Author: Zen Fools

One day during the work period, Rinzai was last in the row. Obaku looked back and saw that Rinzai was empty-handed. “Where is your hoe?” Obaku asked. “Someone has gone off with it,” replied Rinzai.  Obaku said, “Come here and we’ll talk about it.” When Rinzai came near, Obaku lifted his hoe high and said, “Nobody in the world can take this away from me.” Rinzai then grabbed the hoe, held it high and said, “How come it is now in my hand?” Obaku said, “Today there is one who works with all his might,” and returned to the monastery.

Commentary:

When Obaku, seeing Rinzai empty-handed, asked where his hoe was, he asked him not about his hoe but about the true-Self. Sensing Obaku’s intention, Rinzai revealed the true-Self by saying, ‘Someone has gone off with it’. Obaku refuted Rinzai’s words by saying, ‘Nobody in the world can take this away from me’. Obaku was testing Rinzai to see if he was deluded by words and forms. Rinzai responded by grabbing the hoe, holding it high and saying, ‘How come it is now in my hand?’ By this he meant, “I know you mean the true-Self. This is the true-Self in which giving is not different from taking since there is no giving and no taking.” Then, Obaku approved him by saying, ‘Today there is one who works with all his might’. One who works all with his might implies an enlightened one who is aware that he is one with everything. 

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. Why does a day that seems to drag to you appear to go by quickly to others? A day you share with your sweetheart in a beautiful place would feel much shorter than a day that you spend doing backbreaking work which you hate to do. When we have time, but have nothing specific to do, we say that we kill time.

Although we may want to save the time that we have to kill, in the same way we deposit our money in the bank in order to use it later when we have need of it, it is impossible. This shows that time is not real but just imaginary. This is why the Diamond Sutra says that there is no past, no present and no future.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Dagui was once asked by a monastic, “What is the Way?”

Dagui said, “No-mind is the Way.”

The monastic said, “I don’t understand it.”

Dagui said, “It’s good to understand not-understanding.” 

The monastic said, “What is not-understanding?”

Dagui said, “It’s just that you are not anyone else.”

Student: “What is not-understanding?”

Master: “No-mind.”

Student: “What is No-mind?”

Master: “Mind.”

Commentary:

Removing mind is the way to see mind just as killing the Buddha is the way to see the Buddha.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Later, Issan asked Gyosan, “What was the meaning of Obaku’s entering the meditation hall?”

Gyosan said, “Two sides of a die.”

Commentary:

Gyosan’s comment ‘Two sides of a die’ signifies that the two answers made by Rinzai and the head monk are the same although they may seemingly sound different from each other, since both are from the true-Self which is referred to as a die here. To rephrase this, no matter how many ways the true-Self may be expressed in, the essence remains the same. In other words, the taste of water from a spring is the same, no matter what vessel it may be scooped up with.

Student: “What is the die like?”

Master: “Countless sides.”

Student: “What is the spring like?”

Master: “Bottomless.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. Not being deluded by illusions means to know what the essence of everything, including ourselves, is. Let’s suppose that you play with two five-year-old boys, flying paper planes. One boy is very preoccupied with flying his plane, whilst the other is not as involved in playing because he is more interested in watching cartoon films instead. By accident the paper planes land in a puddle and became unavailable. The boy who is crazy about flying his plane bursts into tears, but the other boy who is not so interested doesn’t. Of course, you don’t, either.

There is a big difference between the reason why the boy doesn’t cry and the reason why you don’t. The reason why you don’t cry is not that you are not as aware of the value of the plane as the crying boy is, but that you are not deluded by the illusion of the plane because you can see the essence of the plane: It is made of paper, and a new one can be made easily. In fact, you know much more about paper, the essence of the paper plane; how necessary and useful it is in our daily life and what disastrous things would happen if it suddenly disappeared.

This boy isn’t frustrated because he is detached from the planes in the same way that you are, but because he doesn’t have much concern about paper planes. However, if in the future, he happens to become crazy about playing with paper planes, he is likely to become like the crying boy.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

On the way back to his temple, Joshu happened to meet an elderly lady, who asked him, “Where do you live?” Joshu said, “In the east of this village.” Joshu, talking to his students about what had happened on his way back, said to them, “How can you write the ‘east’ that I told the old lady?” A monk wrote ‘east’, and another monk wrote ‘East’. Joshu said, “How foolish you are! You are no better than a nine-year-old boy.” One monk said, “Why do you say so?” Joshu said, “Because both of you know only letters.”

Student: “What was wrong with the two monks who wrote ‘east’ and ‘East’?”

Master: “Joshu’s place is free from directions.”

Student: “Why?”

Master: “Because it is too huge to be put on a map.”

Commentary:

Don’t be so foolish as to ask a passer-by where the universe is.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Rinzai was asleep in the meditation hall. Obaku came down the hall, saw him there, and struck the sounding board once with his staff. Rinzai lifted his head, but when he saw it was Obaku, he went back to sleep. Obaku again gave a whack on the sounding board, then went up to the head monk who was sitting in meditation, and said, “The young one down the hall is truly sitting. You with your fancy notions, what are you doing here?” The head monk said, “What does this old fellow want of me?” Obaku gave one more stroke on the sounding board and left.

Commentary:

Obaku tested Rinzai by striking the sounding board to see if he was deluded by the illusion of the sounding board.

When woken up by the sound of the sounding board Obaku struck with his staff, Rinzai went back to sleep after seeing it was Obaku. Seeing through Rinzai’s behaviour like this, Obaku approved him by giving another whack on the sounding board. This part may appear to be confusing, or misleading because it can seem to encourage those who practise sitting-meditation into sleeping. In fact, Rinzai meant that in the state of Emptiness there was no difference between Obaku’s striking the sounding board and his sleeping. Obaku tested the head monk to see whether he was deluded by words through praising Rinzai and scolding him. The head monk, conscious of Obaku’s intention, lost no time in responding by remarking, ‘What does this old fellow want of me?’ Obaku approved him by striking the sounding board.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. Even if you remain exactly as you are right now, if you could flick a magical switch in everyone else’s mind so that their perceptions of you were different, would you still be the same person? In other words, is a part of who we are contained within the way that we are seen by the rest of the world?

We always have two selves; the one that each of us defines himself as and wants to be defined as, and the one that others define us as. We sometimes try to adjust ourselves to, or escape from the definition, image of us made by others, and sometimes seek to get others to see us in the way we want them to. This is the way we live mundane lives.

In Buddhism, no matter what perspective you and others may have about you, all the perspectives are not real but imaginary illusions created by us. People are troubled by being bound with these invisible illusions. Escaping from these illusions is called deliverance in Buddhism.

We should see the real self of us stripped of all illusions that is referred to as the true-Self, the Buddha nature, or Emptiness in Buddhism. Then, we can realise that we are all perfection itself, that is, each of us is so perfect that no one is superior, or inferior to another. This is why Buddhism says that everything is equal.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

On the way back to his temple, Joshu happened to meet an elderly lady, who asked him, “Where do you live?” Joshu said, “In the east of this village.” Joshu, talking to his students about what had happened on his way back, said to them, “How can you write the ‘east’ that I told the old lady?” A monk wrote ‘east’, and another monk wrote ‘East’. Joshu said, “How foolish you are! You are no better than a nine-year-old boy.” One monk said, “Why do you say so?” Joshu said, “Because both of you know only letters.”

Student: “What was wrong with the two monks who wrote ‘east’ and ‘East’?”

Master: “Joshu meant the place that can’t be found on a map and whose name can’t be written.”

Commentary:

Joshu’s residence is a place that can’t be stayed at.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

One day Rinzai was sitting in front of the monks’ hall. Seeing Obaku come, he closed his eyes as if asleep. Obaku, as if frightened, returned to his quarters. Rinzai followed him there and bowed his apology. The head monk was present, attending Obaku in his quarters. Obaku remarked, “Although this is just a young monk, he understands this great matter.” The head monk said, “Old Venerable, why do you testify to his future life even though his heels haven’t touched the ground?” Obaku slapped himself across the mouth. The head monk said, “If you understand, it is all right.”

Commentary:

Seeing Obaku come, Rinzai revealed the true-Self by closing his eyes as if asleep. Sensing his intention, Obaku responded by showing the true-Self through pretending to be frightened. Rinzai bowed his apology for having tested Obaku. Then, Obaku tested the head monk to see whether he was deluded by words or not by saying, ‘he understands this great matter’. The head monk was wise enough to reply, “Why do you testify to his future life even though his heels haven’t touched the ground?” This means, “If you see Rinzai as he is, he was not born nor does he have any form. What do you address as ‘this’, ‘a young monk’ and ‘he’?” Obaku approved the head monk’s comment while pretending to admit his mistake of making a discrimination with his mouth by slapping himself across the mouth.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway