Here is my mini sharing of His Holiness Dalai Lama’s 2010 Southeast Asia teaching tour. I felt very fortunate to be able to learn directly from him. Even more fortunate was to have two great Dharma friends who have been to His Holiness’ teachings for years, to take care of us and...

During one of the revision classes of HHDL’s teachings, the Geshela said attachment is an exaggerated form of liking. The attractiveness of the object is exaggerated by the one attached. In order to lessen the suffering of attachment, one has to realise that this attachment is due to...

Everyone has weaknesses… which can be magnified if in denial of them… due to ego. Strong ego ironically is a weakness. It is only through acceptance of our weaknesses that we can work with them, softening our ego in the...

A message written for Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic’s magazine: There is a famous medical analogy in Buddhism used to describe the Triple Gem. The Buddha, with his perfect compassion and wisdom, is likened to a great doctor, who dispenses the pure medicine that is the precious...

About once or twice a year, I get calls from strangers, directed from people who don’t know the answer, who ask me how to become a Buddhist monk. This is quite strange, as I am not a monk. Anyway, I kind of go through the same routine of advising, and the results are kind of the same....

This is a note that from now onwards, full length movie reviews will be posted at http://thedailyenlightenment.com/category/05 (while moonpointer.com will continue to host short reviews). An example of the latest review of that of ‘Detective Dee’...

A bipolar student wasn’t sure he liked being his more ‘sober’ self. Perhaps he is used to swinging between highs and lows? I advised that there is no need to cling to any self… Since there is no fixed self that stays high or low, especially in mundane way. Good to...

During the animal liberation, he seemed particularly angry in the box of many crabs. Using a pair of tongs to hold him while snipping off the strings on his claws, I managed to free one of them. With the free claw, he waved it around dangerously, making it hard to free the other claw. I put...

A man raised a ruckus at a food stall, claiming that he had waited half an hour, that he patronises the stall every day, yet is still given such poor service. Why didn’t he think the other way round? He patronised the stall every day, and has been given okay service so far, other than...

During the recent mid-autumn festival night, I was in charge of handling lantern riddles. I came up with 100 English Dharma riddles. The idea was to share the Dharma. However, in the process of coordinating the event with the help of Pureland Practice Fellowship volunteers, I realised that...

From the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra (http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/Vimalakirti.htm) are lesser known but some very surprising and illuminating teachings: ‘… Then the Licchavi Vimalakirti said to the patriarch Mahakasyapa, “Reverend Mahakasyapa,...

A friend did something interesting. Noticing that there are many flyers messily placed at her gate and doorstep, she made a box that hangs at the door, that says ‘Please put flyers here.’ I joked that I would write this instead - ‘Please put flyers here - for recycling...

A Tit for a Tat (166) Tit: How was your birthday? Tat: Was it a happy birthday? Tot: (frowning) I had an angry birthday! Tit: Why? Tot: The cake was too small! Tat: If no one told you it was your birthday, you wouldn’t even have a cake! Healthiest vegan cakes in Singapore:...

From Hurts’ ‘Blood, Tears and Gold’: Love goes cold Blood, tears and gold Won’t make it any better My interpretation: All the vented violence, with self-inflicted pain, sorrow and wealth won’t heal a broken heart. What’s needed then? Some love itself, for...

Just sent this to the press: I refer to the letter ‘”No meat, no fish” ideology can disturb eco balance’ (Sept 26) by Paul Chan in ‘The Sunday Times’, which stated that that ’we cannot survive on rice and vegetables alone’ and ’if...

I remember when I first visited a primary school built by Tzu Chi Foundation many years ago, the Buddhist volunteer who guided us around the wonderful buildings in the compound shared something intriguing with us. He said that if we might have noticed, there are no sharp edges in any...

I slipped and fell in the bathroom of the guestroom where we stayed in Dharamshala… and hit my back on the rim of the toilet bowl. Thankfully, the plastic toilet seat was on it, which kind of helped to buffer from the otherwise unforgiving hardness of the ceramic. There was a sharp ...

Despite a domestic flight delay at Delhi airport towards Dharmashala, we accidentally but surely, karmically ‘bumped’ into His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, who was also taking the same plane as us. The delay turned out to be a blessing in disguise! Everyone was excited, as...

Om Mani Padme Hung a – a Buddhist mantra to generate great compassion. Such stone cravings are seen placed around the premises of many temples as an offering, as act of devotion to remind passers-by of the mantra and what it represents. And it’s a local tradition to circumambulate...

I watched the 2010 version of ‘The Karate Kid’ on the plane to India. It’s better than I expected. (It’s not about Karate; but Kungfu. I guess they wanted to bank on the well-known brand.) The most powerful one-liner in the film is when Mr Han (acted by Jackie...