July 19, 2026

What The Thief Couldn't Take

The thief left it behind: the moon at the window.

Ryokan was an eighteenth-century Zen monk who chose to live as a poor hermit in the mountains of Japan, owning almost nothing and valuing presence over possessions. One night a thief broke into his hut and made off with the few things he had; instead of grieving the loss, Ryokan wrote this short poem noting that the moon at his window was still there, untouched. The verse captures equanimity in a single image: gain and loss pass through, but something remains unshaken by either. In the Eastern wisdom tradition, this steadiness is not indifference or denial of loss, but the recognition of a ground that does not rise or fall with circumstance. Practicing equanimity means training the mind to notice that ground morning after morning, so praise, blame, gain, and loss can move through without moving the mind itself.

A principle of Eastern Wisdom: Equanimity →