The best teachers must eventually teach ultimate Compassion and Wisdom. To encourage perfect Compassion, they must eventually advocate veganism, which is not just a way of consumption, but a way of life, of being helpful and harmless. To encourage perfect Wisdom, they must eventually advocate the Pure Land teachings, as the most efficient path towards [...]

This sums it up perfectly, as to how, if there is a creator God (which there isn’t), he is surely not perfect in compassion and wisdom. to give free will to his imperfect creation, who also lacks perfect compassion and wisdom, who thus make a mess of so many things. And that things remain imperfect [...]

S: Most who like to eat meat ironically don’t want a single animal killed for them. Strange isn’t it, to miss the cause and effect of supply and demand? In existentialism, this is called ‘bad faith’ – not being true to what one already knows :-[ Maybe vege advocates should try this trick in public - [...]

He, a stone-cutter, saw a rich man gathering many luxuries, and wished to be like him. Suddenly, he became him. He saw a high official getting much respect, and wished to be like him. Suddenly, he became him. He saw the hot sun making him sweat, and wished to be like it, Suddenly, he became [...]

Q: Is there a need to find an enlightened teacher? A: No, but it makes sense to find teachers who are more enlightened than us. Q: Why not just find an enlightened teacher? A: It’s not easy to discern who is enlightened as we are not enlightened ourselves. Q: How do we find teachers who [...]

S: A relative commented of another relative being very traditional, of waiting to first wear recently bought new clothes during Chinese new year (CNY) celebrations. I commented that I’m more ‘traditional’ – because I usually buy clothes only when old ones are torn, whether it’s a new year or not. A: I guess it depends [...]

He believed her to be hopelessly stubborn, not knowing that it is he who is hopelessly stubborn in his opinion about her. Since people can change, and people do change, let’s be less conclusive about one another, and more enthusiastic in helping one another to change for the better. She believed him to be very [...]

No one really wants to be greedy, hateful or deluded. Those who are simply do not realise that being so brings suffering to oneself and others sooner or later, or because they do not know any other way of being. This is the basis for universal compassion, even for the most greedy, hateful and deluded [...]

Struck me that Elmo is the opposite of Emo! Emo: One who has negative emotions often. Elmo: One who has positive emotions often,  such has loving-kindness, compassion, rejoice and equanimity.  If Oscar’s the snobbish grouch, then Elmo’s the cheery! The littlest but best monster from Sesame Street ever. If Oscar stands for the poison of hatred, [...]

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

I’m interpreting ‘You’ve Got The Love’ by Florence + the Machine my way, with ‘Lord’ standing for Lord Buddha, and even Amitabha Buddha (Amituofo). Electric ‘spiritual’ beginning to the song at the concert in the video above! In a way, the ‘You’ sung about can refer to yourself, your own Buddha-nature, which ‘got the love’ [...]

A friend forwarded to me an email from a Buddhist teacher, who advocated that evangelists should simply be ignored. I replied so: ‘It’s not compassionate to always ignore evangelists, especially if they speak to us out of compassion, albeit misplaced. I’ve spoken to one before, who tried to convert me… and he is now a happy [...]

I came across two strange sentiments about eating animals: 1. ‘As long as the Buddha is in my heart, eating animals is okay.’ 2. ‘I think it’s my karma to eat animals.’ What’s wrong with the above? 1. If one truly keeps the Buddha in one’s heart, as in being attuned to one’s Buddha-nature, and [...]

Question: Would you say that reciting Om Mani Padme Hung is similar to the practice of metta meditation in that it develops loving-kindness and compassion? Answer: A friend’s wife, at the end of an Om Mani Padme Hum retreat, turned vegetarian upon hearing the heartfelt advice of Drubwang Rinpoche: http://moonpointer.com/new/2011/07/teachings-by-his-eminence-drubwang-konchok-norbu-rinpoche For her, it would seem, the mantra effectively invoked [...]

I see an old friend, who became Buddhist before I did, walking through a food court. I thought he was looking for a seat, but he stopped before a meat noodle stall, looked at the menu, and made an order. Turned out that he was looking for what animal(s) to eat for dinner, bypassing the [...]