Acceptance Haiku

Mar. 20 | Only with acceptance of the way things are, can we change them.

Verse On Four Impermanences 四非常偈

Mar. 20 | 积聚皆销散， 崇高必堕落， 合会要当离， 有生无不死。 – 释迦牟尼佛 《阿含经》 [That] gathered together [will] all dissipate, [the] majestic most certainly [will] fall, [those] assembled together must later depart, [who...

Some Quantum Theories Of Pure Land Principles 净土原理之量子理论

Mar. 20 | 极圆极顿， 难议难思， 唯有大智， 方能谛信。 – 净土宗九祖藕益大师 《佛说阿弥陀经要解》 Extremely complete [and] extremely sudden [for enlightenment], difficult [to] discuss [and] difficult [to] conceive, only with...

Should You Eat Animals?

Mar. 20 | [W]e are supposed to be the refuge and protector of all infinite beings. The beings with unfortunate karma that we are supposed to be protecting are instead being killed without the slightest compassion, and their boiled flesh and blood are being presented...

How To Not Follow Customs Blindly

Mar. 20 | Question: Some are very particular that red packets (angbaos) given must be with amounts of money ending with 8 (which sounds in a Chinese dialect like ‘huat’, which means ‘prosper’), and not 4 (which sounds like ‘die’)....

‘The Great Wall’ As A Great Bridge?

Mar. 20 | Said to be 5,500 miles long, and having taken 1,700 years to build, the Great Wall of China is indeed great in length. It was built for defence, which of course ‘paradoxically’ involves offence, when deemed needed. This telling suggests that...

Will Haiku

Mar. 14 | Where is the good?…  Where is the evil?  In the will.   – Epictetus 

Difference Between The Wise & Foolish 智愚之分

Mar. 14 | 愚者自知愚， 彼即是智人。 愚人自谓智， 实称真愚夫。 释迦牟尼佛 《法句经》 A fool who knows about his foolishness, just by that he is like a wise man. And a fool, who is proud of his cleverness, he is indeed called a...

How To Have Thought Of Being Reborn In Pure Land? 如何作往生想？

Mar. 14 | 唯持名一法， 摄机最普， 下手最易， 不致或起魔事。 – 净土宗十三祖印光大师 [O]nly [the] one method [of] upholding [the] name, gathers [all spiritual] capacities most universally, [and is the] most easy to start [practising], not...

Samantabhadra & Manjusri Bodhisattvas’ Greatest Dedication Of Merits

Mar. 14 | Those who make this heartfelt aspiration for the Bodhisattva way Will be free of all lower rebirths, Free of harmful companions, And will quickly see Amitabha, Infinite Light. – Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (The King Of Prayers) In order to train just...

Can Ancestors Bless Survivors?

Mar. 14 | Question: Many pray for their ancestors to bless them. Does this work? Answer: They are not able to bless us, unless they have been reborn with greater blessings, or have become Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, and are looking after us. Also, merely asking...

Is ‘The Punisher’ Is Also The Punished?

Mar. 14 | In a scene where ‘The Punisher’ (Season 1) was spray-painting his signature white skull symbol on his black body armour meant to intimidate his enemies, Lieberman tells him… ‘That skull? That’s a “Memento Mori”....

Right Haiku

Mar. 6 | Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter…  – Marcus Aurelius (Meditations) Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying… or busy with other assignments.

Transformation

Mar. 6 | To keep transforming greed, keep giving with generosity. To keep transforming hatred, keep radiating loving-kindness. To keep transforming delusion, keep learning to realise wisdom. – Zhaojian

How We Almost Entered Darkness

Mar. 6 | What truly terrifying is not the terrifying, but the absence of mindfulness. – Wuyoukongbu Many years ago, during one of those aimless holiday night rides with a biking buddy, we zipped up and down a popular stretch of a nearby beach. We were cycling...