X-Tour: Vietnam 2

On 19 Dec 2008, we, a group of Vajrayanists, went to Vietnam. We visited Hanoi, Saba, Halong Bay, Hue, Danang and Hoi An. In May 2009, we published a travel book on our Vietnam tour.

On 2 Sep 2010, we went to Vietnam again. This time, we visited the Ho Chi Minh City (HCM), the Mekong Delta, the Guchi Tunnel and Vungtau, a beach resort situtated 125km away from HCM. In Vungtau, we paid respect to a giant statue of Jesus on a hill top, where thousands of dragon flies were dancing around the hill, as if they were the angels giving us a welcoming party!

We visited several arts galleries and saw some beautiful pictures showing snowcapped mountains and fields of wild flowers. Initially I thought maybe the artists did their paintings after visiting Switzerland or New Zealand in winter. But I was later told by our Vietnamese tour guide, “Prince Chu Chu”, that the beautiful landscape was his hometown – Dalat. At that point in time, I decided that I must make a trip to Dalat before publishing our second travel book on our Vietnam tour.

The opportunity finally came! On 5 Nov 2011, a group of 21 of us boarded the “iron bird” once again for a 6-day tour to HCM, Phanthiet and Dalat. Phanthiet is located in the south-eastern coastal line of Vietnam, famous for its fishing village and beach resorts. There is a vast piece of sand dune here where we did our sand boarding. It reminded us of our memorable experience doing sand boarding in The Pinnacles, Nambung National Park of Perth in Australia several years ago. Phanthiet is serene, like Pali of Indonesia. We saw many Russion tourists on the streets in Phanthiet.

We did not see any traffic lights in Dalat. That was truly an eye-opening experience to a group of city dwellers like us. We strolled along the Xuan Huong Lake in the evening, and relished a cup of Vietnamese coffee while admiring the serenity of the lake, the greeneries in the surrounding and the reflections of villas and pine trees on the quiet surface of the lake…, what an enjoyable experience! The flowers in Dalat Garden abound, making us reluctant to shut our eyes even for a moment…. And we saw lots of lavenders blossoming fully in a quiet corner in the garden. That prompted me to think about when we would be making our trip to Hokkaido - my hometown in my past life in my dream.

On our return to HCM, we visited the city hall, an old cathedral and a heritage post office. We also had our dinner onboard a cruise, enjoying the music and dance performances while admiring the night scenes along the Saigon River. We saw a group of Korean tourists who were seemingly drunk, singing and dancing wildly. “A Midnight Kiss” (a Chinese song) lingered for a long time in the air above Saigon River that night….

Now the image of Sister Zhen (our Vietnamese tour guide) suddenly appeared in my mind. She told us about how the Chinese fled Vietnam during the Vietnam War, with many of them drowning in the sea as a result. She had tried to flee too, twice, in vain. We told her candidly, had she managed to board the “pirate” ship, we would not have met her today. One could imagine how pitiful the lives of the Chinese were during that period! These pictures of sorrow that appeared in my mind seemed to be out of place. Heaven! Why must sentient beings go through such sufferings…?

This time, there was a special traveler who joined us for the tour. She was none other than the main character in the 5th Chapter of our travel book entitled “X-Tour: The Tour of Birth and Death (North India & Nepal)”. To her, travelling means spiritual practice. The spiritual connection between us had quietly rekindled. Where will Summer be next? Which part of the world? Only heaven knows!

Amitabha.

Acho Rinpoche
23 Nov 2011

More pictures：https://picasaweb.google.com/BuddhaEyeAlbum/Vietnam2011#

X-tour: The Source of the Three Rivers in Qinghai & Northern Xinjiang

Our original plan this time was to visit the Source of the Three Rivers in Qinghai and Tibet, from 20 Jul to 3 Aug 2011. However, in mid Jun 2011, the Chinese authority in Tibet suddenly stopped issuing visit permits to foreign tourists. We immediately worked with our tour guide, Zen, to change our plan from Tibet to Daocheng Yading. Unfortunately, Daocheng Yading also chose to close its doors to foreign tourists during the same period. Finally, we decided to go see the Kanas Lake in Northern Xinjiang. It was just unexpected. So, this was how the X-tour came about this time…

The first half of the tour primarily focused on our trip to Horthang Monastery in Qumalai County at the Source of the Three Rivers. It was just thin air in the plateau and mountain sickness. Nearly half the group had to be admitted to the local hospitals for emergency treatment of acute mountain sickness.

We flew from Chendu (500m in altitude) to Xinin (2300m in altitude), and revisited the Taer Monastery - the birthplace of Master Tsongkhapa. After which, we set off for Yushu. We spent a night in Maduo County (only to learn from our Tibetan friends at a later stage that even the Tibetans dared not stayed there overnight). We arrived at Maduo County (4300m in altitude) at night. The air became thinner over time as we moved to higher altitude in Maduo. Most of us felt weak and lost our appetite by then. The hotel was extremely poor in conditions, and it was a three-storey building. Most of us could hardly walk due to high altitude syndromes. At night, before sleep, Dharma Sister Yue reminded me to help deliver her soul, if she passed away at night! I could not sleep throughout the night because my heart was pounding loudly, and Dharma Sister Yue who was sleeping next to me kept groaning the whole night!

When we reached Xiewu, there were already 5 members who fell ill due to acute mountain sickness. They vomited and felt giddy, with their lips and tongues turned purplish. One of the doctors on our team suggested admitting them to the local hospital for oxygen treatment. With the assistance from Sonam Lama, the great grandson of Dharma Sister Bing in her past life, we found a small Tibetan clinic, but the doctor on duty was out. Sonam Lama borrowed a few oxygen bags for the few who suffered from acute mountain sickness.

We continued our journey to Yushu. When we finally reached Yushu (3700m), we really felt depressed seeing the entire Jiegu Town in ruins. More than 85% of the buildings in Jiegu Town were damaged during the major earthquake hitting Yushu last year. When our coach reached the local hospital, I quickly looked for a toilet, only to find a make-shift one in a tent – you can imagine its condition. At that moment, we suddenly missed the natural toilet in the wilderness! Eight members were admitted to the hyperbaric chamber for treatment, and the rest of us checked into a simple hotel made of wooden boards. At night, we held an emergency meeting that lasted three hours, discussing in group on whether we should continue our journey to Qumalai County which is located at an even higher altitude, at 4200m. One of the doctors on our team insisted that the eight members who suffered from acute mountain sickness should not go, while the rest of the members also should not risk our lives by going; the local doctor also advised strongly against the group going to Qumalai. However, the main destination of our X-tour this time was just the Horthang Monastery in Qumalai County! How? How?

The other doctor on our team already fell sick from mountain sickness and appeared very weak; she requested to return home immediately, we even considered the possibility of seeking help from the SOS to arrange an emergency flight......

We seemed to be going through a similar situation as Venerable Xuanzhuang in the story “Going West”. Should we give up the task of going west to bring back the precious teachings of the Buddha in the face of a big test? At that point in time, most of us seemed to have a common thought in mind: “Sigh! Why did we come to this horrible place!” Some members suggested staying in Yushu and not proceeding further, but the hotel did not have enough rooms for 38 of us for two nights. Some members suggested returning to Maduo County, but the altitude there was even higher than Yushu. Some suggested taking a flight from Yushu back to Xinin, but there was no air ticket available. Some suggested taking our coach back to Xinin but that would take 14 hours non-stop, and our driver had already contracted a serious flu. How? Should we continue our journey to Qumalai County at a higher altitude? According to our original plan, we had to stay there for two nights! The enthronement ceremony was already planned, with many lamas and students in my past life awaiting my return…… Or, was death awaiting us?

After 12am, all of us felt very tired due to the high altitude syndromes, we decided to just vote openly to decide on our next move. We had no other choice…… The outcome of the voting was that five members decided to stay in Yushu for two more days, including a couple from Australia. On the following morning, when Dharma Brother Hong from Australia did his morning prayer, he had a vision of me appearing before him, in a lama’s attire, telling him that he must continue his journey to Horthang Monastery. So, his wife finally decided to continue with the journey too. There were only three members staying behind in Yushu.

We departed from Yushu with a heavy heart, heading towards Qumalai County at the Source of the Three Rivers located 200km away. We saw vast grass land and plenty of yaks and goats along the way; the landscape in Qumalai County was, unexpectedly, very scenic! We no longer felt the effect of thin air – the feeling of short breath suddenly disappeared. We checked into Qumalai Hotel at night and I had a sound sleep throughout the night.

On the following morning, we were transported by 10 4WD to Horthang Monastery. About two hours later, we finally saw Horthang Monastery – it was surrounded by hills and there was a river flowing pass its front. There were many school students lining up the road leading to the monastery, waving and welcoming us. There were many lamas waving the snowy white hattah in their hands, welcoming us too. When I arrived at the monastery, I was immediately escorted to the main seat in the temple. H.E Kade Rinpoche presided over the enthronement ceremony. Some of the members wept uncontrollably when they were in the monastery. It was just like Venerable Xuanzhuang and his disciples who had finally made it to the west, who had successfully found the teachings of the Buddha. The mission was successfully completed! The practice was finally accomplished! Ha ha!

Next, we flew from Yushu back to Xinin, and continued our journey to Urumuqi in Xinjiang. The second half of the tour was inconceivable too; a sudden change of weather and the appearance of rainbows seem to have become a norm in the X-tours. When we returned to Urumuqi on the second last day of the tour, while we were on our way to see the cultural performance, two rainbows quietly appeared in the sky……

On our way from Chendu back to Singapore, I casually asked the group, “We missed Tibet and Daocheng Yading this time but we will visit both places in future, and the journey might be even tougher. Is anyone coming along still?” Everyone unanimously agreed to come along! For everyone had passed the test this time! On our way back to Singapore, I saw a vertical rainbow and a round-shaped rainbow appearing in the sky, accompanying our group of Vajrayanists all the way.

After returning to Singapore, I recalled our moments at Erdao Bridge in Urumuqi, Xinjiang with fondness – I was eating the famous roasted skewed lamb and drinking the cooling kawas, while humming the song by Daolang entitled “The first snow fall in 2002”. I also remembered the moment when our Qinghai tour guide, Liu, was singing the song entitled “The love song of the 6th Dalai Lama”, when I suddenly had a vision of my past life……, when my tears quietly flowed down my cheeks……

More Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/BuddhaEyeAlbum/2011#

Acho
18/8/2011

X-Tour: Hainan Island '2010

In Jun 2007, we set off for The Horizon of the World (Hainan Island). We hardly travelled to the same place within a short span of just 3 years, based on our past practice. However, Nan Hai Guanyin (Avalokitesvara of the Southern Sea) showed His power again. On 12 Dec 2010, 14 of us set off for yet another X-Tour, to The Horizon of the World. Why 14? It could well be a wonderful arrangement planned by the spiritual world in silence…

My company happened to organize a 4-day work related retreat in early Dec in Haiko, China. So, the rest (13 members) planned to join me on the 4th day, the last day of my retreat. We arranged to meet in Haiko and set off for the southern part of Hainan Island for the tour.

Ho, our tour guide in 2007 during our last visit to Hainan Island, came to my hotel, Hong Yun Hotel, to bring me over to Haiko Hotel, to meet the rest. They had touched down at the Mei Lan Airport and had checked into Haiko Hotel. Ho told me that he had some interesting experience lately with some of the Singaporean tourists who came to Hainan Island. Some of them kept staring at him at the airport when they met him, puzzling him. Later, they showed him our X-Tour book entitled “The Horizon of the World (Hainan Island)”, with his photo featured in the same book. So, he has become famous among Singaporean tourists now!

This was our repeat visit to Hainan Island. Ho planned a somewhat different itinerary for us this time, giving us some new experiences. We travelled by the Hainan Island Centre Route, visiting the Betel Nut Valley (Li-Miao Cultural Village), An Ding Bird Park, Southern Bay Monkey Island, Ya Long Bay Tropical Rainforest, all of which were eye-opening experiences…

When we arrived at the Confucius Temple in Wen Chang, the temperature dropped from 28ºC to 8ºC, making all of us shivering in cold - we had to do an impromptu shopping at a local shop for additional winter gears. When we arrived at Haiko Volcano Park, we saw the local guide shivering in cold too. However, when we reached the top of the hill where I offered incense and performed a ceremonial dance as offering to the Volcano God, the freezing chill suddenly disappeared into thin air! The temperature instantly rose and the weather suddenly became warmer, and we had to start stripping the additional layers of winter gear one by one…

Well, we could not possibly forget about mentioning the Nan Hai Guanyin alright. We put up at the Nan Shan (Southern Mountain) Hotel for one night and we paid respects to the Nan Hai Guanyin. When we arrived at Nan Shan, a Sanskrit syllable “A” appeared in the sky, formed by clouds. When we visited the 33 Guan Yin Temple and during our practice of Guan Yin Prayer, all of us wept before the 33 statues of the manifestations of Guan Yin; it was as if a child had finally returned to the warm embrace of a mother long separated. At the same temple, we made offering of wine to the Fifth Senior (God of Fortune). We suddenly noticed that there were 14 pieces of mattress being laid on the floor before the Fifth Senior. All 14 of us, the Vajrayanists, had one mattress each! We knelt on the mattresses and offered Er Guo Tou (wine) to the Fifth Senior, praying for his blessing for all sentient beings residing in Hainan Island.

Amitabha Buddha!


Acho (Lotus Robe)
25 Dec 2010 on Christmas Day

More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/BuddhaEyeAlbum/HainanIsland2010#

The X-Tour: South Vietnam ‘2010

This time, the X-Tour came as a complete surprise to us! We just came back from our Taiwan tour in Jun 2010, and the next X-Tour should only happen in Dec based on our past practice. However, we were expecting some changes in Dec this time which might change our routine plan to travel out of Singapore during this period. So, we had decided to skip the next X-Tour in Dec this year.

Dharma Sister Mei just came back from her company trip to Pangkor Island in Malaysia in Aug. She kept telling me how serene the place was and it would be very suitable for us to take a good rest there for a few days. So, I told her to plan for a short trip in Sep during the school holiday. When her plan was out, there were few who enrolled for the trip. So, she suggested that it be cancelled. At that juncture, a vision of Ho Chih Min suddenly appeared in my mind. So, I made a very casual remark, “Why not we go to South Vietnam instead?” 2 years ago, we went to North and Central Vietnam, after which we published a book entitled “The X-Tour: Vietnam”. We did not cover South Vietnam in our last trip. So, if we could now publish another book on South Vietnam, it would be just perfect!

Within a very short period of 2 weeks of preparations, 8 of us made our way to Ho Chih Min City (HCM City), in a hurry.

When our plane reached the sky above HCM City, it was 2 Sep 2010. At that juncture, Dharma Brother Shao ‘saw’ Uncle Ho appearing in space to welcome our arrival.
When we stepped out of the airport, a young tour guide, Chu Chu, came to receive us. Outside the airport, the streets were fully decorated with banners bearing the picture of Ho Chih Min and the date “2 Sep”. Suddenly, we realized that it could well be a very important day in Vietnam. Our tour guide told us that it was a public holiday in Vietnam, one that celebrates the birthday of Ho Chih Min. We just smiled to one another, with a silent exchange of acknowledgements - “How on earth could it be so coincidental!” At a later stage, the tour guide told us that 2 Sep is also The 1st Independence Day of Vietnam. Now, that was a little confusing to us. Regardless, 2 Sep must be a very important day to both Vietnam and Ho Chih Min for sure. It was very coincidental that we arrived in HCM City on 2 Sep. The area outside our hotel, Rex Hotel, was fully decorated for celebration, with fireworks being displayed at night. We understood that this was yet another silent arrangement made by the spiritual world.

On the first and second day, we visited HCM City and Mekong Delta. It was a very relaxing trip visiting the 3 islets in Mekong Delta, including a horse cart ride.
On the third day, we travelled to the famous Cu Chi Tunnel. It was simply awesome! The fighting spirit of the Vietnamese Communist soldiers was just amazing, no wonder they won the war finally. Later, we proceeded to Vung Tau, a famous beach resort situated 125KM away from HCM City. I got an SMS at night during our prayer, informing me about a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hitting Christchurch in New Zealand on the same day. We dedicated the merits of our prayer to this shocking disaster.

On the fourth day, we walked up a hill in a cooling breeze. A gigantic Jesus Monument stood right on top of the hill, overlooking the sea below. It was believed to be the biggest outdoor Jesus Monument in the world. And there were tens of thousands of dragonflies flying all over the hill, with the largest congregation seen right in front of the Jesus Monument. In my vision, they were no ordinary dragonflies but tens of thousands of angels who came forward to welcome the arrival of a group of Vajrayana practitioners! After paying our respects to the Jesus Monument, we slowly walked down the hill. Suddenly, I felt the presence of both Mother Mary and Jesus. Both of them expressed their gratitude to me for visiting and blessing Christchurch 2 years ago. The Prime Minister of New Zealand commented that it was truly a miracle that Christchurch survived a 7.2 magnitude earthquake without any loss of human life! But to me, it was just the great blessing of The White Parasol!

We visited a Whale Temple, but Chu Chu said it was an “Elephant Fish” Temple. Actually, “elephant fish” is synonymous to “whale”. This temple was likened to Ma Zu Temple to the Chinese people. The local fishermen would pray at this temple before leaving for sea every morning. They prayed for the protection of the “whale” for a safe return.

During this trip, I realized the stark difference between Hanoi and HCM City. The former was old and backward, whereas the latter was modern and bold. HCM City was full of modern buildings, with very few traditional long and narrow buildings left.
Our young tour guide, Chu Chu, was only 25 years old. When he knew that I was the author of the book entitled “X-Tour: Vietnam”, he started calling me “dad”. And I called him “Chu Chu, my son.” He is “Prince Chu Chu”, and I am “Acho Rinpoche”. There must be a very special connection between the two of us in the past, ha ha! Prince Chu Chu was no ordinary tour guide. He was the body builder champion of Vietnam in 2010. He showed us his championship photo on his hand phone and an article featuring him in a local women’s magazine as the body builder champion of the 75kg category.

We visited a few art galleries and noted some scenic paintings showing a place full of wild flowers which was surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Initially, I thought that the artists must have visited either Switzerland or New Zealand in winters. There was a time when our car was making a turn at a street and again, I saw posters showing the same place surrounded by snow-capped mountains and wild flowers. When I asked Chu Chu where the place was, he told me that it was his hometown - Dalat! It was near to another famous beach resort, Nha Trang. So, we planned our next trip to Vietnam with Prince Chu Chu, to visit Dalat and Nah Trang. That should wrap up the final chapter of our Vietnam Tour. Well, will this plan be realized? We will just leave it to the Dharma Protectors and the inconceivable spiritual affinity to decide on the next trip. We will just continue to walk our journey step by step…

Lotus Robe (Acho Rinpoche)
7 Sep 2010

More photos：http://picasaweb.google.com/BuddhaEyeAlbum/VietnamHCM2010#

The X-Tour: Taiwan ‘2010

This Taiwan trip came all too suddenly. In late 2009, we made a trip to Sabah, Malaysia. While we had yet to recover fully from the shocking experience of some British soldiers who died in the World War II coming forward to seek help for soul deliverance, we were wondering what would be the next exciting extraordinary tour planned by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Initially we planned to go to Seattle in the US, to visit one of my root gurus, H.H Living Buddha Lian Sheng (Grand Master). But suddenly, I had an urge to go to Shandong in China instead, to see the peony blossoms in April, and the cherry blossoms too. Dancing with the cherry blossoms is a dream in my life that has yet to be realized.

Early April 2010, I had a dream. In my dream, Grand Master told me not to come to Seattle, for he would be leaving Seattle to return to the place where he planned to finally pass away. So, we dropped our plan to visit the US. At the time, Dharma Sister Zhou suddenly said she wished to visit Taiwan. I agreed, partly because the last time I visited Taiwan was about 18 years ago, that I was curious to find out how Taiwan had changed after all these years, and I recalled the special Ginger Duck (a local delicacy) which was popular in the winter seasons.

When Dharma Sister Chan informed the rest via sms about our plan to visit Taiwan, Dharma Brother Shao thought it sounded very much like a very ordinary and casual tour. At that juncture, he suddenly ‘saw’ the Four Heavenly Kings descending from space, indicating their readiness to support the Taiwan trip. He least expected this to be yet another X-tour!

Few days later, Dharma Sister Chan informed me of the breaking news on the True Buddha School Net, reporting Grand Master’s sudden decision to return to Taiwan for good. My dream had been proven right again. We could now celebrate the birthday of Grand Master, with Grand Master, his family and thousands of True Buddha practitioners in Taiwan. It would indeed be an extraordinary experience!

So, 36 of us set off for Taiwan (in 2 batches) on 20 Jun 2010, with the tour ending on 28 Jun 2010. We would be creating a new chapter of X-Tour, this time, in Taiwan. One week before the tour, after a group practice, I told the rest that this time we would be making contacts with friends from the Tibetan Buddhism and Taoism in Taiwan. Later, I received 2 phone calls, one after another. The first one was made by Dondo Rinpoche (the author of “Wingless Garuda”) from Nyingma Kathok in Taiwan. He told me about his plan to visit Hong Kong in May, to attend a Buddhist ceremony presided over by H.H Mocha Rinpoche. He asked me if I planned to visit Taiwan in the near future. He invited me to attend a ceremony that he would be conducting in Taiwan. But I told him that I would not be able to make it due to my heavy work schedule. I told him of our Taiwan tour in Jun. 2 hours after he called, Dharma Brother Lian Kui called from Taiwan, asking me if I was going to Taiwan, as H.E Danzhen Longduo Nima Rinpoche from Nyingma Dzogchen in China was visiting Taiwan, presiding over a Buddhist ceremony. I told him of my plan to visit Taiwan in Jun.
During this mind-training tour, we visited Taipei, Yeliu, Jiufen, Wulai, Gaoxiong and Taizhong. Everywhere we went, rainbows awaited our arrival in the sky. No matter rain or shine, rainbows awaited our arrival, welcoming us. On our way back to Singapore, there were even 2 rainbows vertically descending from the sky below the clouds, clearly visible from our plane soon after it took off from Taiwan airport. It symbolized the perfect arrangement meticulously planned by the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, and the Dharma Protectors, for this exciting mind-training tour. When we were setting off the sky-lanterns in Shifen, mother nature seemed to work with us in perfect harmony. There was a heavy downpour in Shifen when we arrived, which stopped immediately before we set off the sky-lanterns; and then the heavy downpour resumed immediately after the sky-lanterns were set off completely……

When we arrived at Qijing, our tour guide was introducing the place to us while we stood next to a Ma Zu Temple. At the time, a slight drizzle started. Surprisingly, the rain only fell on one side of the road, leaving the other side completely dry! How strange! After which, I went into the temple to pay my respects to Ma Zu (a taoist deity). This was my first encounter with Ma Zu in Taiwan.

Our schedule was fully packed. We planned our dinner every night at several famous night markets including Shiling Night Market, Danshui Old Street, Ximending, Jiufen, Shenkeng Old Street and Wulai Old Street in Taipei; Liuhe Night Market in Gaoxiong; and Fengjia Night Market in Taizhong. We hunted for the famous local delicacies such as the stinky beancurd that we had been longing for, oyster “me sua” or oyster omelette.

I originally thought that we could at most just make a phone call to greet Dondo Rinpoche during our trip in Taiwan. Out of my expectation, he actually invited us to his centre in Gaoxiong – Khatok Rainbow Dharma Centre in Gaoxiong. Due to some slight miscommunication, when we reached his centre around 5pm, he had already gone somewhere else trying to receive us. When I walked up the stairs and met the person-in-charge of the centre, she told me that Dondo Rinpoche had already gone out to receive a Rinpoche from Singapore. I was in casual attire at the time, so I simply smiled and told her that we could wait for Dondo Rinpoche to return. 15 minutes later, Dondo Rinpoche rushed back to the centre. He immediately offered me a khatak when we met. The person-in-charge of the centre looked slightly embarrassed, for how could she tell that this ordinary looking man was actually a reincarnation of a Tibetan Rinpoche?

Later, Dondo Rinpoche invited me to sit on a high throne, joining the rest in a Vajra Kilaya Prayer. I did not expect Dondo Rinpoche to appear again in Taizhong, where he treated us to a delicious dinner of Italian pasta. After which, we visited his centre in Taizhong – Tibetan Buddhism Dondo Dharma Centre in Taizhong.
When we finally returned to Taipei, he was there too, inviting us on our last day to visit his centre in Taipei – Wish Fulfilling Temple. We did a few rounds of smoke-offering prayer, including a Green Tara prayer.

As I sat on the high throne, wearing the dharma crown and dressing in a lama robe, the rest of the practitioners came forward to prostrate before me and presented their offerings to me. Suddenly, I had a feeling of déjà vu that I seemed to be still sitting on the floor in the Lei Zang Temple during the prayer on that day, with my mind fully immersed in bliss…. For there is no difference between sitting on a high throne and sitting on a floor, doing prayers. Spiritual connections that pervade the universe are far more important.

There was yet another inconceivable spiritual connection awaiting us. I expected Dharma Brother Lian Kui to introduce some Taoist friends to me this time. But he did not make that arrangement. There was a silent arrangement being made by someone else though, in the spiritual world.

After the completion of the Maha White Lotus Bodhisattva Prayer in Lei Zang Temple, we left the temple by walking down the road leading to the foot of the hill. Our coach could not come up to the temple as the road was narrow and the crowd was huge. On our way down, Lian Kui suddenly pointed to someone sitting behind a car parked by the roadside. He asked me if I could remember her. Of course I could! She was the daughter of the former abbot of the Wanshou Temple at Tuchen (Taoism). Her name was ‘Xiao Cui’. Old memories resurfaced in my mind. I remembered more than 20 years ago, late Master Lian Xuan made an acquaintance with the lady abbot of Wan Shou Temple, Lin Jin Ying. Her daughter, Xiao Cui, even came to Singapore to pay a visit to the late Master Lian Xuan. I remembered her very well, albeit she knew nothing about me.

I even knew about her family’s migration to the US. Lian Kui introduced my Rinpoche title in Nyingma Dzogchen of Tibetan Buddhism to Xiao Cui. She then extended her invitation to us to visit her mother at the Ma Zu Temple in New Peitou, to renew our connection. I agreed to her suggestion without thinking too much about it. But our schedule was too full when we had yet to squeeze out some time to visit the centre of Dondo Rinpoche. The rest must have thought that I was not too serious about the promise, and that the visit to her temple would just be impossible!

On our way returning from Taizhong to Taipei, our tour guide told us that the weather in Taiwan was becoming sunnier. It had been raining cats and dogs almost everyday since our 1st day of arrival till the 8th day. According to our itineraries, after visiting the Daxi Floral Farm, we should be visiting Qingsui Master Temple, Sanxia Old Street and Yingge Ceramics Street. However, heavy downpour started during our lunch at the Daxi Floral Farm. We had to cancel the rest of the itineraries for the day and go straight to the Fishermen’s Pier.

We arrived at the Fishermen’s Pier at around 5pm. When I reached the Fishermen’s Pier, immediately I ‘saw’ a dragon king appearing before me, asking me to help the sea beings killed and stranded in the spiritual world. So, I performed a soul deliverance prayer to help the sea beings. Later, we proceeded to the Danshui Old Street for dinner. At that juncture, I made an impromptu decision to go for the meeting with Xiao Cui. 7 of us went for the meeting by taking a sub-way train. At the time, it was still drizzling, and, again, a rainbow quietly appeared in the sky…….

The rest must have assumed that I could not make it for this meeting, but deep in my heart I knew that this was yet another very unusual connection; the arrangement would have already been made by the spiritual world……

In fact, Xiao Cui was a reincarnation of Ma Zu (妈祖). What then was the connection between Acho and Ma Zu in their past life? Xiao Cui could forget about Acho, but Acho had never forgotten about this past connection that had gone beyond time and space……. Acho visited the Ma Zu Temple in New Peitou at night and offered the blessing, for there was a secret hidden in the heavenly realm that could never be spoken…….

Acho
7 Jul 2010  

More Pictures：http://picasaweb.google.com/BuddhaEyeAlbum/Taiwan2010#

X-Tour: Tibetan Highland in Sichuan, China. '2009

End 2008, during our tour in New Zealand, Celestial Master Zhang personally descended in New Zealand, extending His invitation to us to visit Sichuan, asking me to bless the pitiful sentient beings there and free them from their collective karma. On 12 May 2008, Sichuan experienced a disastrous earth quake – Wen Chuan Earth Quake (8 richter scale).

Early 2009, the relationship between Beijing and H.H Dalai Lama has degraded further. When my enthronement ceremony at Horthan Monastery in Qinghai looked set to be delayed further, Danzen Daji Rinpoche from the Gelong Monastery in Shiqu, Sichuan, invited me to the opening ceremony of his newly restored monastery. So, again, 22 of us set off for the tour in a hurry. From 17 to 29 Jul 2009, we created a new chapter in our X-traordinary Tours by visiting the Tibetan Highland of Sichuan/Qinghai.

When we were planning the tour with our friend in Chengdu, Zen (our tour guide of our Chengdu Tour in 2006), a Dharma Sister of ours, who was an epidemic specialist from our neighboring country, sent us an email advising us to cancel our plan. Reason being, the world was facing a H1N1 pandemic. People worldwide was worried and felt lost. Kan asked me for my opinion. I told her, every X-traordinary Tour was full of challenges but they were all finally resolved through the blessings of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and the Dharma Protectors.

Zhou, a Dharma Sister from Shandong, China, decided to join us in the last minute. She had to take a different flight, Air China, as our flight, SilkAir, was already fully booked. She arrived in Chengdu 12 hours before we did.

When our flight was approaching Chengdu, I took my rosary out and started praying to Grand Master, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, invoking their blessing for Chengdu. At the time, Dharma Brother Hong from Australia who was on the same flight, ‘saw’ Jade Pond Golden Mother and Acho Rinpoche descended from space, blessing Sichuan by showering the rain of nectar, cleansing Sichuan. They were surrounded by many female deities who were showering flowers around them. Later, our flight pierced through the layers of rain clouds, finally landing safely at the Chengdu Airport.

When I just stepped out of the airport, I felt the cool and refreshing air outdoors after the rain, gently caressing my face. Zhou came to the airport to meet us. She told me that she just found out that Chengdu had already suffered from draught for several months, with a high temperature of 32ºC. It was hot and humid. However, just 2 hours ago, there was suddenly a heavy downpour which lowered the temperature to 22ºC. It happened just like other X-traordinary Tours - the weather would just change unexpectedly. This time, Zhou had her first hand experience in witnessing a sudden change of weather. She had earlier changed to a pair of shorts before coming to the airport in view of the hot weather.

So, the 22 of us ended up walking pass Mount Qing Chen, Dan Ba Stone Houses, Jia Ju Tibetan Villages, Natural Garden, Dao Fu Residential Houses, Unishya White Stupa, Mani Piles, Vast Grassland, Origin of Yellow River, Sacred Qing Hai Lake, Taer Monastery etc. The whole journey spanned over 2,000 km in distance. We also stayed at high altitude in the Highland City of Shi Qu, at 4,200m above sea level, and crossing over a 4,824m point above sea level at Mount Ba Ye Ge La. This time, high altitude syndromes such as panting, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, fever etc became one of the main themes of our tour.

The most unbelievable story happened on Dharma Sister Bing. She was the last to join due to some earlier work commitment issues. And our itinerary kept changing all the time. When our coach finally entered Xie Wu, a town in Qing Hai Province, we stopped by a small restaurant for lunch. Bing came forward and asked me if she lived here in her past life because every street and house in the town looked so familiar to her! Although she had never set foot in Qinghai, this place kept appearing in her dreams. Although the house had been renovated, it remained vivid in her memory. With my blessing, she found her great grandson from her past life, Sonam Lama, a Buddhist monk of the Sakya. The touching moments of a reunion crossing over two different lifetimes could only be truly felt and understood by the individuals involved. Bing knew that the reunion was being arranged by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, or she would not have such paranormal experience. “Although I had never set foot in Qinghai, Qinghai came to me in my dream every night… This was my most favorite song entitled Dreaming of Qinghai Every Night. The lyrics of this song kept ringing in my mind…..

The most interesting character of this tour was A Peng. He was my school mate in my secondary school. We reunited sometime back at our alumni. He came to know about our plan for the tour and he wanted to join us. In Tian Quan, there was a landslide blocking our road ahead. So, we decided to just stop somewhere nearby for our dinner, while waiting for the road to be cleared. We took pictures around the area and caught the images of the amazing round lights filling the sky on our cameras - the Mandala Lights. At first, A Peng did not manage to capture those lights with his expensive camera when others did. He was very curious about such a phenomenon. Later he told me, “Don’t be superstitious! Those are just reflections from the dusts in the sky.” I only smiled to him and continued to walk into the small restaurant nearby. Strangely, the “dusts” miraculously disappeared after I stepped into the restaurant. A Peng asked me to go out of the shop for photo taking again. This time, the “dusts” reappeared. So, the “dusts” seemed to be spiritual. The “dusts” seemed to be surrounding me during the whole photo taking session. After studying it for a long time, A Peng finally came to me and said, “A Leng, I’m sorry! I think those are not dusts but an unbelievable paranormal phenomenon.” At a later stage when we reached the Dzogchen Monastery, one of the six main monasteries of the Nyingma, A Peng captured more of such Mandala Lights with his camera. He finally firmly believed that those are not “dusts”. Another Dharma Brother Jin even captured the Mandala Lights in motion in Ganzhi Town, in broad daylight.

Jin also joined us for the first time. He was a disciple of Venerable Jing Kong. He read a few of our books on X-traordinary Tours but was doubtful about the stories. He had been to Tibet, Qinghai Lake, Taer Monastery, the Silk Road, the Vast Grassland in the past. But he found those places too commercialized and was losing his interest in travelling. However, this time, he found this tour truly memorable. He shared his feelings with many people after the tour, “This tour was truly unusual! Every thing that I saw, heard and felt during the tour will change the rest of my life!” Besides, he also saw the changes in A Peng, Zen and Ben - changes in their outlook of life and finding their long lost childhood innocence.

Ben was the assistant to Zen. He was not very close to us at the beginning of the tour but we became closer each day. Soon after, he even started sharing our books on the Paranormal Tours with almost everyone he met during the tour. Due to his good efforts, a female waitress at a restaurant where we had our lunch near Qinghai Lake came to me for blessing; and Shi, our tour guide at Taer Monastery, came to me for blessing by asking me to touch her head.

How unusual was it? How inconceivable was it? How did one change from a non-believer to a strong believer? How did one change spiritually and physically? It was the blessing of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and the Dharma Protectors. It had nothing to do with Acho! May I ask you, the x-traorinary readers, to join us, a group of True Buddha practitioners, for this X-traordinary Tour of Tibetan Highland in Sichuan!

Lotu Robe (Acho)
6 Aug 2009

More pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/BuddhaEyeAlbum/China2009#