Category: final goal

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, Practice, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q209. I was advised to forget and give up ‘self’ by my former master. How can I do it?

Zen Fools

A. If you are to forget and give up yourself, try to know what ‘yourself’ is prior to seeking to forget and give it up. One of the most common mistakes we make in Zen meditation is trying to do something we don’t know at all. The reason why you find it difficult to forget and give up yourself is that you don’t know what yourself is.

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How could you forget and give up yourself without knowing what it is? Make every effort to realise what ‘yourself’ is, which is the core of Zen meditation. If you succeed in realising what it is, you will become oneness with the whole universe and realise that there is nothing worth being labelled as ‘you’; then, there is nothing to forget or give up.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, mindfulness, Practice, root, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q208. During my practice, I sometimes feel fear, as well as joy and bliss. Is this normal? How should I react to it?

Zen Fools

A. It’s a very common feeling that you can experience during practice. Whatever scenes and whatever emotions, good or bad, neither avoid nor follow them. They are all illusions. Just try to trace them back to the root from which they come. The purpose of Zen meditation is to realise what the root of all illusions is. It is because you are making a little progress that you have such feelings. From now on, do think of them as a gate to the final goal, your true-self, and your practice will make big progress.

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Student: “Sir, I feel fear during my practice.”

Master: “That is an action of your true-self.”

Student: “You said that fear is an illusion.”

Master: “It is when you don’t know that fear is an action of your true-self that it is an illusion.”

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Meditation, Mind, moment, Practice, present, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q207. Student: “Can I hold the true-self in my hand?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “You can’t let go of it even for a moment.”

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Commentary:

The sharpest sword can’t cut itself.

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Koan, Meditation, Mind, Practice, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q205. How do the enlightened deal with so-called illusions?

Zen Fools

A. I would like to compare their life to a king’s life.

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He lives as a king all the time while his men are always replaced.

He doesn’t live where others live,

Nor does he go where others go,

Not because he doesn’t like them or he finds it difficult to live with them,

But because they come to him whenever he needs them and go back when they finish their work.

Sometimes when some of them stay there longer, he is not bothered by them because he knows that they are his men.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, master, Meditation, Mind, mindfulness, Practice, root, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q204. Student: “How is a tree when it withers and all its leaves are fallen?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “It totally reveals its body.”

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Commentary:

It stands on the Earth supporting the sky and filling the universe to the full.

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, God, Happiness, Meditation, Mind, One, Practice, Prayer, Religion, root, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q203. If I find myself affixed to a single path to truth: the path of prayer and praise, or the path of kindness and love, or the path of wisdom and meditation, or any other path of a singular mode, am I going in the wrong way?

Zen Fools

A. No, you are not wrong at all. Feel free to choose any path that appeals to you and concentrate on seeking the root from which the path comes. Whichever path you may take, you will come to take the same way after all because they are from the same root, the truth that is not dual.

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We should realise the fact that all other things, as well as all paths, are from the same root even though they may look different from each other. The root is the very truth. To realise what the root is should be the final goal of all religions.

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Koan, master, Meditation, Mind, mindful, mindfulness, Practice, Religion, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q202. Is it okay to go on with my worldly job in order to make money, while seeking to attain enlightenment?

Zen Fools

A. Enlightenment is to realise that everything is empty and so there is nothing to gain or lose. That means that there is nothing that you should or shouldn’t do in the world. Zen meditation is to try realise the truth.

The key point is not what you are doing for a living, but whether or not you try to realise the truth in the right way, that is, try to realise what you are when your body is not you. If you try to realise what makes your body do your work while doing it, that is good practice. In terms of that, your job can be a good gate to enlightenment. Work and practice are one to a good Zen man.

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Student: “What is the true-self?”

Master: “It is what is asking me the question now.”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Mind, Practice, root, self, student, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q201. Student: “What is the true-self?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “Do good things and don’t do bad things.”

Student: “Even a five-year-old child could know it.”

Master: “Even though a five-year-old child can say it,

even an eighty-year-old man can’t easily put it into practice.”

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Commentary:

Don’t try to distinguish good things from bad things, but try to realise what their root is.

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, One, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q200. How can I discard ignorance and attain wisdom?

Zen Fools

A. Don’t try in vain to abandon one and attain the other. It’s like trying to discard the left and attain only the right. In fact, both are one when you know them. They only look separate and different from each other when you don’t know them. Try to realise what the ignorance is that you think you have, rather than striving to attain the wisdom you think you don’t have. Wisdom is none other than to know what ignorance is. Becoming Buddha is realising what a sentient being is.

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Student: “What shall I do when I have a thief in my house?”

Master: “Once you know him, he is not an enemy any longer.”

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Meditation, Mind, present, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q199. I am always so disturbed by the noises of my family members during my practice that I end up getting upset and spoiling my practice. What can I do to solve this problem?

Zen Fools

A. Don’t think of them as obstructions but as helpers. Your idea is like complaining that the wind is preventing you from finding air when you are diligently looking for air. The wind can be likened to your family members and air to your final goal. In fact, they are what you are looking for even though they look different from what you are seeking. They only look so because you can’t see them as they are.

 

Everything is the gate to enlightenment. If you can see only a single thing, whatever it is, as it is, you will reach the final goal. Your family members are also the gate to enlightenment even though they appear otherwise. Ask yourself what makes your body hear the noises and makes your body get angry. Ask yourself what they are when their bodies are not them and what causes their bodies to make such noises. Sooner or later, you might feel more grateful rather than angry with them. If you can find the correct answer to either of these two questions, you can be said to have attained enlightenment.

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Student: “What is the true-self?”

Master: “There is nothing that is not it.”

Student: “Why can’t I see it?”

Master: “Because you seek something else other than what you see and hear.”

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway