I’m Taking A Ride With My Best Friend

Jun. 6 | It all seems so stupid, it makes me want to give up… – Shame: First half of chorus (Depeche Mode) The classic 1987 Depeche Mode concert anthem, ‘Never Let Me Down Again‘, is about a debatable ‘best friend’, who is taking...

‘The Song Of Patience By Hánshān & Shídé’ As Sung By The Bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra & Maitreya 文殊、普贤与弥勒菩萨所唱的《寒山拾得忍耐歌》

May. 16 | The following is a beloved classic teaching on patience (忍辱), called ‘Hánshān Asks Shídé’《寒山问拾得》or ‘Hánshān’s [And] Shídé’s Patience Song’《寒山拾得忍耐歌》, with notes on its meaning. 稽首文殊，寒山之士。南无普贤，拾得定是。 [I]...

How The Buddha Saved A Suicidal Girl

May. 3 | 诸佛念念念众生… All Buddhas, from thought to thought, [who are] are mindful of all beings… – Shilashanti According to the ‘Rajjumala-vimāna’, there was a servant’s daughter in Gayā, who was scolded and physically...

Nobler Brotherhood For ‘A Better Tomorrow 2018’

Sep. 20 | ‘A Better Tomorrow 2018’ (英雄本色 2018) almost seems like exploration on what brotherhood (or sisterhood) means, in both the actual brotherly sense, and the non-sibling, sometimes gangster brotherly sense. Surely, it means loyalty, to...

Can Buddhists Convert To Other Religions?

Jul. 26 | Question: Can a Buddhist, having taken the Threefold Refuge in the Triple Gem formally, convert to another faith? What about one who also committed to the Five Precepts? Answer: Since there is no one forcing any Buddhist to remain a Buddhist, it is not...

Refuge Haiku

May. 15 | Find your refuge. Take your refuge. Be your refuge.

Refuge Haiku

Apr. 25 | Even if everything is renounced, never forsake the Dharma.

What Is There To Hold On?

May. 11 | To think you can ‘have and hold’ the worldly is to ‘have and hold’ delusion. – Stonepeace | Books Once, when the Layman was on his way to sell his bamboo baskets, he stumbled and fell while crossing over a bridge. When Ling-chao...

How To Easier Chant Guanyin Bodhisattva’s Name?

Sep. 30 | Question: I have been chanting Guanyin Bodhisattva’s name with this long format – ‘南无大慈大悲救苦救难广大灵感观世音菩萨摩诃萨‘ (Namo Daci Dabei Jiuku Jiunan Guangda Linggan Guanshiyin Pusa Mohesa: Homage to and...

Verse On Refuge In Sangha

Jul. 20 | 自归于僧， 当愿众生， 统理大众， 一切无碍。 – 文殊菩萨     (华严经: 净行品11: 第22偈) Personally taking refuge in the Sangha,* [reflect that] ‘May sentient beings harmoniously guide [the] great assembly,** all...

Verse On Refuge In Dharma

Jul. 14 |   自归于法， 当愿众生， 深入经藏， 智慧如海。 – 文殊菩萨     (华严经: 净行品11: 第21偈) Personally taking refuge in the Dharma,* [reflect that] ‘May sentient beings deeply enter [the] treasury of the sutras,** [to...

Verse On Refuge In Buddhas

Jul. 7 |   自归于佛， 当愿众生， 绍隆佛种， 发无上意。 – 文殊菩萨    (华严经: 净行品11: 第20偈) Personally taking refuge [in the] Buddha[s], [reflect that] ‘May sentient beings perpetuate magnificence [of their]...

Can Buddhists Pray To Gods?

Mar. 5 | Question: Is it alright for Buddhists to just pray as form of respect to deities (gods), but not to request anything from them? Answer: It is alright for Buddhists to express respect but there should not be a sense of utmost reverence and absolute refuge,...

This Transient World Offers No True Refuge

Jan. 13 | The foam that floats on stagnant pools, now vanishing, now forming, never stays the same for long. So, too, it is with the people and dwellings of the world. – Chomei Yes, take it for all in all, this world is a hard place to live, and both we...

Suffering Within Suffering, Decay & Process

May. 2 | Refuge only in the worldly and material, in clothing, food, lodging, wealth… eventually leads to suffering, when one is forced to part from them in death, when one has no greater refuge in the spiritual. – Stonepeace An example of Suffering...