamsala. It was
our second visit by now to this scared place. The whole place was engulfed by
fog too upon our arrival. On the following morning, we waited right outside the
residence of H.H Dalai Lama. There was already a very long queue of people
awaiting their audience with His Holiness. The security was very tight, with a
full body search required for every visitor. Finally, we met His Holiness and
presented him with a book published by us. We felt great spiritual joy meeting
His Holiness in person.
On the following day, Kunde Rinpoche held a press
conference in Dharamsala for the release of his new book entitled “A Happy
Family”. The book was written in Tibetan
language and translated into English too. The day before, I went with Kunde
Rinpoche to the Tibetan Library for a meeting with its Director, Geshe Lhakdor,
who was the translator of “A Garland of Flowers”, which was the first book written
by Kunde Rinpoche. Geshe Lhakdor shared the essence of Buddhism with the
audience with a great sense of humour. There were 70 participants from
Singapore, Malaysia and China gracing this event.
After attending the press release, we went back to our
hotel for lunch. I suddenly decided to conduct a group prayer right after
lunch. The place where we had lunch was converted into a temporary shrine for
the group prayer. We did a Guru Rinpoche Prayer, joined by our two Indian
guides. Later, we had our dinner at the same place before resting at night. We
planned to visit the famous Golden Temple of Sikhism in Amritsar on the next
day. I used to bring our grassroot leaders to the Sikh Temples during my works
before retirement; this was how I fostered my tie with Sikhism.
After dinner, a few of our members started having
diarrhoea. The first group of eight members were being sent to the hospital
after 11pm. After midnight, the second group was sent to the hospital. As the
hospital nearby was full, the third group including me and Mayumla was sent to another
hospital which was quite rundown and located further from the hotel. A few of
us reached the hospital after 2am. My diarrhoea stopped after receiving medical
treatments. I returned to the hotel around 4am to catch up with some sleeps. By
then, the fourth group of members was sent to another hospital even further
away. Finally, the last few members who
were ready to leave for Amritsar in the morning went down with diarrhoea too
and had to be sent to the hospital.
Nearly three quarters of our group were being admitted
to the hospitals, with a few others managing their situations with their own
medications brought from home. Dharma Sister Joanne suggested that we skipped
the visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar and left Dharamsala in two groups,
with the first group going to Amritsar a day earlier, joined by the second
group on the following day at the airport for our flight to New Delhi, as the
latter needed to be hospitalised in Dharamsala for one more night.
It was a sunny day in Amritsar, a complete change from
the heavy downpours and thick fog in Dharamsala. In the morning, we visited a
nearby village and saw the pictures of the first and tenth guru of Sikhism hung
on the wall of a villager’s home. Dharma Brother Shao said that he only came to
know the special connection between Acho Rinpoche and the patriarchs of Sikhism
in Amritsar.
We checked into a hotel in New Delhi. Dharma Sister
Zhen was possessed. During our night prayer, many animal spirits came forward
to seek help and blessing; they even requested to follow me back to
Singapore.... I knew then that there would be an even greater challenge ahead.
The iron bird rose into the sky once again. On our way
back to Singapore from New Delhi, rainbows and sun halo appeared in the sky,
the dharmapalas continued to protect the Dzogchen practitioners in space. There
were many instances of rainbow lights of different shapes appearing during our
trip. There was even an occurrence of a
special aura of Great Perfection appearing above the heads of Kunde Rinpoche
and Acho Rinpoche too - it was truly amazing.
After returning to Singapore, my diarrhoea started
again and it continued for half a month. I could only constantly move between
my toilet seat, my bed and my shrine during the whole period. I lost 6kg within a
month and looked haggard alright. Finally, I managed to deliver the souls of
all the spiritual beings following me back home, and then my health finally
returned to normal. My homage to Amitabha Buddha. I simply feel grateful.
Acho
Rinpoche
20/12/19
Our group practice in Dharamsala, followed by a rainbow appearing in the sky.
Press release for Kunde Rinpoche's new book entitled "A Happy Family"
Special rainbow light appeared above Acho Rinpoche and Kunde Rinpoche outside the residence of H.H Dalai Lama, after our audience with His Holiness.
Visiting Tshok Padma and Sacred Caves of Guru Rinpoche
Sun halo and rainbow appeared in the sky during our flight back from India to Singapore
