Rusty Ring

"Dying is easy. Practice is hard." (My monastic riff on a hallowed show biz pun .) (Photo of Chàn ancestor Hanshan De...

Enlightenment is the stated goal of Buddhism, possibly the only doctrine all denominations share, though variously defined. As ...

Long ago, in the first years of my Zen practice, I encountered a teaching that's remained in my mind through the intervening year...

"If you meet the Buddha in the road, kill him." This well-worn Chàn koan, attributed to Linji Yixuan, has the sting befi...

So I've been at it again – diving into the Ancestors and the movement that produced them. And once again I've come up with ...

Huike said to Bodhidharma, "My mind is anxious. Please pacify it." Bodhidharma replied, "Bring me your mind, and...

Shítóu Xīqiān (called Sekitō Kisen in Japan) is having a moment. Fixture of contemporary Soto, his Sandōkai , a memorable exposition of...

( Update, 13 October 2025: The YouTube file I originally embedded here has gone 404, but I found this one to replace it. Though I have...

So another visit to the annals of early Buddhism has yielded a further bit of provocative trivia: subitism is very old. Possibly as old...

I ran into a Zen axe-grinder on Twitter a few months ago. The experience continues to turn in my thoughts. I didn't know this guy (I ...

According to Wikipedia's Chàn article , Zen's progenitors identified not one but two paths, or "entrances", to enli...

Chàn fascinates me. Founded in China during the 6th century CE, it's the parent tradition to the three current national schools of ...

A Buddhist bow to the lighted candles of my Jewish brothers and sisters worldwide. Chanukah 2021 - 28 November to 6 December. (5782...

Among the more dubious traditions of Western Zen is a particularly frustrating custom we might sum up as "crap on Korea". ...

"Coming empty-handed, going empty-handed—that is human. When you are born, where do you come from? When you die, where do you go? ...

Sometime around the 9th century CE, Ch'an Ancestor Yunmen said the whole of this practice could be resumed in a single sentence: ...

Pictured: not the Buddha. Ask a random Westerner to describe the Buddha, and you're likely to hear something about a "big fat...

"I do not say there is no Chàn. Just no teachers."                             Huangbo (Photo of Evasterias trosch...

This blog brought to you by the Loyal Order of Crazy White Boys. Recently a sangha sister said one of the nicest things I...