Author: Zen Fools

A. Your saying that you find yourself seeking something else that you don’t know explains well the way we live our lives. Why do you think we are looking for something we don’t know? It is because we cannot see things as they are. Only when we can see things as they are can we see and know what we are struggling to attain.

The historical Buddha discovered that we cannot enjoy happiness although we are happiness itself only because we cannot recognise it, since we cannot see things as they are. We should remember that we cannot enjoy happiness not because it is hidden, or far away from us, but because we cannot recognise it even though we are surrounded by it. What you need now is your ability to see and recognise what you want rather than seeking something diligently.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Zhaozhou asked Nanquan, “What is the Way?” Nanquan said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.”  Zhaozhou said, “Shall I try to direct myself towards it?” Nanquan said, “If you try to direct yourself towards it, you will move away from it.”

Student: “Why do we move away from Ordinary Mind if we direct ourselves towards it?”

Master: “If you knew Ordinary Mind, you would not ask me the question. If you don’t know it, how can you direct yourself towards it, not knowing where it is?”

Student: “What shall I do then?”

Master: “Direct yourself towards me and I will direct it towards Ordinary Mind.”

Commentary:

Don’t try in vain to make gold out of gold.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Rinzai said that the historical Buddha said, “The Buddha revealed himself as a physical body only for adaptation to the sentiments of the world, and, fearing that otherwise men might fall into thinking that the Buddha is gone forever with his physical body dying, He mentioned the thirty-two marks and eighty characteristics by producing fake names as expedient means. Temporarily the thirty-two marks and eighty characteristics are spoken of.  In themselves, they are empty sounds. The physical body is not the body of realisation; no- form is the true shape.”

Commentary:

All the words used to describe and explain the true-Self are just expedient means for leading sentient beings to enlightenment. The thirty-two marks and eighty characteristics are not exceptional. Let us suppose that a three-year child brings a piece of paper and asks you what it is and that you, answering, “Paper,” draw a two-winged boy on it. The thirty-two marks and eighty characteristics are like the two-winged boy you drew on the paper, which was drawn by you for the purpose of showing, or demonstrating what paper is. You didn’t mean that the picture of the two-winged boy is paper. In fact, you can not only draw many other things, such as a flower and a lion, but also write various words on the paper. This is why there are a variety of names representing the true-Self. Ancient masters would even say that all names of things are the names of the Buddha.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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A. There are some practitioners who go through similar phenomena to yours; some people have unusual experiences such as seeing terrible things and hearing strange sounds, whereas others have very wonderful and fantastic experiences during meditation. No matter how wonderful a voice you may hear, or how holy a scene you may see you should not be attracted by them. No matter how horrible a voice, or a figure may sound or appear, you should neither try to control nor be scared of them.

Just leave them alone and don’t be concerned with them. Instead, focus all your attention on your question and all the illusions will disappear by themselves. Ancient masters would say that even if one hundred Buddhas appear, we should not be attracted by them.  

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Zhaozhou asked Nanquan, “What is the Way?” Nanquan said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.”  Zhaozhou said, “Shall I try to direct myself towards it?”  Nanquan said, “If you try to direct yourself towards it, you will move away from it.”

Student: “Why do we move away from Ordinary Mind if we direct ourselves towards it?”

Master: “Directing yourself towards your destination without knowing where you are standing makes no sense at all.”

Commentary:

Be sure to know where you are before directing yourself towards Ordinary Mind.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

The Buddha, where is he now? You should know clearly that like us he lived and died and so is not different from us. You say that the thirty-two marks and the eighty characteristics distinguish the Buddha, but then Chakravarti Raja, a mythical Indian god, should also have been the Buddha. Clearly all this is just fantasy and illusion.

Commentary:

When Rinzai said, “The Buddha, where is he now? You should know clearly that like us he lived and died and so is not different from us,” he meant that the historical Buddha is not different from us sentient beings in the least in that he lived on food and passed away just as we do. Rinzai tried to instil us with confidence that we can attain enlightenment just as the historical Buddha did, not only because none of us are inferior to him as humans but also because all of us have the same true-Self that he had.

Then, what is the difference between the historical Buddha and us? He realised that the essence of our being is not the physical body that is subject to birth and death but the true-Self that transcends birth and death. The true-Self is referred to as the Buddha and so many people mistake the historical Buddha as the true-Self. In order to prevent them from being confused, the historical Buddha said, “He who seeks me through seeing my figure and hearing my voice cannot see me.” We should know that the Buddha is formless and not be deluded by the words ‘the Buddha has the thirty-two marks and the eighty characteristics.’ As mentioned previously, words, no matter how wonderful they may sound, are just imaginary labels, illusions.

Student: “Why is it said that the Buddha has the thirty-two marks and the eighty characteristics?”

Master: “It is also said that the Buddha is dry shit.”

©Boo Ahm

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A. Thinking and saying that we are perfect from the beginning is one thing and experiencing perfection in person is another. There is a beggar whose parents lost him, their only child, when he was very young and left an unimaginably huge fortune for him when they passed away. One day to his surprise he happens to hear the fact that he is the only heir of the rich couple. However, he never accepts the fact, believing that he cannot be so lucky. Over time he becomes convinced, little by little, of the fact as his acquaintances tell the same story to him repeatedly. In the end he thinks that he is very rich and says, “I know I am rich because I’ve inherited all of their estate” when he is told the same story by others who want to help him. However, in reality he is still a beggar since he doesn’t know where his wealth is, how much cash and how much real estate it consists of and how to use it because he doesn’t have even a notion of real estate and has never been to the bank not to speak of using a bank book. Then, can we say he knows that he is rich?

In the same way, the perfection you mention is not perfection until you experience it in person, just as food is not food to you until you feel full by eating it.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Zen master Changsha was once asked by a monastic, “How do you turn the mountains, rivers, and great earth into your true-Self?” Changsha said, “How do you turn the true-Self into the mountains, rivers, and great earth?”

Student: “How would you answer if you were in Master Changsha’s shoes?”

Master: “There is no true-Self to turn the mountains, rivers, and great earth into.”

Student: “How would you respond if you were the monastic?”

Master: “There are no mountains, no rivers and no great earth to turn the true-Self into.”

Commentary: 

The reason why there is left to turn to is that there is right to turn to.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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There are certain shaved monks who tell their students that the Buddha is the ultimate and that the Way can be accomplished only when the effect of practising for three kalpas has ripened sufficiently. Followers of the Way, if you say the Buddha is the ultimate, how did it come to pass that at the age of eighty he died lying on his side between the twin trees at the town of Kushinagara?

Commentary:

This scripture says that we should not be fooled by the name ‘the Buddha’ and his image. Master Rinzai warned people not to confuse the Buddha with the historical Buddha, since many people made images of him and worshipped them at that time, just as many people still do now. The Buddha we are seeking is formless and so it is impossible to make its image. The Buddha is in fact nameless, although it is called the Buddha, or the true-Self for the sake of convenience. The Buddha cannot die because it was not born and so we should not mistake the historical Buddha who passed away at the age of eighty for the Buddha we are seeking.

What matters is that it need not take such a long time as three kalpas of practice to accomplish the Way, that is, to see the Buddha, since each of us is the Buddha. We cannot leave or escape from the Buddha even for a fraction of a second. The Buddha is always ready to be seen any time unless we forsake it. The purpose of Buddhism is not to seek the Buddha outside but to realise that we ourselves are the Buddha.

©Boo Ahm

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A. How do you know whether someone is enlightened or not? What do you mean by unenlightened things? What do you think enlightened teachers’ lives should be like? Have you ever considered that their behaviour doesn’t appear to be as respectable as you expect because you cannot see them as they are? There is a saying that if you attain enlightenment, all the universe also becomes enlightened along with you. In other words, once you are enlightened, you realise that everything is perfection itself, happiness itself and eternity itself. The purpose of your practice is not to check whether a person is enlightened or not but to become enlightened yourself.

Ancient masters would say, “Don’t avoid illusions. They are the Buddha you are seeking. Don’t follow the Buddha. It is an illusion you are trying to avoid.” What matters now is not why enlightened teachers’ lives are undesirable but why you cannot see the Buddha hidden in their poor behaviour. However sacred their personal lives may be, they are no better than Maras to you if you cannot see and hear beyond what reaches your eyes and ears.

Supposing that you have a serious illness and there is a doctor with the ability to cure you of your illness, who behaves poorly, will you see this doctor or not in order to save your life? If their teachings are good, accept them. See their offensive behaviour as expedients they present to teach you.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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