Thus have I heard, the below poignant and hilarious accounts are based on actual concurrent incidents…
The old abbot of a temple
had a terrible toothache.
So bad was it that it was debilitating…
affecting his nerves literally.
The hospital stay was humbling to him.
It made him reflect
about the importance of spiritual cultivation
before his time in this life ran [...]

In the ‘retelling’ of ‘Beowulf’ by Gareth Hinds, King Hrothgar tells Beowulf the following after they slays Grendal and the monster’s Mother:
‘Take thou, therefore, good heed, O Beowulf,
against pride and arrogance.
Choose the better path: profit eternal.
Now, indeed, thou art in the pride of thy strength and the power of youth;
but there will come [...]

‘The Serpent and the Rainbow’, which is supposedly based on a true story (By Wade Davis) tells of a terrifying Haitian semi-scientific and semi-voodoo drug, that can induce a fake death syndrome, where the ‘deceased’ is seen to be thoroughly dead medically, who is not so at all. One might then be buried alive, but [...]

One of the most poignant poems I ever read, followed by some related sentiments:
(The above is a scene from ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral):
Funeral Blues (Stop All the Clocks) by W.H. Auden
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, [...]

In the poignant but touching story of ‘My Sister’s Keeper’, a young girl realises that she was conceived specifically to save her older sister’s life. She decides to sue her parents for ‘medical emancipation’ – to reject any further bodily donations, so that she can live her life fully, in a carefree manner. Now that [...]

‘Funny People’ is largely a comedy, but it is also a serious movie with elements of tragedy too. Okay, a tragicomedy it is then, with a heavier slant on comedy. It’s about a seasoned comedian (George Simmons, played by Adam Sandler), who was diagnosed with a fatal sickness, who thereafter struggles to take it lightheartedly [...]

What does it mean…
that I’m not sure what it all means?
that I’m not sure how I’ll figure it out?
What does it mean…
when I’m born into a life of uncertainty?
when I’ll die a certain death?
What does it mean…
when the birds sing a foreign language?
when the skies have different hues of blue?
What does it mean…
when I wonder?
when [...]

The film ‘Thirst’ (which won the 2009 Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival) is another story that uses the vampire genre to address interesting issues. The personification of evil in Buddhist cosmology is Mara, who is synonymous with desire and death… which is in turn synonymous with indulgence in sex (as the melting pot [...]

Adapted from the bestseller, ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’ tells of a man’s peculiar condition, of being involuntarily subject to fading away, only to manifest in another time and place. It is suspected to be a medical anomaly, though Buddhism would see it essentially as karmic. Time-travel is impossible though – as it would mess [...]

Just when you think the ‘Final Destination’ trilogy was already complete, here comes ‘The Final Destination’ (also known as ‘Final Destination 4′). I guess the first title is so to differentiate it slightly from its three predecessors, though the movie rides on similarly disturbing yet thought-provoking themes. Is this instalment is really the final finale? In Buddhism, [...]