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’, that as the rest of the song sings, who he swears he loves, who he is addicted to, who changed his life and goals, who he cannot live without… why then is it sung that she ‘have been the one’, which means she is no longer ‘the one’? Even if death does them apart, ‘the one’ will always be ‘the one’. Even death is no goodbye in terms of commitment?

It is unnerving, when I imagine how many ‘the ones’ we have professed to have had in so many past lives, in samsarically imperfect relationships, whom we are actually fickle over from life to life, and even within one lifetime. Ironically, in this context, the line, ‘You have been the one’ takes on a new meaning. Maybe the one you are heartbroken over is the ‘same one’ in a past life! How many more cycles do we need? It is possible to have the same lover for many lifetimes, but does the togetherness lead deeper into Samsara, or does it lead out – as a spiritual partnership?

Related Article:
Dharma of the Blower’s Daughter
http://moonpointer.com/new/2011/09/dharma-of-the-blowers-daughter

‘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 virtual worlds, where they take on magnificent personas (avatars), to do whatever they wish – with rules restricted by the designers and game-masters though.

Sounds like a paradise? Not really – because as long as the hearts and minds of the virtual worlds’ creators and the players are not purified, all the three poisons of greed, hatred and delusion are brought along. In fact, these poisons become magnified with their personas’ superpowers. To maintain one’s place in the virtual world and to improve ‘life’ there, struggle continues. And even if it’s truly paradise, it’s only virtual – no Pure Land that leads to True Happiness of liberation.

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 of the name of Buddha (Amituofo).

‘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.
Those who are heedful do not die,
heedless are like the dead.

- The Buddha: Dhammapada (v.21)

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 be changed individually.

How well the Dharma is propagated
depends on group and individual efforts,
especially when there are group and individual efforts against them.

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 why this is so. First, the value increases because the person is no longer able to churn up new works. Second, the person’s life can then be deemed more or less faultless enough to be worth quoting from. Third, the person is currently a ‘nobody’. (Condolences again, to the bereaved. Amituofo.)

Related Article:
Dead Teachers’ Society
http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=1467

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? Worse still, how do you know if you are really good at something when you start doubting yourself?

The truth is, nothing above is static – everything is dynamic, in change, capable of change. To overcome doubt of the masses and self-doubt, one should simply become better and better at what one does – till both kinds of doubts are removed, beginning with self-doubt. You can doubt your present talents, but you should never doubt your ability to better them with right efforts in self-improvement. Applies to spiritual practice too.

These are some scenes from lesson #7 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 9th run will be next year :-] In the pictures are a past participant sharing his Pure Land practice. Amituofo

Related Article:
Scenes from a Pure Land Class (2)
http://moonpointer.com/new/2011/11/scenes-from-a-pure-land-class-2

The worldly admired

tend to be more imperfect
than hoped
upon a closer look
[because defilements are there],

yet more perfect
than expected
upon a deeper look
[because Buddha-nature is there too].

From the movie ‘Win Win’:

Coach: Now, did you guys see what Kyle did the other day? He exploded up [after almost losing], right? Kyle, show the guys what you did.
Kyle: It’s kinda my own thing.
Coach: Well, can you share it with us?
Kyle: But it’s not even a move or anything.
Coach: It’s okay.
Kyle: Alright. Well, I just tell myself that the guy on top [when wrestling] is trying to take my head, trying to shove it under water and kill me. And if I don’t wanna die at the bottom, I have to do whatever the fuck it takes to get out.

The secret rule of success, is the move of no particular move -
the attitude to have in mind, to ‘wrestle’ with obstacles, come what may,
to be determined to succeed, with all your life, ‘whatever the f*ck it takes’ -
provided it is ethical of course!

Talking at length about perfecting compassion is inadequate
if one does not even think of sparing animals from meals as kind.

Talking at length about perfecting wisdom is inadequate
if one does not even think of sparing animals from death as wise.

- Stonepeace