Rusty Ring

Some months ago I had a refreshing conversation on Zen ethics with a fellow hermit on Mastodon. We're equally sceptical of quietis...

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

If you'd like to explore a rich source of provocative, not overly-technical Zen reads, check out Sotozen.com . Among its many offe...

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

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

After a recent very pleasant afternoon spent in the companionship of a beloved sangha-mate, I've fallen to contemplating the bl...

Zen monastery. Wait for it. (Photo of Rinsaiji courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)

If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. If you meet the patriarchs, kill the patriarchs. If you meet arhats, kill arhats. If yo...

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

"In Buddhism there is no place for using effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water...

San Francisco is the capital of Western Zen. The sangha there – the Western one; Asian residents were already practicing for over a centu...