Just removed the protection screen of my iPhone 3, as I prepared to trade it in for iPhone 4. Suddenly, the old phone is brand new and its screen never so crystal clear. Have I too been invisibly shielding myself from the true picture, the truth, with unseen delusion? Protection can also be inhibition from [...]

The ingenious film that is ‘Inception’ begins with the assumption that it is possible for multiple persons to enter someone’s dream, that can even be designed without that person knowing, thus digging out deep secrets from his sub-consciousness, or even implanting ideas which eventually shape one’s decisions. Thank goodness this doesn’t seem technologically viable at [...]

Q: We continue to have delusions, and fail to see the truth, because the truth hurts. A: This is why it does take courage to see the truth. Q: While delusions will hurt eventually, they provide brief moments of joy. Isn’t this what life is about? A: This is the problem exactly – settling for [...]

Herd mentality is paradoxically individual mentality based on delusion and/or selfishness. If herds always unite, predators will have no luck in capturing their individuals. Likewise, if predators unite as herds, they will always be able to capture their prey.

A sophisticated yet funny story that Niels Bohr liked to tell: One of our neighbors in Tisvilde once fixed a horseshoe over the door to his house. When a common friend asked him, `But are you really superstitious? Do you honestly believe that this horseshoe will bring you luck?’ he replied, `Of course not; but [...]

If you choose not to see the truth, are you good as blind then? If you choose not to hear the truth, are you good as deaf then? How blind and deaf are we to the truth? We must be both to some extent, or we would see and hear the whole truth, or we [...]

Good intentions are not good enough if they arise from delusion. This is why Buddhism pays attention to both goodness (compassion; the opposite of evil intentions, speech and actions) and truth (wisdom; the opposite of delusion). – Sisyphusian

Yah: I’m apolitical. Jat: More like apathetic. Yah: Apathetic to politics… yes! Jat: How so? Yah: Because politics has too many shades of grey. So I would rather spend time on something more real, like studying the Pureland sutras. Jat: And Pureland is more real than our world? Yah: A world without the complexity of [...]

A Tit for a Tat (58) Tit: Can you hear the humming? Tat: Yes. Tit: I’m surprised you can hear such a high frequency. Tat: It’s true that I can’t hear very high frequencies. Tit: How can you hear the humming then? Tat: Well, it’s not at a very high frequency. As mentioned, if it’s [...]

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, [...]

A Tit for a Tat (51) Tit: You are both Buddhists – how can you fall out over the Dharma? Tat: Well, we are just Buddhists; not Buddhas. Tit: But still, the Dharma is supposed to bring peace and harmony. Tat: Actually, no one can fall out over the Dharma – it was just our [...]

In the movie ‘Whiteout’, a U.S. marshal, being the only one assigned to Antarctica, makes it a point to solve a murder case there… a mere three days before the merciless winter which lasts for six months in darkness begins howling. The more she investigates, the darker a conspiracy gets. Before the darkness of night [...]

No one wants to be unhappy due to being greedy. Some might not know how to be content. Why not generously share how with them, best you can? No one wants to be unhappy due to being unkind. Some might not know how to be kind. Why not kindly share how with them, best you [...]

A Tit for a Tat (48) Tit: Why is it that we seem more clear-minded that others? Tat: Is it so? It’s no big deal because we are more clear-minded on some matters only. Tit: What do you mean? Tat: There are other matters we are so unclear of, that we don’t even know we [...]

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 [...]