A friend’s experience… While shortlisting films for a Buddhist short film festival, I spoke firmly against the choice of one, listing more than 20 reasons why it should not be selected. To my shock, despite this, someone exclaims that ‘It’s just a movie’. Disturbing… because aren’t Buddhist film festivals for sharing the Dharma; and not [...]

The singing duo ‘Everything But the Girl’ (EBTG) adopted their name from the slogan of furniture which had a window sign that read, ‘for your bedroom needs, we sell everything but the girl’. A reminder that the material is still incomplete. In fact, the non-material or spiritual is the essential. What makes [...]

Sometimes, there are requests for notes for my Dharma classes, by those who have not attended them. Usually, I decline, while encouraging them to sign up for the classes. (Another thing I discourage is the assumption that printed Powerpoint slides are equivalent to a whole course – when they only highlight some points.) The [...]

Symbol of the Triratna (: Sanskrit; Tiratana: Pali), as seen in the Sanchi stupa, 1st century BCE.
自皈依佛，当愿众生，绍隆佛种，发无上心
自皈依法，当愿众生，深入经藏，智慧如海
自皈依僧，当愿众生，统理大众，一切无碍
- 华严经
Taking refuge in the Buddha, may all beings succeed and glorify the Buddha seed,
giving rise to the unsurpassable aspiration [for Buddhahood].
Taking refuge in the Dharma, may all beings deeply enter the treasury of sutras,
and widen [...]

In ‘The Rabbi’s Cat 2′ by Joann Sfar, the cat says this of his master, ‘I love you because you’re vulnerable. I love you because there has to be someone who loves you.’ But does that mean that those who are not vulnerable do not deserve love? If yes, why is there [...]

click to enlarge

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If enlightenment is impossible,
the strife towards it is still meaningful
because it is the path to greater happiness,
as we can tell when we practise the Dharma.
If enlightenment is possible and we can backslide from it,
the strife towards it is still meaningful
because it is the path to greater happiness,
as we can tell when we practise the Dharma.
Even [...]

We replaced the one dim bulb in the living room with a new bright one, and removed the lamp cover too. It was so brilliant ‘cool daylight’ (Philips 23 Watts), without being glaring, that it slightly spilled over to the kitchen and a room. We can now save more electricity as there is less need [...]

One who braces for the hard knocks of life
will find them less shocking and painful.
Not bracing for reality is to be attached to fantasy.
- Stonepeace
During naval exercises, sometimes there is this announcement over the broadcast system to simulate incoming missile attacks:
Brace!
Brace!
Brace!
We’re expected to hold on to something steady then, in anticipation of sudden [...]

Q: What is ‘invaluable’?
A: It’s what’s ‘priceless’.
Q: Of course the ‘in-valuable’ is ‘price-less’ – but what’s that?
A: The invaluable is that which is very valuable, priceless because it has no price.
Q: How can something be valuable but without price? Something important but free like air?
A: Free or [...]