Author: Zen Fools

Followers of the Way, the true Buddha has no shape, the true Dharma has no form. You put on top of your delusion only further fantasies. Such is the way of outsiders. Though you may attain something that way, it is only the spirit of a wild fox, and not the true Buddha.

Commentary:

In order to help you to understand better the words ‘the true Buddha has no shape, the true Dharma has no form’ I am going to talk about what ‘having a shape’, or ‘having a from’ means. When we see things, everything has its own unique shape, by which we can recognise what it is. The word ‘rose’, for example, reminds us of a flower that often has a pleasant smell, and is usually red, pink, white, or yellow. Is there any of all the distinctive features, shapes that a rose has which is not granted by people? Whatever beautiful shapes a thing may have, however ugly its forms may be, they are not innate but given by us. A rose is a rose not because it said in the beginning, “I am a rose and I am red”, but because we named it ‘rose’ and added other labels such as red, pink, or yellow. In brief, none of the features and natures that define a thing are real and innate but are all just imaginary labels which are artificially given by people. This is why everything is said to be illusionary.

Therefore, seeing what is formless is seeing the true Buddha and trying to attain enlightenment with words and forms is no better than putting more illusions on top of your illusions and struggling to grasp mirages. The latter is called the spirit of a wild fox.

©Boo Ahm

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A. We should remember that our worldly things and the true-Self are not separate from each other but identical, or that our worldly things are no other than the true-Self. The purpose of Buddhism is not to abandon worldly things but to realise that all worldly things are the true-Self and that the world we are living in at this moment is the Pure Land.

When we can see or hear things as they are, they are the true-Self. When we fail to see or hear them as they are by being deluded by the labels attached to them, they are worldly things. Don’t abandon worldly things but try to see and hear them as they are. Whether they are worldly things, or the true-Self depends upon how we see and hear them.

Student: “How can I see worldly things as the true-Self?”

Master: (Lifting a cup) “I call this a cup. Is this a worldly thing or the true-Self?”

Student: “I don’t know.”

Master: (Putting the cup down on the table) “Seeing the cup on the table is seeing a worldly thing and seeing the cup that has not left my hand is seeing the true-Self.”

©Boo Ahm

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Master Taiyuan asked his student Gushan, “Where are the nostrils you had before your parents were born?”

Gushan said, “Born right now.”

Taiyuan did not approve and said, “You ask me, and I will tell you.”

Gushan said, “Where are the nostrils you had before your parents were born?”

Taiyuan just fanned himself.

Student: “What would you say if you were asked the same question?”

Master: “They are in the face you had before your parents’ births.” 

Student: “I can make no sense of it.”

Master: “They can’t be plugged.”

Commentary:

Don’t mistake what is shown for what is explained.

©Boo Ahm

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As I see it, all those supernatural powers are karmic and dependent. They are not the six supernatural powers the Buddha possessed: entering the realm of forms without being deluded by forms; entering the realm of hearing without being deluded by sounds; smelling without being deluded by smells; tasting without being deluded by tastes; touching without being deluded by touch; and of mental configurations without being deluded by mental configurations.

Therefore the six fields of form, sound, smell, taste, touch and mental configurations are all formless; they cannot bind the man of true independence. Although he is an illusionary body made of five skandhas, he is no other than the supernatural power that walks the earth.

Commentary:

‘All those supernatural powers are karmic and dependent’ means that all the supernatural powers of the Devas, Immortals, Asuras, and the Great Demons are just illusions, the products of discrimination and dependent on discrimination.  As mentioned previously, the six supernatural powers of the Buddha is the ability to see everything as empty, which means not to be deluded by what reaches our eyes, ears, nose, our tongue, skin and imagination. When we are not fooled by what we see, hear, taste, smell, feel and imagine, that is, when we have realised that everything is empty, nothing can bind us. Then, we are referred to as a man of true independence whom nothing can bind, or a man who has escaped from the yoke of karma. At that time, we realise that our illusionary bodies made of five skandhas are the true-Self itself and our actions are the six supernatural powers.

©Boo Ahm

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A. In Zen meditation enlightenment is more often than not compared to a big death, which means ‘the death of all illusions’. To say that a person has achieved a big death implies that he has attained enlightenment. So, ‘Only after you die can you see what you want to see’ implies that you can see what you want to see, or the truth, only after you stop being deluded by illusions.

Don’t be confused into believing that you can see the truth, or go to the Pure Land, only after your physical death. You cannot see the truth unless you see it whilst alive nor can you enter the Pure Land unless you enter it while you are alive. Remember what reaches your eyes and ears now is the truth itself and where you are standing at this moment is the Pure Land.

©Boo Ahm

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Yangshan once asked his teacher, Zen master Guishan of Mount Gui, “How is it when millions of objects emerge all at once?”

Guishan said, “Blue is not yellow. Long is not short. All things abide in their own positions. It does not concern me.” Yangshan bowed.

Student: “What did Guishan mean by ‘Blue is not yellow. Long is not short’?”

Master: “He meant that Oneness is many.”

Student: “What did he mean by ‘All things abide in their own positions’?”

Master: “He meant that many are Oneness.”

Student: “Why did he say that it didn’t concern him?”

Master: “In order to warn Yangshan not to be fooled by attractive looking Maras.”

Commentary:

The most plausible words are not as good as no words.

©Boo Ahm

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But all the Devas, Immortals, Asuras, and the Great Demons have supernatural powers. Should they be Buddha?

Followers of the Way, do not be deceived. The Asura, beaten in his war against the Deva king Shakra, made his 84,000 troops hide in the hollow stem of a lotus. But that does not constitute holiness.

Commentary:

Rinzai in this paragraph warns that we should not be deluded by the illusions of supernatural powers. All the Devas, Immortals, Asuras, and the Great Demons are said to have their own supernatural powers in their own ways. However, all the supernatural powers they have are nothing weighed against the six supernatural powers that the Buddha had because theirs are nothing but illusions. That is why the Asura, beaten in his war against the Deva king Shakra, made his 84,000 troops hide in the hollow stem of a lotus.

What matters here is that no matter how many supernatural powers the Buddha had, they are nothing to do with you if have not achieved the six supernatural powers, that is, the ability to see everything as it is, in person. Even the six supernatural powers of the Buddha, not to mention the supernatural powers of the Devas, Immortals, Asuras, and the Great Demons, are no better than illusions unless you have your own six supernatural powers to recognise them. That is why I argue that the Buddha is not the Buddha but an illusion until you become enlightened.

©Boo Ahm

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A. The divine light means the true-Self, Emptiness in Buddhism. The Heart Sutra says, ‘Emptiness is forms and forms are Emptiness’, which can be rephrased as ‘The divine light is things and things are the divine light.’ In fact, it is what we can see, not only during meditation, but also at any time. We cannot stop seeing and hearing the divine light even for a moment, since seeing and hearing things is seeing and hearing the divine light.

The problem is that we cannot recognise it because we are deluded by illusions, words. This is why ancient masters would say that the divine light is hidden in everything, or that things are the stores of the divine light. What matters more is that we are also the divine light itself, which is why we are said to be looking for an ox while riding on it.

The reason why the term ‘light’ is used is that enlightenment feels as if the light were switched on in a room which has been deserted and dark for a long time, and from that moment we can see what we couldn’t see before. 

©Boo Ahm

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A. A monk asked Master Joshu, “Does the spruce in the garden have the true-Self?” Joshu said, “Yes, it does.” The monk said, “When does it attain enlightenment?” Joshu said, “It does when the sky collapses.” The monk asked, “When does the sky collapse?” Joshu answered, “It does when the spruce attains enlightenment.”

Student: “According to these words, the two things happen at the same time. When do they happen?”

Master: “They did just a moment ago.”

Student: “Why didn’t I see them happen?”

Master: “You are to blame.”

Commentary:

Even the Buddha is not enlightened unless you are enlightened.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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You say the Buddha has the six supernatural powers and that they are miraculous.

Commentary:

It is a popular belief that we cannot be like the Buddha even if we attain enlightenment since we, as human beings, cannot achieve the six supernatural powers that he had. This incorrect idea is from the misunderstanding of the six supernatural powers; the ability to see anything regardless of distance, the ability to hear any sound regardless of distance, the ability to go anywhere in no time, the ability to know all people’s minds, the ability to know all people’s previous lives and the ability to be free from all illusions.

The most common misunderstandings regarding the six supernatural powers are as follows.  One who obtains the ability to see anything can see anything that is happening in any far corner of the world if he wants. One who has the ability to hear any sound can hear anything that is happening in any far corner of the world if he listens. One who has the ability to go anywhere can reach any place in the world in no time. One who achieves the ability to know all people’s minds can read any person’s mind in the world at any time; for example he can know what the president of the United States is thinking about at this moment. And finally, one who has the ability to see people’s previous lives can know what a person’s previous life was like; how many previous lives he lived, or whether he was a man or an animal.

In fact, the six supernatural powers are employed to describe what perfect enlightenment is like. Masters illustrated enlightenment with the six supernatural powers. When we attain enlightenment, that is, when are not deluded by illusions, or when we can see everything as empty, we realise that everything is one as Emptiness and that we are also part of Oneness. When there is nothing but Oneness, whatever you hear, whatever you see, it is just Oneness, nothing else. This is to see and hear everything. When there is nothing but Oneness as Emptiness, wherever you may go, no matter how far you may go, there is no difference whatsoever between going and not going. In the Avatamsaka Sutra a Bodhisattva says, “I can see all the Buddhas all around the universe at any time if it is my will. However, I don’t go to them nor do they come to me.” When there is just Oneness as Emptiness, there is no past, no present, and no future because they are only illusions. Then, there cannot be any previous lives. In short, to know that there are no previous lives is the ability to know people’s previous lives. To know that all people’s minds are also Oneness as Emptiness is the ability to know all people’s minds. In the Diamond Sutra the Buddha said to his disciples, “I know all sentient beings’ minds because I know that their minds are not minds.”

To conclude, the six supernatural powers, appearing to be multiple, are no other than the ability to see everything just as it is, that is, to see everything as empty, which is available to anybody who tries to achieve it.

©Boo Ahm

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