When you're with Rinpoche, all is possible. It seems perfectly normal to be standing in the middle of the road in the middle of the night when there is nobody else around.

We discovered how Jenny knew every single backlane in KL, so Rinpoche asked her about her seedy other life...

What amazes me most is how Rinpoche looks perfectly natural, like he is exactly where he should be, whether he's standing in the middle of a city or doing prostrations in a the monastery prayer hall.

I love that this photo looks almost WongKarWai-ish! And JP looks like a button mushroom next to Rinpoche.

We'd been talking ealier about the darker side of KL and Chow Kit had come up in the conversation, and Rinpoche wanted to go see. A mystery tour around KL would be much more fun than MacDonalds so we climbed into JP's car and went rounding.

I tell you what. Jenny and JP sure know their way around the teeny, tiny, seedy lorongs. No wonder Jenny's as tough as a gangster.

The whole sex industry thing has always bothered me hugely and it makes me want to cry when I think about people sort of being forced into that kind of thing for a living. I watched a documentary about sex slaves in Romania once, and then read this awful book about slavery in Asia which really affected me and gets me totally depressed.

So it was all a bit weird going around with Rinpoche to see all these parts of KL that I didn't even know about (okay, I know I am a sheltered princess!). I've been trying to see my Dharma work as a way of connecting eventually with all these people in these industries. Or, I can't help them, then at least I might be doing something to help someone going through similar sorts of pain (Miin said to me once when I was feeling shitty about not being able to help people in sex slavery, "What makes you think their pain is any worse or different than others?" which made me realise that I guess you also shouldn't be selective about who you try to help!)

Anyway, it was pretty weird that we were going round the city looking at the thing that bothered me the most. And with Rinpoche too, who has the ability to just Live and Breathe Compassion, no matter where he is or what he's doing. Maybe it was a bit of a lesson for me that I should actually aim to help anyone, anywhere, and not to limit myself??

I tried not to think too much. It was too late to think anyway! In the meantime, it was just super precious to be hanging out with Rinpoche and running around the city on a car that was running out of petrol. I don't think there wasn't a road in KL that we didn't cover after those 2 hours of driving about. Man, I so thought I was sorted with KL roads but I went down a million of them last night that I’ve never known.

After cruising down dodgy streets, Jenny then decided to redeem us all directing us to go look at temples. We all got lost and JP kept going "Peen toh? peen toh? peen toh ah?" while Jenny sat in the back like a human map of KL and told him all the short cuts. She damn well knows the KL like it's her living room.

Susan was falling asleep in the back seat next to me, Jenny looked spaced, and JP had actually stopped talking for awhile. But Rinpoche was just all energy. You will never cease to be amazed at how little he sleeps and just How Charged he is all the time. I wonder if the Buddhas ever take naps?

Dharma discussions from the front seat of JP's car.

He talked to us about all sorts of stuff all night - Dharma, samsara, how to live the two together - and then made me and JP play the pick game (where you HAVE to pick between two really awful things. Doesn’t sound that bad, but it is when you see what kind of things you have to pick between and Rinpoche is damn good at coming up with the worst options).

The thing about the pick game is that you sort of try to be a bit intelligent with your answer, but you always end up sounding like a dork. But okay, you gotta learn to let that go cos the Gurus sure know how to make you give up that ego!

At 4am, we were back at JP’s hotel and started talking about Buddhas. So of course, the next thing we know, we’re all standing in the hotel lobby, checking Rinpoche’s email to see photos of 3feet and 5feet Vajrayoginis. (It is enlightenment all the way, all evening when you’re hanging out with a Rinpoche!)

And then it was time for bed.

At night, I dreamt about an enormous frog. It must have been about one foot wide, long and high. Just bloody horrible. And Rinpoche kept trying to make me touch the frog to get over my fear. Than god in real life, it’s just pick games, running around Bukit Bintang and Jalan Chow Kit tours.

Labels: Bukit Bintang, Dharma, Guru, Rinpoche, Vajrayogini