Redness: Super Short Story #733 ‘If you look carefully’, she said,‘the red lights in this districtare of places offering holy and unholy services,by small temples and brothels respectively,alternating among one...

Quote: Super Short Story #732 ‘Use a quote by others’, he said,‘if you cannot say it better.’‘Create the quotable for others’,she said,‘if you can say it...

Renovation: Super Short Story #731 He realised that renovationis all about changingthe finishing and lighting,with the first for improving quality,and the latter for changing perception of the...

Relationships: Super Short Story #730 There are only three ways that relationships change – First, they become more lively,with more relating.Second, they become more lifeless,with less relating.Third, they alternatebetween the first and second,between relating and not...

Quickness: Super Short Story #729 This is why he reads and writes quickly… He reads others’ stories quicklyto learn what they have learnt quickly,to better live his life quickly,and to write other lessons quicklyfor others to learn quickly,to better live their lives...

Competence : Super Short Story #728 Seeing the very confident yet so very incompetent,he thought,‘It is better to think I am not very competent,so as to become more competent,than to be so very incompetent,that I never know I am...

Dedication : Super Short Story #727 This story and poem is dedicated to you,who have yet to read it,yet are reading it too,because others must have read it already,to whom it was dedicated...

Memories : Super Short Story #726 Her memories got mixed up.Some movies’ fictitious storieswere remembered as personal experiences,while documentaries’ true eventswere remembered as...

Morals: Super Short Story #725 She warned,‘Beware the morally “flexible”,as their moralsmight not be firm enough in spirit.’ He warned,‘Beware the morally “inflexible”,as their moralsmight be too rigid in the...

Shit: Super Short Story #724 While toileting, he thought,‘If even shit can be so usefulfor fertilising the next meal,what can be totally useless?Even toileting is...

In the Surangama Sutra, it says that Aniruddha, the Arhat greatest with heavenly vision sees our section of the world system (i.e. Earth in the Milky Way) to be like an Amla fruit in his palm. (Well, Amla fruits are from India.)《楞严经》云，’阿那律见阎浮提如视掌中庵摩罗果’This means he sees it...

From Marcus Aurelius’ ‘Meditations’: Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present...

From ‘Everything is F*cked: A Book about Hope’ by Mark Manson: Hope doesn’t care about the problemsthat have already been solved.Hope cares only about the problemsthat still need to be solved. Comment: Pragmatic hope is what we need to drive us on, for lasting solutions for...

From ‘Everything is F*cked: A Book about Hope’ by Mark Manson: Heroism isn’t just bravery or guts or shrewd maneuvering. These things are common and are often used in unheroic ways. No, being heroic is the ability to conjure hope when there is none. To strike a match to...

Verb(al) Paradox‘Verbal’ is a verb.‘Verb’ is a...

As mad men often thinkthat black is white,so foolishness isnext of kin to madness. – Musonius Rufus(On...

If equal affection cannot be,Let the more loving one be me.– W.H....

Either you were banished justly or unjustly.If justly, how can it be right or fittingto feel aggrieved at just punishment?If unjustly, the evil involved is not ours,but falls upon those who banished us. – Musonius Rufus(Exile Is Not An Evil)[If banished justly,there should just be...

The wise and sensible…do not think that disgracelies in enduring them[i.e. malignant glances, laughs,strikes or reviles],but rather in doing them. – Musonius Rufus(Will The Philosopher Prosecute Anyone For Personal Injury?) ‘For what does the man who submits to insult do...

We do not feelthe lack of many thingsunless we wishto live luxuriously. – Musonius Rufus(Exile Is Not An...

Philosophy is nothing elsethan to search out by reasonwhat is right and properand by deedsto put it into practice. – Musonius Rufus(Is Marriage A Handicap For The Pursuit Of...

Shall we not be readyto endure hardshipfor the sake ofcomplete happiness? – Musonius Rufus(That One Should Disdain...

You will earnthe respect of all menif you beginby earningthe respect of yourself. – Musonius Rufus(Fragments:...

One man and one aloneshall we consider rich,the man who hasacquired the abilityto want for nothingalways and everywhere.– Musonius Rufus(Fragments:...

If one accomplishes some good,though with toil,the toil passes,but the good remains.If one does somethingdishonourable with pleasure,the pleasure passes,but the dishonour remains.– Musonius Rufus(Fragments:...

Do not expectto urge right doing upon menwho are conscious ofyour own wrongdoing.– Musonius Rufus(Fragments:...

It is not possibleto live well todayunless one thinks of itas his last.– Musonius Rufus(Fragments:...

In a comic by Fēng Zikǎi (丰子恺) titled ‘Clock Awaiting Repair’ (待修的钟), a grinning man points at a public clock labelled ‘Official Standard Clock’ (标准钟) to another man and two children. Its hands claim it is 2 o’clock, while the sun has almost set. This can be...

Deeply penetrate the sutra treasury (深入经藏). But remember to emerge, to practise that learnt too, and not stay buried in...

If you fall, maybe you need to rest. If you are rested, maybe you need to...