The Top 10 Buddhist Assurances

Aug. 8 | Potential is there, yet as if ‘not there’, if never actualised. – Zhaojian [1] We Have Great Potential: We all have Buddha-nature, which is the perfect potential to become fully liberated and enlightened Buddhas, with True Happiness. This...

Don’t Put It Off Till Tomorrow

Aug. 8 | To live each day fully, is to live each life fully. – Shilashanti  ‘Zengosaidan’ is a Zen expression meaning that we must put all our efforts into each day so that we have no regrets, and that we must not grieve for the past or worry about...

How Not To Despair At Many Beings To Save

Jul. 26 | 若作是言 ‘我当灭度无量众生’， 则不名菩萨。 – 金刚经 (释迦牟尼佛) If [to] make this statement, ‘I will deliver [to] Nirvāṇa immeasurable sentient beings’, thus [is one] not named [a] Bodhisattva. –...

Always Reflect On Your Thoughts, Words & Deeds

Jun. 27 | The Buddha: What is a mirror for? Rahula: For reflection, sir. The Buddha: … Actions are to be done with repeated reflection. – Ambalatthika-rahulovada Sutta As summarised from the second part of the Ambalatthika-rahulovada Sutta  (Discourse...

How One Who Slighted None Attained Buddhahood

May. 24 | 此诸众生 云何具有 如來智慧， 愚痴迷惑， 不知不见？ – 释迦牟尼佛 （华严经） [Of] all these sentient beings, why [are they] complete with [the] Tathāgatas’ wisdom, [yet] ignorant [and] confused, not knowing...

Is Life With Perfect Order Or Total Chaos?

Mar. 2 | Within chaos is  less apparent order. Within order is no chaos at all. – Stonepeace | Books Is every single experience in life part of some master plan, designed to lead us to some predetermined destiny? Romantic optimists and disillusioned pessimists...

Better Haiku

Feb. 21 | Just do your best now, till you can do better – later.

Verse On Cultivation

Feb. 11 | 若见园苑， 当愿众生， 勤修诸行， 趣佛菩提。 – 文殊菩萨 (华严经: 净行品: 第77偈) If seeing gardens [and] parks, [reflect that] ‘May sentient beings, diligently cultivate all practices, [for the] aspiration [of the]...

How About Being A More Buddhist Stoic?

Dec. 28 | We must make the best of those things  that are in our power, and take the rest as nature gives it. – Epictetus (Discourses, I.I) Cicero, who was sympathetic to Stoicism, once gave the analogy of a most conscientious archer. For shooting well when...

The Benefits of Previous Endeavour

Jan. 25 | Everything we do and even not do now bears consequences for better or worse later. – Stonepeace | Books The king [Milinda] asked Nagasena again, “Suppose a man were to do good deeds, should he have done it previously, or should he do it after now?”...

First Class Devils For Sale

Nov. 3 | Even the shortest path requires some diligence to complete walking it. – Stonepeace | Books One day a fellow was strolling through the marketplace when he came to a stall that said, “For Sale: First Class Devils.” Of course, the man was...

Forever Haiku

Oct. 26 | Take your time,* but not forever, or it would be never! * to do what you should

A Mother’s ‘Dark Places’ Of Delusion

Jun. 29 | In the movie ‘Dark Places’, a desperate mother pays an ‘angel of debt’ (a fancy name for ‘hired gun’) to fake her murder, so as to claim insurance money for her poor children. In her letter disclosed, she wrote –...

The Lying ‘Snake’ Vs The Sitting ‘Toad’

May. 27 | The wise heed wisdom from anyone who offers it. The foolish ignore wisdom from everyone who offers it. – Stonepeace | Books There was once a Zen [Chan] Master who practiced meditation with extreme diligence. He usually slept in a sitting position rather...

Can Buddhist Practice Cause Sickness?

May. 8 | A longer-lasting pain is not as good as a shorter-lasting pain. (长痛不如短痛) – Chinese Saying Why is it that some seem to suddenly become unwell when they embark on the path of Dharma learning and practice, while others do not? Unwellness can...