Buddhism Studies ⁽⁵³⁾

On a sudden impulse, I casually wrote an essay called Studying the Buddha, One Must Know the Harmful Side of Buddhism and posted it on Toutiao. I did not expect it to become a hit; the readership instantly passed ten thousand and within a few…

It is said that Li Ka-shing's desk has not a single scrap of paper; whatever must be done that day is done that day, leaving nothing to linger in the heart overnight. That a businessman so successful could be this composed is no wonder that,…

Goethe called the "insight" in discussing art: "able to enter, able to encompass, able to penetrate." To encompass is to be unbiased; to penetrate is to be unobstructed; entering yet able to exit, one may then avoid being blinded by insight. —Qian Zhongshu, Limited Views…

Owing to some special karmic conditions, I recently studied the psychic powers (shentong) of Buddhism and Daoism and came into contact with some "psychic" people and those with miraculous predictive abilities—both Buddhist and Daoist. It opened a door I had not opened before and showed…

Knowing all appearances are not appearances, yet wishing to be passionless while still feeling. — Li Shenzhi Nothing but heart-rending pain can crush the four maras; nothing but gut-breaking sorrow can extinguish the five poisons. The eight sufferings of life—birth, old age, illness, death, parting…

When the Second Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, Huike, attained the Way, there is the following famous gong'an (encounter dialogue) about pacifying the mind: Huike asked Bodhidharma: "Can I hear the seal of the Buddha's dharma?" Bodhidharma replied: "The seal of the Buddhas' dharma is not…

Chinese Buddhists often use 'the world' (shi jian) and 'leaving the world' (chu shi jian) to describe the worldly realm and the realm beyond it. 'The world' actually means society and family; so-called 'leaving the world' or leaving the mortal dust means keeping a certain…

Buddhism summarizes the sufferings of life as eight: birth, old age, illness, death, parting from what one loves, meeting what one hates, not obtaining what one seeks, and the flourishing of the five skandhas. The Six Paramitas (liu du) are six methods of Buddhist practice;…

A Buddhist believer's attitude toward this world, described in the fewest possible words, is "following conditions." When affinity arrives, go along with it; when it leaves, do not force it to stay. When affinity is insufficient, do not cling and reach for it, because clinging…

Zen Master Hakuin was the restorer of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. He practiced all his life in purity, his character luminous and open, and was deeply revered by his followers. Yet he too once suffered a great insult. Near where Hakuin lived there…