January 2011
13 posts
Heaven and hell
Hakuin, the fiery and intensely dynamic Zen master, was once visited by a samurai warrior.
“I want to know about heaven and hell,” said the samurai. “Do they really exist?” he asked Hakuin. Hakuin looked at the soldier and asked, “Who are you?”
“I am a samurai,” announced the proud warrior.
“Ha!” exclaimed Hakuin. “What makes you think you can understand such insightful things? You are merely...
Conquering suffering
by Jim Paredes on Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 8:42pm
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) Updated January 30, 2011 1
I am sure I have tackled this topic before. But one thing about great topics is that you can never define or completely map out their entire universe. Sometimes, you feel that you may have entered it through a ...
These I know to be true
Reprinting something I wrote on November 26, 2006These I know to be true Humming in My Universe Philippine Star Nov. 26, 2006
(If you’re getting a deja vu experience right now as you read this, I admit I wrote a very similar entry on this blog about a year and a half ago. Having learned new stuff, I updated it a bit. I probably will be doing this from time to time since knowledge is after all,...
Getting over ourselves
Posted on January 23, 2011 by jimparedes [e]
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) Updated January 23, 2011 12:00 AM
While listening to Karen Carp-enter’s languid voice singing her hits on CD, I was struck for the umpteenth time by a line from the song Superstar that goes, “Loneliness is such a sad...
“Buddhas don’t save buddhas. If you use your mind to look for a buddha, you...”
– - Bodhidharma (d. 533)
Francis Ford Coppola: On Risk, Money, Craft &... →
bangzkie88 asked: Greetings, Sir Jim. This isn't really a question and I don't think this is reasonable either.
I would just like to express my joy of finding your blog here on Tumblr and finding out that you post your articles from PhilStar here. I don't get to read your articles anymore due to the fact that I have graduated college and is working full-time, ending my lounging days at the...
I would just like to express my joy of finding your blog here on Tumblr and finding out that you post your articles from PhilStar here. I don't get to read your articles anymore due to the fact that I have graduated college and is working full-time, ending my lounging days at the...
Today I am a Queenslander
Posted on January 15, 2011 by jimparedes [e]
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) Updated January 16, 2011 12:00 AM
SYDNEY, Australia — It is a strange feeling watching the non-stop television coverage of the massive floods in Queensland. It is not because I am not a news junkie, or I am not turned off by tragedy. I am both....
Our digital lives
Posted on January 08, 2011 by jimparedes
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) Updated January 09, 2011 12:00 AM
Practically everyone I know now lives at least two lives. I am not talking about schizophrenics or those who have secret lives families, lovers, children, etc. that they hide from their friends and loved ones. I am...
Which wolf do we feed in 2011?
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) Updated January 02, 2011
Much of so-called modern life, especially since the end of World War II, has been a battle between the optimists and the pessimists. Optimists like to point out that science, and all the new knowledge accumulated through the decades that have shaped the new thinking in...