The Eyes of Daruma

The Daruma doll (達磨) is a round, Japanese doll modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen Buddhism and known to us as Tamo. Typically it depicts the Indian monk Bodhidharma in red, but the one that was given to me is garbed in white. The Daruma has a design that is rich in symbolism and can be regarded as a talisman of good luck or a …

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A Tale of Two Serpents

This is the story of White Snake and Green Snake – In the earliest myths the white snake was considered an evil demon. Over the centuries, that legend has evolved from a tale of horror to a romance about forbidden love. The early 9th century Tang-dynasty literary collection Boyi zhi (博異志; “Vast Records of the Strange”) contains …

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