A. Master: “Don’t ask me where your mouth is.”
Commentary:
It is standing on its single foot facing you.
You don’t forsake it.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Author: Zen Fools
Zen and the Art of Photography
Q317. What does ‘an illusion is the true-self’ mean?
A. An illusion is to the true-self as wind is to air. We divide air into many kinds of winds such as breeze, gale, waft, gust and so on. No matter how many kinds of winds there may be, the essence of them is the same, air. In the same way, we divide the true-self, emptiness into many forms by drawing imaginary lines or through labelling, and the forms are referred to as illusions. However many forms there may be, the essence of them is the true-self, emptiness. Therefore, it means that all illusions are true-self, just as all winds are air.
Student: “What is the true-self?”
Master: “An illusion is.”
Student: “What is an illusion?”
Master: “The true-self is.”
Student: “What is the difference between them?”
Master: “The difference is not between them at all but only in your view because they are one.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q316. How can we neither be stained by dirt while in dirt nor be attached to purity when we happen to face it?
A. Interpreted more simply, this question means “How can we live without being deluded by illusions and without being attached to enlightenment when we happen to get it?” It is possible to know, through perfect realisation of the truth, that everything is empty. In other words, when everything is empty, we should realise that not only illusions but also enlightenment is empty.
If we are attached to enlightenment after getting enlightened, this is making another illusion, just like making a new form of clay after destroying an old form of clay. You should realise that when everything is empty, you are emptiness itself, and then there is nothing to gain or lose. So, an ancient master said, “Don’t be stained by purity.” when his student asked him how he could remain pure. In other words, you should neither be deluded by illusions while living amid them nor be attached to emptiness.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q315. Student: “What is carrying your corpse around?”
A. Master: “Your corpse.”
Commentary:
The whole universe is loaded on a small cart.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. Image ©Avijit Datta
Q314. I started Zen meditation in my early twenties with the goal of enlightenment and was very peaceful and happy during practice. My life, as a single mum with four children, is so busy and messy that I can’t find time to practice Zen although I am very keen for practice.
A. The best way of Zen practice is not to practise only when and where nothing happens to you but to identify everything that you see and hear with your practice. In other words, you should not separate your work from your practice but identify the former with the latter. Then, 24-hours a day can be your practice time.
In fact, everything that makes you bothered and busy is no other than the true-self that you want to see. There is an interesting story about an ancient master. One day he was going through a busy and crowded marketplace, when he saw two people quarrelling, hurling abuse at each other. Upon hearing one of the names they were calling each other, the master attained enlightenment.
Why don’t you think that the reason why your life is so busy is that the true-self is striving to show itself to you and attract your attention? Don’t try to escape from your current situation into a better one for the sake of practice, but try to accept it as a Dharma talk and try to see and hear it as it is. The deeper your practice becomes over time, the easier and more peaceful your life will become.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q313. What is the true-self and what is an illusion?
A. The true-self is an illusion and an illusion is the true-self. When you can see, for example, the cup put before you as empty, it is the true-self, but it is an illusion when you can’t see it as empty and see it only as a cup. This is true of everything that you can see and hear; your wife, your friends, your puppy, et cetera. In other words, when you can see things as empty, everything is the true-self. When you can’t see things as empty, everything is an illusion.
A thing doesn’t determine on its own whether it is seen as the true-self or an illusion, but it depends on whether or not you can see it as empty. When you can see everything as empty, you are said to have attained the eye of wisdom or enlightenment. So, an ancient master would say that if you get the eye of wisdom, all the rubbish heaps turn into treasure heaps. When you are enlightened, everything including yourself is perfection itself to you. That is referred to as the Pure Land or the Buddha Land.
Student: “What is the true-self?”
Master: “There is nothing that is not the true-self.”
Student: “Why can’t I see it?”
Master: “Because you seek it while seeing it.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q312. Student: “Why is seawater salty and river-water sweet?”
A. Master: “Because both are from the same source.
Commentary:
Sea-fish don’t think that seawater is salty, and freshwater fish don’t think that river-water is sweet.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q311. What shall we do when we have no master around us?
A. Don’t think that you have no master around but think that you are not ready to meet him. Ready yourself to meet a master by asking yourself the questions that you will ask a master when you meet him. When a student is ready, a master will appear. When not ready, a student can’t recognise a master even though he appears before him. In fact, he is already beside you and always ready to help you. He is waiting to be recognised by you.
All the people and everything around you are your master. Even you yourself are your master, too. They are giving Dharma talks to you every moment. Even you yourself are giving Dharma talks all the time. The point is that you are still not ready enough to hear the Dharma talk. Make yourself ready to meet him by practising hard and, sooner or later, he will suddenly appear before you.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q310. What does ‘should not follow the secondary while forsaking the primary’ mean? How can I do this?
A. The primary means emptiness or the true-self and the secondary forms or illusions. This means that you should not follow illusions while forsaking the true-self. But this doesn’t mean to sort out the true-self from illusions, but means to realise that illusions are no other than the true-self. If you fall into the division of the true-self and illusions and regard illusions as different and separate from the true-self, you come to think that you should follow the former and avoid the latter. This is to be deluded by the illusions of the true-self and illusions, which is to follow the secondary while forsaking the primary. You can stop this by ceasing to discriminate.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q309. Student: “What is the true-self?”
A. Master: “How can I explain it better than you?”
Commentary:
Wisdom never scolds or speaks ill of foolishness.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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