When I was visiting Melbourne, I stayed at a hotel with my parents – in separate rooms. After my parents went to bed, and I went out for drinks with my friends, I met an Australian guy that was travelling around with a minimum amount of resources – money and clothes. He was a very nice and happy person, a free spirit. Not needing much to enjoy life. When the night ended, I asked him where he would stay tonight: he did not have a place to stay and was considering his options (which weren’t many). I invited him to stay at our hotel – which he gratefully accepted. We…

While being in university, my fellow classmates and I have less than optimal conditions for note-taking. I decided to record the classes and share it on a public platform for those who need it.

Earlier today during carpentry class, I noticed a student was struggling on a particular cut. Without thinking about it, I stopped what I was doing and helped him out!

Since I have retired from teaching Philosophy, I have devoted my time to spreading the Dharma. I wrote a book on the Bodhisattva way of life and published it at my own expense as a gift to all sentient beings. The book is entitled, Ocean of Compassion: A Guide to the Life of Universal Loving. I have also started, at my own expense, a radio program called The Life of Universal Loving. It is at www.blogtalkradio.com/the-life-of-universal-loving. On this program, I give teachings on the Bodhisattva way of life and feature artists whose work and lives communicate spiritual messages. I also blog on the Bodhisattva way of life on the Huffington…

I like to forget my good actions immediately after I’ve performed some. One summer night, 6:00 p.m. or so, I was returning from the gym. At that time, I lived together with my parents and had no job at all. Professional future was nothing but a wander. It´s very usual up here for many people to taste some smelling hot coffee with a sandwich at night, instead of dining.So, I was coming back home from an exercises routine and, halfway, under a roof with a huge hole in, inside an abandoned house´s dirty and stinky garage, there stood that old couple, forgotten by mankind, dressed in rags. I’ve seen animals…

I used to live in Rotterdam. Frequently I took a stroll in the busy shopping streets in the Rotterdam Centrum. There often I pass by a homeless person. Frequently I (try to) to talk to him, in the hope of understanding his situation. Unfortunately his story was often incoherent, despite my best efforts.This one time, it was very late and dark. And definitely pass dinner time. I saw this homeless person again and I thought by myself “How should I help him?”. I don’t want to give him money. You never know how he will spend the money (drugs?).So I asked him if he was hungry, which he replied yes.…

Just after moving to a new home my wife and I notice that the neighbors had a very noisy labrador retriever that used to bark and mourn constantly. After sone days we visited them realized that the dog was recovering from broken his leg months ago and his owners were afraid of walking him since then (he used to scape from the dog-collar, eventually he was hit by a bus), that is why he was so noisy and anxious. So we volunteer to walk him. We have been doing that for the last weeks and got very happy with our new friend.

I wanted to get the CD so I decided to do some acts of kindness until I had a story to share. First I gave money to three homeless people with eye contact and a heartfelt blessing. That seemed pretty easy. Someone saw the response of one of the recipients and told me that I made her happy. Maybe I helped to inspire that passerby to be generous, too. Then I gave leftover food I was planning for the next day’s lunch to another homeless person. He seemed very hungry.The Rev. Heng Sure told a group that there are three types of giving: material (money, food, etc); courage and dharma.My…

Once, there was a huge black spider with long feet on the wall of my room, but, instead of feeling disgusted and smashing it with a broom, I quickly played a buddhist song in my laptop, hoping that the mantra would make the spider more compassion and it would eventually stop frightening me. When I paid no more attention to the spider for a few minutes, I looked back at the wall and the spider was nowhere to be found. I am so glad that I did not take its life.