An experience I had when I was an undergraduate is still vivid today. On one breezy autumn afternoon, I was strolling around the campus between classes. In a community centre I saw a poster advertising a series of religious talks, one of which was on Buddhism. Since the Buddhist talk was just half an hour…
Category: Buddhism
“Narrative” by Jason S Polley
. My tattoos, or, rather, my single narrative tattoo, essentially charts the Eastward migration of Buddhism from its Hindu sources in India through its multiple manifestations / incarnations / influences in Tibet, Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina, China, and, finally Japan. Not unlike Shakespeare’s Parolles, from the ironically (at least from Parolles’ point of view) titled All’s…
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with Vinton Poon
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. What for you are the characteristics that make a person extremely likable? For me, extremely likeable people are those who know who they are and are happy with who they are. These people have nothing to hide or be ashamed of, and they will not…
The Interrogative Mood: Questions with Jason S Polley
The following questions are taken from Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. If you could be instantly fluent in a language you do not now speak, what language would it be? I have two answers. Cantonese, both as a means to develop a deeper solidarity with the majority of my fellow Hong Kong residents and as a…
“Buddhism, Selflessness, and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis” by Vinton Poon
‘[W]hen a layperson sees a mountain, he sees a mountain, but when an enlightened person sees a mountain, he does not see a mountain.’ Image source: via. Buddhism, as a religion or a philosophy, has many wonderful concepts that help us perceive life in a better way. The basic notion of this belief system is that…
Department of English, Hong Kong Baptist University 