X-Tour: Bhutan - A Mind Training Tour in the Country of Happiness

Picture 1: Aura of Guru Padmasambhava, at Tiger Nest

 

Picture 2: Aura radiated from the body of Acho Rinpoche, at Changyangkha.
 

Picture 3: Aura enlarged and ascended upward, showering everyone present, at Changyangkha.

I found it difficult to pen my thoughts for this preface because this Bhutan tour was full of spiritual responses, the magnitude of which was simply overwhelming.

37 of us, the Vajrayana practitioners, embarked yet on another extraordinary tour on 5 Oct 2012, heading towards the happiest country in the world – Bhutan. This was a holy trip that straddled the present and past lives.

We chose to transit in Bangkok, Thailand and stayed there for one night. Of course, there is already a direct flight from Singapore to Bhutan being introduced recently. When we touched down in Bangkok, we went for our dinner at a restaurant famous for its transvestites (lady boys) performance. However, we nearly missed out dinner. Reason being, immediately upon our arrival, the numerous deceased transvestites stranded in the nether world came forward to seek help for their soul deliverance. It took nearly an hour for the matter to be settled, after giving them blessing and persuasions to leave.

On the following morning, we were already onboard a Bhutan national airline flight, Druk Air, touching down in the valley of Bhutan. The view of the Himalayan range was simply astonishing! The airplane was so close to the hills that both its wings seemed to be crashing into the valley!  No wonder only Druk Air pilots are capable of flying the airplanes into Bhutan. The runway was so short! And there was only one airplane in the entire airport  – ours.

We set off for Thimphu, the capital city of Bhutan, immediately after touching down. We really enjoyed the scenic landscape throughout the journey decorated by green mountain ranges, turquoise rivers and golden padi fields. We stopped at a certain location that was very picturesque and I heard the group exclaiming almost simultaneously, “Is this Shangrila?” 

We visited the builder of Buddha Dordenma. He was the vice Chief Monk of Bhutan, H.E Trizin Tsering Rinpoche. He shared with us the reason for building the world’s biggest bronze Buddha statue. Actually, the building of this Buddha statue was already prophesized in the 8^th century, that it would bring great benefits to the sentient beings in the universe. When Trizin Rinpoche discussed the plan with the Chief Monk of Bhutan, Je Khenpo Truku Jigme Choeda, the latter entrusted this sacred duty to the former. Soon after, there were several Singaporean Buddhists who came forward to offer their help, in both efforts and kind. The statue was built within a short span of just two years. Trizin Rinpoche told us that the consecration ceremony was scheduled in three years time, and he invited us to the ceremony. We requested him to do a prayer for the group on the spot. We also mentioned our affinity with the statue. On the last night before our departure from Bhutan, Joanne, the organizer of our Bhutan tour, had a dream. In her dream, she saw our group attending the 20^th anniversary celebration of the Buddha statue!

On the second day of our arrival in Thimphu, we visited the most renowned temple – Changyangkha Monastery. We saw many parents bringing their new-borns to the monastery for blessing by the abbot. We met the abbot, Tshjeh Rim Richen Rinpoche, and did a Avalokitesvara prayer with him. He told us that the Thousand Armed Avalokitesvara statue enshrined in the monastery was brought into Bhutan from China in the 12^th century. This statue actually spoke to the 16^th Karmapa when he visited the monastery. When I offered a khatta to Richen Rinpoche at the courtyard of the monastery, Dharma Brother Piu took a picture of us. Surprisingly, three of the pictures turned out to be extraordinary. The first picture showed a rainbow aura radiated from my body. The second picture showed that the rainbow light ascended to the space above, showering everyone present. The third showed a big blue light ball appearing above my head.

On the same night, we had dinner with the uncle of the lady boss who arranged our tour, Om. Her uncle was H.E Tsering Penjor Rinpoche. Penjor Rinpoche was the 8^th lineage holder of Powa in Drukpa Kagyud. He often travelled to Taiwan to teach. Dharma Brother Shao had a vision of his lineage masters surrounding him, which was a testimony of his high level of spiritual attainment. I showed him the three pictures taken with Richen Rinpoche. He said only a practitioner who has attained a true state of liberation would be able to demonstrate such extraordinary feat. No wonder, when we did a Guru Padmasambhava prayer with him at night, he offered the centre seat to me. He also gave everyone in our group two big precious mani pills each.

After one long day of bumpy roads, most of us ended up feeling nausea and giddy. Finally, we arrived in Gantey. On the following morning, we visited Gantey Gompa of Nyingma lineage. It was built on the west side of the black mountain in Gantey. This monatery was built in commemoration of a great Terton (hidden treasure discoverer). When we entered a place that enshrined a stupa within the monastery, Dharma Sister Zhen suddenly broke down and cried, requesting my blessing. She seemed to be singing in Bhutanese language. After which, it was the turn of Dharma Sister Karen to cry. She said both her arms felt numb, trembling and cold, completely out of her control. When I finally said, “It’s ok now!” her strange sensations disappeared instantaneously. Dharma Sister Qiong and Wong were also crying and asking for blessing. At this juncture, H.E Konde Rinpoche suddenly requested me to bless him with the vajra held in my hand; everyone present was clearly surprised by his action. Finally, everyone knelt down and requested my blessing. So, I transformed myself into Vajradhara and blessed everyone present. When the blessing was over, Dharma Sister Irene collapsed on the floor, complaining about many spiritual beings entering her body requesting blessing too…….

We cut through a vast padi field, making our way to the famous Divine Mad Man temple. We met many Thailand Buddhists on the way. When we reached the temple, I held the unusual religious implements of the Divine Mad Man, Lama Drukpa Khenley, in my hand. At that juncture, H.E Konde Rinpoche knelt before me again, requesting my blessing. I gave my blessing to everyone present, using the religious implements of the Divine Mad Man, including an arrow and a bow, and two other pieces of wooden male organs. After we left the temple, we went to the house of one of our tour guides, Sonam SP. It was the house of his wife. He requested me to do a Green Tara prayer. Green Tara descended from space, blessing everyone and delivered the soul of the past seven generations of his wife’s ancestors. When we left the house, on our way down the staircase, there was another group of spiritual beings coming forward to seek my blessing…….

Joanne kept asking our Bhutanese tour guides about the “Look Like Me” statue of Guru Padmasambhava, from the second day onwards after our arrival in Bhutan. However, the tour guides told her that there was no such temple. Few years ago, Jampel Lama, a Bhutanese monk came to Singapore and gave her a picture of that statue. He said that statue was believed to be a look-alike of Guru Padmasambhava, hence the name.  When we arrived at the hotel in Paro, we went to a temple that was believed to be the oldest in Bhutan, which was not in our original itineraries. It was built in the 7^th century for the purpose of subduing a big demon in the Himalaya range. It was one of the 108 temples built then. This one sits on the left knee of the demon. There is another one sitting on its heart – the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. There is a replica of this temple built by the 3^rd Queen of Bhutan, sitting just next to the original one. When we entered the temple, we immediately saw the statue of H.H Dilgo Kyentse being enshrined in the left wing of the temple. His relics were enshrined in a stupa in the right wing. And his throne was being preserved too within the temple, from which he gave the teachings of The Great Perfection (Dzongchen). A big statue of Guru Padsambhava was being enshrined right in the centre of this temple. It was just the “Look Like Me” statue of Guru Padmasambhava! There was another “Look Like Me” statue of Guru Padmasambhava  in Tibet. Both of them were made from the same piece of material. When Ma Yum La (my wife) paid her respect to Guru Padmasambhava by touching his big foot with her forehead, she felt the movements of Guru Padmasambhava……

The last stop of our mind-training tour was the most sacred place of Bhutan – the Tiger Nest! Two years ago, Dharma Sister Bing had a dream. In her dream, she and I came to a temple that was built on a cliff. When we entered the temple, she saw the abbot of the temple giving up his throne and requesting me to sit on it. When we arrived at Tiger Nest, she suddenly realized that that was the temple in her dream! There was a wonderful and inconceivable connection between the Tiger Nest and Acho Rinpoche indeed. The rest of the group ascended the Tiger Nest before I did. When I made my way to the last step to the Tiger Nest, they started chanting my heart mantra. At this juncture, Nelso had a vision of a huge ceremonial crown of Guru Padmasambhva descending from space, resting nicely on my head. Dharma Brother Shao had a vision of Guru Padmasambhva welcoming us and offering a khatta to me and the rest of the group. He also offered a five-buddha crown to everyone in the group. At Tiger Nest, members of the group took many pictures of auras using both the cameras and video cameras. When we offered one thousand butter lamps at the sacred cave where Yeshe Tsogyal transformed herself into a tiger, there were many pictures of beautiful auras taken at this location.

At our night prayer on the last night in Paro, there were seven (auspicious number) Bhutanese joining us including the lady boss of the travel agency, tour guides and drivers. They received empowerments from me too. When H.E Konde Rinpoche made his closing speech, he told the group that although he had met many rinpoches in the past who also presided over prayers and transmitted the teachings to the numerous sentient beings, he had never come across an experience that was so shocking and the power of blessing so great! He realized that our tours are not ordinary tours but a mind-training tour that could truly benefit the numerous sentient beings in the Six Realms of Existence (samsara). He wished to join us for our mind-training tours every time in future……

Of course, Konde Rinpoche had many auspicious dreams during the tour. Besides, there were other members of the group who either found her son, brother or husband (who waited a long time in the nether world for the opportunity to be delivered) respectively of their past lives in Bhutan. There was also a member who dreamt of being chased after by a thousand ghosts and was so frightened that he decided to follow me closely even when I went to the toilets, haha…… There were simply too many extraordinary encounters to be mentioned in this preface. I would like to ask the readers to wait patiently for our new X-Tour book to be published. I will guarantee you that you will be seeing lots of wonderful and extraordinary pictures of aura etc, and a glimpse of the secrets of the cyclic existence……

 

Acho Rinpoche

14 Oct 2012

Singapore Bedok Reservoir - Soul Deliverance

The Singapore Bedok Reservoir became the talk of town since Jun 2011 till Feb 2012, after a series of suicides occurring in the reservoir where 8 lives were claimed. The whole nation was shaken. A group of grass root leaders invited representatives from the 8 largest religious groups to perform a soul deliverance ritual on site, but on the very same day, another body floated on the surface of the water. There was a feeling of fear in the air. On 11 Mar 2012, Acho Rinpoche came to the reservoir with a few of his students; quietly, he performed a soul deliverance ritual for the deceased. The ritual subsequently unveiled, yet again, the inconceivable power of the Dharma, and the state of existence of the Six Realms yet to be understood by many. ~~ By The Editor

Acho Rinpoche:

Last night I mentioned about the many strange things that happened at the Bedok Reservoir recently, and the person-in-charge requested me to help bless the place. Today, a few people followed me to the reservoir and I will let them do their sharings. First, I would like to invite Dharma Sister Bing to do her sharing because she felt very sick after our prayer last night. Could you tell us about how you feel last night and how do you feel today?

Dharma Sister Bing:

Last night after prayer, I suddenly felt that my head had become weightless and that I could not feel its existence. It was a very strange feeling. I could still touch my body and my head, but I just could not feel my head. I could not go home because of that funny feeling – it was like a balloon that is so easily blown away the moment it is being touched. I did my blood test recently and there was no sign of low blood pressure, and my health has been in pink all the while, neither did I skip my meals. I used to go home early after the prayers but I just could not make it home last night. So, I decided to stay on longer and ate something. I thought I would feel better after eating but nothing had changed. Finally, I thought I must go home and so I told Acho Rinpoche about my situation. He gave me a special blessing, after which I regained some strength and could finally took a taxi home. 

I continued to “float” when I reached home. When I lied down in my bed, suddenly I felt extremely dizzy and the world swirled around me – it was a very terrible experience! I told my head, “I will ignore you now! I am so exhausted and I must go to sleep! I need to follow Acho Rinpoche to Bedok Reservoir tomorrow.” I fell asleep and woke up the following morning. I felt slightly better in the morning but the floating sensation still persisted – it only disappeared after 1pm today.

We arrived at the Bedok Reservoir around 3pm. When I closed my eyes and recited the Heart Sutra, I had a vision of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. He appeared in the space before us, and I “saw” a very huge bright light, flashing like camera flashes. It was a very pure and bright light of white color, continuously flashing and blessing the sentient beings. The light remained visible during our recitation of the High King Sutra. After the soul deliverance rite, I felt completely normal and comfortable again.

I am not sure if this has to do with what I did about 1 to 2 years ago? After participating in a Smoke Offering Ceremony here, I took some of the holy water and poured them into the Bedok Rerservoir, with the intent to share it with the sentient beings there – after all, it is a public place. I recited the heart mantra of Acho Rinpoche while pouring the holy water into the reservoir. I am not sure if these 2 events were related. 

Dharma Brother Shao:

After I got the notice from Dharma Sister Sim on our planned visit to the Bedok Reservoir 3 days ago, I volunteered to fold 7 paper lotuses to be used in the soul deliverance rite. After working on it for the second day, I left some of the finished products in my living room and went to sleep. I had a dream where I saw an old woman sleeping right next to me – giving me a shock! I woke up from my dream but slept soon after, as I did not bother about it. However, I had a second dream next. In my dream, I found myself in the living room, and I saw a few children intruding into my house with their mother. I tried to stop them but they just refused to leave. I understood the meaning of the dream – the spiritual beings were quick in knowing our intent and they came even before the paper lotuses were done. 

I went along with Acho Rinpoche and few others to the Bedok Reservoir today. It was a very powerful soul deliverance rite. When Acho Rinpoche was performing the rite, I just stood there and made my own observation. I meditated and “entered” the water – the water was dark and murky. There was an invisible force of suction that perpetually entrapped the sentient beings within the water – it was where their negative karmas entangled together. I saw an invisible layer of mist above the surface of the water slowly ascending upward – they were the spiritual beings. In the space above my right hand side, Bodisattva Avalokitesvara appeared, emitting the brightest white light on the surface of the water, bringing them away.

Acho Rinpoche:

So, you can now correlate the events: About 2 years ago, Dharma Sister Bing poured the holy water into the reservoir and recited my heart mantra at the same time, thus sowing the seed of affinity and causing the maturity of the condition for a soul deliverance rite to be performed today. Her feelings of “no head, dizziness etc’ were the exact feelings of the sentient beings stranded in the water. It was telling you about their terrible feelings of floating, rocking and great discomfort. They lived constantly in pain. Imagine if a person is to live in such pain every moment, what will it be like? It will be very terrible! We, the practitioners, should be compassionate and help to free them from the sufferings. Your constant feelings of floating, headlessness and dizziness are a mere reflection of their sufferings. It was very fortunate that you acted out of compassion and bodhicitta to help them, and that created the condition for the soul deliverance rite today.

The representatives from the 8 main religious groups were invited to help in vain. One of my colleagues subsequently requested my help because he is in-charged now. In the past, he used to seek my help instantaneously whenever he encountered some problems. One of his staff personally saw a foreign worker walking into the water and his body floated on the surface of the water on the following day. (The foreign worker continued to walk into the water despite being stopped by the staff. The worker even told the staff to go ahead and report it to the police.) His staff felt very bad, for the worker just died like that. Several of his staff also saw other inauspicious events happening around the place. So, my colleague requested me to go some time ago but I was too busy with my work that I could only go today. And I asked Dharma Sister Bing to come along.

Well, you have heard the stories about what happened today. Today is the birthday of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. So, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was the one who would bring them away. We just recited the Heart Sutra to let them hear the teachings, and let them know the emptiness of this world – there is nothing worth being attached to, they should quickly take a rebirth and leave this human world as well as the spiritual world. They know full well the state of sufferings in that space, and only the power of the Buddha and Bodhisattva could help free them. It was exactly as told by Dharma Sister Bing, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara showered upon them the bright light and brought them away. Finally, when the paper lotuses were burnt, we saw a big piece of ash rising into space when there was no wind blowing at the time – it was meant to tell us that these sentient beings were delivered by Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.

In the evening, when we went for dinner, we saw a double rainbows appearing in the sky. Rainbow appearing after a soul deliverance rite is an auspicious sign that tells us “These sentient beings were already delivered by the Buddha and Bodhisattva to the Western Blissful Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha.” Take a look at the sufferings of these sentient beings trapped in the water. Our Dharma Sister Bing only suffered for a very short period of time and she could not take it. Could one imagine the level of pain when one has to face such situation everyday? So, I am telling everyone now – DO NOT COMMIT SUICIDE! Once a person commits suicide, he will perpetually live in that state of suffering at the point of death. He can only be freed by a Buddha or Bodhisattva. I would like to thank Dharma Sister Bing for her act of compassion and bodhicitta, creating a good spiritual connection between the sentient beings and the Dharma. 

A discourse given by Acho Rinpoche on 11 Mar 2012

The Merit of Spiritual Practice is Greater In A Degeneration Age

Konde Rinpoche:
Good evening, Acho Rinpoche, Dodo Rinpoche, lama and all fellow practitioners. I am glad to be with you again. Jul this year, I was supposed to return to our Dzogchen temple in Qumalai County with my brother, to make arrangement for your visit. But we could not get our VISA to enter China. So, I requested the help of Gade Rinpoche to make the necessary arrangement for you. I was worried about the arrangement and kept calling home. They told me not to worry because they would take care of everything well. My brother-in-law, Nicai, also promised me that everything would turn out fine. Acho Rinpoche returned to his temple smoothly this time and everything turned out perfect, obviously due to your good karma.

I was given a piece of land in India and I discussed with Acho Rinpoche on building a temple. It will be named “Acho Rinpoche Retreat Centre”. It will cost less than building the hostel for our monks at our temple in Qumailai Country. Initially we thought maybe we will build a bigger temple if the sponsorship is larger or a smaller one otherwise. Finally we decided to build a small temple and gradually enlarge it in future. It is up to Acho Rinpoche.


Acho Rinpoche:
Let me add, the experience of our tour to the temple in Qumalai County was indeed inconceivable. Those who travelled with me felt touched and grateful. Our Qinghai tour guide, Liu, has a strong karmic connection with me. Yesterday, I read her note about her experience in travelling with us – it is very touching. Initially, she felt a little annoyed with us due to our frequent hygiene-breaks, and she thought that I looked too ordinary too, dressing in common attire. However, towards the end of the tour, she felt touched and wept from time to time. She said she has been handling so many tour groups in the past but there was none like ours that touched her so deeply, made her wept and kept thining about us. She was very surprised by the warm reception given to us by the local in Qumalai County – we were treated like leaders.

Konde Rinpoche was humble when he said that the reception was too simple. Those who have watched the video footages of our excursion will agree that we were treated almost like a president or chairman. Actually, we felt very touched by their hospitality – they did their best. The huge yak tent was impressive and the food was wonderful, given the poverty of the place. They just treated us like dignitaries, almost like their leaders in the government. We were moved.

Initially I thought maybe we might encounter problems without Konde Rinpoche travelling with us. Fortunately everything turned out well. Least did I expect that there was an important mission awaiting us – the meeting with the grandfather of Konde Rinpoche. His grandfather was seriously ill (due to old age). He could hardly walk and talk when we met him. He felt very uncomfortable and his whole body was cold. He could not sleep for three months. He had to sit up in his bed while sleeping. He had less than two hours of sleep every day.

Initially we decided not to visit him since Konde Rinpoche was not coming along. But we changed our plan and went to see him because he wanted to see me. Fortunately we made it or we will miss the opportunity forever. After our meeting, I decided that I ought to do something for him – I wanted to bless him. So, I invoked Guru Rinpoche and I transformed into Guru Rinpoche and blessed him. His body became warmer after the blessing. We returned to see him on the following night and he looked quite normal and could talk. He slept for four hours that night after the blessing. For the first time in three months, he could finally sleep properly. I knew then that his time was up. Indeed, he passed away one week after we returned to Singapore. He persisted in order to meet me and left after fulfilling his wish. It was indeed an extra-ordinary tour. We would like to thank Konde Rinpoche for making the arrangement and giving us a VIP reception.

We will build a small retreat centre in South India, somewhere near Dzogchen Monastery. This is another mission. I hope you will be supportive of this mission, in order to benefit the sentient beings there. Now we shall invite Dodo Rinpoche to give us a teaching.


Dodo Rinpoche:
Amitabha Buddha. Time files - it has been a few months since we last met in Taiwan. Based on your recent trip to Qinghai, I realized that Singaporean Buddhists have helped the Tibetans a great deal. Actually, the problem of Tibet started after the Cultural Revolution, with the transmission of religion and culture of Tibet to the younger generation broken for 20 years. We, the Tibetan Rinpoches and lamas hope to mend the gap and restore what is lost. Everyone is trying hard. Every Tibetan Buddhist teacher has the same wish to restore traditions that are lost. We need help from many people. Some people might wonder why we need to build so many temples. If you take a look at the situations in Tibet, Nepal and India, they are very different from those in Singapore or Taiwan; the young lamas live in a deprived condition in the former, yet they need a learning environment badly. I would like to thank all of you who helped us in the past or who will be helping us in future, on behalf of my Tibetan community. We are grateful.

I spent most of my time in Taiwan and roughly know the problems facing the world today, such as global warming, natural calamities etc. We understand that life is very fragile, especially so for the mankind in future. The Buddha said, “Everything is impermanent.” The value of life does not lie in its length of time, nor in the wealth or status of a person. The point is – is it meaningful? There are several ways to explain its value. In most cases, the actual value is determined by whether it can bring benefits to other sentient beings. The numerous crises facing the world can only be reduced through inner and outer spiritual practices. The Buddha said, “Mind is the creator of all phenomena.” We must bring positive influence to the world through the positive strength of our inner mind.

There are two parts to the practice: the purification of our mind and the purification of our body. In Vajrayana Buddhism, there is a spiritual attainment called “Rainbow Body”. It is accomplished through the purification of one’s inner mind and physical body. One’s physical existence will then become rainbow-like. That’s my understanding. We need to start from training our mind. Basically, it means breaking free from our ignorance and ego which are our in-born propensities difficult to kick. The most difficult part about spiritual practice is not fasting, being naked or practicing in austerity. The biggest hurdle for enlightenment is taming our own mind,our desires.

A person will know who is good to him and who is bad to him without learning, after being born into this world. Even a toddler who cannot yet speak knows that. This is the in-born “ego”. Buddhism teaches us to let go of our ego but this is the most difficult part. For one who has been practicing for many life times, it could be easier for him to kick his ego or self-pride. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for a first-timer. One will find it very difficult to practice what he does not have or dislikes. So, this is the value of Buddhism and our aspiration to practice. It is not easy for us to change the world. But everyone has the responsibility to make it a better place because we are Buddhists - we are given the advice to do so by the Buddha. We should bring positive influences to the people around us, and we must tame our own ego and self-pride. This is the only way to bring peace to the world and reduce the occurences of major crises. If we train our mind well, our inner peacefulness will naturally calm the external word – this is the power of a positive mind. A positive mind will only happen through practice – mind training. There are both the teachings and true attainment in Buddhism. Teachings are just education, whereas true attainment is realized only through practice – no work no gain. We should learn the teachings and act accordingly to the teachings, taking one step at a time, do it every day, maybe scoring 100 marks or 50 marks, it does not matter. How much we could put into practice will become our true attainment.

I hope that we can become a true practitioner of the Dharma and we can achieve true spiritual attainment. Only then we are able to help the world when it is hit by disasters, by dedicating the merits of our cultivations to the victims. Take a look at Thailand which is hit by a major flood now – millions of people are displaced. The major disasters hitting the world are increasing in number over the years. This is an outer manifestation of our inner mind in a state of flux (fear and limitless desires). Guru Rinpoche said, an ordained monk who observed the precepts for 100 years in the past would accumulate less merit than an ordained monk who observes the precepts for merely one day in the current degeneration age. When the going becomes tougher, the merit gained from overcoming the difficulty in practice will become even more valuable.

We are connected through our affinity. I thank Acho Rinpoche for giving me the opportunity to do my sharing. Thanks.


Acho Rinpoche:
I would like to thank Dodo Rinpoche for his sharing. Besides the major flood in Thailand, South Turky was also hit by a major earthquake just few days ago – 7.2 rectal scale (23 Oct 2011). Thousands of houses have collapsed in the earthquake. There are many students still buried under the rubble. Today is the third day and the 72 golden hours have passed. There was a 2-week old infant being saved from the rubble yesterday. That place is under developed and lacks resources. Many countries in the world are trying to help them now, including Singapore. We, the Vajrayanists, ought to feel for them as though they are our relatives being buried under the rubble. We should feel the pain of those who are buried underneath the rubble. We should dedicate the merits of our practice to them and hope the situation can improve.

This world is facing numerous major disasters, including natural calamities and financial crisis which is caused by the greed of the financial sector. The whole financial sector has turned into a huge monster swallowing everything. This monster is conspiring with the government, academic institutions and the media to cheat the whole world, swallowing the wealth of the whole world. They warn the world that the global economy must not be let collapsed or the whole world will collapse. This is a big disaster. If the global economy collapses, the world will be thrown into a state of chaos, and our hard earnings will just evaporate into thin air overnight. How so? Each time they start printing more currency notes, our savings will reduce significantly in value. We work hard here and they spend all our money elsewhere. They are lazy to work and are merely scheming about taking others’ money away. The world is indeed in a state of chaos. Most people want to earn the most money in the shortest time without working hard for it. Sp, this world ends up facing many problems. “Mind is the creator of all phenomena.” It is the “desire” in men that created this world; this is the consequence of the inner desire of mankind manifesting outward. When the world is in a state of flux, the power generated from our spiritual practice will become greater.

Recently I read a book about a Taiwanese spiritual medium trying to help others through spiritual consultations with the deities. There was a strange phenomenon being mentioned in the book – “those people seeking help were either facing a major crisis in life or had incurable illnesses”. The medium found a commonality among these people – “none of them ever did anything good in their life! Even the deities could not help them! ”

In this degeneration age, a person is born with an instinct to fight and compete with others, who is eager to outdo others at all times. He never thinks of wanting to help others but cares only for himself. Our educational system has gone astray – people who are more intelligent and highly educated are more inclined to cause harm to the world. When they face big problem in their life and seek help from the spiritual world - the spiritual world cannot help them because they had never done anything good in their life, not even a small act of kindness. I found it very pitiful! Why on earth had this people not done any good act in their entire life?

"A Bodhisattva is fearful of the cause, whereas the sentient being is fearful of the effect." When a sentient being faces the consequence of a bad karma and rushes to seek help from the deities, it is just too late! A Bodhisattva is fearful of the cause and therefore avoids planting a bad seed, no matter how small it seems. Every thought that arises in our mind must be good and should mean to benefit others.

We are very lucky that we are spiritual practitioners in this degeneration age, and we are able to help others through our practice. What will we do when we face “impermanence” in our life one day? What should we do? How can we depart from this world freely? Or do we want to end up like those seeking help from the Buddha only in time of crisis? I really feel sad after reading the book – how on earth has the world become like this today? Too many people are selfish and never think of benefitting others.

There was another medium mentioned in the same book too. He helped to build a monastery in India, for a Vajrayana group. He met a senior Rinpoche and became a big donor, helping the latter to build a monastery.

There are not many monasteries in Singapore because there are not many ordained folks here. But there are many ordained folks in India and Tibet but not enough temples to provide them with shelter. We will build a temple in India (Acho Rinpoche Retreat Centre, near Dzogchen Monastery in South India), to give them a place to live, to learn and to practice the Dharma without worrying too much of their basic needs. We will dedicate the merits to the world. We are walking on the right path, a path that will lead to our ultimate enlightenment in future.

I am thankful to you for sharing the same mind set during all these years, walking on the right path. Thank you. I would also like to thank Dodo Rinpoche for giving us a warm reception in Taiwan last year when we visited his meditation centres. Amitabha Buddha.


A discourse given jointly by Konde Rinpoche, Dodo Rinpoche and Acho Rinpoche on 26 Oct 2011.

The Long Lasting Merit of Spiritual Practice

(The 1st meeting between Acho Rinpoche and Summer in North India, in 2007.)

Acho Rinpoche:
Now we will invite the new members to share with us the cause of their initiation into Buddhism and their views on the practice. I think this will be helpful to the rest. The rest of you have been around for a long time and you already know one another quite well by now.

(New members shared their experience with the rest.)

I agree to the views of Dharma Brother Zibing. Practice does not mean just meditation. Everyone is born with a different intellectual capacity and therefore everyone has different needs for the teaching. Some people need meditation, some do not. Some people think that meditation is very crucial but some could already be good enough to skip it. However, meditation is a necessary process to some people. Everyone needs a different teaching, and that gives rise to the different methods of practice.

In the past, Dharma Brother Maoxin helped out at a certain meditation centre for a long time and he had a serious eye condition that could not be cured. He looked very worried when he came to seek my help because he nearly became blind. At that point in time, I was wondering why couldn’t anyone at that meditation centre help him with his problem? I told him, “Ok! Come to me.” After blessing him, his eyes recovered fully. He joined us for our recent Vietnam tour – a mind training tour. I still remember we met each other in Taiwan just last year, including his brother. He has joined us now but his brother has yet to do so. He told me that his brother had a dream recently. He dreamt of me teaching and blessing a large group of people. So, I think his brother will join us in future too. Maoxin said he could feel the powerful force of blessing during our group prayers. He felt a solidifying sensation filling his whole body and finally understood what “power of blessing” is all about. Not only could he feel the power of blessing in my shrine, he could also feel the power of blessing coming straight from me towards him when he sat at the same table with me during a meal. He is full of spiritual joy now.

Now, we will come back to Summer (Yatong). 5 years ago, we bumped into each other in North India during our visit to the sacred places of the Buddha. We exchanged our glances and she nodded to me and struck a conversation with me when she noticed that I am a Chinese. That was how we established our spiritual connection. Least that I know, we would meet again 5 years later.

I wrote in our book entitled “X-Tour: The Tour of Birth and Death” – “We parted after exchanging our first glances and making acquaintance.” I said then that “I hope we would meet again in future, be it in Africa, Tibet or any other places.” For she continued to travel to the different corners of the world, I did not know where she would be heading next. She could end up in South Africa, Nepal or any other places in the next moment. I did not expect to meet her in Vietnam this time. Maybe we should thank Facebook for making it happen. I seldom play with such tool and I do not have a Facebook account but we were somehow reconnected through such social networking tools. It was just coincidental that when she made up her mind to go into a meditation retreat in Myanmar, we contacted her and invited her to join us for our Vietnam tour.

I don’t know where she will be going next. She has no schedule, like many Tibetan practitioners who have no plans. I bet if you ask her how long she will be gone, she will not know the answer either. Maybe she will just go there and decide based on the situation then, probably stay there for 1 to 2 years if the situation permits or just leave if it doesn’t. That’s how it is. She has no baggage – no family baggage, no work-life baggage. She just goes forward and seeks the path to enlightenment. Most of us are unable to do so. At least, she has let go of her materialistic life. My deepest impression of her was that she had only one piece of garment when we first met her in India. I was curious about how she managed to get by with only one piece of garment – did she not need to change it? She told me that she would usually find a very cheap lodging place and wrap herself in a scarf, and wash her only piece of garment during this period. She had only one piece of garment but we have so many, and we continue to buy more. She could let go of her needs for more garment but we can’t. However, I notice that she is travelling with more pieces of garment this time.

We were heading to the North but she was heading to the South when we met in India. She wanted to return to where we came from 2 to 3 hours ago, in darkness at night. I told her she must not do so, it would be dangerous for her. So, we remained in the hotel for dinner and stayed there overnight. On the next day, I gave her some money in US currency. She told me that the money could support her trip to South Africa for half a year. I was thinking to myself that I could have just spent the money within a day. I was touched by her readiness to let go of her monetary possession. So, I would like to invite her to do her sharing tonight. We are unable to do what she does in this respect and that is something we ought to learn from her. Of course, I hope that she could finally fulfill her wish.

Summer:
When I met Acho Rinpoche in his pilgrimage tour, I was on my own pilgrimage tour too. I just read the story of the Buddha when I was in Nalanda. There are eight most important sacred places of the Buddha, including Nalanda where Buddha first embarked on his spiritual path of practice, Bodhgaya where He attained enlightenment, Vaisali where he preached etc. The eight sacred places made up His whole autobiography. The most important point was that the Buddha began his spiritual journey as an ascetic, a beggar, a spiritual seeker, with no money at his disposal. He made it and that goes to show that it can be done. When I first met you, I already ran out of money; I would just walk or take a free ride for my travelling. Sometimes, I would feel exhausted, running out of food and water. Sometimes, I made very good connections with people.

We met in Vaisali and we went together to Kusinagar and Jetavana Garden next. We parted after our trip to Jetavana Garden. Actually, I was planning to go to a temple near the hotel, about 7 km away. I thought it was fine for me to walk there from the hotel but you folks insisted that I should not do so, saying that it was too dark and too dangerous. You said you would feel uneasy if I should end up in any danger. I said it was safe in India but you said I just should not do so. You wanted me to stay overnight at the hotel. We had our dinner at this beautiful hotel. When we parted, you told me to stay behind in the hotel for one night. I said it would be too expensive, at 2,000 rupees per night. 2,000 rupees could last me for half a year. You were worried about my safety and paid for my lodging at the hotel, and you gave me some additional cash. At that point, Acho Rinpoche used a word that really moved me to tears. He said, “We would like to make an offering to you.” I was shocked by the word “offering” because it is usually used in reverence of someone of a higher spiritual attainment. I was expecting the word “donation”, to someone as ordinary as I. That was my first time accepting a monetary offering from others. I still remember Acho Rinpoche gave me a 100 dollar note in US currency. Dharma Sister Chan and others also gave me some money too. I almost cried. I remained in a state of shock even after you folks left. I wrote many things in my diary on that day but they have not been published in my blog yet. The impact was very great and lasting.

Acho Rinpoche:
Why did I use the word “offering”? To me, all sentient beings are essentially equal. Since you are a serious spiritual seeker, you must be a real practitioner. To me, there is no question of higher or lower in my offering to you. Since you aspire to walk the path to enlightenment in order to help other sentient beings, you are a precious being. Of course, I should make offering to someone precious. I still remember asking you, “Don’t you feel worried about falling sick, since you travel without money?” She told me that initially she fell sick easily but became healthier over time. When she could not find any lodging in the temple, she would just sleep in an open field. I asked her was she not afraid of baddies? After all, she is just a lady. She said she was not afraid. She said she usually would have an intuition about whether it would be safe to go into a certain house. Well, she has been travelling safely in the past 5 years. I felt touched about what she said to me in Vietnam during our tour, “When you made up your mind, everything will work out nicely to fulfill your wish.”

Summer:
I believe in one thing – “When you make a wish that is strong and clear, realize it. The force of the entire universe will be with you.” (Summer said this idea came from a book entitled “A Miraculous Tour of a Teenage Shepherd”.) The only point that one must make sure is that this wish must be a genuine wish but not a mere desire. Sometimes we can’t differentiate between a genuine wish and a desire. But if we can quiet our mind and listen to our inner voice, we can pacify the noise and see clearly the most important wish in our life. We will then know what our destiny is. Basically, there will be no fear and deprivation when we simply walk on our path of destiny.

Acho Rinpoche:
Summer mentioned an important point about spiritual practice. When one aspires to the bodhicitta, he does not need to worry about anything else - do not worry about money, do not worry about environment, do not worry about family etc. For when you aspire to bodhicitta, the Dharma Protectors will come forward to assist you and help you realize your wish and fulfill your bodhicitta. This is a very important point. The most important point is – have we aspired to bodhicitta? If we have, we will overcome all adversities in life, and the Dharma Protectors will come forward to assist us. This is how I feel after going through so many rounds of our “mind training tour”. All adversities will be eradicated and transformed into positive conditions, and a situation will become conducive in enabling us to complete the tour successfully, allowing us to accomplish our mind training practice and help some of the sentient beings along the way.

Take our recent Vietnam tour for instance. We managed to help some of the Vietnamese walk the path to enlightenment. Our tour leader and local tour guide joined us for our night prayers several times, and they too could feel the inconceivable power of blessing. No matter how much money you make in this life, no matter how many houses you own, no matter how great or influential your career is, when you draw your last breath, they will just vanish into thin air - these things will not be related to you at all. When you die, you will not be able to bring along any of them. You will only bring along your own karma and the merit of your spiritual practice.

Every X-tour is a mind training tour planned by the Bodhisattvas, which aims to help the numerous sentient beings. We just have to follow the instruction and the power of blessing will happen naturally. The power of blessing will last forever – it will follow you life after life and help you moment to moment. It will not vanish after you depart from this world but will follow you forever. Konde Rinpoche said that the world will be hit by numerous disasters going forward. Who knows what would happen on 21 Dec 2012? Will mankind become extinct? Will earth vanish? No one knows. What is certain is that major disasters will happen. They have already happened in the past few years, outnumbering the occurrences recorded in the history of mankind in the last few hundred years. They have become more frequent and larger in scale, including natural calamities, hurricanes, earth quakes, floods etc. The big flood hitting Thailand lasts a long time, and it will be followed by plague naturally. The SARS that hit us few years ago suddenly vanished; we realized that it was the blessing of Grand Master that helped to eradicate the plague. However, Grand Master said that there will be a more serious plague than SARS that will hit us, that will cause a much greater casualty.

Singapore was hit by SARS too, although it is spared of natural calamities, hurricanes, earth quakes etc. Will Singapore be spared of disasters? My answer is – no! I felt that Singapore will be hit by many disasters going forward, including some people would suddenly die of strange illnesses. So, do not assume that Singapore will be spared because it is free of natural calamities. It will be hit by many disasters too, just like other places in the world. Only spiritual practice can protect a practitioner. So, please practice seriously in order to attain true liberation and enlightenment. Give spiritual practice the first priority, and leave the rest aside – this is a very important point.


(The 2nd meeting between Acho Rinpoche and Summer in Vietnam, in 2011.)

A discourse given by Acho Rinpoche on 12 Nov 2011.

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#