A. You already did.
Commentary:
The banker informs him that he is a billionaire, but he is still worried about his next meal.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Category: Buddha
Q158. How can we, sentient beings, know Buddha?
A. I never ask you to try to know Buddha that seems to be far above us. Now I am encouraging you to realise what a sentient being is because you know that you are a sentient being.
The key problem, however, is that you don’t know what a sentient being is, because you don’t know what you are even though you say that you are a sentient being. What matters is that Buddha is he who knows what a sentient being is, since Buddha is he who can see himself as he is because Buddha and sentient beings are from the same root. In brief, Buddha is none other than a sentient being who can see himself as he is.
A Buddha who can’t see his True-self is a sentient being.
A Sentient being who can see his True-self is a Buddha.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q157. How can we have less suffering when an unhappy thing happens to us?
A. Why do we have less fear than children when we get an injection in the hospital? Do we have less pain than children? When do we feel more pain, getting an injection while awake or while asleep? We feel much less suffering while awake because we can know the context before and after the injection: why we have to get it, what will happen after we get it, and what the feeling will be like, and we can get ourselves mentally ready to take it in advance.
However, being injected while asleep will make me feel more pain because we are not ready. Likewise, children feel more pain or suffering than grown-ups because they can’t understand the context including the fact that the injection will relieve them of the suffering they are undergoing now. In the same way, when we can see the essence of things we are going through by seeing things as they are, we can feel much less suffering than those who can’t see things as they are.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q156. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”
A. Master: “A rat.”
Student: “Why do you say that you are a rat?”
Master: “Because of karma.”
Commentary:
Look and listen carefully.
It is not a rat but your eyes and ears that matter.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q154. How do you think Zen meditation can help Christians to overcome original sin?
A. According to the Bible, man can’t have eternal happiness or find salvation because of the original sin he committed in the beginning of time. The sin was eating the fruit of the tree of life, and as a result, our mind became discriminating, which prevents us from seeing God. The Bible says that we can be forgiven for the sin and find salvation only by believing in God.
To find salvation means to return to the original state prior to eating the fruit. And to believe in God means to see God, just as the old saying goes, ‘Seeing is believing’. Seeing God is possible by removing the discriminating mind.
The Sutras say that whatever good things we may do, we can’t enjoy eternal happiness without life and death, even though we can enjoy temporary happiness, unless we realise the true-self by removing the discriminating mind.
The core teachings of Christianity and Buddhism are the same in that we can enjoy eternal happiness by eliminating the discriminating mind. Zen meditation is a practice to remove the discriminating mind.
So, to help Christians to remove their discriminating mind is to help them to overcome original sin.
Q152. How can I drink just milk when it is mixed with water?
A. Milk. Milk.
Commentary:
Why do you see only water when the master says, ‘Milk’?
Look and listen the other way around.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q151. I heard that we should remove our ‘I’ and experience ‘non-ego’ in order to see the true-self. How can I remove my ‘I’?
A. Don’t try in vain to remove your ‘I’. You can’t do so because you don’t know what it is. Just try to know what you are when your body is not you. When you reach the final goal, you realise that it is not worth mentioning ‘I’. In short, the illusion of your ‘I’ will disappear. Then, you can be said to experience or realise ‘non-ego’.
When you can’t see yourself as you are, you see the illusion of your ‘I’ as yourself. When you can see yourself as you are, you come to realise the essence of your being, your true-self called Buddha Nature. When you don’t know what you are, your ego is you, but when you know what you are, you have no ‘I’ to remove. Then you feel oneness.
Q150. Does enlightenment have anything to do with gender?
A. Absolutely not. It is a very common belief that only males can attain enlightenment and so females have to be reborn as males in order to attain enlightenment. However, it makes no sense at all. That is against Buddha’s teaching that everything is empty and equal. Gender is also empty and is an illusion.
Enlightenment is to realise your true-self, that is, what you are when your body is not you. When your body is not you, how can you be male or female? Enlightenment has nothing at all to do with gender but a lot to do with how hard you practice and whether or not you practice in the right way.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q148. Is happiness obtained through filling our mind or through emptying our mind?
A. This is not a matter of whether to fill or empty, but a matter of realising what the mind is. The ultimate end of Zen meditation is to realise what the mind that you are going to fill or empty is.
This question shows well how unaware we are of what we say and how imprudently we are seeking happiness. How could we fill or empty the mind while not knowing what it is? In fact, it is because you don’t know what your mind is that you have such an idea of filling or emptying it. Once you get to see it clearly, you will realise that it can’t be filled or emptied because it is perfect, and that you are happiness itself.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q.147 Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”
Master: “A rat.”
Student: “Why do you say that you are a rat?”
Master: “What shall I say I am?
Student: “Buddha Nature.”
Master: “My rat is much better than your Buddha Nature.”
Commentary:
What a wonderful rat! What poor Buddha Nature!
A rat swallows Buddha Nature in a single gulp.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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