Sometimes, the key message of a film is right at the end (or maybe I missed subtler messages along the way). Such is the case, so it seems, for ‘The Marc Pease Experience’, where Marc sings Joe Jackson’s ‘You Can’t Get What You Want’. Then everything falls...

If you think you are enlightened, you should know you are not - because enlightenment is the knowing of everything, including whether you are enlightened or not, which should be fundamental personal knowledge. But if you ‘know’ you are enlightened, you should know you might not be...

Q: Is there a need to find an enlightened teacher? A: No, but it makes sense to find teachers who are more enlightened than us. Q: Why not just find an enlightened teacher? A: It’s not easy to discern who is enlightened as we are not enlightened ourselves. Q: How do we find teachers who...

Question: Someone claims to be a student of a certain teacher. This student claims to have some great attainment. What do you think? Answer: If you are doubtful, you can ask that student to verify with that teacher his attainment. Question: That person refuses to do so. Answer: If the teacher...

While the humans try to nip the problem in the bud by preventing Skynet from forming, why doesn’t the robots just nip the problem in the bud by time-travelling to the past to terminate John Connor at birth? They can try endlessly. Then again, the humans can time-travel back to...

Question: How was the Buddha-to-be able to just let go of his worldly attachments to search for the path to True Happiness, which may not even exist? Answer: He was so overwhelmed by great compassion for all that it gave him the courage to search for what might or might not be there, and...

Supposed to know something - but forgot what? Do you let it trouble you, or let it slide? Truth is, we all are supposed to know something - enlightenment. Existential ‘troubling-ness’ is alright, if it drives us to the light. Related Article: Dukkha...

A semi-fictitious conversation with a friend going on a three-week retreat of sorts… S: Come back enlightened! T: Huh? Er…. S: Okay, okay… come back ‘more...

In a taxi at Dharamshala, we told a cabbie that he was going the wrong way. If I heard him correctly, he kind of admitted, but kind of denied this. While reversing his way out, he thought I heard him say, ‘There is no wrong way; only long way!’ Remind me of the idea that a trip to...

Truth be told, with all due respect to all great Tulkus, many Tulkus (recognised reborn Buddhist masters or students) still need Dharma re-education to re-align themselves to the path… in case… It is not true that all Tulkus are firmly on the path to enlightenment, or already...

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...

The above is a fan video, while here’s a different interpretation of the lyrics of ‘Morning Star’ by Flunk: … You are my morning star It’s just the way you are When the orange sky Kiss the night goodbye… It’s not the way you move It’s not the...

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...

Even the most fun app(lication) in my iPhone gets deleted eventually, to make room for another app. Life is seeking one app after another, for one kick after another - till you lose the kick of seeking kicks? What is life thereafter? Seek the ultimate ‘kick’ of transcending kicks - by...

From ‘The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship Into Joy’ by Andrew Holecek - There are teachers who proclaim that the only thing necessary to wake up is to ‘just do it.’ They tell us that we are already enlightened, we just do not recognize it. I have studied...

I finished reading ”Becoming Enlightened’ by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, PhD) a few weeks ago, but had been procrastinating on writing a review. Not because I don’t want but how do you review a master’s work? It probably...

From ‘This is a Bad Time’ by Bruce Eric Kaplan: But why do we choose to be attached to the idea that we are really our poor ‘selves’, since we do change and can change at will? What’s terrifying about negative karma is its compounding effects if left...

Seeing a cleaner dusting a stupa that housed the Buddha’s relics. I wondered what would happen, should it be left neglected? It will become buried, swallowed by the sands of time, forgotten and lost in history. Like a precious relic that is the Buddhadharma, or our Buddhadhatu...

A Tit for a Tat (76) Tit: I’m supposed to get this… Tat: Ya ya… Tit: And that… Tat: Ya ya… Tit: And I’m supposed to get enlightened too! Tat: Ya! Next aT4aT: http://moonpointer.com/new/2009/12/we-are-unwell Previous aT4aT:...

A Dharma friend sent me this Youtube link on meditation. He felt that it’s a very good way to introduce Non-Buddhist friends to meditation, although ‘we all know the trainer uses Buddhist techniques’. I agree it’s skilful not to use Buddhist labels at first… lest...