Kat put a live prawn on the BBQ pit and watched it jump and struggle for life. Lat put a live prawn on the hook and threw it back to the pond as bait for fish. Jat just waited till food were served At the end of the day, the trio sat down and chatted. [...]

A Tit for a Tat (61) Tit: Why didn’t you thank the waiter? Tat: Why should I? Tit: Why not? Tat: Well, I was providing business to the restaurant! Tit: So? Tat: The waiter should thank me instead! Tit: Why do you think the waiter didn’t? Tat: Probably because he thinks he’s providing food… Tit: [...]

A Tit for a Tat (60) Tit: Why must you always have the last word? Tat: I don’t always have to have it. Tit: But I see that happening most of the time when we debate. Tat: It was just the truth getting its final say. The truth must triumph! Tit: Really? Not your ego? [...]

Q: l read a book, from which I gathered that anyone can go to heaven, that all religions are right in their own way. A: From the Buddhist perspective, the idea that ‘all religions are right in their own way’ is tricky and needs further qualifying – because the Buddha taught that different systems of [...]

Question: A teacher mentioned that the Lotus Sutra is fictional, that some of its contents do not accord with the Buddha’s instruction (e.g. making fun of the Arahants/Arhats). What do you think? Answer: Some teachers of Theravada Buddhism tend to say Mahayana sutras are not true. But this in the view of Mahayana teachers, is [...]

I would like to share what I call the Chrysalis Effect… From everything ugly and even seemingly disgusting (e.g. a ‘worm’ in a chrysalis), something beautiful and even wonderful can emerge (e.g. a butterfly), through metamorphosis, that is not just physical but spiritual too. This is the power of change within this life, but there [...]

Fren: Watched the movie ’2012′ – finally the world comes to an end! Gren: We are already living in the end of days as we might die any time. This is a true ‘prophesy’ that no one can deny! Whether the world ends or not, death is always impending, and as long as we are [...]

Date: This Sunday: 15 November 2009 Time: 9.00-11.30 am Speaker: Shen Shi’an Venue: Pu Ji Si Buddhist Research Centre (39 Geylang Lorong 12) Register Free: Simply reply to moonpointer [at] gmail [dot] com with your name About the Amitabha Sutra: Featuring Amituofo (Amitabha Buddha), who is amazingly more well-known than Shakyamuni Buddha among many Chinese, [...]

The award-winning movie ‘Humpday’ has a thought-provoking semi-serious yet semi-funny premise… Is it possible for two heterosexual guys to have homosexual sex? Wouldn’t it not be an amazing feat that is ‘mind over matter’? Spoiler ahead! The two guys who tried to go through the dare decided that they couldn’t after talking and ‘trying’ it [...]

Something strange happened. I discovered that the ‘same’ nails are never always the same. Physical stuff change… slowly sometimes but surely. The day before yesterday, I checked my fingernails. They were on the verge of being too long, but still tolerable. I decided not to cut them. Yesterday, I scratched with my fingernails. They had [...]

A Tit for a Tat (59) Tit: Why are you like that? I can’t stand it! Tat: It’s only because you are the way you are – which I can’t stand either! Next aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2009/11/having-the-last-word Previous aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2009/11/our-unheard-range-of-deafness

Marc: Is telling jokes based on non-truths breaking the fourth precept against false speech? E.g. I joked that my computer’s mouse roars because it is shaped like a lion. Shian: Some serious Buddhist teachers say that joking with untrue information is lying. It can also be frivolous speech. Both are aspects that break the spirit [...]

I notice that though many long-time Buddhists are aware of the significance of the practice of circumambulation in Buddhism (See section on ‘Why Circumambulation’), they are not aware of the significance of doing it in a clockwise manner. Some even assume the direction is arbitrary. However, this is not really so. (See section on ‘Why [...]

From ‘The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo!’ by Mike Allred: Madman: Do you believe in God? Superman: … After everything I’ve gone through, after all the incredible things I’ve seen, I’d be foolish to say no. I’ve experienced so many unexplainable things that a supreme being seems to be the only thing that could make the unexplainable explainable… [...]

The main story arc of the movie PTU (Police Tactical Unit) is about a cop who slips and falls in an alley while chasing a gangster. Losing his consciousness, he awakes to find his gun missing. He then goes on a series of misadventures which implicate many others to retrieve his gun, which he believes [...]