Which Of These Four Actions Do You Create?

Nov. 8 | There are four kinds of [karmic] actions proclaimed by me, after realising them for myself with direct knowledge. – Śākyamuni Buddha (Kukkuravatika Sutta) (As paraphrased and extended from the second half of the Kukkuravatika Sutta) [1] There are dark...

How Do You Tame Your Six ‘Animals’?

Oct. 25 | Like a pure mirror, experience the pleasant only clearly as they are, without any attachment. – Shilashanti In the Chappana Sutta, the Buddha gave two analogies… First, suppose a person caught six animals, whom he ties together with a rope, with...

Which Is More ‘Allowable’ For Consuming?

Oct. 17 | 第三食肉[轻]戒：若佛子，故食肉，一切肉不得食。夫食肉者，断大慈悲佛性种子，一切众生见而舍去。是故一切菩萨，不得食一切众生肉。食肉得无量罪。若故食者，犯轻垢罪。 – 释迦牟尼佛 （梵网经菩萨戒本） [The]...

Learning Haiku

Oct. 11 | Even more stupid than mere stupidity is refusal to learn.

How To Guard Your Six Senses?

Oct. 11 | To experience things as they are, as clearly as you can, do so with as little attachment, aversion and delusion as you can. – Shilashanti And how does a noble disciple guard the sense doors? When a noble disciple sees a sight with the eyes, they don’t...

How To Vanquish ‘The Darkness’?

Oct. 11 | ‘The Darkness’ is based on a ‘myth’ that Anasazi Indians bound demons to rocks hidden in underground caves. If removed, they will take the shape of a crow, snake, coyote, wolf and buffalo, before tricking and dragging children...

‘Seven’ Deadly Sins Vs Five Poisons?

Oct. 4 | ‘Se7en’ can be seen as a contemporary fable on the dangers of the Seven Deadly Sins, which according to Christian teachings, are pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. (They are contrary, respectively, to the Seven Cardinal...

An Imaginary Movie On Water Ghosts’ Origins

Sep. 27 | Those haunted by the inner demons of attachment, aversion and delusion, who do not see or vanquish them will eventually become outer demons. – Shilashanti There was a horror movie (based on a true story), about a woman swimming in a lake, when she...

The ‘Historically’ Fantastic ‘Legend Of The Demon Cat’

Aug. 15 | ‘Legend Of The Demon Cat’ (妖猫传) is what can be called ‘fantastical history’ or ‘historical fantasy’ – a highly dramatised and romanticised retelling of how events might had been, that led to the demise of Yang...

How Can A ‘Creator’ Be ‘Created’?

Aug. 13 | I’m the one who asked Brahmā  in the Hall of Justice before the assembly:  ‘Friend, do you still have the same view  that you had in the past?  Or do you see the radiance  transcending the Brahmā realm?’ [to be continued…] –...

Wisdom Haikus

Jul. 26 | The dying who are also wise waste not a single moment on greed, hated and delusion. ___ The living who are also wise waste not a single moment on greed, hated and delusion. ___ We the living now are also the dying now, but are also wise now? – Shilashanti

A Kid’s ‘Real’ Pain From An Imaginary Needle

Jul. 18 | Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. – Buddhist Saying At the clinic, I saw how a kid was dragged by his mother into the doctor’s room. When the door closed, almost immediately from the outside, some screaming could be heard. Perhaps he...

Curb Haiku

Jul. 4 | They who curb not their deluded greed and hate are already curbed by them.

How To Sleep Well Like The Buddha

Jun. 20 | To always rest well, always live well when awake, without greed, hatred and delusion. – Shilashanti According to the Hatthaka Sutta, the Buddha was staying in a forest near Alavi, on a spread of leaves. Hatthaka, while walking around for exercise,...

Is Life Just A Lamp To Be Snuffed Out?

Jun. 6 | Just look at how the circuit of the universe returns upon itself. You will see that nothing in this cosmos is extinguished, but everything falls and rises and turns. – Seneca (Epistle 36.7-12) As written in Seneca’s Epistle 54, ‘Before...