How Long Or Short Is Life? 生命之长短

Jul. 10 | 佛问沙门：「人命在几间？」… 对曰：「呼吸间。」 佛言：「善哉，子知道矣！」 —《四十二章经》第三十八章 The Buddha asked a Śramaṇa,‘Human life has what duration in between?’…In...

Attain The World By Knowing Its Illusoriness 达世知幻

Apr. 9 | 吾视王侯之位，如过隙尘。视金玉之宝，如瓦砾。视纨素之服，如敝帛。视大千界，如一诃子。视阿耨池水，如涂足油。视方便门，如化宝聚。视无上乘，如梦金帛。视佛道，如眼前华。视禅定，如须弥柱。视涅槃，如晝夕寤。视倒正，如六龙舞。视平等，如一真地。视与化，如四时木。 —...

Productivity Haiku

Feb. 15 | Be productive,or you might be destructiveor just stagnate.

Verse With Three Truths 三谛偈

Feb. 7 | 诸行无常，是生灭法。 生灭灭已，寂灭为乐。      释迦牟尼佛《涅槃经》   All phenomena* is impermanent,being rising and falling dharmas.*With rising and falling eradicated already,it...

Should Buddhists Take Their Time Spiritually?

Jan. 2 | 生死事大，　光阴可惜。　无常迅速，时不待人。— 寺院钟板文Birth and death is a matter big,and time available is regrettably little.With impermanence swift,time does not wait for one.— Text On Temple Sounding Board Some...

Respite Haiku

Dec. 28 | Wellness is ever shorter respitebefore ever longer sickness,before ending in (re)death.(Swiftly live life well now then.)  

A Day Better Than A Hundred Years 百岁不如一日

Aug. 23 | 若人活百岁， 不解生灭法， 不如生一日， 而得解了之。 – 释迦牟尼佛 《法句经》第 113 偈 If a person lives for one hundred years, not understanding rising and cessation of phenomena, this is not equal to living for one...

We Have No Time To Be Evil

Aug. 14 | There are those who do not realize that one day we all must die. But those who do realize this settle their quarrels. – The Buddha (Dhammapada Verse 6) Let’s get rid of anger’s evil; let’s purge the mind, tear out by the roots that...

Six Reflections On ‘Aziz Ansari: Right Now’

Jul. 15 | This is the ironic era, when more comedians are speaking heartfelt truths than some politicians, whose words make a mockery of truth and themselves, often in ways not even funny… Ansari starts his latest comedy special with a confession on his...

See Your Body’s Impermanence Closely & Quickly

Jul. 10 | With my diligence, carefully I examined the body And saw this as it really is — Both within and without. – Nanda (Thig 84) Because Nanda was so taken up with her physical beauty, the Buddha used his psychic powers to conjure up the vision of an even...

‘Striking Vipers’ In A ‘Black Mirror’

Jul. 1 | With technological advances, there is an ever-thinning fine line between reality and virtuality; real-life versus ‘fun and games’. What if the day comes, when the fantastically and sensually simulated is maximised so much, that it is preferred...

How To Not Sleepwalk Through Life

Apr. 18 | You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire. – Seneca Like Buddhists, Stoics advise us to contemplate the world’s impermanence. “All things human,” Seneca reminds us, “are short-lived...

Why End Conflicts Now?

Apr. 10 | 愚人不明了， 人生终归死。 彼等若明了， 诤论自息灭。 – 释迦牟尼佛 《法句经》第六偈 Foolish persons [do] not understand clearly, [that] human lives [in the] end return [to] death. Those others if understanding clearly, [their]...

Two Ways To Overcome Lust

Apr. 10 | Where another man prays ‘Grant that I may possess this woman,’ let your own prayer be, ‘Grant that I may not lust to possess her.’ Where he prays, ‘Grant me to be rid of such-and-such a one,’ you pray, ‘Take from me my desire to be rid of...

Why You Should Be More Giving Now (Or ‘Death Cleaning For Better Living’)

Mar. 27 | Giving what others need now will create merits, which can manifest as what we really need later. – Shilashanti In the Avadāna Sūtra《阿婆陀那经》, Velāma Bodhisattva (韦罗摩菩萨) had the following reflection – ‘People speak...