Welcome, Tiger! Welcome, Bubbles!

According to fengshui masters, today is the official start of the year of the tiger. But it is not the commencement of the new Chinese calendar yet. The official Chinese calendar only starts on Feb. 14th. Chinese only celebrate the new year on Feb. 14th, not today.

Along with the commencement of the tiger year, also comes a pleasant surprise this morning. My wife grabbed me by the hand and told me to see “something” and she was looking at the seven small glass bowls on my table (which also acts as an offering table) just in front of the urn of Dorje Khadro. Behind the bowls I hang the thangka of Je Tsongkhapa and Arya Maitreya. What’s the surprise? Well, the “bubbles” (I call them “water tig-les”) return.

This was a pleasant surprise because 4 days ago, the first signs of the bubbles had appeared in my main altar, where I placed the bigger bowls. But the bubbles did not appear in every bowl as the first 3 times, and only one or two bubbles in those that had them. Hence I was not that excited over this appearance. Nevertheless I did not disturb these bowls and got out another set of smaller bowls to be placed in front of the main bowls. The next day, to my surprise, there had appeared at least one bubble in each of these bowls, except one. These bubbles looked different from the ones in the bigger bowls, in the sense that some of these bubbles seem to have a white substance underneath. They looked like “eggs” actually. In these smaller bowls, one of them did not have any bubble and I did make a comment something along these line “how come you did not have any bubbles”. With all these small and big bowls having bubbles in them, I got out a third set of tiny glass bowls to be used to make water bowl offerings. To my astonishment, on the third day (yesterday) I found one bubble had appeared there. Gosh, had “they” listened to me or what…although I am not sure who I am referring to by “they”. For the 3rd and 4th day, I had been using the small crystal bowls without any bubbles appearing.

But today, the bubbles manifested in full force in all seven bowls. It wasn’t one or two that had appeared in the other bowls mentioned. The bubbles are tinier and because of the glass bowl, they shimmer and shine like little diamonds in the water. They seriously look beautiful in all seven bowls. I tried to take some pictures of them but I found it difficult because of the lights and reflections from the glass bowls. I am not expert in using cameras, and I am only using an automatic camera. I can only point and shoot. The photos did not turn out good. I am really bewildered at these strange phenomena. The bubbles just come and go as they please.

Anyway, I wish to welcome the Year of the Tiger as well as the "bubbles" (whatever they are)!

Cheers! May all be auspicious!

edited at 11.45pm 4 Feb 2010:
I changed my big bowls after ensuring all the small one or two bubbles had disappeared. After cleaning the bowls, and wiping each with a clean tissue paper, and changing the water, I put these bowls back on my altar. Few minutes ago, as I walked to my altar to switch off the lights before I go to sleep, I saw the bubbles in all the bowls. And this time, it is not just one or two. There were plenty of those tiny bubbles in each bowls, almost as many as the first time they appeared in October 2008. So now not only my glass bowls have those bubbles, but also my big bowls and also the smallest bowls on my altar. Tomorrow I would need to get new bowls for my water bowl offering. Immediately I lit up an incense stick and offered it to these "bubbles". They really appear in a big way this time. To celebrate the coming of spring? Hahahaha...!! Someone in a previous comment in this blog said that he has heard that these are possibly sentient beings. If so, then may they all be liberated!

edited on 11.20pm 8.2.10
I bought new pastic disposable cups for the water bowl offerings last Friday. On Saturday 6.2.10, nothing appeared. But on Sunday a few bubbles (at least one) appeared inside every cup. So, I put up new plastic cups. Today I came back from work wanting to change water, but I found many many tiny bubbles in each of the cups. The ones that appeared in my metal big bowls are slowly disappearing but it looks like they have "jumped ship" to the plastic ones. :)

edited 30.5.10
One bubble each appeared in 2 of the 7 water bowls today.

edited 20.6.10
Do you remember the strange tiny bubbles that appeared in my water bowls at my home altar? Well, last week I went to KL and stayed at a hotel in the city. I was down there to meet with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and also to spent the few days as a retreat. It did not turn out to be much of a retreat but the strange thing that happened was the tiny bubbles appeared for 2 consecutive days (14 & 15th evening June 2010) in the water bowls that I offered at the hotel room. On the 3rd evening, they did not appear anymore.Previously, there was a reader who asked if it was perhaps due to some chemical in my water or my home environment. With this latest appearance, there's now no doubt they were not due to my home environment. And certainly not due to any special thing in the water that flows to my home. And it was not due to the stainless steel bowls that contain the water either. The ones I used in the hotel on the first day of appearance were more likely made of aluminium to me. The next day, I used bowls made of clay and the bubbles still appeared. I then offered the extra cup of water using the plastic cup provided by the hotel as an offering. To my surprise, even that one appeared many little bubbles. But the fact that they did not appear on the 3rd evening showed that it was not due to the water from the hotel either. So, what were their appearance due to? They seems to be following me and appear as and when they wish. Strange. I usually do not disturb these bubbles and leave it untouched until they disappeared naturally. But when I checked out of the hotel, there was no way I could that all those bowls back without a special container that would hold those bowls and yet not spill the water when I am in the bus. Hence I had to clear the bowls and had to invite the bubbles back to my home town with me. Here's some pictures I took. You may need to click at the pic to view the enlarged image. The bubbles in the clay bowls are not that clear. This is partly due to the colour of the clay. But one of the bubbles in one clay bowl partially hidden can be seen clearly at one of the images. I am not an expert in taking pictures and do not know how to adjust to capure the bubbles properly. It may also be due to my limited camera functions.

edited 30.6.10
During my trip to Ipoh, the bubbles appeared in the water bowls at the Hotel Excelsior where i stayed. The next day, they disappeared. I don't need to pack them back like those in KL... except for those that appeared in a mineral water bottle. I took them back, a lot of them vanished during the journey, but some came back once I reached home.

edited 22,23,25.7.2010
one bubble appeared in the steel bowl (22/7), and the next day, one each on two steel bowls, and on 25/7, one appeared in the plastic cup.

edited 8.10.10 (1st day 9th lunar month)
Tiny bubbles appear on this auspicious day. But they disappeard quickly within 2 days. Before that one or 2 bubbles have been apeparing in one or 2 of the bowls (plastic and the stainless steel type). Today I came to knwo that the drinking water bottles my wife puts on the side table also has some bubbles in them. But these were meant for drinking, not for offering). Not sure why the bubbls appear inside them.

edited 11-12.11.10
small micro bubbles appear in the bowls on the altar on 11.11.10 but hey disappear the next morning...only to appear again the enxt day. And disappear again by the enxt morning.

edited 13.11.10
small balls of sticky substances appear in the smaller aluminium bowls that I used in replace of the steel bowls. I am still perplexed as to what they are. One appears on each bowl, but some bowls have two.

edited 9.5.2011
The sticky substance appeared in the small aluminium bowls in front of my standiung baby Buddha and Dzambala statues. Started apeparing probably around 3 May 2011 in stages. 

edited 4.6.2011
The bubbles came again on night of 23.5.2011 (Tuesday) and my wife saw it on the next morning before work. I saw them only at night. The bubbles were smaller in size and less in number but still scattered as before, especially in 5 out of the 7 main bowls. The other 2 were older "water" waiting for the one or two tiny bubbles to disappear. The sticky substances appear sometimes these past few weeks in the smaller aluminium bowls.   

edited 15.3.2012
After a long absence, the tiny bubbles came again in abundance in all 7 bowls. I noticed them about 9.10pm just as I was watching "Journey to the West" TV series. There is now an 8th bowl which I placed in front of Dzambala at a side table, slightly away from the other water bowls at the main altar. The bubbles also appear there. Strange!