Author - sisyphus

Question [1]: Is it so that on Purification Days (斋日) and in Purification Months (斋月), there are good gods (善神) more watchful over our conduct? Answer: The Six Purification Days (六斋日) are every lunar...

(A Summary Of The Ullambana Sūtra) 常以孝慈，忆所生父母， 为作盂兰盆，施佛及僧， 以报父母，长养慈爱之恩。 – 释迦牟尼佛 《盂兰盆经》 Constantly with filial loving-kindness, recollect Fathers and Mothers born of, for them conduct Ullambana...

若见树华， 当愿众生， 众相如华， 具三十二。 – 文殊菩萨 (华严经: 净行品: 第66偈) If seeing a tree flower, [reflect that] ‘May sentient beings’ many forms be likewise flower, complete with thirty-two [forms].’* – Manjusri...

若见华开， 当愿众生， 神通等法， 如华开敷。 – 文殊菩萨 (华严经: 净行品: 第65偈) If seeing a flower blossom, [reflect that] ‘May sentient beings’ supernormal powers and other dharmas,* like flowers blossom fully.’ – Manjusri...

若生西方， 庶可与佛光寿同一， 无量无边矣。 – 净土宗十三祖印光大师 Be born in the Western Pure Land, so that you can attain the same light and life of Āmítuófó, that is immeasurable and boundless. – The Pure Land Tradition’s 13th...

‘Money Monster’ is an unnerving yet realistically portrayed look at the interconnections between corporations and their investors. An ‘inexplicable isolated’ computer glitch...

Titled after a 1930 jazz song by Duke Ellington and company, ‘Mood Indigo’ was originally titled ‘Dreamy Blues’. As many jazz pieces are, it is bittersweet, though arguably...

He is not ‘one versed in the Dharma’ just because he talks much. He who hears only a little but comprehends the Dharma, and is not unmindful is, indeed, ‘one versed in the...

‘The Scorch Trials’ is part two of ‘The Maze Runner’ series. The Gladers (heroes) have escaped from a giant maze, which was an experiment to discover the strong. Turns out...

轮回路险， 无常迅速。 老实念佛， 莫换题目。 – 净土宗十三祖印光大师 The path of rebirth is dangerous, and impermanence comes swift. Earnestly recite ‘Amituofo’, and do not change the subject. – The Pure Land...

‘Poltergeist’ (2015) is a remake of the horror film (1982) with the same title. It is a ‘reborn’ film with similar premises and the same problem. What or rather who is a...

Question: If there are no evil intentions (based on greed, hatred or delusion) involved, there will be no negative karma created. However, do those who conduct themselves carelessly or thoughtlessly...

‘Paper towns’ are fictitious or virtual towns inserted into maps by mapmakers, in case they wish to prove other mapmakers to be simply copying theirs. In other words, they exist only on...

‘Kill The Messenger’ tells a true story that had to be told as a cautionary tale – that of dedicated investigative journalist Gary Webb (1955–2004). In the course of his work, he...

What does not matters in the long (or short) run of your life, should matter what now?

A doppelganger is an apparition or double form of a living person… Most doppelganger movies feature a ‘mirror’ version of the protagonist, who is somewhat like an ‘evil...

Question: Someone claimed that the Buddha only forbade monastics to be fortune-tellers as he wishes to prevent them from abusing the power of predictions. Is this so? Answer: More often than not...

In the guise of a typical action thriller, ‘Skin Trade’ offers a glimpse of the notorious forced sex trade. As a title card at that end of the movie in black and white grimly says...

The ‘Dumb And Dumber (To)’ comedies are only as hilarious as we can relate, ridiculous as they can be. For are we not sometimes also like the two key characters, with too much blind faith...

Question: It is said that we should have ‘healthy aversion’ towards life in Samsara. What does this mean? Answer: This means to see the spiritually limiting conditions of life in Samsara...

Who am ‘I’? Is it this form, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, something or someone else? ‘I’ cannot be this form for sure, for just as ‘I’ had...

click to enlarge poster Register: Feedback From Previous Rounds: Like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation of your effort in conducting the sessions. Steven and myself thoroughly...