There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it. – Alfred Hitchcock S: Dukkha (suffering) is in this moment only when there is clinging to or fretting of it. D: The real pain (physical sensation) may just last for a few seconds but thinking about it creates more ‘pain’. S: And though [...]

Some discomfort is good. That from recognising Dukkha drives us to Nirvana. Some discomfort is not good. That from denying Dukkha keeps us from Nirvana.- Stonepeace Some reject the Dharma due to discomfort with its reality check on Dukkha, that life is prevalent with dissatisfactions, which is the First Noble Truth. Due to this denial, [...]

An unnerving passage by Steven Grant, in Warren Ellis’ ‘Scars’. ‘If they weren’t there and I saw them, there’s something drastically wrong with me. If they were there, and I saw them, there’s something drastically wrong with the universe.’ Such is the nature of existential Dukkha, the First Noble Truth, be it grossly physical or just [...]

If you focus only on the bad things in your life, you’ll miss the good things in your life, and you’ll experience endless bad things because after the bad things comes the good things. Yet, to focus on the bad things is to recognise the First Noble Truth of Dukkha, in order to truly transform [...]

Squeezing some ice, he screams in pain. But he only had to let it go to end the needless pain. Crystal clear is the case of foolishness above. So should I stay here to suffer fools (to exhaust my negative karma), or am I a fool too for staying here (to perpetuate this negative karma), [...]

Anxiety inspires. Angst inspires. Pain inspires. Dukkha inspires. 烦恼即菩提 Afflictions are Bodhi Related Article: Troubling-ness http://moonpointer.com/new/2010/12/troubling-ness

The magical ulcer in my mouth seems to come from nowhere, to grow and grow. It doesn’t seem to go, till it shrinks and shrinks, before it disappears into nowhere. But what about the ulcer, the sore, that trouble in mind? That too, will pass! But you can hasten it, you can heal it, but [...]

I always wondered what is the moral of the story of ‘The Princess and the Pea’. Does it sing the ‘virtues’ of being sensitive to even a single pea under twenty mattresses? But to have such hyper physical sensitivity is to be liable to have great personal suffering instead. Royalty should instead have hyper spiritual [...]

A drop of water at the hot-and-cold water dispenser dripped on a finger. For a second, I couldn’t decide if it was hot or cold. Much heat can feel like much cold. Like how ice ‘burns’ too. Laughing too hard can become painful. If only too much pain can become laughable too!

A good translator can be both satisfied and unsatisfied: unsatisfied with other translations seen, which urges one to come up with a more satisfactory translation… which leads to satisfaction with one’s better translation, till one sees a more satisfactory translation elsewhere, which is most humbling indeed!

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]