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
Buddhist Notes
Angulimala: From Murderer to Arhat — How One Sentence from the Buddha Changed a Life Forever
The story of Angulimala — a murderer who killed 999 people, yet was transformed by a single sentence from the Buddha and attained arhatship. Buddhism's most dramatic story of transformation.
4/18/202613 min
Buddhist Notes
Gravel to Gold: The Transformation of Devadatta
Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin and greatest adversary. He tried to kill the Buddha and split the sangha. Yet in the Mahayana sutras, the Buddha says: Devadatta too will become a Buddha. In a single moment, gravel can turn to gold.
4/15/20269 min