i was slammed with a 2000yr old buddha statue!

1st may, labour day which was a public holiday. don, andrew and i attended a buddhist seminar by CHOKYI NYIMA RINPOCHE who was a renowned mdeditation master from eastern tibet. shortly before the chinese invasion of tibet in 1959, rinpoche left with his family for Sikkim. (i think that's in Nepal, not very sure.)

well, it was quite a amusing and fun seminar. it was a bit odd that it seem i was the only who could understand his uncanny wiry jokes. he laughed. i laughed too.

then question time. there was this even weirder question which really was very amusing and memorable which came from a laukuaybu. it went like this:

rinpoche, my house is infested with lots of ants. as buddhist practitioner, i understand i cannot kill....so what am i going to do?

rinpoche lifted his eye brows and was a bit blurred by the question. he answered anyway in a very amusing manner:

ok..ok...u divide the ants into male ants and female ants. the male ants u train to be monk ants; the female, nun ants...then u breed them...

hahahaha....your is a funny question so i give u a funny answer...hahahaha...

it was deriliously hilarious!! the audience laughed wildly!

soon, it was blessing time. don, andrew and i was seated in the front seats hence we were first to go up the stage to receive blessing from the rinpoche. oopss..and oops ooops!!

the lady mc annouced: please present your ang pows offering to rinpoche after he blesses u. however, before she announced, rinpoche had already mentioned something that "no need to pray to me or prostrate to me...later when i bless you, no offering please...."

what was i suppose to do? who care! just queue up behind those monks and lamas who were first to be blessed. they offered their angpows but the rinpoche swiftly put it back onto their palm and asked them to go after blessing them.

andrew was quick. he rushed out to the reception got 3 red packets. before he could give it to me to fill up with offering money, i was already kneeling infront of the rinpoche. he smiled, chanted some mantra and 'slammed' me with a small 2000yr old brass buddha......

well, was i supposed to feel anything? er...to be honest - NO. NOTHING,

but i think i understood what the rinpoche said before he started his preaching:
DO NOT PRAY TO ME OR PROSTRATE TO ME...

and i understood. the blessing was just a gesture to motivate ourselves to practise harder and be more compassionate to our fellow beings.

i understood that he was also only another human being - wiser and more enlightened and hence sharing his thoughts and teaching. that was probably the reason why he stressed 'don't pray or prostrate to me'...

sadhu...sadhu...emptiness is form, form is emptiness .....;9)

there was one very important lesson that i valued learning most from the rinpoche. that is:

WHEN ONE PRACTISES BUDDHISM, HE CAN STILL CONTINUE TO BE WHAT HE BELIEVES IN. HE CAN STILL BE CHRISTIAN OR MUSLIM OR ETC...BUT IF HE'S A CHRISTIAN, THEN IT WOULD BE DIFFEICULT FOR HIM TO PRACTISE BUDDHISM.

footnote: don and i have know each other for about 3yrs. it was weird. we actually know each other through msn while he was studying for his master in adelaide. he was suppose to remain and work in oz but chose to return here to work. according to him, it was higher pay and better privileges here.

i acquainted andrew through don. andrew is one helluva buddhist practitioner. i was astounded by his depth of buddhist knowledge. he was the youngest and i was the oldest ....pai seh ;9)...and the stupidest and blurcock one!!