轮回路险，生生世世， 反目成仇，反仇成目。 何不大家厌离娑婆，欣求极乐， 与诸上善人，俱会一处， 修菩萨道，共成佛道？ 阿弥陀佛！ The rounds of rebirth are dangerous. From life to life, love becomes hate, hate becomes love. Why not, everyone, renounce Samsara, aspire for Pure Land, to gather with all of superior goodness in one place, to practise the Bodhisattva path, together attaining Buddhahood? Amituofo!

The above is Faith Yang’s (楊乃文) song ‘Proof’ (證據). The video depicts mildly voodoo-ish scenes, and the words sing of vengeance for an ‘unfairly’ broken heart. The most interesting scene is the last though, when she sings the following and finally smiles – ‘没了你, 才有出口’ (‘Only without you, is there a way out.’) This would [...]

These are some scenes from lesson #9 of this 10-lesson class: http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2011/07/understanding-amituofo-via-the-amitabha-sutra-8th-run at Buddha of Medicine Welfare Society. The class is practising guided mindfulness of Amituofo (Amitabha Buddha’s name). [The 9th run will be next year :-] Amituofo Related Article: Scenes from a Pure Land Class (1) http://moonpointer.com/new/2011/11/scenes-from-a-pure-land-class

Came across a scriptural quote for the moonpointer analogy: 修多罗教，如标月指， 若复见月，了知所标毕竟非月， 一切如来种种言说开示菩萨，亦复如是。 ~ 圆觉经 Sutras’ teachings are like the finger that points to the moon. If the moon is repeatedly seen, one realises that the pointer is not the moon after all. All Tathagatas’ variety of spoken instructions for Bodhisattvas, are also like thus. – [...]

Recently, when I pay attention to the lyrics of love songs, I discover many logical errors in them. The chorus of James Blunt’s ‘Goodbye My Lover’ goes like this: Goodbye my lover. Goodbye my friend. You have been the one. You have been the one for me. But if someone was so seriously ‘the one’, [...]

Patients with mental illnesses often stop taking medication when they assume they have gotten better… only to suffer from relapses. The feeling of getting better is often precisely due to the medication’s effects. This applies to Dharma learning and practice too. We sometimes assume we have absorbed and cultivated enough of the Dharma, and thus [...]

‘Assault Girls’, from the makers of ‘Ghost in the Shell’, is quite a letdown, lacking the usual profound philosophising. Its premise is predictable, though nevertheless unnerving and possible in the near future. It speaks of the world in the future, when the global environment, economy and politics become so dishearteningly hopeless that people retreat into [...]

Bad news: Songs can get stuck in your head – even those which marry unworthy emotions with unworthy reasoning. Good news: Every song stuck in your head eventually becomes unstuck. (Applies to every other unwitting attachment too.) The easiest and best song to mindfully replay in our minds, to replace all other lesser songs. is that [...]

‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story’, simply put, is an ode to life. An ode to living itself: He who is not busy being born is busy dying. – Bob Dylan: It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) This is like another way of saying this: Heedfulness is the deathless path, heedlessness, the path to death. [...]

The dismal state of the Dharma in the world is the collective karmic effect of inadequate practice and propagation. It is also sustained by those who are aware of the situation and their responsibility, but choose to be apathetic. The collective karma can be changed collectively. Even if not all in one go, it can [...]

The Dharma is ‘destroyed’ by those who claim they are protecting and promoting it, who are harming and distorting it instead, when they lack understanding and practice. Related Article: How Buddhists Can Destroy Buddhism http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=689

From Ghostoplis by Doug TenNapel, Love is in the acts, not in the feels. – Uncle Werewolf Better still, love is in the loving action, not just in loving thoughts.

A blog reader urgently wanted to use the second poem at http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/the-famous-funeral-poem for a real funeral, and asked for the author. Wondering if the idea was called off because it wasn’t from someone famous and deceased… It’s interesting how things from anyone seem more valuable the instant the person is gone. But I can understand [...]

Usual advice: Life is short. Dream hard, and fulfil your dreams. Don’t waste your life. Less usual advice: Life is short. Dream wisely, and fulfil your dreams. Don’t waste your life.

In the movie ‘Already Famous’, we see the classic tension between struggling to be recognised by others to be talented in a certain interest versus struggling with self-doubt over whether one is really talented. How do you know if you are really good at something when others are lukewarm or even cold about your stuff? [...]