The above is a 1995 photo by a school senior. This was how the library of Singapore Polytechnic Buddhist Society looked like many years ago. I remember first entering the society room, looking at the sheer number of books and being thoroughly humbled by the fact that I knew little about the Buddha’s teachings, and [...]

Saw a modern gangland movie version’s retelling of Macbeth, which I studied in school years ago… A case of listening to witches’ hearsay (or heresy?), hearing only what he wanted to hear, his heart’s desires spelled out, trapping and tripping himself with over-confidence. Did the witches tell his inevitable future, or did he make his [...]

Question: Bother to catch the mistakes about Buddhism in the article at ___________? Answer: You know… if i spend my time surfing to look for stuff to clarify, it could be more than a full-time job. I used to do that quite a bit but realised it is often not very fruitful – as the [...]

Confidence in sharing the Dharma can be perceived as arrogance by those who don’t understand the Dharma, the real source of the confidence, which reminds us of the importance of sharing the Dharma more skilfully. Some need firmer approaches though, precisely due to arrogance on their part, which they project onto others and see as [...]

Napolean Dynamite is one quirky comedy starring the amazing Jon Heder. He acted so believably as an ultra-nerd that the twist at the end where he breaks into a dance with super confidence and ‘coolness’ surprises everyone in the movie, and of course, the ones watching it too – especially those who were not yet [...]

A friend asked me how do I have confidence to deliver Dharma talks My reply was that the wonderful Dharma itself, when comprehended well, is what gives me confidence. Interestingly, this is in contrast to small an sometimes ‘gossipy’ talk, which I’m not very good at, especially when it is based on less truth and [...]

As summarised from Wikipedia, ‘the TV series (Drop Dead Diva) revolves around vapid blonde and aspiring model, Deb Dobkins who is killed in a car crash. She is brought back to life in the body of a recently deceased, intelligent, overweight lawyer named Jane Bingum. Initially horrified, Deb – in her new human form – [...]

In a scene of the movie ‘Sherlock Holmes’, the famed super sleuth makes sharp observations and astute deductions on the character of Dr. Watson’s fiancée. He gets most of them right, but a key one wrong, His wrong conclusion hurt her feelings as she stomps off in rage. It made me think… as sure as [...]

Being confident tricksters used to outsmarting others, ‘Julia’ and ‘Clive’ in the movie ‘Duplicity’ thought they had the upperhand this time as well, in their elaborate collaborated scheme. So much so, that we the audience are led to think they do have the upperhand. Despite being partners in crime, they even trick each other and [...]

Question: A friend’s son lately found it difficult to focus and could not study at all. He had applied leave of absence from school. But, currently he is preparing for a special exam required for studying the subject of choice later.  At times, he is quite frustrated, tense and irritable.  He sleeps in the wee [...]

While watching the final instalment of ‘Red Cliff (Part 2)’, I was hoping for the story to impart some major lessons to the general audience… other than the cunning ‘art’ of strategising in war. Thankfully, towards the end, there were two obvious lessons. Here’s the first one… Xiao Qiao warns Cao Cao of his over-confidence [...]

Her family dentist always paints the worst case scenario of what could happen during surgery. But her family members realised over the years that none of the terrible situations ever occurred when they sat in the dentist’s chair. In fact, they continually experienced swift and effective dental treatment from him. Every visit to the dentist [...]