I asked him why he doesn’t seem very concerned for the spiritual well-being of his parents. He replied that since we have been reborn so many times, we have all been one another’s parents at some point in the past, and that if so, he doesn’t see why he should be too...

Super Short Story (189): Bad Day He encouraged his bipolar friend: ‘There are good and bad days for everyone unenlightened. In your case, the swing to and fro might seem more drastic and swift, but there’s no need to pine for better days or dread bad ones. Just do your best from...

Super Short Story (120): Distance He appreciated that the cleaner he frequently encounters in the restaurant never saw himself to be very different, despite his business suit and all. The cleaner never kept a distance and maintained his jovial attitude to everyone. Knowing this, he felt...

A friend lists ‘the few true friends’ he has so far in his Facebook status. Am not listed, which is natural, as I don’t know him well. He might be dividing his friends with such a comment. What if some unlisted ones are true to him? Better to silently be a truer friend to...

From the 1957 movie ‘The River’directed by Jean Renoir - Same But Different Nan: Why can’t you be good like Elizabeth? Harriet: It’s easy for her to be good because she is good. Comments: We all have Buddha-Nature, the potential to be pure within. In this sense, it is...

If you are more gracious to the more wealthy and powerful, even if you are not also wealthy and powerful, you are already caught up in wealth and power, already lacking in equanimity for both the rich and poor, the strong and...

Struck me that Elmo is the opposite of Emo! Emo: One who has negative emotions often. Elmo: One who has positive emotions often,  such has loving-kindness, compassion, rejoice and equanimity.  If Oscar’s the snobbish grouch, then Elmo’s the cheery! The littlest but best monster...

Question: I am not very clear about equanimity as the last of the Four Immeasurable Minds. Does it mean being neutral, ‘not affectionate’ and ‘not averse’,  being calm and not feeling much? Answer: Equanimity means a broad encompassing mind that sees all beings as...

Read the two below stories online… Following them are my comments… What is Love?  One day, Plato asked his teacher, “What is love? How can I find it?” His teacher answered, “There is a vast wheat field in front. Walk forward without turning back, and pick...

A reply to a Buddhist friend, who chose to get pest control to exterminate lice-like insects that plagued her house, which bit her family members badly too. They were traced to being centred on baby birds hidden in a pipe… Very often, struggle as we might to see all sentient beings as...

His bipolar swinging of reason and emotion in this life is just like a compression of my ‘bipolar’ swinging of reason and emotion from life to life. Enough to sicken him, to want to end the cycle, to want to awaken. I too, should feel likewise, before I swing again in another...

Roach resting on her image’s crown I freak out but she* smiles on Namo Guanshiyin Pusa! * not the roach!

There are two unlabeled toilet cubicles in the office. Most males use one, that became the less clean one. It’s less clean, I guess, because males are generally less sensitive about cleanliness? But I’m not one of them! So now I use the other one, since there is no hard and fast...

Begin stationary, symmetrically with balance. Move in between, asymmetrically with balance. End stationary, symmetrically with balance. Balance is already a form of symmetry. Stationary meditation looks physically symmetrical though the mind is asymmetrical too, if it moves in any direction...

Email subject header: Diabetes Alert? Hi Everyone, Recently, I noticed that there are black ants on the rim of the toilet bowl in the south wing toilet, that most male colleagues use. From observation, ants usually stay away from urine. In ancient days, ants were used to detect if a person...

A bipolar student wasn’t sure he liked being his more ‘sober’ self. Perhaps he is used to swinging between highs and lows? I advised that there is no need to cling to any self… Since there is no fixed self that stays high or low, especially in mundane way. Good to...

From ‘The Art of Meditation’ by Matthieu Ricard We have all, to varying degrees, had the experience of profound altruistic love, of a feeling of all-encompassing benevolence, of intense compassion for those who are suffering. Some of us are naturally more altruistic than others, sometimes...

A Tit for a Tat (100) Tit: Everyone should see someone as special. Tat: Only one? Tit: If not, that person wouldn’t be special. Tat: Isn’t it more special to see two or more than one to be special? Tit: Sounds like promiscuity! Tat: What if everyone is seen as equally...

I still remember the crisp air and clear stars. From that night under the Kent’s wintry sky. This night, under India’s sky in the same season, I see mist and dust clouding lives of the poor. I always thought that we share the same sky. How could that night be so different from...

Didn’t he proclaim her to be his ‘one true love’? How could he love someone else after her passing away? But do we expect him to mourn for the rest of his life? Would his ex ‘one true love’ want that? If she would, would her love for him be true? Seems like...