A devotee of women, Tecugen, decided to publish sutras in Japan that were only available in Chinese at the time. The books had to be printed using wooden blocks, in an edition of seven thousand copies, which was a tremendous undertaking. Tecugen set out on a journey to collect donations for this purpose. A few … Read more
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived very modestly in a small hut at the foot of a hill. One evening, a thief entered the hut and discovered that there was nothing to steal. Ryokan returned and found him there. “Perhaps you have travelled a long way to visit me,” he said to the thief, “and you … Read more
What do we do when something very dear to us, some beautiful memory, breaks? Do we try to fix the broken or do we throw it away? Or maybe we keep the broken? Do we give up too quickly, look for something new immediately, or do we put in the effort and persevere until we … Read more
Erich Fromm “Love is the only satisfactory response to the problem of human existence.” Philosopher, humanist, psychoanalyst, and social psychologist, Erich Pinchas Fromm was born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt on the Main, and was one of the leading intellectuals of his time. He comes from an extremely religious family of Orthodox Jews, and … Read more
Zen Buddhism is quite an unusual teaching. Historians and philosophers today debate whether it is a religion or a philosophy because Zen denies any external rituals, does not require special clothing or diet, and does not involve philosophical debates or religious revelations. The entire Zen literature consists of anecdotes from the lives of Zen teachers … Read more
