If you really think you and I can’t change, you don’t really believe in Anicca. If you really think you and I can’t change, you don’t really believe in Anatta. If you really think you and I can’t change, you don’t really believe in our Buddha-nature.

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. – John Lennon From ‘Astonishing X-men: Unstoppable’ by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) says, “Everything is so fragile. There’s so much conflict, so much pain… you keep waiting for the dust to settle and then you realize this is it; [...]

Visited St. Patrick’s School again, a couple of days ago, to give a presentation on the Buddhist perspective of life and death. Instead of using the usual lecture theatre, the school hall was used instead – as there were 130 Catholic boys this time. Above is a picture of a powerpoint slide used, featuring a [...]

Alternative Alice (2): What is Not Cat about the Cheshire Cat? Cheshire Cat: Which part of me is not like a cat? Alice: You tell me! Cheshire Cat: Let me fade away part by part, to help you decide which is the non-cat part. (He fades… till his grin remains) Alice: That’s what’s not cat [...]

From ‘This is a Bad Time’ by Bruce Eric Kaplan: But why do we choose to be attached to the idea that we are really our poor ‘selves’, since we do change and can change at will? What’s terrifying about negative karma is its compounding effects if left unchecked! But enlightenment is also the end [...]

A Tit for a Tat (108) Tit: I don’t understand her. Tat: Why? Tit: Sometimes, she is difficult. Tat: So? Tit: Sometimes, she is easy-going. Tat: So? Tit: So, who is she really? Tat: Both yet neither! She is always changing. She is change itself! Tit: But which is the real ‘her’? Tat: Must there [...]

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 – [...]

‘Who am I?’ ‘I’ am nothing but constant change, yet while our mind and matter change, there is always to unchanging potential to become fully enlightened, perfect in compassion and wisdom. Yesterday at 11:37pm · Raymund Lacson Well said.. Thanks Shen Shi’an Today at 4:40am · Leong Seng Chen Well bros Shen & Ray, to [...]

In the film ‘Don’t Look Back’ (Ne Te Retourne Pas), Jeanne (played by Sophie Marceau) realises that small but definite changes seem to be taking place in her life in every aspect… from the arrangement of the furniture in her house, to the appearance of her family members. In fact, her own appearance begins to [...]

Question: In Chinese horoscope, the next year is that of the tiger. Some say it’s not a ‘good’ animal. How would you respond to those who discourage having a tiger baby? Answer: Is it so that tigers are all not ‘good’? I have at least two good tiger friends. Just as there are good and [...]

Meatguy: I think you are too strongly attached to being vegetarian. Shi’an: I’m not. I’m just aware that animals are attached to their lives, and that my choice of diet prevents more deaths. Meatguy: Didn’t the Buddha teach that all mind and matter is without self? Shi’an: Yes, but all the parties involved have not [...]

Daoni and company (my soft toy dogs) look different from different angles. They might look sad from one, but glad from another. But that’s just physical. People’s characters too, look different from different views. They might seem bad from one, but good from another. And they change too… more unpredictably than my dogs.

A Tit for a Tat (63) Tit: What do you think of her? Tat: Oh! She IS a …… person! Tit: You seem very sure. Do you know her very well? Tat: That was from my experience a few years back. Tit: Maybe she has changed since? Tat: I guess it’s possible, but I wouldn’t [...]

I would like to share what I call the Chrysalis Effect… From everything ugly and even seemingly disgusting (e.g. a ‘worm’ in a chrysalis), something beautiful and even wonderful can emerge (e.g. a butterfly), through metamorphosis, that is not just physical but spiritual too. This is the power of change within this life, but there [...]

There is no real solid ball. There is just a bundle of potential (elastic) energy, that binds itself inwards. Likewise, there is no real solid anything else. There are just bundles of energy, that interact with one another. And outward interaction is possible only when there is constant change (Anicca), only when there is no [...]