Q. Bodhidharma said, “If you use your mind to study reality, you won’t understand your mind, or reality itself. If you study reality without using your mind, you’ll understand both.” What is it to ‘study reality without using the mind’?
A. In ‘If you use your mind to study reality’ your ‘mind’ means illusions or the discriminating mind, and ‘reality’ means the true-Self or Emptiness. ‘Both’ in ‘you’ll understand both’ means illusions and the true-Self. To understand both illusions and the true-Self clearly is enlightenment. This scripture means that we can’t realise the true-Self by using illusions, or the discriminating mind. The answer to your question is to keep questioning a koan, a Zen question instead of trying to understand the true-Self through your knowledge, by reading books.
Student: “How can I study reality without using my mind?”
Master: “Your question is the very answer to your question when you don’t use your mind.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
#zen #meditation #zenmeditation #enlightened #enlightenment #zenfools #photography http://ow.ly/i/K3jtN
Zen Fools 