Used to wonder what’s so wonderful about the beach… Till I realised it is the meeting point of many things… Not just surfboards, Not just volleyballs, Not just deck chairs… Of the vast sky, Of the vast sea, Of the vast land… Of calm of waves, Of turmoil at times, Of paradoxes of life… Of [...]

Voted song of 2008 by Rolling Stone, The Killers’ ‘Human’ has an interesting line, that seems grammatically incorrect – ‘Are we human, or are we dancer?’ Wikipedia: ‘There remains confusion and debate over the line “Are we human, or are we dancer?” in the song’s chorus. Debate raged across the internet over whether the lyrics [...]

Anicca… is the truth of impermanence. From the perspective of time, nothing is unchanging, while Nirvana is timeless. Dukkha… is the truth of dissatisfaction. From the perspective of experience, nothing is truly fulfilling, while Nirvana is bliss. Anatta… is the truth of insubstantiality. From the perspective of space, nothing has self-nature, while Nirvana is true [...]

‘…Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.’ – Stephen King Monsters are empty, and ghosts are unsubstantial too – when they are realised as so, vanquished within us. That is how we win them all – inside out, conquering our inner Mara before  the external one. When our [...]

Adapted from the bestseller, ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’ tells of a man’s peculiar condition, of being involuntarily subject to fading away, only to manifest in another time and place. It is suspected to be a medical anomaly, though Buddhism would see it essentially as karmic. Time-travel is impossible though – as it would mess up [...]

When I was younger, during my adolescent years, there was a period of time, which felt like two years, when I diligently avoided looking into any mirror – because I didn’t felt like the person I saw in the reflection. There was a bizarre sense of disconnection, as if my face didn’t represent or express [...]

‘Who Is It?’ is one of Michael Jackson’s lesser known hits. With news of his tragic early demise, the song suddenly came to mind. It’s the song I would remember MJ by, because I often wondered who the shapeshifting and occasionally physically veiled MJ really was, just as he wonders who the girl he’s with [...]

In ‘Re-gifters’,  a girl who has a crush on a guy buys him a special present. However, he doesn’t appreciates it, and re-gifts it to another girl of his interest instead. When the first girl discovered this, she became outraged and ‘declares war’ on him – after she receives it back as a ‘recycled’ gift [...]

Question: A Buddhist article emphasised the importance of applying oneself to do the right things, instead of depending on others or blaming the environment. While I agreed totally, I was suddenly beset by what I thought a quirky ‘misalignment’: Why the emphasis on the effort of the ‘self’, when there’s supposed to be no self’? [...]

A Tit for a Tat (11) Tit: Hey! You misspelled ‘mispelled’! Tat: Hey! Not me! I saw you erase an ‘s’ while editing my article! Tit: Did I? Tat: You did! Tit: Must be an accident. Not my fault! Tat: Why? Tit: As ‘I’ was unmindful, ‘I’ wasn’t really there. Since ‘I’ didn’t really do [...]

The thumbprint clocking in and out represented regimentalism that is pointless, because the nature of her work is anything but regimental anyway. Her work required irregular hours, while the unappreciative management requires her to clock in as regularly as possible, as if afraid that she would steal time off. Ridiculous! It was getting harder and [...]

Some interesting quotes below to share from ‘Stillness Speaks’ by Eckhart Tolle. The book’s ideas are not totally about Buddhism, but not really not totally not about it either. There are some parts I disagree with, while I appreciate its occasional acknowledgment where some ideas are clearly inspired by Buddhism – because this would lead [...]

Because ‘I’ am part of this world, Because ‘I’ am interconnected with this world, Because ‘I’ am seamless with this world, ‘I’ am an illusion in the world. Notes: (On CPR Picture) Where do ‘you’ begin? Without the world, ‘you’ cannot be. E.g. Without your interconnection to the air in the world, ‘you’ will ‘cease’ [...]

What a relief… that there is… no ‘one’ to be relieved.

It is partly due to the ‘endless’ clinging to self-delusion, to constant wondering about the nature of the ‘self’, which is really an illusion, that perpetuates our rebirths in Samsara (via attachment to this non-existent ‘self’). The subtlest attachment we have to the idea of ‘self’ will lead to rebirth because rebirth is due to [...]