The Group Vs Sole Survivor Paradox: Players are expected to be loyal to their teams, while expected to betray individuals, who might be from their teams. Survivor games are social experiments. Just put a bunch of people together, divide them – again and again and see their best and worst surface! Related Article: Survivor: Selfishness [...]

A paradox of horror flicks: The victims are also the hero(ines), who despite being very afraid, are also very brave. If not, there would be no dramatic tension! The above applies to those who love-hate horror flicks too! (Blogged about this somewhat some time back but while watching one episode of ‘American Horror Story’, thought [...]

Last night, at NUS Buddhist Society’s camp at Cheng Beng Buddhist Society, I conducted the most detailed Groundhog Day Dharma@Cinema session yet… from 7.30 – 11pm! The prizes for the best group effort – a set of TDE books: http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2011/05/get-tde-book-1-2-3-4 (Well, the gift of the Dharma excels all other gifts!) But of course, they can get more [...]

She kept saying she didn’t get the joke. But there was no joke in the first place – which is why she couldn’t catch it. Then again, this itself became somewhat funny – an accidental joke.

A paradoxical thought came to mind – ‘My instincts frequently tell me not to always trust my instincts.’ So… do I go with that? But isn’t that just another unfounded instinct? Hmmm… As Stonepeace put it, ‘Sometimes, gut feelings are just feelings in your guts.’

A special present with a thank you card from a student from this class that ended last Sunday: http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2011/07/understanding-amituofo-via-the-amitabha-sutra-8th-run Under the grey wrapping paper is another box, with red paper. Wait! It’s actually a paper box wrapped with paper! Within is a hand towel… with little animals too :-] I’m blogging about this because I appreciate [...]

In the movie ‘Tokyo Sonata’, there is dissonance, hidden tension in a family, between every member of the family… that drives them apart. Everyone wanders off for a while, going through extremes to seek freedom, which are misadventures that awaken them on the value of their family… as they return in the end, reborn in harmony, [...]

末法末法，人末法不末。 正法正法，人正法自正。 ~ 石子 Dharma Ending Age, Dharma Ending Age… It is in the humans that the Dharma ends, the Dharma itself has no end. Right Dharma Age, Right Dharma Age… It is when the humans are upRight, that the Dharma Ending Age naturally becomes Right. – Stonepeace

It’s natural for the less spiritualistic to be more materialistic… because that seems all there is, that is fulfilling to them. The material world is only helpful for the spiritual in supporting their spiritual life, and possibly harmful if it distracts them from it. (Above is a scene from the movie ‘Fight Club’.)

Meritocracy sounds fair at first – the idea that may the ones who work the hardest shine, but the truth is, everyone starts on unequal grounds – the more well-to-do ones tend to shine more easily as they have better living conditions, education and connections, while the poorer ones have to struggle extra hard against the [...]