Whatever comes to mind. Sometimes a story I read, sometimes something that came to me while holding my mala beads.
Over two thousand years ago, a monk and a king sat down to discuss a question that still has not gone out of style: Who are you? After reading this conversation, I picked up my cold tea and suddenly the cup felt strange in my hand.
In the Avatamsaka Sutra, a young man walks a very long road to meet fifty-three teachers. Not a list of great masters - but a boatman, a doctor, a merchant, a king. Each one taught him a new way of seeing the world.
Through the story of a traveler and a bamboo raft, the Buddha revealed the ultimate wisdom of practice—the Dharma is like a raft: after crossing the river, you need not carry it.
The Buddha scoops up a grain of sand from the Ganges and asks his disciples: How many grains are there? Uncountable, they reply. The karma of sentient beings, he says, is even more vast. Every grain is a cause; every drop of water is an effect.
A man struck by a poisoned arrow refuses treatment until he knows who shot it and what it's made of. The Buddha used this story to teach: solve the suffering at hand first.
The Four Noble Truths are the Buddha's first teaching after enlightenment, containing the truths of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path. This article explains these foundational teachings and their relevance to modern life.