‘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]...

Water Haiku

May. 3 | Water with little poison is no longer water, but poison too.

Triple Take On The ‘Triple Frontier’

May. 3 | ‘Triple Frontier’ (Or ‘Three Frontiers’) refers to ‘Três Fronteiras’, the Spanish name for an area of the Amazon Rainforest in the Upper Amazon region of South America, named after the tripoint where borders of Brazil,...

‘The Great Wall’ As A Great Bridge?

Mar. 20 | Said to be 5,500 miles long, and having taken 1,700 years to build, the Great Wall of China is indeed great in length. It was built for defence, which of course ‘paradoxically’ involves offence, when deemed needed. This telling suggests that...

We Are Humans In A ‘Bird Box’

Jan. 8 | An inexplicable presence turns people crazy when seen, leading to suicide and murder. With no one who has seen it surviving, no one lives to tell what it really is, be it some spirit being, alien or whatnot. While curiosity of the audience deepens with...

Delusion Haiku

Dec. 4 | Greed for this is with hate of that, from delusion about both.

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...

Who Are Your Karmic Creditors?

Oct. 11 | Create not karmic creditors by harming any. Be not karmic creditors by harming any. – Nowanden Who are karmic creditors (冤亲债主)? They are those whom we owe karmic debts to, who we have harmed, from whom our negative karma is expressed by bearing...

Who Is The Beguiler & ‘The Beguiled’?

Jul. 26 | Five young women of various ages, with their teacher in a small girls school, encounter a wounded soldier, who had since deserted the army. Struggling slightly at first, to decide if he ought to be saved or reported, they decided to discreetly nurse...

Does Good Triumph Over Evil?

Aug. 30 | But he who has abandoned greed, hatred and delusion, is no longer Māra’s prisoner; he is freed from Māra’s snares, no longer subject to the Evil One’s will and pleasure. – The Buddha (Itivuttaka 68) Will good triumph over evil? Or does evil...

A Minute To The Midnight Of ‘Inferno’

Mar. 22 | In ‘Inferno’ is what many might see as a compelling speech by Zobrist, reminiscent of Agent Smith’s unnerving monologue to Morpheus in ‘The Matrix’, on how humanity is like a relentless virus. However, there are many more...

Are There Deadly Water Ghosts?

Apr. 5 | Question: We sometimes hear of the belief that drowning in water bodies is sometimes caused by ‘water ghosts’ tugging them down, who are previously drowned persons, who want someone to take their places, so that they themselves can be reborn....