The group at To-daiji Temple, Nara
Acho Rinpoche with Venerable Mori Taikou
After visiting Shandong in May and Mtn. Wutai
in China in Sep this year, we started planning our next trip to Sri Lanka in
Dec. Joanne was the one planning the Sri Lanka tour but in Oct, while we were
still discussing if we should do our trekking on a sacred mountain in the
middle of the night, Joanne suddenly told me that her family was not going for
the trip. Nevertheless, she would continue to help us do the planning. Reason
being, she promised her kids earlier that she would bring them overseas at the
end of the year but her kids were not interested in Sri Lanka. When Joanne
consulted the tour agent, Cathy, who arranged our last Bhutan trip, the latter
suggested “Wakayama”. I had no clue where Wakayama was until I read a brochure
given by Cathy later. It was actually a new Japan tourist spot which has become
popular in the recent years. When I continued to read the brochure, I was
surprised to find out that Koyasan was actually within the Wakayama Prefecture! At
the time, Nelson from Australia informed me about some Japanese spirits approaching
him, requesting our visit to Japan to help deliver the souls of the sentient
beings there.
So, a group of thirty of us embarked
on yet another extra-ordinary tour to Japan on 15 Dec 2013, accompanied by
rainbows throughout the tour……
We visited Shikoku and Koyasan 16 years ago.
How time flies! How impermanent life is! During that tour, we followed the
track of Master Kukai (Kōbō-Daishi, 774–835) who founded Japanese Vajrayana
Buddhism. Actually, my first connection with Japan started way back in 1989
when I made a one-month trip to Japan, representing Singapore in an ASEAN
exchange programme. I was in Saga-ken of Kyushu, when I visited a big monastery
of the True Mantra School of Japanese Vajrayana Buddhism. And I fostered a very
close relationship with the abbot of that monastery after the visit. Doctor
Qiuji was my host during my stay in Japan then. He saw me doing my daily prayer
at his home and therefore, he asked me if I would be interested to visit a big
monastery in Saga-ken. However, the students of the abbot who answered his call
told him that his teacher’s schedule was full, with meetings scheduled up to
two months later. On the next day, Doctor Qiuji and I went ahead on our own to
visit the monastery. To our surprise, the abbot was standing high up on the
staircase leading to the monastery, awaiting our arrival. Later, he told us
that he had a dream last night, in which Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara told him to
cancel all his appointments on the following day and await the arrival of a
practitioner from the Lion City of Singapore.
Through an interpreter, the abbot
told us that he saw Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara sitting above my crown. He invited
me into his personal shrine with a huge Acala statue being enshrined.
Initially, he performed some ritual and gave me blessing. Suddenly, I told him
that I would like to give him blessing and consecrate the statue of Acala
instead. He appeared to be very happy after receiving the blessing from me and thanked
me several times. He told the interpreter that he saw me transforming into
Acala during the blessing! He was very happy that I gave him blessing and consecrated
his Acala statue. He also said that I was chanting an ancient Acala mantra
transmitted secretly only to the abbots of the True Mantra School. Later, he
offered me a monk robe and a rosary of Japanese Vajrayana lineage, symbolising
my superior connection with the Japanese Vajrayana lineage.
On our first day of arrival in
Japan, the winter season has already started in Japan. However, we saw lots of
red maple leaves in the vicinity of Wakayama Castle. Actually, Wakayama
Prefecture is the warmest place in Japan during winter; its temperature has never
fallen below zero degree Celcius. No wonder we could sing “Maple Love” while
enjoying the sight of snow at the same time! Koyasan was covered by snow
everywhere. It snowed on our very day of arrival in Japan. Our Japanese driver
told us that of course it does snow in Koyasan but the snow has never been so
thick! Well, that appeared to be a snow of blessing celebrating our arrival!
We, the sons of the tropical Lion City, felt exhilarated by the beautiful snow,
and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly playing
snow-fighting in Koyasan like kids.
Rainbow has never missed its
promise. This time, rainbows followed us closely wherever we went. Rainbow
appeared for the first time during our visit to Negoroji Temple. Venerable Mori Taikou was
the monk who showed us around the temple during the visit. He had been to US in
the past and read the book entitled “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” written by Sogyal
Rinpoche;he felt deeply touched by the book. When he found out that I was actually from the same Nyingma Dzogchen
School as Sogyal Rinpoche, he knew that we had a very close spiritual connection
with each other. On the third day, a huge rainbow arc appeared near our
hotel. On the fourth day, after our
lunch, another huge rainbow arc appeared in the sky. On the last day, yet
another rainbow appeared in the sky when we arrived at Todaiji in Nara. There was a cloud in the shape of a
Three-legged Sacred Crow that appeared next to the rainbow, and a huge white
lotus appearing in the form of cloud too. The Sacred Crow has a long history and
connection with Japanese Shinto and Japanese Vajrayana Buddhism (True Mantra School
of Koyasan). There was little wonder that the Sacred Crow showed itself and
protected us throughout the trip.
We enjoyed the tour while doing our
spiritual practice simultaneously throughout the trip. This trip benefited both
the spiritual and human worlds tremendously; it was full of the radiance of Buddha
Light. Our Japanese tour guide, Chiyoko San, knelt before me on the fourth night,
taking refuge in Acho Rinpoche. She invited us to visit Okinawa next, as the
souls of the spiritual beings there need to be delivered. Reason being, when Okinawa
was invaded by the American soldiers during World War II, the Japanese soldiers
and civilians were forced to retreat to the southern part of the island but
most of them ended up killing themselves in the sea eventually. On the very
last night of our group practice, I asked the group if anyone would want to follow me to
Okinawa? I got an instantaneous response from almost everyone who said “On!”
When will our next trip to Japan be? Well, I shall leave it to the Sacred Crow
to make the arrangement……
Acho
Rinpoche
