Q: Sometimes, suffering may not be a bad thing.
A: Suffering is ‘useful’ only if it spurs one to advance to enlightenment. If not, suffering will return again and again – and one repeats suffering pointlessly – life after life.
Q: I don’t think I am ’suffering’ too much although I have some problems. I think I [...]

Some lyrics from R.E.M.’s ‘Everybody Hurts’:
Well, everybody hurts sometimes.
Everybody cries.
And everybody hurts sometimes.
And everybody hurts sometimes.
So, hold on, hold on…
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on…
Everybody hurts.
You are not alone.
Everybody Hurts – is this not the First Noble Truth for us unenlightened ones? To clearly and personally recoginise and [...]

I once listened to someone’s grievances overnight.
She was planning to kill herself.
When dawn broke, she felt reborn.
I didn’t give much advice
because I didn’t know what to say.
In fact, I shared my grievances too. (We wept hard.)
It was the power of empathy,
of being there for each other,
of self and mutual acceptance, that healed us [...]

Yeas ago, I stuck a bright red sticker with the words ‘Namo Amituofo’ (Homage to Amitabha Buddha) on a dangerous sharp corner of a cabinet – to alert people from banging their heads on it. Yes, mindfulness of Buddha can save your life. It can even lead you to transcend the cycles of life and [...]

One of the most memorable films ever is a film in a film – in the movie ‘American Beauty’ called by fans as ‘the plastic bag scene’. As commented by the young filmmaker in the story, who shot it…
Ricky Fitts: You want to see the most beautiful thing I’ve ever filmed? It was one of [...]

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 [...]

The classic ‘Mad World’ by Tears for Fears seems to be a poignant string of world-weary haikus. In between its stanzas below are some one-liner comments. Above is the more meditative cover version by Gary Jules, in a video directed by the very creative Michel Gondry, who gave us the amazing ‘Eternal Sunshine [...]

Life is what happens to you
while you’re busy making other plans.
- John Lennon
From ‘Astonishing X-men: Unstoppable’ by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) says, “Everything is so fragile. There’s so much conflict, so much pain… you keep waiting for the dust to settle and then you realize this is it; the dust is [...]

I worked till late in office tonight.
Suddenly, I felt great itches on my left arm.
I looked and saw four huge bite bumps.
I’d heard a buzzing sound moments earlier.
I thought I’d better leave soon.
Since I was the only fresh meal around.
Then I thought it’s okay to stay…
Because she has got to have her fill already!
And I [...]

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 [...]