‘The Blind Side’ tells the touching true story of how the once underprivileged and racially discriminated Michael Oher became a successful football player by proving his worth in various aspects of life – beyond just the sport. What is the blind side? It refers to that side opposite of the direction a player is facing. As an example [...]

Jat: I read that plants are alive too? Some says this make vegetarians and vegans murderers too! Yah: How can anyone talk about compassion towards the non-sentient when they don’t do something about their meat diet? Do sentient beings of flesh and blood don’t more readily deserve compassion? It’s unfair to justify meat-eating by calling [...]

People often asked me what i think about the plight of Tibet, I’m sympathetic but have not much to comment. The true is I did not know China and Tibet’s histories well enough to say much. Each seems to have their own side of the story and I lacked the true wisdom to judge. In [...]

Jat: So you don’t eat chocolate that has milk? Yah: Nope. Jat: Hmm… seems like a dull life. Yah: Nope, not a dull life – just a more compassionate way of life. I still enjoy a bar of dark chocolate once a while, but I make sure it contains no animal products like milk, honey [...]

A Tit for a Tat (77) Tit: I think he suffers from some mental disorder. Tat: Which one? Tit: It doesn’t matter. Tat: What do you mean? Tit: Can you imagine the days when disorders like depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD… weren’t well researched? Tat: Yes, but what are you trying to say? Tit: I [...]

An imaginary verse on how a Bodhisattva might think: The only reason my heart is broken is because so many hearts are broken. There is no time to indulge in being heartbroken, when there are so many broken hearts to heal. From the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra: Manjusri: Householder, whence came this sickness of yours? How [...]

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 [...]

He who, depraved, devoid of truthfulness and self-control, puts on the ochre [monastic] robe, doesn’t deserve the ochre robe. But he who is free of depravity, endowed with truthfulness and self-control, well-established in the precepts, truly deserves the ochre robe. – The Buddha (Dhammapada) I appreciate the custom in Thailand, so I’ve heard, of how [...]

At what point is technology too much? It seems inevitable that technology will not just be extensions of our bodies but gradually internalised too, literally. The movie ‘Vexille’ tells of the future, when the Japanese government and its leading corporation asks its people to take a vaccine, which secretly infects them with a gene-altering virus [...]

Ray: What’s the best way to attain inner peace despite being in the midst of those who have a blaming attitude? Shian: Why not take it a case at a time? E.g. Blaming session #1 means opportunity #1 to explain why the blaming is not needed. If you do it long enough without being worked [...]

Question: What is the correct approach one must practice to stop people who are persistently bad, like extremists? Answer: There’s a need to befriend them, to express concern for their general welfare first, before finding out why they think the way they do, and to gently persuade them to think otherwise, for their benefit and that of [...]

What I learnt from the espionage movie ‘The Message’… ‘Don’t shoot me. I’m just the messenger!’ That said, sometimes, the message is worth dying for. A message that will save physical lives. Or better still, a message that will save spiritual lives too. What message will you be willing to die delivering? What message will [...]

Literally using ‘illegal aliens’ for addressing multiple socio-political issues such as xenophobia (irrational fear of strangers), ‘District 9′ is a thought-provoking film indeed. A private military contractor (MNU: Multinational United) is tasked to police and forcibly evict 1.8 million aliens from their District 9 slums to District 10 – a new refugee camp some 240 [...]

We jail and fine those who abuse and torture pets, but isn’t culling harmless animals the extreme form of abuse and torture? A good friend sent an email asking signatures for an on-going petition to help stop the extermination of all stray cats in Singapore. It is really sad to know that in this age, [...]

From ‘A Heart Full of Peace’ by Joseph Goldstein are many thought-provoking quotes, with elaborations on what their significance. Below are some personal reflections on those which especially resonated with me. The only thing I can rely on is my sincere motivation. – The Dalai Lama Comments: All we can be truly sure of is [...]