Zen Stories
Who Tied You Up
This morning, while wiping my mala beads, a phrase suddenly surfaced in my mind. "Who tied you up?" Four words. Strange to say, but they floated up fr
6/3/20266 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.
All Writings - zen-koans
Zen Stories
Hanshan Asked Shide: Tolerate Him, Yield to Him
Hanshan asked Shide: when someone slanders me, cheats me, insults me — how should I deal with it? Shide replied: tolerate him, yield to him, let him be, avoid him, endure him, respect him, pay him no mind.
5/10/202612 min
Zen Stories
Not the Wind, Not the Flag
On a windy day in Guangzhou, a flag flapped outside my window. I stood there watching it and remembered a story from thirteen hundred years ago — two monks arguing about whether it was the wind or the flag that was moving. Huineng said: it's neither. It's your mind that moves. I used to think this was idealism. Now I think it's about something simpler — what makes you suffer isn't what happens outside, but how your mind responds.
5/3/202610 min
Zen Stories
The Flower Sermon: One Flower, One Smile, and the Birth of Zen
On Vulture Peak, the Buddha held up a single flower. Thousands were bewildered. Only Mahākāśyapa smiled. Thus began the mind-to-mind transmission that would become Zen — a timeless teaching about direct awareness beyond words.
4/16/202610 min
Zen Stories
Wind Moves, Banner Moves, Mind Moves: Huineng's Moment of Awakening
Is the wind moving? Is the banner moving? Or is your mind moving? A question that has echoed through thirteen centuries, revealing our attachment to external appearances.
4/8/202615 min
Zen Stories
Bring Me Your Mind, and I Will Pacify It: The Mystery of Damo and Huike
"My mind is uneasy. Please pacify my mind for me." Damo's response made the very mind Huike was desperately seeking completely vanish.
4/8/202615 min
Zen Stories
Ordinary Mind Is the Way: Nanquan Puyuan's Everyday Zen
Someone asked Nanquan Puyuan: What is the Way? Nanquan said: Ordinary mind is the Way. The person pressed: Can I aim for it? Nanquan replied: Once you aim, you've already strayed.
4/8/202615 min