Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, One, Practice, Religion, root, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q262. The phrase ‘Striving to reach London while staying in London’ doesn’t make any sense to me. What does it mean?

A. The purpose of Zen meditation is to experience emptiness in person. London is a symbol of emptiness and reaching London means to experience emptiness. It means, in other words, that we are trying to experience emptiness while being emptiness itself. Reaching emptiness is realising the truth that we ourselves are emptiness, not reaching it by moving towards it.

p1170114b_thumb

 

 

In order to see whether you grasp these words clearly, ask yourself the following question.

 

Student: “How do you feel when you realise emptiness?”

Master: “I’ll be wrong if I answer your question.”

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Leave a comment