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Stonepeace Old Archives Page 2 of 27

Being Happy & Useful



Let us be all well and happy and help many people;
instead of being unhappy, not useful to ourselves or anyone else.


No Point Writing About Happiness



There is no much point writing about happiness if it stays.
There is no much point writing about happiness that does not stay.
The problem we have is sadness...

So I write about it-
about seeing sadness (First Noble Truth),
about seeing what causes it. (Second Noble Truth),
about knowing lasting happiness (Third Noble Truth),
about walking the way to lasting happiness. (Fourth Noble Truth),


Dharma Movie Review: City of God



In the ironically named godless city of God, we see trigger happy young men and boys who mess up their interconnectedness in blood brotherhood, friendship and enmity. Even the righteous Knockout Ned got his lights put out when he was shot by a boy whose father he had to shoot in self-defence. His father was just doing his job as a security guard and Ned his "job" as a reluctant gangster. Ned was trying to save the kid, who didn't see the senselessnes of revenge and shot Ned ungratefully in the back. Makes so much sense when the Buddha said hatred does not cease hatred, that only love does. It only takes one party to forgive or seek forgiveness to resolve hatred. We see L'il Ze messing up his friendship with best friend and partner in crime Benny by stepping overboard with no holds barred hatred and jealousy against an imaginary enemy who respects him as long as he respected him. For loyalty anfd honour amongst thieves to exist, even in among the lawless, there just has to be some rules- or all hell breaks loose. And this hell will karmically spill over to the unleashers of the hell- in this case, L'il Ze himself, as he dies shot multiple times by the street urchins called the Runts. Not capping your overflow of hatred makes no one have any reason to not hate you too.


Lousy Poses

Most of the time, we have lousy poses in whatever we do. But we choose the nice ones and snap them, to "immortalise" the moments we want, thinking the rest is not really us- when all we are in each moment is equally true and untrue- they are us but not really us- because we change from moment to moment.


Come and Go

U: My Gramps just passed away.
Z: My Sis just gave birth. How we come and go, come and go.


Lapses of Time

I see the counter lady at the foodstall staring into empty air with an empty look. I see another lady in front of the stall doing the same- staring into another space. The first is waiting for the kitchen to get the latter's food ready. The latter is waiting for the first to pass her the food.

There are lapses in life with "nothing" to do. When one really does nothing but stay awake, it is a form of meditation already- silencing. But when the mind is filled with waiting, with random thoughts, it is the opposite.


You Might Be a Formite

SARS can be transmitted by formites. Formites refer to anything that carries the virus. The formite itself need not be infected by the virus- it merely carries it. This is interesting, though scary. It means you might be a formite without knowing- an invisible Mara enemy to the world. Thus is mindfulness important in upkeeping one's personal hygiene. SARS made everyone a formite suspect- yet we have no choice but to trust each other not to be an invisible Mara without beings one for others.


Scriptural Authenticity

You may be able to verify the authenticity of the sutras, whether they are spoken by the Buddha or not. But you have to authenticate the Truth in the Buddha's words by yourself. In this sense, it all boils down to you to develop wisdom to discern what is true, to continually increase your wisdom to realise the total Truth. In this sense, there is no need to argue on scriptural authority- since the ultimate authority is you. Improve this authority ultimately instead. The Buddha's onus was in sharing His Enlightenment. Discovering the Truth in it is your onus. Discovering its reality is your bonus.


Is Life Fair?

zL: He complained about life being unfair. I said life is fair.
Z: Tell him he can either think life is unfair and suffer or think it is fair and make the best hay he can while the sun shine. He doesn't even have to believe in the law of karma.


No Commercials

I hear this commercial on the radio (98.7FM)-
"30 minutes of pure music without commercials. All hits all day!"
Selling the selling point sometimes unsells it.
When one oversells anything, including the Dharma, it overkills.


Ultimate Creativity

The Enlightened are the ultimately creative.
Those who deconstruct and look in the details are the ones who truly KNOW.


I Am God?

"Be still and know that 'I' am God."

-God in Psalm 46

If we wanna be religiously ecumenical (embrace other religions with our thinking), then this is interesting- as when one is truly still, there is no sense of any internal or external "I", which is when "I" can then be known as "God" in the sense of the all powerful, the highest truth- of non-self (Anatta).

Dun take this seriously. But this the above intepretation of a selective scriptural verse is an example of how ecumenical cults fool around with scriptural texts from different religions (including Buddhism) to combine all religions, coming up with the supposedly "most superior" religion.

"Be still and know you are your God-
your own creator, creator of your own world, yours almighty."

-stonepeace


Stonepeace

Stone... solid, immovable, unchanging
Peace... of mind to behold

Monday, July 21, 2003
Photography

Photography is an instant action.
Drawing is meditation.

-Henri Cartier-Bresson

The process of drawing is more important than the drawn,
for if the result of a drawing is a life-like portrait of the real thing,
one might as well snap a photograph of it.

-Stonepeace


Faith

Q: How to have unwavering faith or confidence in the Triple Gem?
A: By tasting the truth of the Dharma properly- by realisation of its essence, at least in part, of the 3 Universal Characteristics. This can be done systematically in meditation. The confidence gained is permanently unshakeable- it breaks the fetter of doubt in the Dharma, which is the core of the Triple Gem.


Get Real Feedback about You

Getting feedback is not accurate unless you get it from the wise and constructively critical who knows the values to use to judge. Thus are spiritual friends important.


"I"

I am never free.


Avoid Evil

Z: So, still not going to the gathering with the presence of the obnoxious? Maybe you can transform her?
A: I'm not ready yet- my mind will be more disturbed than skillful enough.
Z: Good reply- "Avoid Evil, Do Good..."- Avoiding evil comes before doing good haha.


Was the Buddha a Buddhist?

Q: He said the Buddha is not Buddhist!
W: It's ok- she used "Budddhist" with quotation marks. But come on haha... the Buddha called himself a Buddha. So the Buddha must be a Buddha-ist at least!


The Value of Labels

Without labels, there will be no words on no guideposts leading us to nowhere. In the long (long long long) run, all roads lead to Buddhahood- but using Buddhist labels for Buddhism skillfully can shine a clear path forth among the countless crossroads. Without labels and sutras, Buddhism could not have survived till today- it would be a lost teaching. What's worse than being lost is not knowing what is the name (label) of that which is lost.

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