Author: Zen Fools

Followers of the Way, if you know that fundamentally there is nothing to seek, you have settled your affairs. But because you have little faith, you run about agitatedly, seeking your head which you think you have lost. You cannot stop yourselves.

Such are the Bodhisattvas of sudden enlightenment who enter the scheme of manifested things, turning to the Pure Land, disliking the worldly and desiring the sacred. They have not yet forgotten either grasping or letting go, and so their hearts contain both taints and purity.

Commentary:

‘You have settled your affairs’ means that you have realised that everything is empty, that is, you have attained enlightenment. ‘You have little faith’ implies that you are not enlightened. In other worlds, we run about agitatedly in vain pursuit of the true-Self since we have not realised that everything, including ourselves, is empty and that there is nothing at all to seek.

‘The Bodhisattvas of sudden enlightenment’ here implies those who believe that their doctrinal understanding is enlightenment. They are still deluded by such illusions as ‘grasping’, ‘letting go’, ‘taints’, ‘purity’ and so on because they have not realised that there is nothing to grasp or to let go of, not to mention ‘taints’ and ‘purity’.

Student: “What is the Pure Land?”

Master: “You’ve just tainted it.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

A. An ancient master named Dongshan once said, “The Way becomes one with human being and human being becomes one with the Way. Do you want to know the meaning? One grows old and the other doesn’t.”  ‘The Way’ here means the true-Self, the Buddha that doesn’t get old. Buddha said on his deathbed, “Take a close look at me. If you think I perish, you are not my students. If you think that I don’t perish, you are not my students, either.” In other words, Buddha doesn’t mean physical being that is born and dies but means immortal and eternal being that transcends birth and death. Buddha never dies because He has never been born. To think that Buddha dies is to be deluded by the illusion of Buddha.

The point is that Buddha is not a special being somewhere else that is superior to us but no other than the essence of our being. The core of Buddhism is to realise the fact.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

One day a monk said to Master Sukshang, “They say that we should go to the place without any grass for 10,000 miles. How can I go there?” Sukshang said, “If you go out of the gate, you cannot avoid stepping on grassland.” When the monk asked another master about Sukshang’s answer, the master said, “Even though you don’t go out of the gate, you will fall into a grass-covered field as well.”

Student: “What should I do if I have to stay neither within nor without the gate?”

Master: “Why do you make the gate into grassland?”

Commentary:

Do away with the gate, and each blade of grass will turn into a gate to the Pure Land.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Whatever land he may visit, he tries to relieve sentient beings during his stay there whilst roaming through the kingdoms. Yet, he never strays for a single thought from his shining purity. Penetrating the ten directions, the ten thousand things are of one Suchness.

Commentary:

‘Whatever land he may visit’ means ‘whatever situation he may be faced with’. ‘His shining purity’ implies the true-Self. In other words, once you get enlightened, you can’t stray from the true-Self even for a moment whatever situation you may be placed in.

‘Penetrating the ten directions, the ten thousand things are as one Suchness’ means that even if you face ten different situations and see ten thousand different things, you are aware that they are all the functions of one Suchness which is Emptiness, the true-Self.

Student: “What is the shining purity?”

Master: “Thank you for showing it.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

A. To see things as empty is, in other words, to see things as being neutral. This is to say that all the characteristics pertaining to anything, or to any situation, are not intrinsic in their own right but are instead determined and defined by the view of the beholder according to circumstances. Put in another way, everything is meaningless and neutral, in essence, unless we give it meaning and put labels on it. If something is good, it is not because it is intrinsically good but only because we regard it as such. That is why what is the best to one person can be the worst to another and vice versa, and what is the best today can be the worst tomorrow.

Let’s consider the following story as an example. Once upon a time, there lived an old farmer named Saehong in China. One day his horse ran away, and he lost it. Then, his neighbours said to him, “How unlucky you are to lose your horse!” He responded, “Who knows whether it is fortune or misfortune?” Sometime later his lost horse unexpectedly returned together with a very handsome horse. His neighbours, this time, congratulated him on obtaining a nice horse for nothing. He said, “Who knows whether it is fortune or misfortune?” Sometime later his son fell off the horse and broke one of his legs. This time his neighbours said, “How unlucky you are that your son had his leg broken because of the new horse!” He said without any emotion, “Who knows whether it is fortune or misfortune?” Not long after that, a war broke out in the country. When many young people, drafted for military service, lost their lives, his son escaped being drafted for the war because of his broken leg.

To those who are undergoing suffering from the negative effects of the current situation; being infected, losing loved ones, losing their livelihood and so on, coronavirus is harmful and perilous. However, it is also true that the current situation has positive effects such as decreasing air pollution, creating ceasefires between warring countries, etcetera. To the people who suffer from respiratory disease caused by air pollution and who are now enjoying breathing cleaner air, the coronavirus can feel helpful.

Those who are undergoing negative effects because of the current circumstances can be compared to being in the situation in which the farmer lost his horse from the neighbours’ perspective. Those who are enjoying positive effects due to the current events can be likened to being in the situation in which the farmer’s horse returned with another nice horse from the neighbours’ point of view.

Which perspective will you take, the farmer’s or his neighbours’? It’s up to you.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Master Daejoo asked a monk who lectured on the Sutras, “What Sutra are you lecturing on these days?” He answered, “I am lecturing on the Diamond Sutra.” Daejoo said, “Saying that the Buddha spoke is finding fault with the Buddha. Saying that the Sutras are not the Buddha’s speech is finding fault with the Sutras. What would you say apart from these two comments?” The monk couldn’t answer the question.

Student: “What should I say in order to avoid finding fault with both comments?”

Master: “The Diamond Sutra says there is no Buddha and the Buddha said that he had never spoken even a single word.”

Commentary:

What can be found fault with is neither the Buddha nor the Sutras.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Followers of the Way, the one who at this moment stands alone, clearly and lively right before the eyes and is listening, this one is nowhere obstructed; unhindered he penetrates everywhere and moves freely in the Three Worlds. Entering all kinds of situations, he is never affected by them. In the fraction of a moment he goes to the bottom of the scheme of things. Meeting Buddha, he talks to Buddha; meeting patriarchs, he talks to patriarchs; meeting Arhats, he talks to Arhats; meeting hungry ghosts, he talks to hungry ghosts.

Commentary:

‘The one who at this moment stands alone, clearly and lively right before the eyes and is listening’ implies the true-Self. ‘This one is nowhere obstructed; unhindered he penetrates everywhere and moves freely in the Three Worlds’ doesn’t mean that the true-Self moves here and there freely but means that everything, including the Three Worlds, is just the function of the true-Self without exception.

In ‘entering all kinds of situation, he is never affected by them’ ‘he’ is an enlightened person who has realised that he is one with the true-Self and that all kinds of situations are just the function of the true-Self. That’s why he is never affected by the situations he enters. Then, it is very clear to him that Buddha, patriarchs, Arhats (figures who have attained genuine insight in Southern Buddhism) and hungry ghosts are all, in essence, just the same since they are no more than the functions of the true-Self. So, he can handle them freely. Thinking of them as different from one another, according to their names and forms, is being deluded by their illusions.

Student: “How should we meet and talk to Buddha and the patriarchs and handle hungry ghosts?”

Master: “When you meet Buddha and the patriarchs, they turn into Maras if you are attracted by and follow them. When you meet Maras, they turn into Buddha if you are indifferent to them and don’t run away.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

A. There is a significant conversation between an ancient master and his student that is relevant for the current situation: “How can I avoid heat and cold when they come?” “Why don’t you go where there is neither heat nor cold?”.

‘Go where there is neither heat nor cold’ means to see everything as empty, which, as often previously mentioned, is seeing everything with all the labels describing it detached from it. When there are no labels, imaginary lines that distinguish all things from one another, there are no human beings, no plants, no birth and no death. The state without any labels is referred to as the Buddha, or the Pure Land. To experience this state is to see the Buddha, or to enter the Pure Land that is without heat and cold.

When we see everything as empty, that is, when there are no labels at all, there is neither corona virus to infect human beings nor human beings to be infected by it. When we can see the current situation in this way, we can enjoy our lives as usual as if there were no virus. This, however, doesn’t mean that we don’t have to be watchful about corona virus but means that we are sufficiently vigilant though not so seized with fear that we lose our reason and become so selfish as to stockpile daily necessities. When we remain calm as usual, we can not only be cautious and more effectively prepared for danger but also make wiser decisions than when we are at a loss being captivated by fear.

So, the attitude that Zen practitioners should take in the current pandemic situation is to live as calmly as if there were no corona virus whilst being vigilant enough and to take care of, or comfort those who are in trouble mentally, or materially, due to the current circumstances.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Fayan was once asked by a monastic, “I learned in the sutras that all dharmas are based on the non-abiding origin. What is the non-abiding origin?”

Fayan said, “Form is born from formlessness and name comes from the unnameable.”

Student: “What is formlessness?”

Master: “Form.”

Student: “What is the unnameable?”

Master: “Name.”

Commentary:

If you are not deluded by words, form is formlessness, but if you are, the unnameable is a name.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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