Author: Zen Fools

I have never heard of or read about anyone who attained enlightenment in this way. If it were possible, many of the scholars of Buddhism would be enlightened. Academic learning is like trying to know what kimchi, one of the typical Korean foods is by studying the recipe for kimchi, whereas Zen meditation is like eating kimchi in person. Getting knowledge of kimchi is one thing and eating it in person is another.

Academic learning is a process of teaching and learning through language, namely words. From the viewpoint of Zen meditation, trying to get enlightened through academic learning is like trying to extinguish flames by spreading gasoline, instead of water over fire, because academic learning provides people with words or labels, whereas enlightenment is to see and hear everything without any labels.

So, masters would say that trying to attain enlightenment through academic learning is like striving to burn a huge mountain with the glow of a firefly.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Once Nanquan saw the monastics of the eastern and western halls arguing over a cat.

He held up the cat and said to the monastics, “If you can say a turning word, I will not kill it.”

No one in the assembly could answer. So Nanquan cut the cat in two. Later he told the story to Zhaozhou. Zhaozhou took off his straw sandals, put them on his head, and walked away.

Student: “Why did Nanquan cut the cat in two?”

Master: “Because you saw it.”

Student: “Why did Zhaozhou take off his straw sandals, put them on his head and walk away?”

Master: “Because you didn’t see him.”

Commentary:

It’s because you killed the cat that mice are swarming here and there.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Venerable Ones, there is no place of rest in the Three Worlds; it is like a house on fire. This is not a place for you to stay long. The murderous demon of impermanence strikes in a single instant, without choosing between high and low, old and young.

Commentary:

‘The Three Worlds’ which are the World of Desire, the Visible World, and the Invisible World implies the World of Forms, the world of illusions where we sentient beings reside. ‘The Three Worlds’ is also compared to a burning house which is bound to collapse sooner or later. This symbolises our lives that are doomed to end before long. We sentient beings are compared to those who are struggling to stay alive for as long as possible there. ‘The murderous demon of impermanence’ implies ‘collapse of the burning house’ or ‘death’. This is not a place for you to stay long because no one can avoid death which comes to us in a single moment, without previous notice regardless of whether we are old or young, high or low and rich or poor.

The only way to survive the fire is to escape from the house because there is no place of rest as long as we are in the Three Worlds. The purpose of Zen practice is to help people to escape from the Three Worlds, the burning house.

Student: “How can I get out of the burning house?”

Master: “Get out of there quickly.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Q. How can we confirm the existence of God? Why doesn’t God reveal Himself?

A. According to the Bible, God is everywhere all the time, God is in us and we are in Him and it is impossible to escape His reach. If the Bible doesn’t tell a lie, we should be able to see and hear Him anytime. Why are we doubtful of His existence now? It is not because God is hiding His existence but because we don’t recognise Him, even though He is always with us. The reason why we don’t recognise Him is that we can’t see things as they really are. We can confirm the existence of God by seeing everything as it is.

The purpose of having a religion, you should know, is not and should not be to pray or make offerings to an unknown god but to confirm the existence of God in person by recognising Him. The former is not religion but merely superstition, which we should not mistake for religion.

Student: “Why doesn’t God reveal Himself?”

Master: “Because you are blind.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

#zen #meditation #zenmeditation #enlightened #enlightenment #zenfools #photography

Nanquan Kills a Cat (2)

Once Nanquan saw the monastics of the eastern and western halls arguing over a cat.

He held up the cat and said to the monastics, “If you can say a turning word, I will not kill it.”

No one in the assembly could answer. So Nanquan cut the cat in two. Later he told the story to Zhaozhou. Zhaozhou took off his straw sandals, put them on his head, and walked away.

Student: “Why did Nanquan cut the cat in two?”

Master: “I see the cruelty of a sentient being.”

Student: “Why did Zhaozhou take off his straw sandals, put them on his head and walk away?”

Master: “I see the foolishness of a sentient being.”

Commentary:

Why can’t you see the huge elephant while seeing a speck of dust on it so clearly?

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

#zen #meditation #zenmeditation #enlightened #enlightenment #zenfools #photography

Rinzai 36

Followers of the Way, as I see it, you are not different from the Buddha.

Today in your manifold activities, what is it that you lack? The numinous flow of the Six Senses never ceases. Whoever can see it like that is, for all his life, a man who has nothing further to seek.

Commentary:

‘You are not different from the Buddha’ implies that we are all the Buddha itself. What we should keep in mind is that the Buddha came to this this world not to give us something such as blessing, or good fortune, but to let us realise that we are already perfection itself, which lacks nothing, by ridding us of all illusions. Worshipping or praying to the Buddha for blessing or good fortune is the last thing that we should do because it is making an illusion of Buddha. ‘In your manifold activities, what is it that you lack?’ means that all your activities; speaking, working, walking, talking and so on, are all perfect as actions of the Buddha, the functions of the true-Self. It is because you see and hear them with your eyes and ears covered with illusions that they look defective and imperfect.

‘The Six Senses’ which means seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking are referred to as the six thieves before enlightenment because they lead us to discriminate and make illusions. After enlightenment, realising that everything is the true-Self, they are called all the numinous functions of the true-Self, which is in line with the words ‘Illusions are no other than the true-Self’. ‘See it like that’ means to see all illusions as the numinous functions of the true-Self. ‘A man who has nothing further to seek’ implies an enlightened man who, having realised that he is perfection itself, doesn’t struggle in vain to attain enlightenment.

In conclusion, to be able to see the Six Senses and all that we perceive through them as the numinous functions of the true-Self is enlightenment, which is to realise that we don’t differ from the Buddha.

Student: “What is the numinous function of the true-Self?”

Master: “How could you ask me such a question without it?”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Q. Is it possible to go to Heaven without having a religion?

A. Going to Heaven is to a religion as mastering arithmetic rules is to a school. This is like asking if it is possible to learn arithmetic rules that are usually taught at school without going to school. We can see many people master their favourite subjects by teaching themselves or through home-schooling without going to school.

I think that it is possible if we try in the right way. A religion itself is not Heaven but only an institution in which we can learn how to go to Heaven, just as a school itself is not arithmetic rules but an institution for teaching and learning them.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

#zen #meditation #zenmeditation #enlightened #enlightenment #zenfools #photography

Baizhang’s “Gate of Essential Nature”

During a work period at his monastery, Baizhang was ploughing the ground. A monastic heard the sound of the drum ending the work period. At that moment he held up his hoe, burst into laughter, and went back to the monastery.
Baizhang said, “Wonderful. This is Avalokitesvara entering the gate of essential nature.”
After Baizhang returned to the monastery, he sent for the monastic and asked, “What did you see to make you laugh like that?”
The monastic said, “I was hungry. As soon as I heard the drum, I returned to have the noon meal.”
Baizhang laughed.

Student: “Why did the monastic burst into laughter on hearing the sound of the drum?”
Master: “Every sound is a gate to the true-Self.”
Student: “Why did the monastic say, ‘I was hungry’ when he was asked by the master?”
Master: “Every sound is the sound of the true-Self.”

Commentary:
Realising that the ground you are ploughing with your hoe is the Pure Land is enlightenment.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Rinzai 35

Do you want to know the Buddha? None other than he who here in your presence is now listening to the Dharma. Just because you lack self-reliance, you turn to the outside and run about seeking. Even if you find something there, it is only words and letters and never the living spirit of the patriarchs. Do not be deceived. Venerable Zen students, if you do not meet Him at this very moment, you will circulate in the Three Worlds for ten thousand Kalpas and a thousand births. And, pursuing agreeable situations, you will be reborn in the wombs of asses and cows.

Commentary:

Master Rinzai is saying that the Buddha is none other than he who is listening to his Dharma talk. In other words, it is the Buddha that is controlling your body to read this writing now. ‘Turn to the outside and run about seeking’ means to look for something else, following words and forsaking him who is listening to Rinzai’s Dharma talk. ‘Even if you find something there, it is only words and letters and never the living spirit of the patriarchs’ means that if you, not knowing that he who is listening to Rinzai’s Dharma talk is the Buddha, try to find something or someone else by following words, you will get at most some knowledge about the Buddha but not the core of the Patriarchs’ teachings.

Rinzai is showing compassion one more time by revealing the Buddha by saying, ‘If you do not meet Him at this very moment’, which means, ‘If you, not recognising the Buddha that you and I are revealing now, follow my words’.

‘Circulate in the Three Worlds for ten thousand Kalpas and a thousand births’ means to struggle in the ocean of illusions, or the ocean of causation and reincarnation. And, ‘pursuing agreeable situations, you will be reborn in the wombs of asses and cows’ means that if you go after agreeable situations and avoid offensive situations, say, if you are deluded by the illusions of ‘agreeable’ and ‘offensive’, that is, if you fail to stop discriminating, you cannot escape from the suffering of reincarnation.

Simon: “Rinzai told his students to see the Buddha at this very moment. How can I see Him at this very moment?”

Boo Ahm: “Thank you for showing Him to me.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

#zen #meditation #zenmeditation #enlightened #enlightenment #zenfools #photography

Q. Non-attachment vs keep fighting; which is better?

Let me ask you back. Non-attachment vs keep eating; which is better? Non-attachment vs keep taking care of one’s children; which is better? Non-attachment or keep seeing a doctor; which is better? You should not mistake non-attachment for giving up everything. When you are not attached to anything, you should not have attachment even to ‘not keeping fighting’ because clinging to ‘not keeping fighting’ is also a kind of attachment. True non-attachment is not whether you do something or not, but whether you cling to it or not, or whether you can see it as empty or not.

Let’s suppose that you play with a paper plane with your children. You can stop playing with it anytime without your mind being hurt whenever things require you to stop it, whereas your children feel sorry or unhappy when they are forced to stop playing, for one reason or another, when they are preoccupied with it.

For example, when the paper plane happens to break for some reason during the play, you don’t feel your emotion swayed, whereas your children, heartbroken or disappointed, may burst out crying. Your attitude towards the same paper plane is quite different from your children’s because you have no attachment to it, but your children do. Having non-attachment to a paper plane doesn’t mean that you should not play with it together with your children but means that you don’t cling to it.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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