I have been very fortunate in the teachers I met early in life. As a student, I was lucky to encounter extraordinary literature teachers in middle school. They were wise, caring, and deeply devoted to their students. Later, in college, I met a professor who taught Shakespeare, and I remain grateful for his selfless dedication to teaching and to his students. Perhaps it is a strange thing, but the literature teachers I met along the way filled me with admiration and gratitude,

Recently, I came across a reflection that stayed with me. It goes like this: "It does not take great wisdom to see what is wrong. To point out other people’s mistakes, faults, and shortcomings is easy — with almost no effort, we can always find something lacking in others. To focus on their defects, or on how much room they still have for improvement, comes from a rather low level of energy. What does require greater wisdom? To see another person’s strengths. To notice in the

The Diamond Sutra I’ve been studying Buddhism lately, and this text is one of the foundational scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism, a major Buddhist tradition centered on compassion, wisdom, and the bodhisattva path—not only seeking personal liberation, but aspiring to help others awaken as well. Over time, Mahayana gave rise to many different schools, including Chan/Zen, and deeply influenced Buddhist thought across Asia. My first encounter with Buddhism was through the painting