From ‘The Art of Meditation’ by Matthieu Ricard We have all, to varying degrees, had the experience of profound altruistic love, of a feeling of all-encompassing benevolence, of intense compassion for those who are suffering. Some of us are naturally more altruistic than others, sometimes to the point of heroism. Others are more turned in [...]

The ingenious film that is ‘Inception’ begins with the assumption that it is possible for multiple persons to enter someone’s dream, that can even be designed without that person knowing, thus digging out deep secrets from his sub-consciousness, or even implanting ideas which eventually shape one’s decisions. Thank goodness this doesn’t seem technologically viable at [...]

A Tit for a Tat (155) Tit: I don’t like the world generally. Tat: Why? Tit: Because it is crappy. Tat: But you’re here because you probably deserve the crappy! Tit: What crap! Tat: But you surely deserve better too. Tit: How so? Tat: You can make the world less crappy… beginning with yourself and [...]

The film ‘Monga’ is unnerving because it is realistic – as what featured could really happen in real life, if not already… many times over. Of how innocence can easily become deviousness. What happens when a group of boys befriend one another with a strong sense of loyalty… while joining a triad? Conflict looms ahead. [...]

The HP printer at home starts printing pictures mysteriously, from apparently ‘nowhere’. How does it do that? Via my iPhone’s iPrint app with Bluetooth. There is invisible but still present cause and effect at play. Nothing arises from nothing. This is a after all universe of cause and effect. A universe so tightly interconnected in [...]

‘Hulk not monster!’ So yells the Hulk, as he slams stuff… monstrously… In ‘Hulk: Gray’ by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, we’re reminded of how the Hulk was first featured grey (not green) in the comics, of how anger, as embodied by him is not really ‘black or white’ but ‘black and white’ – because [...]

Above is a vegetable bun (bao) bought at an airport in Taiwan. I love it when stuff like these surprise me, helping me to appreciate the value of being unconventional. A bao need not be round. A bao need not be small. A bao need not be just a snack. A bao can also be [...]

In ‘Secret Invasion’ by Brian Michael Bendis, it is realised that the alien Skrull race, which is capable of shape-shifting has infiltrated Earth in every major sector of life. Thus began the difficult dilemma of deciding who is friend or foe – even among the superheroes. But if you have been reading comics long enough, [...]

A scene in Taiwan’s Danshui’s Starbucks: A student’s T-shirt reads, ‘There is no rule without exceptions.’ (E.g. Most but not all crows are black.) But if that is a rule, that rule too is without exception, which means there are rules which are with exceptions. (E.g. All mind and matter is subject to change.) Next [...]

Q: I have always thought that the Buddha’s Parinirvana was the end and that he would not be subjected to rebirth upon achieving it. I was surprising that you mentioned that the Buddha still exists. And that he and all other Buddhas are still working hard to guide beings to Nirvana A: Yes, you can [...]

Q: We continue to have delusions, and fail to see the truth, because the truth hurts. A: This is why it does take courage to see the truth. Q: While delusions will hurt eventually, they provide brief moments of joy. Isn’t this what life is about? A: This is the problem exactly – settling for [...]

Sometimes, ‘the others’ whom we demonise are really harmless, while the really harmful ‘demons’ are us, because we demonised them. Sometimes, we are ‘the others’.

Q: If one is reborn as an animal, say an ant, how would the ant be able to practise the Dharma, so that after death, it gets reborn as a human being? An ant does not have the mental faculty to practise, does it? Maybe your answer will give me more motivation to practice harder [...]

A student asked a Zen Master, ‘If I work very hard, how long will it take for me to realise Zen?’ The Master replied, ‘Ten years.’ The student replied, ‘If I work very very hard, how long will it take for me to realise Zen?’ The Master replied, ‘Twenty years.’ The student replied, ‘If I [...]

Q: Why eat plants? Don’t plants feel pain too? A: Plants are life forms but not sentient life – in the sense that they are not complex enough (e.g. have no nervous system) to feel pain. For example, a chicken that is about to be slaughtered feels fear and suffers under the knife, but this [...]