Insights
You Are Not the Fish: Standing on the Bridge Over the Hao River
Zhuangzi said the fish were happy. Huizi said you are not a fish. Standing on the bridge, I finally understood: between compassion and wisdom, there is a bridge.
6/7/20269 min
Writings
What Ru Shi Writes
Whatever comes to mind. Sometimes a story I read, sometimes something that came to me while holding my mala beads.
Recent
Buddhist Notes
Hariti: The Mother Who Ate Other People's Children
A demon named Joy who ate other people's children to feed her own. The Buddha didn't fight her - he just let her feel that pain herself. A story about how wide our love can be.
6/6/20265 min
Buddhist Notes
I Refused the Gift: When Someone Came to Insult the Buddha
When someone came to insult the Buddha, he simply refused the gift. A story about anger, response, and inner freedom.
6/5/20266 min
All Writings
Buddhist Notes
I Refused the Gift: When Someone Came to Insult the Buddha
When someone came to insult the Buddha, he simply refused the gift. A story about anger, response, and inner freedom.
6/5/20266 min
Zen Stories
Danxia Burning the Buddha: When Winter Was Cold, He Chopped the Wooden Buddha for Firewood
In the Tang Dynasty winter, Zen master Danxia chopped a wooden Buddha for firewood. The abbot shook with anger, but Danxia said he was burning it to get the relics. This is not sacrilege but a question about attachment and freedom.
5/24/20268 min
Zen Stories
The Man Who Lived in a Tree
The Tang poet Bai Juyi visited a Zen master who lived in a tree. The master said the tree was safe — it was Bai Juyi who was in danger. A truth a three-year-old can speak, but an eighty-year-old cannot live.
5/23/20269 min
Insights
The Empty Boat — On Anger and the Stories We Tell
This morning I almost got hit, and then I thought of Zhuangzi's empty boat. All my anger was built on the assumption that there was someone on the other side.
4/23/20266 min
Buddhist Notes
The Burning House Parable: A Story of Fire That Reveals the Truth of Life
The most famous parable from the Lotus Sutra—a burning mansion, children oblivious to danger, and a father who uses skillful means to save them. This 2,500-year-old story reveals the nature of our delusion in the Three Realms and the path toward liberation.
4/20/202612 min