Which came first? The chicken or the egg? But the chicken is in the egg, But the egg is in the chicken. Without the chicken, there is no egg. Without the egg, there is no chicken. The chicken and egg are interdependent. The chicken and egg are not independent. Everything arises from many...

Mantras are words, which are supposed to mean as much as possible in as few words as possible. So concise and compact are they, that they are difficult, or some say, impossible, to expound in full. (Pic: The most popular mantra: Om Mani Padme Hung)...

From Robert Greene’s ‘The 48 Laws of Power’ is some counter-intuitive advice - ‘The key to picking a pocket is knowing which pocket contains the wallet. Experienced pickpockets often ply their trade in train stations and other places where there is a clearly marked...

If you want to know someone who is always agreeable with yourself, you might as well converse with a mirror, whose reflection smiles and frowns at the very same things you do. But if you are to really converse with someone out there, who is exactly like you, would you find him or her...

Japanese restaurants are known for their prevalent, wasteful and environmentally-unfriendly use of disposable wooden chopsticks. We visited one recently and came prepared – with our own washable chopsticks. When you throw away chopsticks, you are essentially throwing trees away. I...

Some ‘random’ advice that came to mind to dissuade someone from having an abortion - 1. She shouldn’t kill as it’s her ‘mistake’ to conceive the child ‘accidentally’. 2. Why punish one’s own innocent child for one’s mistake? 3. All...

Do watch this short video (only 4 min long) It presents a simple but powerful concept that can change your life and that of many others. Excerpt: ‘I realized that what I was being pitched was a binary solution. It was either you’re a meat eater, or you’re a...

In ‘Manifest Destiny : Wolverine′ by Jason Aaron, Wolverine learnt the hard way that he has to become the Black Dragon (the leader overseeing multiple triads and pugilistic groups) after taking down the past corrupted one. In fact, the triad members were ready to kill him when he...

In ‘X-Men: Kill or Cure’ by Jason Aaron, Iceman forced to face the shapeshifting Mystique when she takes his form to draw public attention, including his. Though he was confronting someone else, he was in effect facing himself too – both physically and spiritually, as he...

For matters of truth and goodness, the harder it is to do what is right, the harder we must strive. - Stonepeace From ‘Manifest Destiny : Nightcrawler #1′ by Jason Aaron: Nightcrawler: Henrik! Henrik! Stop this! (about to kill an old man in anger, who was out among others to...

It is raining? Raining? Rain! No ‘it’. No ‘raining’. Just ‘rain’. Because there is no rainer, Because there is no raining, Because there is only rain. The above is inspired from ‘Beyond the Self: Teachings on the Middle Way’ by Thich Nhat Hanh: At the center of...

In ‘The Rabbi’s Cat 2′ by Joann Sfar, the cat says this of his master, ‘I love you because you’re vulnerable. I love you because there has to be someone who loves you.’ But does that mean that those who are not vulnerable do not deserve love? If yes, why...

~ Why Animal Liberation? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zeph/message/465 ~ Elaboration on Animal Liberation http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=609 ~ Proper Animal Liberation http://www.TheDailyEnlightenment.com/life.jpg ~ Prayer for Animal...

The weighted self-closing office door does not lock properly by itself at times. Whenever the problem becomes especially bad, which is not good for security, the situation is announced by email to all staff, who are reminded to be especially careful, to manually close it. When it gets...

A Tit for a Tat (140) Tit: A wind is blowing. Tat: Of course it is! Tit: Why must it be? Tat: If it’s not blowing, it’s not wind! Next aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/06/to-each-its-own Previous aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/05/what-reference-point About aT4aT:...

If a handful of people dislike those of another race and rant against their ways, this doesn’t mean that the quiet majority perceives similar ‘problems’ as them, as they are far from being equally racist. In the same light, it is the speciesist few who cannot make peace...

The Chinese man remarked that during the revolution, they used to eat pork only once a year. This he said, while tucking into braised pork noodles. It sounded like great misfortune. But we wondered how he got so fat. Could it be that he ate too much pork since ‘the liberation’, and ...

Your mala is to facilitate the quality of your mindfulness. But the quality of your mala is not the quality of your mindfulness. And the quality of your mindfulness is not dependent on any...

An extended reply sent to someone who wishes to attend this course, but am unable to do it in full: About whether anything important will be missed, it struck me that every lesson is important, which also means it’s better to catch some lessons, though missing some other lessons, than ...

It’s bizarre when some Buddhists see ethical perfectionism as a fault. It’s not that all are perfectionistic out of attachment for ourselves, but that our ethics do need to be perfected as part of the path towards spiritual perfection, to better protect other beings. Why else is there...