What Ru Shi Writes

Whatever comes to mind. Sometimes a story I read, sometimes something that came to me while holding my mala beads.

All Writings - zen-koans

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Zen Stories

One Word Off, Five Hundred Fox Lives: Baizhang's Wild Fox Koan

An old man attended Baizhang's lectures for centuries. He said he was once an abbot who answered a student's question with one wrong word — and fell into a fox's body for five hundred lives. Baizhang changed a single word, and the fox was free. What's the difference? I sat with it for two days: one wants exemption, the other is simply awake.

9/26/20267 min

Zen Stories

A Day Without Work, A Day Without Food: How Master Baizhang Spent His Whole Life Proving That Work Is Practice

During the Tang Dynasty, an old monk named Huaihai lived on Baizhang Mountain. Every day he worked alongside younger monks. When his disciples hid his tools, he refused to eat. This story has been passed down for over a thousand years.

4/26/20268 min