SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

Diamond Sutra

  • A Painting [Tang Poems]

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    Ana

    From afar, the mountains show their hue;Up close, the stream no sound does brew.Spring departs, yet flowers still stay;Men approach, but birds won’t stray.

  • Encounter in Fengdu

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    Ana

    There was a cave outside the county town of Fengdu in Sichuan Province. It was unfathomable. It was said that this was the entrance to Hades of the King of Hell.

  • Monk Baozhi’s Statue in The Mural

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    Ana

    In Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio: The Painted Wall (The Mural), the statue of Baozhi Monk (Zhi Gong) — a revered monk of the Liang Dynasty–is not a random religious motif but a deliberate spiritual beacon crafted by Pu Songling.

  • The Unbowed Dharma

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    Ana

    Fu Dashi (497–569 CE), dharma name Shanhui, was a devoted Buddhist practitioner who, throughout his life, never became a monk but cultivated the path as a lay follower (upāsaka). At the age of twenty-four, he received guidance from Master Bodhidharma, which inspired him to vow deep commitment to spiritual practice. He later achieved great…

  • The Clay Buddha and the Missed Dharma

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    Ana

    Master Huineng (638–713 CE), also known as the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, is one of the most influential figures in Chinese Buddhist history. Born into a poor family and uneducated, he attained enlightenment upon hearing a recitation of the Diamond Sutra, and later became a disciple of the Fifth Patriarch, Master Hongren.

  • It is the mind that is moving

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    Ana

    The venerable Master Yinzong was a significant figure in Buddhist history. Renowned during the Tang Dynasty for expounding sutras, he specialized in teaching the Nirvana Sutra and served as abbot of Guangzhou’s Faxing Temple (present-day Guangxiao Temple). After leaving Huangmei, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng once visited Faxing Temple to attend Yinzong’s lectures on the…

  • Find your own umbrella

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    Ana

    A seeker sheltering from rain under an eave saw a Zen master passing with an umbrella and called out:“Master! Ferry all beings to deliverance — take me with you!”