The Secret Life Of ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’?

Nov. 1 | This imaginative telling of Lincoln’s life as a part-time vampire hunter is an elaborate allegory perhaps, of how capitalistic slave-owners were like exploitative and unrelenting ‘bloodsuckers’, who would not stop till they took over...

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...

Repair & Repurpose Before Rebuying

Aug. 15 | Learn to do more with less before wanting more and more. – Shilashanti  One of the principles of a Buddhist lifestyle is to take care of things and repair them. The unsui monks of Eihei Temple designate days that contain the numbers ‘4’...

‘The Week Of’ Expectation Vs Encouragement?

May. 15 | When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. – Viktor Frankl (Man’s Search For Meaning) In the movie ‘The Week Of’, Isaac the boy had to sit on a bench when his baseball coach ushered the...

What Do You Allow To Pull Your Strings?

Aug. 2 | Recognising our fetters is the first step towards being as free as we want to be. – Stonepeace | Books Fa Yan, one of the masters of the Lingji sect of the Zen school of the Song dynasty told his pupils a story that went: ‘As a monk, I entered...

Can I Keep A Bird Who Flew In My Window?

Oct. 7 | Question: Animals should not be held captive unwillingly, but a small coloured bird flew into our apartment. An expert said he might be attacked by crows if he was someone’s pet. Perhaps the owner will put up a ‘lost’ notice, but in...

How Attachment To Freedom Prevents Freedom

Dec. 22 | Total freedom is to be totally free from the sense of anyone being free from anything. – Stonepeace | Books Once a student who was upset told me that he wanted to leave his family. I asked him where he would live. He said he wanted to leave his...

Please Pacify And Liberate My Fettered Mind!

Nov. 10 | 过去心不可得，The past mind cannot be attained, 现在心不可得，The present mind cannot be attained, 未来心不可得。The future mind cannot be attained. – 金刚经 (释迦牟尼佛) Diamond Sutra (Sakyamuni Buddha) Here are three...

Are You Still ‘Tied’ Down?

Jul. 19 | A flappy tie is one of the most dangerous items of clothing, being susceptible to being caught in all manners of moving objects. – Anonone ‘The tie is a useless rag that constrains your neck… I’m an enemy of consumerism. Because of...

What Are You Fighting For? (Review Of ‘Ah Boys To Men’)

Jan. 28 | At the end of the movie ‘Ah Boys To Men (Part 1)’, there was this reflection by Recruit Ken thought aloud for the audience to hear – ‘People always say that there is no war in Singapore. But after this incident, I’ve realised…...

The Free Mind

Dec. 14 | Like the center of a cloudless sky, This self-luminous mind is impossible to express. It is wisdom of non-thought beyond analogy, Naked ordinary mind. – The 2nd Jamgon Kongtrul

Readjust ‘The Adjustment Bureau’

Aug. 24 | What if, one day, you discover, to your horror, that all the deliberations and accidents in your life are predetermined, with even your choices somehow puppeted by a mysterious and secretive bunch of men? Or rather, to ask the question more realistically,...

Are All Religions Rivers Leading To One Ocean?

Oct. 25 | While there might be more than a path up a mountain, not all paths lead upwards, and not all paths lead to the summit. – Stonepeace A fellow Buddhist remarked that different religions are like rivers leading to the same sea of one taste –...