Author: Zen Fools

A. In fact, the Buddha cannot be explained as existent or non-existent, because it is the state perfectly free of discrimination and words that come from it. Being existent and being non-existent are also words resulting from discrimination. The Buddha is the state that transcends being existent and being non-existent. In this state there cannot even be anyone who can ask or answer a question. So, the historical Buddha said on his death bed, “Not a word have I said,” for fear that his disciples would cling to his words. This is why ancient masters would say, “Some people say that the Buddha doesn’t exist, but the whole universe is full of it without any rift. Although the Buddha is said to exist, thousands of saints have difficulty finding it.”

Student: “What is the Buddha?”

Master: “You are already wrong. If I answer your question, I will also be wrong.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Dayi asked his teacher Sengcan, the Third Ancestor, “What is the mind of the ancient Buddhas?” Sengcan said, “What kind of mind do you have now?” Dayi said, “I have no mind.” Sengcan said, “Since you have no mind, why would you think Buddhas have mind?” Dayi immediately ceased to have doubt.

Student: “I still don’t understand. What is the mind of the ancient Buddhas?”

Master: “It is identical to yours.”

Student: “Then, what is the identical mind like?”

Master: “Ask me again.”

Student: “What is the identical mind like?”

Master: “I am not deaf.”

Commentary:

Don’t mistake the envelop for the contents of the letter.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Followers of the Way, even if you know how to explain and interpret a hundred volumes of Sutras and Treatises, better it is to be peaceful and a master who has nothing further to seek. If you know how to interpret and explain, you hold others in contempt and create hellish Karma with the competitive mind of the Asuras and the ignorance of man’s ego like the monk Sonsong who completed the study of the Twelve Divisions of the Teachings, yet fell living into hell. The earth no longer could hold him. Far better to have nothing further to seek, and to put oneself at ease. When hungry, I eat my food. When sleepy, I shut my eyes. Fools laugh at me; the wise understand.

Commentary:

Having intellectual knowledge of Buddhism and enlightenment, no matter how vast it may be, is not as good as being a peaceful man who has nothing further to seek by realising that everything is empty. You should know that enlightenment cannot be attained by accumulating knowledge but rather by doing away with it because what can be increased or decreased is an illusion. Despising people with less knowledge than yours and feeling competitive towards those who have more knowledge than you do is to create hellish karma. Once you have realised that you are the true-Self itself you are looking for and that whatever you do and speak is the function of the true-Self, eating a meal when hungry and sleeping when sleepy is much better than pursuing enlightenment through intellectual understanding.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

A. There is a beautiful conversation about the Way that enlightened layman Pang had with his wife and his daughter. He said, “The Way is as difficult as spreading 1800 litres of sesame seeds out on a tree.” His wife responded, “The Way is as easy as climbing out of bed and stepping on the floor.” Then, his daughter said, “The Way is neither difficult nor easy. All kinds of grasses are the meaning of the Way.” In essence the Way, like all other things, is neutral; neither easy nor difficult. It is not the Way itself but our perspective that determines whether it is difficult or easy. This means that difficulty and ease are not real but imaginary, illusionary conceptions created by our discrimination.

Student: “Then, is his daughter right and are he and his wife wrong?”

Master: “Right and wrong are also illusions.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Dayi asked his teacher Sengcan, the Third Ancestor, “What is the mind of the ancient Buddhas?” Sengcan said, “What kind of mind do you have now?” Dayi said, “I have no mind.” Sengcan said, “Since you have no mind, why would you think Buddhas have mind?” Dayi immediately ceased to have doubt.

Student: “I still don’t understand. What is the mind of the ancient Buddhas?”

Master: “It is identical to yours.”

Student: “Then, what is the identical mind like?”

Master: “That’s it. Nothing else.”

Commentary:

Don’t wander around looking for yourself with a picture of you in your hand.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Followers of the Way, there are certain bald fellows who try to attain the Dharma for getting out of the world by applying their efforts to this. They are doing wrong. To seek the Buddha is to lose the Buddha. To seek the Way is to lose the Way. To seek the patriarchs is to lose the patriarchs. Venerable ones, do not be deceived. I do not care whether you are well versed in the Sutras and Treatises. I do not care whether you are imperial ministers. I do not care if your eloquence is like a mountain torrent. I do not care whether you are sagacious and wise. I only care whether you have true and genuine insight.

Commentary:

‘Try to attain the Dharma for getting out of the world by applying their efforts to this’ means trying to attain enlightenment by directing their efforts to words such as the Three Vehicles and the Five Natures, as well as the Complete and Sudden Teachings mentioned previously. Trying to attain enlightenment by clinging to words is running counter to it since it can be attained only beyond intellectual understanding. ‘To seek the Buddha is to lose the Buddha. To seek the Way is to lose the Way. To seek the patriarchs is to lose the patriarchs’ means that seeking them is chasing after illusions of the Buddha, the Way and the patriarchs and being deluded by the words such as the Buddha, the Way and the patriarchs. This is why ancient masters would say that we should treat the Sutras and masters’ words as enemies. In other words, no matter how well read you are in the Sutras and Treatises, no matter how high and powerful your position is, no matter how fluently you speak, and no matter how clever and wise you are, they are nothing before the true and genuine insight, enlightenment because they are merely illusions.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

A. ‘The Buddha is illusionary’ implies that there is no other Buddha than that which reaches your eyes and ears. If you, imagining that there is a Buddha who is almighty, holy, glorious and splendid somewhere else out of your reach, seek to see or meet him, you are being deluded by the illusion of the Buddha, that is, you are chasing after the illusion of the Buddha.

In fact, there is nothing but the Buddha. We cannot stop seeing and hearing him even for a moment. Only when we are deluded by the names and forms of that which we see and hear are they referred to as illusions. In essence they are all part of the Buddha. When we see them as they really are, we can recognise them as the Buddha. So, calling the Buddha an illusion is belittling him. This is why illusions are to speak ill of him.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Yunmen was once asked by a monastic, “If, at the beginning of autumn, after the summer retreat period is over, someone asks me about the future, what shall I say?”

Yunmen said, “The assembly adjourns.”

The monastic said, “What will happen after that?”

Yunmen said, “Pay me for the ninety days of meals.”

Student: “What did Yunmen mean by ‘The assembly adjourns’?”

Master: “He meant the assembly that never adjourns.” 

Student: “What does ‘Pay me for the ninety days of meals’ mean?”

Master: “He who attends the assembly that never adjourns is excused from paying.”

Commentary:

Those who attend an assembly are bound to break up and those who were served meals for ninety days can’t help paying for the meals.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Followers of the Way, there is no Buddha to be attained. The Three Vehicles and the Five Natures, as well as the Complete and Sudden Teachings are not really existent. All are but expedient means, temporary remedies for curing diseases. Even if they appear to be existent, they are all but surface manifestations, like printed letters on a sign board to indicate the Way. This is my teaching.

Commentary:

There is no Buddha to attain both because we are the Buddha itself and because there is nothing else but the Buddha. There is no more Buddha to attain or to lose than there is the universe to attain or to lose, because we are the universe itself. ‘The Three Vehicles and the Five Natures as well as the Complete and Sudden Teachings’ are nothing but the explanations of how to recognise the Buddha and descriptions of what the Buddha is like. All words, no matter how plausible they are, are no more than illusionary labels created and used for the sake of convenience, not real. In the same way, all Buddhist teachings are but expedient means that lead us to enlightenment and are just temporary remedies for curing us of the disease of being deluded by illusions. Even if they appear to be existent and real, we should not be deluded by them but see what they point to beyond their appearance.

Student: “How can I see beyond what things appear to be?”

Master: “See me beyond what I appear to be.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

A. Don’t believe it. If death were the gateway to Heaven, why wouldn’t those who argue for this idea go there right now instead of struggling to escape from the ocean of suffering? The sooner a good thing happens, the better it is. The later a bad thing happens, the better it is. If they could be sure that they go to Heaven after death, why would they go to see a doctor and struggle to avoid death by all available means when they are not well instead of praying to God to take them to Heaven as soon as possible?

If you want your soul to go to Heaven, you should realise what your soul is and what and where Heaven is above all. If not knowing not only who wants to go to Heaven but also what the destination to go to is, how could you wish to go there? Trying to go to Heaven without knowing either of them is not different from striving to attain the horn of a rabbit, or the hairs of a turtle.

You should remember that to realise either your soul or Heaven is to open the gate to Heaven. The moment you realise it, you will realise that you are already there and have never left it as well. Heaven is no other than where we are at this moment and realising the fact is to go to Heaven. So, Heaven is where you should go while alive, not after death.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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