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Help-Chanting

Help-Chanting (Zhu1 Nian1) helps ourself before it helps others- when we chant singlemindedly as we can with sincerity and urgency for others, we are chanting with our remainign life as if we are the ones dying too.


Why Born of Lotuses in Pureland?

The 9 grades of birth in lotuses should be more rationally explained or it will seem like a fairy tale. There has to be some form of birth into the Purelands and as there is no parental birth, it is through lotuses which symbolise purity. And the varying periods of time in the lotuses is Pureland's way of ensuring the beings have ill karma ironed out before birth. Only thus can the beings in Pureland be of more equal standing.


Experience

What can't be explained must be experienced.
What can't be experienced must be irrelevant to our experience.

Why was Amitabha Sutra Taught?

2 reasons why the Amitabha Sutra teachings were taught by the Buddha without invitation by anyone-

a) No one knows it to ask about it.
b) It is so important and beneficial that the Buddha had to teach it in spite of a).


Why Market Amitabha Buddha's Pureland?

The Buddhas promise to universally "market" Amitabha Buddha's Pureland to the beings of their worlds not simply because he wants them to- but because it is so excellent that the Buddhas readily agree to do it. Please do not misunderstand that that Amitabha Buddha was demanding or egoistic to the other Buddhas- as a Buddha as no ego or craving.


Insight

Forget foresight and hindsight-
the first is too early and the latter too late.
Instead, discover insight in the moment.


Catch-22 @ Work

Friend's supervisor does only minimal work because he is lowly paid. But maybe if he does a better job and goes the extra mile, he will be better paid? Catch-22 situation. He is looking for a better paid job. But if his attitude does not change, he might soon realise that he is working more than he is paid, and face the same problem. Sometimes, the cycles of Samsara are not just of birth and death, but of "trivial" matters like these- which render us stuck in self-limiting, external blame-pointing situations.


Ego Competition

I don't like competitions because I don't like losing.
Perhaps I should take part compete with myself, not with others-
to let go the ego.


Someone Stole the Toilet

Read an article about a person who goes to a part of Greece which uses squat toilets. The first time he sees the absence of a toilet bowl, he assumed someone stole "the toilet"! It's funny how our perception gets accustomed to things and attaches criteria for what is "politically correct." On the other hand, the people in that part of Greece must be attached to squat toilets being proper and "politically correct." It is interesting to note that a toilet bowl is not the toilet itself. A toilet is a function for toiletting- not a particular thing. Is the bowl really necessary? What other things do you deem essential in your life, which are not?


Proof of the Pudding

The proof of the pudding is in your eating,
not someone else's eating and description of its taste.
Knowing the life of the Buddha inside out will not make you a Buddha.
To know release, be released- others' experiences is only inspiration.


Confucious's Blogs

Reading Confucius' Analects, I realised they are blog-like teachings! They ARE blogs!


Art of Enlightenment

When art becomes
mechanical,
predictable,
unspontaneous,
uncreative,
it becomes a definite science.

If so, the path to Enlightement is definitely an art!


Become Truth

You do not see Truth- you become it.


Help By Not Helping

A good Bodhisattva Mother will let a toddler fall if necessary, on the path of learning to walk- lest the child does not know the meaning of failure and continual perseverance against continual failure. Sometimes not helping someone is offering the best help possible.


Big Circle

Sometimes you need to
go round in a big circle
to realise there was no need to
go round in a big circle.
The big circle is part of the way out of the big circle.

So it is not a waste of time,
this cycle of birth and death-
for all detours are part of the path to release.
Samsara is part of the way to Nirvana-
not its antithesis always.


What Falling in Love Means

Falling in love with anyone or anything to me means
the acknowledgement of my attachment and its price,
to let it grow and ungrow in good time,
to not fret, to not regret at any time,
to be able to look back when it's time to let go,
to say it was worth it, that it made us better people-
having better learnt the meaning of true love,
to share equanimously with more people.


Looking for Trouble in Mind

Half completed "The Philosophy Gym: 24 Adventures in Philosophy" by Stephen Law. As I ws reading the book, I wondered if I was looking for trouble or release. What do I mean? Am I looking for philosophical conundrums to bug myself? Or am I looking for release for some of my delusions? Do I want an intellectual exercise or do I seek Enlightenment? We have to be mindful not to waste time with useless stuff. All the speculation in the world will not lead to experience of the Truth. Use philosophical thinking skillfully, or you might end up like Achilles in Zeno's Paradox of motion- always seemingly getting closer to the finish line but not getting there or anywhere.


Admonition for Lack of Diligence

If the next best Dharma teacher to the Buddha that you can find is around, and you are reluctant to go forth to learn, especially meditation, from him, rest be assured that if the Buddha was still around, you will be likewise. If you do not deserve to encounter the Buddha now, make the best of the Dharma teachers around now.


Doing Good Together

"If both husband and wife desire to behold to each other in both this life and the next life, and both are matched in faith, matched in virtue, matched in generosity and matched in wisdom, then they will behold each other in both this life and the next life also."

-The Buddha, Anguttara Nikaya II:59

Creating similar collective karma binds people together positively.
It's much easier to create good karma together to be together,
than to create evil karma together and hope to be together-
because a result of doing evil is not getting what you want.

-Stonepeace


Truth of Constant Change

Subhuti asked: "How should an ordinary person be taught the truth?"

The Buddha answered: "By asking the person this: 'How can that which existed in the past become non-existent now?' This inquiry will lead to the realization that there is nothing that ever existed that is a permanent entity or an eternal self. Then the questioner will see that there is both existence and nonexistence."

-Prajnaparamita

Because all entities change in every moment,
they exist and do not exist at the same time.
Being able to live with balanced persepectives of existence and nonexistence is the Middle Path.

Treasure everything because everything is fleeting,
but be attached to nothing, also because everything is fleeting.

-Stonepeace

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