Insights and Updates

The Divine Lamp moxibustion method (Shendeng zhaofa) is a traditional external therapy of Chinese medicine. It uses a special herbal formula ground into powder, mixed with yellow wine, applied to a medicinal paper, and then ignited; the burning paper is waved over the patient’s affected…

In my decades of clinical practice I have treated many cancer patients. Based on my observation and reflection, I have formed six views on the causes of cancer. I offer them for reference; they are not orthodox medical doctrine, but they are rooted in real…

The ancient Chinese aphorism “profound virtue bears all; poetry and books sustain the family line” is a family motto that has guided the Chinese scholarly class for millennia. It means that a person must cultivate virtue as high and broad as the earth, so that…

To a thinker, knowledge is not merely a tool for livelihood; it is also spiritual nourishment that sustains the mind. For more than a decade after I left school I have kept the habit of reading, but I have also been groping for the direction…

(Part One) June 25, 2015 Longquan Monastery, in the Fenghuangling (Phoenix Ridge) scenic area of Haidian District, Beijing, is the temple where I once took refuge. After taking refuge, although I was not entirely satisfied with many things at the temple, I still liked this…

July 17, 2015 A person has two problems to solve: one is his own state of mind, the other is how to get along with others. The way to solve them changes with the times. Solving the first solves most of one’s personal happiness; solving…

July 21, 2015 Starting a few days ago, I have been making a series of subtractions in my life. First, a big subtraction in the things I have to do. This is how it works: I list the things I am doing and need to…

My grandmother believed in Buddhism all her life; at seven I began teaching her to recite the sutras, reading from pinyin. She often went to temples to worship the Buddha and brought back many hand-copied sutras; the monks told her that reciting them would bring…

(One) The three realms are not a burning house; the dusty world itself is the Pure Land. If the bodhi-mind is gained, why seek a pagoda? Only this small plot of ground can give birth to great awakening. Do not contest high and low; at…

At thirty one stands; at forty one is no longer perplexed. This is Confucius’s famous saying, and Shakyamuni likewise attained enlightenment at thirty-nine. A person generally must reach around forty to arrive at the state of no longer being perplexed; on this point, age is…