The truthful are truthful, whether they believe in God or not.
The good are good, whether they believe in God or not.
Truth and goodness is truthful and good, whether one believes in God or not.
As such, belief in God is of arbitrary importance.

- Stonepeace

A good theist respects a good atheist.
A good atheist respects a good theist.
If not, what good is theism or atheism?

- Stonepeace

This is a video version of something that circulated by email years ago. It’s certain that Einstein never said what he was supposed to had in the video for he did not believe in a personal God and was widely regarded as dull-witted in school when young. This post is not anti any religion, but a simple philosophical exercise to stimulate personal reflection. It might seem logical at first but the reasoning in this very short video is flawed in many ways, as we shall see:

1. If there is a creator God, who created everything, not that there is a need for one at all (as nature can exist as it is by itself, recreating itself in natural cycles), he created the possibility of evil, cold and darkness too. Even if he did not, he allows it to exist as the other end of the spectrum. In this sense, he did created and sustains evil, cold and darkness.

2. To say evil, cold and darkness do not exist is ridiculous – especially to those who suffer greatly from evil-doers, who almost freeze to death and who are discriminated for being blind.

3. What the video shows indirectly, is that a God that is perfectly good who created everything cannot exist – because if he does, he would have created a world without evil, cold and darkness. And if there is really a creator God, it is true then, that he is evil.

4. To say that evil is a result of absence of God’s love in the heart is problematic too because it is saying that all who don’t believe in God are evil. This is obviously not the case as there are millions of good people who don’t believe in God, many of whom love more sentient beings (including animals) than the average God-believer, who believes animals are created by God for them to eat. It is also a problem why an all-loving God’s love should possibly be absent from anyone’s heart in the first place – unless there is no such God in the first place.

5. The video is about bringing religion back to school as a science when creationism is simply bad science according to most scientists. ‘The U.S. National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have termed it pseudoscience. Others in the scientific community have concurred, and some have called it junk science.” – Wikipedia

“He who has eyes can see the sickening sight;
Why does not Brahma [equivalent to creator God idea] set his creatures right?
If his wide power no limit can restrain,
Why is his hand so rarely spread to bless?
Why are all his creatures condemned to pain?
Why does he not to all give happiness?
Why do fraud, lies, and ignorance prevail?
Why triumphs falsehood — truth and justice fail?
I count your Brahma one the unjust among
Who made a world in which to shelter wrong.”

- Bhuridatta Jataka, No. 453

“If there exists some lord all-powerful to fulfill
In every creature bliss or woe, and action good or ill,
That Lord is stained with sin.
The human being does but work his will.”

– Mahabodhi Jataka, No. 528

A Tit for a Tat (95)

Tit: Do you still have any desire for meat?
Tat: A little… but I have a greater desire.
Tit: What’s that?
Tat: The desire of not wanting animals to die for me.

Next aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/help-more-readily
Previous aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/would-it-be-stupid

A Tit for a Tat (94)

Tit: Now that my old shoes are worn out, would it be stupid to buy the same ones again?
Tat: It would be stupid if there are tougher shoes out there.
Tit: If not?
Tat: Then not only would it not be stupid, it would be wise to buy what is still the toughest!

Comments:

When this life expires, what new life would you like to live?
It would be unwise to live the same old life again
if there is a better one available (e.g. in Pureland).

Next aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/a-greater-desire
Previous aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/come-go-on-time

Lawrence: [Seeing gun and bullets] I didn’t know you hunted monsters.
Singh: Sometimes monsters hunt you.

‘The Wolfman’, like all good monster movies, be they remakes or not, remains a cautionary tale. If we take the wolf half of a wolfman (aka. werewolf) to represent the inner beast, the raging animal aspect of us seething with anger and violence, it is then tragically true, as featured, that close and loved ones tend to be the most readily hurt ones. Rage is like a time-bomb that ticks away – that has to be defused regularly, if not for good, once and for all. Aware of this, the father who was accidentally infected with the ability to turn wolf every full moon secretly shackles himself monthly. Yes, only mindfulness can keep the beast within in check.

However, the father later relished in freeing his rage, letting the beast in him overtake him – while his son, who was also unwittingly infected by the curse by his father let his beast loose too – to prevent further sins of the father though. The father had become pure beast, while the son had enough humanity to want to stop his murderous ways. Wrathfulness in not always unskilful. Even Bodhisattvas manifest it at times to curb violent unrepentant ones – with well-controlled mindfulness, unlike crazed rage!

The cure for the werewolf disease is said to be true love. Makes a lot of sense I think, for it is patient love that can accept, sooth and heal the savage beast. Only humanity can reawaken hidden humanity. This again makes good the Buddha’s teaching that ‘Hatred can never be ceased by hatred; hatred can only be ceased by love. (This is an eternal law.)’

Sometimes we are the hunter and other times the hunted. But who is more monstrous? The hunter or the hunted? It all pivots on one’s intentions. And mind you. Due to karmic rebounds, the mindless hunter often becomes the vengefully hunted. It was uttered in the film thus, ‘It is said there is no sin in killing a beast; only a man. But where does one begin and the other end?’ Good question indeed – for there are beasts in humans and there is humanity in beasts. I say we kill none of them then! (Sounds like a call for veganism here!) Let’s live ‘the eternal law’!

Each year a new year,
each month a new month,
each week a new week,
each day a new day,
each moment a new moment.

May we treasure each moment to
learn, practise, realise and share the Dharma well,
making this a truly happy [lunar] new year.
Amituofo!

(Greetings from TheDailyEnlightenment.com & Moonpointer.com)

[A concise version of this article is available at http://tinyurl.com/ronytan2]

Though Pastor Rony Tan has already apologised for his gross misrepresentations of Buddhism in his video interviews, many of these misrepresentations remain unclarified in a point by point manner. As the videos are publicly viewable, clarifications on them should be publicly available too. Since the videos are full of misconceptions, please do not view them without also reading the clarifications. Please do not circulate them without the clarifications either. May this article serve to create more right understanding of Buddhism. May all co-exist in peace and harmony.

Interview with an ‘Ex-Nun’

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EIrtk5V_t-Q

Clarifications

1. If the account by the interviewee is true, she was offering probable proof on the validity of the phenomenon of rebirth that is worth further investigation. Rebirth remains to be the only viable explanation of how children and adults in deep meditation have fresh memories of detailed past experiences in past lives, many of which are verifiable upon proper research. For more about time-tested scientific research on rebirth, please refer to the detailed works of Dr. Ian Stevenson.

2. ‘Pu Men Pin’ is the ‘Chapter on the Universal Door’, from the Lotus Sutra; not as mentioned, the ‘Goddess of Mercy Sutra’, though the chapter does centre around the enlightened Guanyin (Avalokiteshvara) Bodhisattva, who personifies perfect compassion, and is commonly mistaken as a mere goddess.

3. The voice the interviewee heard could be that of a guiding unseen being with good intentions, instead of a demon. To know if such voices are evil or illusory, we should use our wisdom to mindfully discern if that heard makes sense objectively. Even those of other faiths do hear supernormal voices at times.

4. Though the interviewer could not look ‘behind the scene’ to objectively expose what he believed to be a magic trick, he jumped to the conclusion that it was simply so.

5. It is not true that all males are better than females as it is obvious that there are many females who are more virtuous, wise and successful than many males.

6. As many animals take various initiatives to protect and rescue humans, their kind and even other animals in need, some animals can be more proactively moral than some humans.

7. It is indeed impossible to become a high-ranking monk in one’s first lifetime because there is no discernible first lifetime in the innumerable rounds of rebirth. There must also be something done to deserve whatever one experiences due to karmic cause and effect.

8. The Buddha’s last words were ‘Subject to change are all conditioned things. Strive on with diligence.’ He was urging us to strive on the way (the Noble Eightfold Path) to liberation that he already discovered, walked and shared.

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I: In case you are not aware, has G passed you an envelope with your name on it this morning? There is a packet of snack and a card inside. See you next time. Thank you.

S: Thank you for the gift :-] Aiya… no need for gifts in future la… It’s my pleasure to answer Dharma questions! Good to know the answers are helpful. Rejoice from knowing the gift of the Dharma is well received is already a reward!

From http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DharmaNews/message/5373 :

This mail is to inform Buddhists of two serious cases of Buddhism being misrepresented in the context of Singapore, and what you can do about it. Please be assured that the featured  persons and their confused views in the videos do not represent proper Buddhists or Buddhist teachings. Thank you for standing up for religious harmony. May all co-exist in peace and happiness. (This mail was sent via a Buddhist mailing list for those who subscribed to it for Buddhist news. If you received this via another channel, it might not be meant for you.)

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A Tit for a Tat (93)

Tit: Our boss is becoming more of a stickler for punctuality…
Tat: What’s wrong with that?
Tit: … while he disregards the extended hours we voluntarily work!
Tat: What you mean is that he should give and take?
Tit: Exactly! Because we do give much more every day, even if we are a little late on some days!
Tat: You will notice something interesting soon…
Tit: What’s that?
Tat: The more bosses want staff to be punctual in arriving, the more they will they be punctual in leaving!
Tit: Why is that so?
Tat: The calculative attracts the calculative.
Tit: Yeah… when bosses lose appreciation for staff’s extra efforts, these efforts will lessen!

Next aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/would-it-be-stupid
Previous aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/just-your-perception

Related Article:
Time to Clock Out of Samsara?
http://moonpointer.com/new/2009/06/2364

One of the most poignant poems I ever read, followed by some related sentiments:
(The above is a scene from ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral):

Funeral Blues (Stop All the Clocks) by W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

It is Not the End

It is not the end of the world,
when it is the end of a life;
it is the beginning of another life,
in ‘another’ world.

The best way to honour a relationship
is not by despair that it is lost,
but to be grateful for what it was worth.

It is not the end of a relationship,
when it is the end of a life;
it is but the temporal suspension of it,
till another time.

Was writing detailed notes for a Dharma@Cinema session
for NTU Buddhist Society’s anniversary celebration
when I came up with the below (as part of the notes):

We too are like wandering spirits
in the flesh, with flesh,
lingering in Samsara
with attachment,
which if we do not relinquish in time,
will bind us here,
or to be wandering spirits in our next lives.

Importance of Communication in Relationships

The movie (The Sixth Sense) is about the need for communication in various relationships and the lack of it on many levels. Without communication, there would be no meaningful relationships. But most of all, the story is about how earnest communication heals all involved.

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In ‘A Scanner Darkly’, undercover cops wear a ‘scramble suit’ which covers them from head to toe. Now, this suit does not just make you look like someone else – because it can endanger someone who really looks that way. Instead, it has the ability to let its wearer look like anyone and everyone – by constantly ‘scrambling’ everything on its surface, which changes appearance is every aspect – from the hairstyle to face, and from clothes to shoes.

It becomes impossible to identity who is the one in it. Put two or more of these cops side by side and it becomes more confusing as to who is who. Sounds clever and high tech? Suddenly, it struck me that we all already wear scramble suits. This is not so apparent because our appearance scramble or change more gradually (in this life and from life to life) than readily observable! This is just the truths of Anicca (constant change) and Anatta (non-self) at work!

Related Article:
A Scanner Clearly
http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/a-scanner-clearly

Question: My company was asked to give a quotation for a project in a resort with a casino. Would I create bad karma if I get involved?

Answer: It is ideal to stay clear from supporting gambling in any way, as greed and loss of wealth via gambling is a potential great source of suffering for many. But perhaps you might want to check if the work needed is at the casino area. Could it be somewhere near but not exactly there? Some might view this issue this way… Since someone will be employed to do the job, it might as well be you, as you can use part of the earnings to do charity to benefit those in need and create positive karma instead. This is better than someone else taking up the job and not doing any charity at all. However, we need to note that this applies only to where there is no direct harm of any being. For example, it would be wrong to open a live seafood restaurant on the pretext of using its earnings for charity, as such profits are based on the opposite of charity and compassion; being based on cruelty instead. The direct killing involved in the business means the ‘charity’ based on it is very spiritually hypocritical.

We also need to note that the Buddha advised against trade involving weapons, humans (e.g. slavery), meat, intoxicants and poisons as unskilful or Wrong Livelihoods. However, this list of five unskilful trades might not be exhaustive as times change. As a general guideline, our occupation should be as disconnected to harm of any being as possible. Although gambling is not listed above, the Buddha did advise against gambling, saying it is a source of downfall. (See http://moonpointer.com/index.php?itemid=2184) From this, we can infer that just as the Buddha does not support gambling, he would not support gambling or related trades.

Related Article:
Gambling or Investing?
http://moonpointer.com/new/2008/11/gambling-or-investing

The 1994 classic ‘Bodhisattva Vow’ by Beastie Boys:

As I develop the awakening mind
I praise the Buddha as they shine
I bow before you as I travel my path to join your ranks,
I make my full time task
For the sake of all beings I seek
The enlightened mind that I know I’ll reap
Respect to Shantideva and all the others
Who brought down the Dharma for sisters and brothers
I give thanks for this world as a place to learn
And for this human body that I know I’ve earned
And my deepest thanks to all sentient beings
For without them there would be no place to learn what I’m seeing
There’s nothing here that’s not been said before
But I put it down now so I’ll be sure
To solidify my own views and I’ll be glad if it helps
Anyone else out too

If others disrespect me or give me flack
I’ll stop and think before I react
Knowing that they’re going through insecure stages
I’ll take the opportunity to exercise patience
I’ll see it as a chance to help the other person
Nip it in the bud before it can worsen
A change for me to be strong and sure
As I think on the Buddhas who have come before
As I praise and respect the good they’ve done
Knowing only love can conquer in every situation
We need other people in order to create
The circumstances for the learning that we’re here to generate
Situations that bring up our deepest fears
So we can work to release them until they’re cleared
Therefore, it only makes sense
To thank our enemies despite their intent

The Bodhisattva path is one of power and strength
A strength from within to go the length
Seeing others are as important as myself
I strive for a happiness of mental wealth
With the interconnectedness that we share as one
Every action that we take affects everyone
So in deciding for what a situation calls
There is a path for the good for all
I try to make my every action for that highest good
With the altruistic wish to achieve Buddhahood
So I pledge here before everyone who’s listening
To try to make my every action for the good of all beings
For the rest of my lifetimes and even beyond
I vow to do my best to do no harm
And in times of doubt I can think on the Dharma
And the enlightened ones who’ve graduated Samsara

A passage from Philip K. Dick’s science fiction (graphic) novel and movie ‘A Scanner Darkly’, which I arranged into the following stanzas:

What does a scanner see?
Into the head, down into the heart?
Does it see into me? Into us?
Clearly or darkly?

I hope it sees clearly,
because I can’t any longer see into myself.
I see only murk.
I hope, for everyone’s sake,
the scanners do better.

Because if the scanner sees only darkly,
the way I do,
then I’m cursed and cursed again and will only wind up dead this way,
knowing very little and getting that little fragment wrong too.

Yet, however clearly a scanner does see,
so long as we do not see what it sees clearly,
we still cannot see into ourselves clearly.
It will still be murk.

What matters more, then,
is that we be the key scanners who see clearly first.
I hope, for everyone’s sake,
we scanners do better, by minding our minds.

Related Article:
Our Scramble Suits
http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/02/our-scramble-suits