Thought Essays ⁽¹³⁷⁾

Over four or five days, in bits and pieces, I finished watching the twelve-episode documentary The Journey of Xuanzang. I was quite moved after watching it, and conceived the idea of writing a book titled The Lives of the Wise, in which I would set…

He who would subdue demons must first subdue his own mind; once the mind is subdued, all demons withdraw and listen. He who would master the untoward must first master this qi; once the qi is balanced, external violence cannot invade. —Cai Gen Tan (Vegetable…

There is an old Chinese saying: let anything rest for three years, and it will no longer be an issue. In a lifetime we encounter many unpleasant things; after letting them rest for three years, we will feel that the pain and clinging of the…

To reduce by one part in life is to transcend by one part: reduce associations and you avoid troubles; reduce words and you lessen blame; reduce anxieties and your spirit is not drained; reduce cleverness and your original simplicity can be preserved. Those who seek…

A person values having self-knowledge. This self-knowledge is precisely knowing one's own clumsiness. Knowing that one is a flawed mortal, and knowing to guard one's clumsiness with humility, one will not so easily become muddle-headed, losing oneself and growing arrogant merely on hearing a few…

Today, walking beneath the Buddha pagoda at Cishou Temple, I suddenly, for no clear reason, felt as though I were seeing my own past life. If there is a past life, I must have been a monk who strictly kept the precepts and whose every…

Dear relatives and friends: Lately, Zhiyuan has suddenly felt a surging enthusiasm and an unbridled flow of literary inspiration, and can no longer contain himself. He therefore wishes to enter seclusion for a period of writing and medical study. Apart from receiving patients who seek…

My son is in fifth grade this year. The combined burden of schoolwork at school and at after-school tutoring classes is so heavy that I feel tired just for him. Yet his mother seems to think it is not enough; every kind of tutoring outfit…

A person who can only appreciate himself and cannot appreciate others has a deeply lonely soul. There should be a stage of life as splendid as summer flowers, and another as serene and lovely as autumn leaves. When our life is at sunrise, we radiate…

Medicine is a special calling. The doctor must not only fight disease, but also deal with patients and their families; on top of that, he must keep his own inner balance amid complex work and life, so that he can serve patients while also safeguarding…