Bing: Why is there paint over forgotten masking tape on this wall? Ding: The renovation guy must had been sloppy… not having checked properly. Bing: Or maybe we were the sloppy ones… for not having checked his work properly. Ding: Guess all of us were sloppy! Who is kinder? The one responsible only for oneself [...]

If you learn to love one properly, you will learn to love all equally. – Stonepeace [Notes: The notion of love in this article is love in general, as in loving-kindness (Metta: the wish for all to be well and happy), that excludes lust as a complicating worldly factor. The following are some of the [...]

What’s the Meaning of Life? Once upon a time, there was a very small boy called Zeph, who wondered much about the very large world he lived in. After his first day at a new school (which he didn’t like), being surrounded by strangers in a strange land, it struck him that life could be [...]

There is a full page in ‘Invincible: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1′ (by Robert Kirkman) which seems to accidentally portray the nature of an existential crisis. The young and new superhero ‘Invincible’ was told to fight an alien in Earth’s orbit. He takes a deep breath and flies up up and away… Yes, the superheroes super-hold [...]

After picking up Buddhism, I found my threshold of being able to withstand seeing others in suffering to have reduced significantly. I can’t sit long in front of the television watching people scheming against each other, even though I know it’s just a show. Well, scriptwriters don’t get their stories out of thin air – many are [...]

I was at a group dinner last weekend, during which the conversation centered mostly around food. That seen as ‘great food’ for most is but burnt carcasses to me, no matter how well masked the meat is with herbs and spices. I can no longer comprehend why anyone can be fascinated by meat, isn’t it [...]

A friend texted me a question – ‘How to have compassion for terrorists?’ He was asking about the recent Mumbai siege, which killed about 120. My answer would be this – ‘We can nurture compassion for terrorists by realising that they had created immense negative karma (which is likely to bear fruit as much suffering) [...]

Jon: As an artist, I wonder is artists are necessarily self-cherishing by nature? Is there a difference between being selfish and being driven in the creation of art? Me: Artists need not be self-cherishing (as in being self-centred). In fact, the true artist lets go of ego, which allows him or her to create the [...]

If you position yourself such that I cannot share my advice with you, it is not so much the end of my compassion for you, but an end of your compassion for yourself. If I position myself such that you cannot share your advice with me, it is not so much the end of your [...]

Ja: How rude, he ignored me when I greeted him. Ya: Maybe he’s shy or didn’t recognise you?  Ja: Nay, we met a few times although he was more chatty online. Well, a simple ‘hi’ would be nice. Makes me wonder should I greet again?  Ya: Well, the world would be a nicer place if [...]

  I just returned from hosting an encore screening session of the multiple-award winning documentary ‘Buddha’s Lost Children’. (The review link is below.) During the discussion session, a lady remarked that it was somewhat disturbing that the abbot featured in the film seemed angry at times, during his teaching sessions. I replied that as I [...]

Humans are often full of self-contradictions. When they see beached whales, they try to keep them moist, to transport them to deep waters for liberating them back into the seas. It’s a humongous rescue mission, but they see the worth of it. However, probably most of the same humans don’t bat an eyelid on the [...]

Swindled by ‘The Black Swindler’? I have always wondered this – Why can’t filmmakers make their films to be as good as the trailers of their films? Once I saw an intriguing movie trailer. So entranced was I that I went to see the show. To my surprise, the trailer was better made than the [...]