In the movie ‘Vacancy’, a couple were urged by circumstances, of their car breaking down in the middle of nowhere one night, to walk some distance to a creepy motel, feeling compelled to risk spending the night there. And as we know of such thriller flicks, they check in a room and...

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From the movie ‘Being Flynn’: Jon: I’m doing the same thing here as you are, [spending night in homeless shelter] gathering material [for writing]. Nick: I’m not gathering material. This is my [working] life. [He works there as an administrator.] Jon: Life is gathering...

Jonathan Safran Foer’s book title does not imply animal-eaters only eat animals and do nothing else. It is a way to de-objectify animals as merely ‘meat’. (As inspired by a recent post: http://moonpointer.com/new/2012/11/what-ego-trip Any likeness is, well, just inspired,...

Interesting quotes from ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’: Uncle Ben: You’re a lot like your father. You really are, Peter, and that’s a good thing. But your father lived by a philosophy, a principle really. He believed that… that if you could do good things for other...

Thoughts while watching the movie ‘Valkyrie’ the second time, this came to mind: Soldiers who do not obey orders are useless. Soldiers who obey all orders are dangerous. - Stonepeace Related Article: The Success of Operation...

Wisdom has cleverness, but cleverness does not have wisdom. Cleverness is the realm of being intelligent and knowledgeable. Wisdom is the realm of knowing how to use intelligence and knowledge for worthy purposes. For example, Sun Wukong (Monkey King) was intelligent but not wise...

His towering stacks of books all over the room was a sign of his great knowledge. But the toppling of them onto him, almost drowning him in a sea of words was a sign of his great lack of wisdom. He had enough knowledge for application but not enough wisdom to apply them - not even for storage...

Question: Hi Teacher Shen, Amituofo. Did you watch ‘Journey to the West’ last week? I know you said that we should not learn Dharma from TV drama serials but there was a part which was rather interesting. When 唐三藏 (Master Xuanzang) left 女儿国 (Country of Women), he told...

He believes his meat-eating teacher can ‘deliver’ the beings eaten to Pure Land. If this is true, shouldn’t he eat as much meat as possible, out of compassion and wisdom? If this is true, why not eat a bite of him, out of compassion and...

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We cast our own shadow of delusion. We shed our own light of wisdom. - Stonepeace From http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201204/jung-the-man-and-his-symbols: ‘… Jung had a dream in which he was making painful headway through dense fog, with a tiny light in the cup...

Paul Kemp in ‘The Rum Diary’ says, while high on drugs, ‘”I wonder what it is you might think about our different worlds,” he (lobster in a tank) looked at me kinda sideways and said, “Human beings are the only creatures on Earth that claim a God. And the...

Something a little funny at the end but nevertheless true… How I explained why hardcopy books on shelves are still important in the age of the net and e-books: The internet is a deep and often unfathomable sea of information. Out of sight and some essential knowledge might be out of...

The best teachers must eventually teach ultimate Compassion and Wisdom. To encourage perfect Compassion, they must eventually advocate veganism, which is not just a way of consumption, but a way of life, of being helpful and harmless. To encourage perfect Wisdom, they must eventually advocate...

This sums it up perfectly, as to how, if there is a creator God (which there isn’t), he is surely not perfect in compassion and wisdom. to give free will to his imperfect creation, who also lacks perfect compassion and wisdom, who thus make a mess of so many things. And that things...

The wise are responsible for their feelings.* The kind are concerned about others’ feelings. May we be wise and kind to one another. - Stonepeace * This means that the wise hold themselves accountable for whatever feelings arise in themselves, even if they are feelings of displeasure...

He, a stone-cutter, saw a rich man gathering many luxuries, and wished to be like him. Suddenly, he became him. He saw a high official getting much respect, and wished to be like him. Suddenly, he became him. He saw the hot sun making him sweat, and wished to be like it, Suddenly, he became...

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...

Feng Zikai’s satirical comic ‘Creating oneness of thought’. The dumbing of the masses according to political preferences; the direct opposite of mass ascension to oneness of perfect wisdom in Pure...