X-Tour: Inaugural Ceremony of Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center & North India Tour

Audience with the 14th H.H Dalai Lama

Audience with the 41st H.H Sakya Trizin

Inauguration of Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center, graced by the 42nd H.H Sakya Trizin

On 21 September 2019, 46 of us, the Dzogchen practitioners, boarded a Singapore Airline flight to New Delhi in India. It was a pilgrimage tour in the region of Northern India this time, with the primary purpose of attending the inaugural ceremony of the new Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center.

We checked into a hotel immediately upon our arrival in New Delhi. On the following morning, we set off to Dehradon where the retreat center is located and the journey took us 7 hours. On the third day morning, we went to the new Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center situated within a beautiful Tibetan settlement. The center is a two storey building, with the main shrine, a rest room and a kitchen on the ground floor, and five rooms on the upper floor used for retreat.

At 11am, the 42nd H.H Sakya Trizin, Vajra Ratna Rinpoche, arrived at the retreat center. The junior Sakya Trizin appeared very steady and calm, exhibiting the charisma of a great spiritual warrior. Soon after Kunde Rinpoche and I offered a long life prayer to Vajra Ratna Rinpoche, the latter conducted the inaugural ceremony for the retreat center and a few mani wheels erected within the settlement. Vajra Ratna Rinpoche joined us for a vegetarian lunch reception including a Tibetan cultural performance; I chatted with him over lunch and learnt that he travelled quite often to Singapore for some important prayers organised by the Singapore Sakya Center. 

Originally, Kunde Rinpoche invited the 41st H.H Sakya Trizin to preside over the inauguration ceremony. However, the senior Sakya Trizin had some leg problems and went to US for treatments; he still had problem walking after returning to India.  So, the junior Sakya Trizin presided over the inauguration ceremony instead. A day before the inauguration ceremony, we were informed by the India Sakya Monastery that the senior Sakya Trizin still had difficulty walking, that he could not grace the inauguration ceremony. 

On the fourth day morning, we went to the Sakya Monastery in order to pay respect to the senio Sakya Trizin at his abode. I presented my book entitled “Dancing Over the Rainbow” and a piece of khatta to the senior Sakya Trizin. I informed him that I took refuge in him 35 years ago in Singapore. It was just an inconceivable spiritual connection between us. Kunde Rinpoche also presented his new book entitled “A Happy Family” to the senior Sakya Trizin. At the end of our audience, the senior Sakya Trizin gave us a Vajra Kilaya Empowerment. The most surprising thing was that, after the audience, we saw him walking back to his room on his own. He had suffered from leg problems for about half a year by now but he could now walk after having an audience with us. It was just another inconceivable occasion, don’t you think so?

The day after the inauguration ceremony, Kunde Rinpoche and I jointly presided over a Guru Rinpoche Long Life Prayer participated by about 2,000 local Tibetans. Dharma Brother Shao had a vision of me transforming into a wrathful form of Guru Rinpoche, who blessed all the participants with rainbow lights. After the prayer, Kunde Rinpoche showed me a video footage taken on the day before the inauguration ceremony, whereby there was a huge flock of birds circling above Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center for a long time. The local residents said they had never come across such phenomenon in the past. When we went up to the rooftop of the center to admire the scenic view of the Himalayan range from afar, suddenly a huge number of birds of different species and sizes appeared from all directions; they were dancing above the sky for nearly one long hour! It was a truly majestic looking show which actually signified the celebration of millions of dakinis of this wonderful occasion. 

On the fifth day, we went to Tshok Padma (Lotus Lake) in Mandi. We reached the place at 2am and had our late dinner. On the next morning, we circumambulated the sacred lake and did a Guru Rinpoche Prayer. According to legend, a king attempted to burn Guru Rinpoche and Princess Madarava alive in this location but Guru Rinpoche turned the fire into a lake instead, and with him and the princess sitting on a lotus right in the center of the lake unscathed. We circumambulated the lake before visiting a scared cave nearby where Guru Rinpoche did his retreat in the past. The whole hill was engulfed by fog upon our arrival. Both the sacred lake and cave were exuberant with strong spiritual energy. 

Next, we continued our journey to Dharamsala. It was our second visit by now to this scared place. The whole place was engulfed by fog too upon our arrival. On the following morning, we waited right outside the residence of H.H Dalai Lama. There was already a very long queue of people awaiting their audience with His Holiness. The security was very tight, with a full body search required for every visitor. Finally, we met His Holiness and presented him with a book published by us. We felt great spiritual joy meeting His Holiness in person. 

On the following day, Kunde Rinpoche held a press conference in Dharamsala for the release of his new book entitled “A Happy Family”.  The book was written in Tibetan language and translated into English too. The day before, I went with Kunde Rinpoche to the Tibetan Library for a meeting with its Director, Geshe Lhakdor, who was the translator of “A Garland of Flowers”, which was the first book written by Kunde Rinpoche. Geshe Lhakdor shared the essence of Buddhism with the audience with a great sense of humour. There were 70 participants from Singapore, Malaysia and China gracing this event.

After attending the press release, we went back to our hotel for lunch. I suddenly decided to conduct a group prayer right after lunch. The place where we had lunch was converted into a temporary shrine for the group prayer. We did a Guru Rinpoche Prayer, joined by our two Indian guides. Later, we had our dinner at the same place before resting at night. We planned to visit the famous Golden Temple of Sikhism in Amritsar on the next day. I used to bring our grassroot leaders to the Sikh Temples during my works before retirement; this was how I fostered my tie with Sikhism.

After dinner, a few of our members started having diarrhoea. The first group of eight members were being sent to the hospital after 11pm. After midnight, the second group was sent to the hospital. As the hospital nearby was full, the third group  including me and Mayumla was sent to another hospital which was quite rundown and located further from the hotel. A few of us reached the hospital after 2am. My diarrhoea stopped after receiving medical treatments. I returned to the hotel around 4am to catch up with some sleeps. By then, the fourth group of members was sent to another hospital even further away.  Finally, the last few members who were ready to leave for Amritsar in the morning went down with diarrhoea too and had to be sent to the hospital.

Nearly three quarters of our group were being admitted to the hospitals, with a few others managing their situations with their own medications brought from home. Dharma Sister Joanne suggested that we skipped the visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar and left Dharamsala in two groups, with the first group going to Amritsar a day earlier, joined by the second group on the following day at the airport for our flight to New Delhi, as the latter needed to be hospitalised in Dharamsala for one more night. 

It was a sunny day in Amritsar, a complete change from the heavy downpours and thick fog in Dharamsala. In the morning, we visited a nearby village and saw the pictures of the first and tenth guru of Sikhism hung on the wall of a villager’s home. Dharma Brother Shao said that he only came to know the special connection between Acho Rinpoche and the patriarchs of Sikhism in Amritsar. 

We checked into a hotel in New Delhi. Dharma Sister Zhen was possessed. During our night prayer, many animal spirits came forward to seek help and blessing; they even requested to follow me back to Singapore.... I knew then that there would be an even greater challenge ahead. 

The iron bird rose into the sky once again. On our way back to Singapore from New Delhi, rainbows and sun halo appeared in the sky, the dharmapalas continued to protect the Dzogchen practitioners in space. There were many instances of rainbow lights of different shapes appearing during our trip. There was even an occurrence of  a special aura of Great Perfection appearing above the heads of Kunde Rinpoche and Acho Rinpoche too - it was truly amazing. 

After returning to Singapore, my diarrhoea started again and it continued for half a month. I could only constantly move between my toilet seat, my bed and my shrine during the whole period. I lost 6kg within a month and looked haggard alright. Finally, I managed to deliver the souls of all the spiritual beings following me back home, and then my health finally returned to normal. My homage to Amitabha Buddha. I simply feel grateful. 

Acho Rinpoche

20/12/19

 Our group practice in Dharamsala, followed by a rainbow appearing in the sky.

 Press release for Kunde Rinpoche's new book entitled "A Happy Family"

 Special rainbow light appeared above Acho Rinpoche and Kunde Rinpoche outside the residence of H.H Dalai Lama, after our audience with His Holiness.

 Visiting Tshok Padma and Sacred Caves of Guru Rinpoche

 

Sun halo and rainbow appeared in the sky during our flight back from India to Singapore

Amitabha Buddha Soul Deliverance & Naga Vase Offering Puja Held in Penang, Malaysia on 8-6-2019

On 8-6-2019, Acho Rinpoche, Kunde Rinpoche, Shredup Khenpo and Namkhai Lama jointly presided over an Amitabha Buddha Soul Deliverance & Naga Vase Offering Puja held at the Straits Chinese Association in Penang, Malaysia. The event commenced from 9.30am with the soul deliverance ritual, followed by bathing the Dragon Buddha ceremony with milk infused with medicinal herbs.

It was followed by short discourses given by Kunde Rinpoche and Acho Rinpoche respectively later. Acho Rinpoche shared with the audience that after touching down in Penang and checking into the hotel, he continued to do many rounds of prayers at the hotel in order to help deliver the souls of the deceased beings, as there were simply too many of them being enrolled for the soul deliverance ceremony. He had fallen ill for two weeks prior to this puja but he felt that it was worth it as long as it could help the sentient beings. He thanked those who donated generously to the opening ceremony of Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center in India due in September 2019. The inauguration ceremony will be jointly presided over by both the senior and junior Sakya Rinpoches (H.H Skaya Trizin and his son). Kunde Rinpoche also shared with us the tremedous merits of making offering to a retreat center.

Around noon, after our lunch, multi-colored lights appeared in the sky above our venue. Acho Rinpoche took a few pictures of the phenomenon and noted the appearance of Dragon Buddha above the clouds. Sadhu! Sadhu!

After lunch, we left the venue for the sea - to offer the naga vases. We chartered seven boats and went out to the sea. Kunde Rinpoche did a chanting before Acho Rinpoche offered the biggest naga vase by dropping it into the sea. The rest of the participants followed by dropping the rest of the smaller vases into the sea. As the naga vases contained medicinal herbs that could cure the various sickness of the sea beings, the offering of naga vases could truly benefit the dragon family.

On the following day, 9-6-2019, on our way back from Penang to Singapore, we witnessed a beautiful rainbow appearing in the sky outside our plane, when it was a bright sunny sky out there! This is yet another evidence that we are in the perpetual company of the enlightened ones and the dharmapalas. Sadhu! Sadhu!

Reported by Sun Moon KFS on 9-6-2019. 

Dragon Vases

Dragon Buddha

Manifestation of Dragon Buddha above the clouds... on 8-6-2019

Offering naga vases to the sea...

Sun halo appeared in the sky of Penang on 9-6-2019

Rainbow appeared in the sky on our way back to Singapore

Sri Lanka Tour: Last Night of Sharing by Acho Rinpoche

Tonight, I will give a summary on our Sri Lanka tour. We first planned to visit Sri Lanka some twenty years ago but it was delayed till five years ago (when it was initiated by Dharma Sister Mei as a family tour) and again did not materialize because her daughter did not want to join the tour. Finally, we have made it this time.

We visited Adam’s Peak, Buddha Tooth Temple and the various places enshrining the sacred relics of Sakyamuni Buddha. We had also witnessed the many appearances of rainbow, sun halo, colorful clouds etc. On our way to Adam’s Peak, unusual clouds appeared in the sky above Adam’s Peak. It actually requires one to have accumulated tremendous amount of merits and spiritual practice through eons of time in order to be able to join this tour.

Adam’s Peak is a sacred place. Only eleven members were selected to ascend the hill. Not everyone could ascend the hill such as Dharma Sister Bi – had she come ask me if she could go up the hill, I would have advised her not to do so. There must be some members who stay behind or you will be making a long bee line going up the hill but stretching very far away from the peak; it would have been made worse off by members who are physically unfit to trek. Also, if all of us made it to the peak, not everyone could squeeze into the tiny room enshrining the Buddha’s sacred foot print. As we are all different in terms of our physics, we must choose only a few would could do it, which was pre-destined. It does not matter if one could ascend to the peak or not. For instance, Dharma Sister Kan is unable to join us personally this time due to her eye problem (she had to stay behind in Singapore). However, her mind is with us throughout this tour and she has received tremendous power of blessing like the rest who joined the tour. Your mind matters. Whether you are following your guru closely with your mind and abiding in your guru wholeheartedly matters most. If you merely follow me physically but not abiding in me as your guru wholeheartedly and failed to observe your precepts, your outer actions of following me and ascending the Adam’s Peak are meaningless. It is utmost important that you observe the precepts closely, practise with vigor and internalize your Guru Devotion, which will gain you inconceivable amount of blessing. In fact, my foot print is no different from the foot print on the peak.

Just now when we entered a shopping center, I saw an image of Sakyamuni Buddha and some flowers placed before the image. I folded my palms to pay my respect to the Buddha. Immediately, I saw Sakyamuni Buddha appearing before me. So, I stopped by a shop and bought a cup of coffee and some biscuits as offering to the Buddha. I prayed to the Buddha that he would bless every shopper who came to this place, as long as he took a glance of the Buddha image, folded his palms to pay respect to the Buddha image or praised the quality of the Buddha – as long as he showed some form of faith in the Buddha, he will certainly receive the blessing from the Buddha.

When we entered the Kentucky Fried Chicken shop, I could feel the presence of the numerous souls of the chicken slaughtered and my whole body felt very itchy. So, I delivered their souls by doing a soul deliverance practice there and then. You see, as long as you have accomplished your practice, you will have the ability to do soul deliverance for the deceased. If you are a renown spiritual teacher sitting in a high throne surrounded by a large audience of tens of thousand of people, yet you lack the spiritual power to help the invisible sentient beings, they will simply ignore you; there will not be any rainbow appearing above your head either.  There was once that I participated in a Dharma assembly presided over by a renowned spiritual teacher, and a rainbow appeared in the sky during that period. Someone said that the rainbow appeared because of that teacher. However, a Bodhisattva in the spiritual realm told me that “Not so! The rainbow appeared because of you but not that teacher!” So, you should not assume that a Dharma teacher who is very good in teaching the Buddhadharma must be an enlightened person. It is utmost important for a practitioner to actualize the practice and abide in his guru. Dharma Brother Xin has done very well this time in terms of serving his guru – he followed me closely in serving me and yet constantly kept a comfortable distance to make me feel at ease too. He watched me very closely from a comfortable disctance in order to be able to respond to my needs immediately, without distraction. Some people are easily distracted by their surroundings and their minds will drift away; they will not be able to serve the guru well in that case and therefore, receive weaker blessing. Dharma Brother Xin has cultivated well – his mind is pure and he serves me with great devotion.  So, he has received the greatest power of blessing which increases his vigor in practice. When you are not devoted to your guru, you will feel tired of doing your practice. The power of blessing from your guru will increase your fondness in practice and you will naturally practise with vigor. Guru Devotion is very important to a practitioner. The spiritual accomplishment of a practitioner is achieved through his devotion to his guru.

Konde Rinpoche shared with us that Shri Singha served his guru for 25 years without doing any spiritual practice. Finally, his guru transmitted the Dzogchen lineage to him entirely and he became enlightened. Guru Devotion is a key practice in Guru Yoga. Guru Yoga is just Dzogchen. When you accomplished your Guru Yoga (Guru Devotion), your spiritual attainment will be no different from that of your guru. The recitation of the verse of supplication and the chanting of heart mantra of your guru are very important; you will be no different from your guru when you accomplished these practices. This hand mudra signifies Dzogchen, with the fourth and small fingers representing Adam’s Peak where Dzogchen lineage was first transmitted to our world; the thumbs and index fingers representing the vajra that signifies Vajrayana Buddhism; the middle fingers crossing each other representing the pervasiveness of Dzogchen being transmitted in the ten directions. When we join and turn our palms in a circular motion while singing the verse of supplication, it means praying for the pervasive transmission of Dzogchen in the entire universe, through which you will also receive the blessing of Dzogchen. This is an inconceivable method of practice which can bring about a very swift accomplishment, whereas other methods of practice will take a much longer time to accomplish. 

Om Mani Padme Hum.

Recorded by Lian Shao on 12-11-18

Sri Lanka Tour: Last Night of Sharing by H.E Konde Rinpoche

We visited several sacred places in Sri Lanka this time and there were rainbows everywhere we went. This is indeed a very inconceivable experience. I had followed many renowned Buddhist Masters in the past like Dzogchen Rinpoche, Kade Rinpoche, Padma Gesang Rinpoche etc., to many places but I had never seen so many rainbows appearing in this manner. This is just exceptional and very auspicious indeed.

11 of us ascended Adam’s Peak this time on the 11th day of November (11). We even had a chance to see the Sakyamuni Buddha’s foot print on the peak. I went with other lamas to Adam’s Peak in the past but some of us did not get a chance to see the Buddha’s foot print and some of us could only see it but did not have the chance of touching it. This time, we are so lucky that we could touch the foot print and even do our prayer before it. It was just wonderful!

The process of burying the terma vase went very smoothly too. Although Acho Rinpoche stayed in the hotel and did not join us in ascending Adam’s Peak, he knew what we were doing and did a prayer simultaneously during the burying of the terma vase. When the terma vase was buried, a giant sun halo appeared in the sky – it was truly amazing! I felt very touched by the fact that we could meet such a great master in Acho Rinpoche – you are just very fortunate to be his students.

Last night, I had a dream. In the dream, I learnt that Acho Rinpoche was the one who brought Dzogchen teachings to this world. I was curious why was Acho Rinpoche the one? Then, I saw Ekajati appearing before me and showed me four words, giving me the answer to my question. In future, I will include this dream in my third book which will be written in Tibetan. I will get it translated into English and Chinese and give it to you later.

Do you know why did rainbows appear wherever Acho Rinpoche went? It is because he is protected by Ekajati who perpetually appears above his head. It is just inconceivable that rainbows always appear around Acho Rinpoche. I’m blessed by Acho Rinpoche to be able to join you on this tour too. We truly have a strong karmic connection with one another. Dzogchen lineage was originally transmitted on Adam’s Peak. We took some sacred soils from the peak too. This place is indeed very fascinating and makes me feel very touched.

Someone asked me – what is the meaning of Dzogchen (Great Perfection). “Great” refers to a matter of great significance and “Perfection” means that it has been fully accomplished. It actually means that we have fully accomplished our spiritual practice – Great Perfection. Now we are still stranded in the Six Realms of Cyclic Existence due to our negative karma. We need to cultivate our spiritual practice until we could break free of the cyclic existence one day, reaching the state of perfection. We do not need to go to a certain place to practice Dzogchen because we already have an accomplished Dzogchen master guiding us. The quintessential teaching of Dzogchen is just Guru Devotion. We must follow the instructions of our Guru 100% - this is the very condition of our accomplishment of Dzogchen. It is utmost important for a Dzogchen student to heed the advice of your Guru, revere your Guru, never desert your Guru and always visualize your Guru sitting above your head – your Guru is just Dzogchen!

I personally have had many teachers including H.H Dalai Lama, H.H Karmapa Urgyen Trinley, H.E Dzogchen Rinpoche, H.E Padma Gesang etc., who taught me many tantras. However, the most important teacher of mine is Archun Togden Rinpoche, who is my Root Guru and my Dzogchen teacher. I never forget my Root Guru no matter day or night. I pray to him before sleep and when doing my prayers. One will only succeed in his Dzogchen practice if he reveres his Guru and abide in his Guru; there is no need for him to go somewhere else to do his Dzogchen practice.

Master Tilopa was a fisherman who did fishing daily. He instructed his disciple, Naropa, to join him in his fishing too. He killed and ate many fish. One day, Tilopa asked Naropa, “I kill hundreds of fish daily. Do you still have faith in me?” Naropa answered, “I have been serving you for more than twenty years, why would I not have faith in you? I trust you completely.” Tilopa said, “As long as you trust me, it is done. If you do not, just take a look at this now.” Tilopa ate the fish and threw the fish bones back into the sea. Lo and behold, the fish became alive again! So, as long as you trust your Guru, you will receive the greatest power of blessing from him. If you do not trust your Guru, like Devadatta, the brother of Sakyamuni Buddha who did not have faith in the Buddha, even the Buddha could not save Devadatta when the latter fell into hell. You just need to take a look at all the patriarchs of Vajrayana Buddhism, all of whom perfected their practice through Guru Devotion.

Our Dzogchen Lineage is based on Guru Devotion. Shri Singha served his Root Guru for 25 years without receiving a single line of teaching from the doctrines. Why? That was because he was not ready to receive the teachings yet. His Root Guru only assigned him mundane tasks and finally transmitted Dzogchen teachings to him only after 25 years later. Milarepa also served his Root Guru (Marpa) through building and dismantling many houses, who ended up having his back badly bruised from carrying the rocks on his back repeatedly. Milarepa had never lost his faith in his Root Guru despite the hardships. This goes to show the importance of Guru Devotion. One day, Marpa told Milarepa that he wished to eat a certain food and instructed the latter to steal it (from a banquet). Milarepa could not disobey his teacher’s instruction and did it accordingly. Milarepa ended up being beaten by the people from whom he stole the food but he still tried very hard to protect the food from being damaged. Such is the practice of Dzogchen!

That’s all for my sharing. Om Mani Padme Hum.

Recorded by Lian Shao on 12-11-18