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

new-chinese-style

Westerners Burn Sage on TikTok. I Lit a Stick of Incense.

A bundle of white sage sells for twelve dollars online, promising to cleanse negative energy. Watching that smoke, I thought of the bronze burner on my grandfather's desk. Chinese people have burned incense for thousands of years — but never to chase anything away. The Song Dynasty counted it among its four leisurely arts, agarwood is a tree's scar, and an incense seal makes time visible. They cleanse; we settle. That difference is what this piece is about.

9/6/20268 min

Insights

She Drew the Same Tarot Card Three Times. I Thought of Three Old Coins.

A friend asked the cards whether to quit her job — same card, three times. It reminded me of the other answer machine I grew up with: three copper coins and a three-thousand-year-old book. Jung called it synchronicity. The coins don't tell the future; they hand you a small piece of quiet.

9/5/20266 min

mythology

The Only Zodiac Animal Nobody Has Ever Seen

My coworker Kate asked me where she could see a dragon. I almost said "the zoo." Then I remembered: there is no dragon anywhere in the world. An animal nobody has ever seen — how did it hold a seat in the zodiac for three thousand years?

9/4/20267 min

All Writings

All new-chinese-style Insights mythology zodiac Zen Stories wellness feng-shui xianxia Tea Time Buddhist Notes Be Still What I See Daily Life Objects

wellness

The Daoist Told Me He Hadn't Eaten Lunch in Seven Years

On a lost path behind Mount Qingcheng, I met a Daoist who had not eaten lunch in seven years. Bigu is not dieting, nor fasting — it is another kind of relationship between a person and food.

7/19/20269 min

wellness

The Breathing Technique a Daoist Monk Taught Me Cured My Three Years of Insomnia

Three years of insomnia. Melatonin, white noise, counting sheep — nothing worked. Then I met a Daoist monk on Mount Qingcheng who taught me three breathing techniques. A month later, I was asleep in fifteen minutes.

7/15/20269 min

Insights

Laozi's Wu Wei Is Not About Lying Flat

Many people translate wu wei as doing nothing. I used to think so too. Then I actually read the Dao De Jing and discovered wu wei isn't about giving up - it's about doing what you need to do without twisting yourself up inside.

7/14/20267 min

xianxia

A Daoist Priest Drew Me a Talisman. It Took Him a Long Time.

At a small temple on Mount Qingcheng, I watched a Daoist priest spend fifteen minutes drawing a talisman. He said: it is not the talisman that works. Once you believe, you work.

7/3/20267 min

Zen Stories

Grinding a Brick into a Mirror: When Someone Told Mazu Daoyi That Sitting Won't Make You a Buddha

A young monk sat in meditation every day. An old monk sat next to him, grinding a brick. If grinding can't make a mirror, can sitting make a Buddha? This Tang Dynasty story made me wonder—am I grinding bricks too?

5/26/202610 min

What I See

Tea Ceremony: Heaven and Earth in a Cup

A cup of tea contains heaven and earth. From the tea leaf to the boiling water, from the teapot to the teacup, everything is Dao.

4/7/20268 min

Insights

Four Precepts for Clarity: Wisdom from Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism

Four precepts guide the cultivation of clarity: non-attachment, non-craving, non-dwelling, non-striving. These are the shared wisdom of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism.

4/7/20265 min