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
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
Be Still
Sitting Still, Five Minutes
This morning, after the alarm went off, I didn't reach for my phone right away. It wasn't discipline. I was dreaming of an old temple with its door shut, wondering whether to push it open. Then I woke up.
5/1/20268 min
Buddhist Notes
The Weight of a Mustard Seed: A Mother Searched the Whole City, Only to Find That Not a Single Family Had Been Spared from Loss
Today I came across an old book with a dried bodhi leaf tucked between the pages. It reminded me of a story from 2,500 years ago—a mother who lost her child, and the Buddha who asked her to find a mustard seed from a home untouched by death.
4/22/20267 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
Insights
The Surangama Sutra and Modern Life: Reclaiming Your Stolen Attention
The Surangama Sutra teaches: When the wild mind suddenly stops, that stopping is awakening. In an age of stolen attention, 2,500-year-old wisdom offers the most precise answer.
4/14/202620 min
Insights
The Amitabha Sutra: The Pure Land Is Not About the Afterlife — It Is the Direction of Your Heart Right Now
The Amitabha Sutra is the core text of Pure Land Buddhism, describing a realm free from suffering. But the Pure Land is not a destination after death — it is where your heart settles in this moment. When you recite the Buddha's name with a focused mind, you are already there.
4/10/202620 min
Insights
The Diamond Sutra Decoded: How an Ancient Text Cures Modern Anxiety
The Diamond Sutra is the core text of Zen Buddhism. Its central teaching — "cultivate a mind that abides nowhere" — has inspired everyone from a 7th-century woodcutter to Steve Jobs. Here is what it actually means for your daily life.
4/10/202625 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
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