Latest writings

This morning we took our daughter to the Los Angeles County Recorder Office to register her birth. This is what we saw at the entrance. Indeed, Life is made of births and deaths. Each piece of paper has a story of joy or sadness,…

One day a lay practitioner came to visit a Zen master and asked him, "Do heaven and hell exist?" "Yes" "How about the Buddha, the teaching, and the monastic community, do they exist?" "Yes" He went on to ask many similar questions, and the master always answered with "Yes". Puzzled, the lay practitioners said, "Master, I am afraid you are wrong." "Have you met an enlightened teacher?" "Yes, I met master Jingshan." "What…

People often say, "I am who I am" but most people don't know their true self. It is more accurate to say that it is you who make yourself this way, instead of saying this way is who you are. Ultimately you are not just…

What you think, what you do, and what you say are secondary - yes, they are important, but not as much as the motivation behind them. If you are not aware of that motivation, then you don't know where your thinking and behavior will lead you, and you certainly won't know what you will get. So what really motivates you today?