Rusty Ring

My very best wishes to all Rusty Ring readers, regular and irregular, on this Christmas Day. May it be filled with warmth and l...

Matsuo Bashō (芭蕉) was a wandering Zen hermit of the Edo period, as well as an accomplished poet. Popularly considered the father of mo...

"Strictly speaking, every unenlightened practitioner is mixing their own convictions and belief systems with Buddhism. There is...

The theory is really simple. The only problem is that theory alone will not help us to be content with our practice. Although...

The warbler wipes its muddy feet on plum blossoms – Issa ( Plum Garden, Kamata, by Utagawa Hiroshige, courtesy of Rawpixel.c...

"An infinite number of monks, with an infinite number of zafus, and an infinite amount of time, would eventually get around to...

It's been a long time since I had a dramatic sit – the thing Zenners call kensho. This is mostly down to lifestyle constraints that...

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

I never get used to the fact that there's exactly one religion on this planet. Or humanity's eternal frantic protest that there...

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

( Pieris japonica, known here as popcorn bush, is a popular landscaping shrub on the North Pacific Coast. Native to the same latit...

Though this seems at first glance avant-garde sculpture, in real life it's the famous one-legged torii of Nagasaki. You can fil...

On this Christmas of 2023, all of us here at Rusty Ring wish our readers the best and kindest of seasons. Right in darkness there i...

As non-Vajrayana Western converts to Buddhism will tell you, we have a slightly awkward relationship with Tibet. Not that we have an...

(This is the fruit of the Japanese cherry tree [Prunus spp.; Cerasus spp.] , whose blossoms bring world-famous glowing colour to the no...

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

This may be the most Zen thing I've ever seen in a Japanese garden. (And I've seen a lot; been fanboy of that Zen-soaked traditio...

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 ...

"Most questions are the answer." Genjo Marinello Osho Choboji (Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com and a generous photogr...

In one year and out the other. (Photo courtesy of Beau Swierstra and Unsplash.com.)