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.
Recent
Buddhist Notes
The Man Who Was Always Laughing: The Story of Budai Monk
Behind that chubby, big-bellied, grinning Buddha at the temple entrance, there was a real person — a monk who carried a cloth bag and spent his life smiling. This is his story.
6/2/202610 min
Zen Stories
Su Dongpo and Foyin: Eight Winds Cannot Move Me, One Fart Crosses the River
Su Dongpo thought he was enlightened and wrote a poem declaring "the eight winds cannot move me." Foyin replied with two words: "Bullshit." He immediately crossed the river to confront his friend. This ancient story feels like it's about me.
6/1/20268 min
All Writings
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
Zen Stories
Su Dongpo and Foyin: Eight Winds Cannot Move Me, One Fart Crosses the River
Su Dongpo thought he was enlightened and wrote a poem declaring "the eight winds cannot move me." Foyin replied with two words: "Bullshit." He immediately crossed the river to confront his friend. This ancient story feels like it's about me.
6/1/20268 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
Zen Stories
Your Own Treasure: Dazhu Huihai and the One Who Searched Outside
A monk asked Zen Master Dazhu Huihai how to attain the Dharma. Huihai said: "Your own treasure, why not open it?" This story stayed with me for a long time. What we've been searching for might never have been out there.
5/25/20269 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
Zen Stories
What the Thief Left Behind: Ryōkan and the Moonlight at His Window
A man so poor he had nothing but moonlight, and a thief who found nothing worth stealing. The night Zen monk Ryōkan lost his last robe and saw the richest view in the world through his window.
5/22/20267 min
Zen Stories
The Flower and the Smile: A Moment When Nobody Spoke
The Buddha picked up a flower at Vulture Peak and said nothing. Mahākāśyapa smiled. A moment of silence from 2,500 years ago became the origin of Zen. What really happened? Maybe no lesson at all — just someone truly seeing a flower.
5/20/20267 min
Zen Stories
Zhaozhou's Dog: One Question, A Thousand Years of Silence
Someone asked Zhaozhou: Does a dog have Buddha-nature? Zhaozhou said: Mu. Just one word that countless people have failed to penetrate for a thousand years. Maybe it's not an answer but a wall — making you crash into it and find all your prepared responses useless.
5/15/20268 min
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
The Ten Oxherding Pictures: The Person in the Paintings Is Me
A couple of days ago I was flipping through an old book and came across a set of woodblock prints. Black and white, very simple. A person, an ox, ten pictures. I wasn't looking at the pictures anymore. I was looking at myself.
5/8/20266 min
Zen Stories
"Is That So?" — Three Words I Learned from Zen Master Hakuin
Zen Master Hakuin was falsely accused of fathering a child. He didn't defend himself. He just said "Is that so?" — and these three words changed how I see blame and misunderstanding.
5/5/20269 min
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