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When Do Bodhisattvas Intervene To Help?
Aug. 4 | Question: Some claim great Bodhisattvas do not intervene to help those with ripening negative karma. However, we know that all Bodhisattvas vow to help all beings. How should this ‘contradiction’ be understood? Answer: Great Bodhisattvas...
A Monkey’s Satire On Human ‘Love’?
Aug. 3 | ‘A Chinese Odyssey, Part Two: Cinderella’《大话西游之大圣娶亲》is one of the (too) many (?) comedic retellings of ‘Journey To The West’《西游记》. Although often ridiculous, there seems to be some accidental...
Freedom Haiku
Jul. 26 | Freedom is fromgreed, hatred and delusion,not to be greedy, hateful and deluded.
Be Mindful Of Precepts To Be Near The Path 念戒近道
Jul. 25 | 佛子离吾数千里，忆念吾戒，必得道果。在吾左右，虽常见吾，不顺吾戒，终不得道。 — 释迦牟尼佛《四十二章经》: 第三十七章 The Buddha’s disciples departed from me for several thousand...
We Are Our Own Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
Jul. 24 | Being part of society,you shape the way it iswith the way you are.— Shilashanti ‘A self-fulfilling prophecy is an assumption or prediction that, purely as a result of having been made, cause the expected or predicted event to occurand...
Why Should I Attain Buddhahood Too?
Jul. 23 | Immeasurable Buddhas, including you,are needed to guideimmeasurable beings, including you,to Buddhahood.— Shilashanti Someone wonders, “Can Buddhas really benefit sentient beings?” Yes, they can, but they can’t help everyone...
How Does Reciting Sutras Relate To Learning About Them?
Jul. 22 | Question: How does reciting sutras (i.e. Buddhist scriptures) differ from attending classes on them? Answer: There are many nuanced implications in profound teachings that need detailed explanation, via background information, examples and such....
Should You Choose ‘Truth Or Dare’?
Jul. 21 | The two choices of the ‘Truth or Dare’ game are less conflicting than usually thought, a false dichotomy. Since when has telling the truth been kind of the opposite of doing a dare? The curse in the story aside, since when do we need...
Are You Fighting A Viral Disease Or Viral Fear?
Jul. 9 | The Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca once said, ‘We suffer more in imagination than in reality.’ What did he mean? With too much-unfounded information leading to too many ‘what-ifs’, the convoluted thoughts we unwittingly...
Why Be Ashamed Of Being Shameless?
Jul. 8 | Non-integrity is not to be ashamed of yourself;inconsideration of others is not being embarrassed with regard to others.Haughtiness is the incapacity of honoring others.Fury is a mental disturbance caused by anger.— Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland...
Why Do Buddhists Practise Fasting?
Jul. 7 | Question: What are the spiritual benefits of having only one (or two) meals a day (as in practice of the Eight Precepts)? Answer: Having one near-noon meal a day (or with breakfast) helps to regularly train in curbing thinking about, and craving...
On ‘Percy Jackson’, Knowledge & Power
Jul. 6 | In ‘Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters’, Chiron tells Percy the half-blood (i.e. an imaginary semi-human and semi-god), ‘Knowledge isn’t always power, Percy. Sometimes it’s a burden.’ It was to retort the common saying...
