Venerable Faxian is one of the great pilgrim translators who travelled from China to India to retrieve many precious sutras.
King of Bi: Have the Venerables come to be in Bi or are you just passing through?
Ven. Faxian: Faxian and these few Venerables are neither staying in your esteemed country or going to any other [...]

A delightful short dialogue from the movie ‘Spanglish’:
Dad: (Open’s son’s door) You don’t have to get up yet, but are you thinking seriously about it?
Son: Yes.
Dad: Okay. (A few minutes lapse, before he opens door again)
Son: Now?
Dad: Yes, actual up.
Being lazybones myself, I like the idea of being preempted to wake up first, before needing [...]

‘The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch’ by Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli and Todd Klein is a fantasy tale that cautions us to ‘be careful what you wish for – because you might get it’. Many might dismiss this ‘law of attraction’ concept to be nonsensical, but it’s not exactly so [...]

From the movie ‘Fanboys’ is the dialogue below. The guys were planning to steal a copy of Star Wars Episode 1 before its release – to fulfill their friend’s last wish of watching it before he dies of cancer.
Hutch: You gotta find your Death Star.
Eric: Okay, I’ll bite.
Hutch: Greatest deed Luke Skywalker ever did was [...]

A friend remarked that he was feeling angry during the day, but when he arrived at the temple in the evening, where we were having our Pureland class (http://moonpointer.com/new/2009/06/understanding-amituofo-via-the-amitabha-sutra), his anger seemed to have mysteriously dissipated. Replacing the trouble in mind was not just the absence of frustration but peace of mind instead. He wondered [...]

Reflections on Shinran’s Pure Land Teachings
I just finished viewing an animated film titled ‘Shinran-sama: His Wish & Light’, which is a summarised biography of Shinran, the founder of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism (True Pure Land School – the most widely practised Buddhist tradition in Japan today). It was created in commemoration of the 750th anniversary (next [...]

At 2 am of new year’s day as part of a post ‘Spiritual Countdown’ to 2009 celebration program, I helped to lead a chanting session at the largest temple in Singapore. We practised mindfulness of Amitabha Buddha (Amituofo) by reciting his name. For the occasion, I wrote a short aspiration prayer, which was read for [...]