A. Master: “Because you try to see it.”
Commentary:
Cut the tendon in the air and you can see it clearly.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Category: Koan
Q258. Master: “When a guest comes, you should take care of him, but when a thief comes, you should turn him away.”
A. Student: “What is a guest?”
Master: “Just passed by.”
Student: “What is a thief?”
Master: “A guest.”
Commentary:
What you think is a guest is a thief, and what you think is a thief is a guest.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q252. Student: “What is Buddha?”
A. Master: “It’s in the Buddha hall.”
Student: “Isn’t it just a statue made of clay?”
Master: “Yes, it is.”
Student: “What is Buddha then?”
Master: “It’s in the Buddha hall.”
Commentary:
It is a top secret.
Keep away all your acquaintances when looking and listening.
Look and listen by yourself.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q249. Student: “What am I when my body is not me?”
A. Master: “It is not difficult to say, but I wonder if you will believe what I say.”
Student: “Of course, I will believe what you say.”
Master: “I am your son.”
Commentary:
Master’s answer breaks all the world into pieces.
Who is master’s mother when he is older than his father?
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q247. Which do you belong to?
A. One is so blind that he can’t see his mother before him and so deaf that he can’t hear a crack of thunder.
The other is so sharp-sighted that he can see an ant in a forest thousands of miles away and so sharp-eared that he can hear an ant moving in a forest thousands of miles away.
Which is the greater of the two?
Each of us belongs to either of them.
Which do you belong to?
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q 246. Master: “How old are you?”
A. Student: “I’m fifty years old.”
Master: “How old is fifty years?”
Student: “I don’t know.”
Master: “How come you still don’t know your age?”
Student: “How old are you, Sir?”
Master: “Eighty years old.”
Student: “How old is eighty years?”
Master: “Eight times ten is eighty.”
Commentary:
Don’t think that the student’s right answer is five times ten.
The curved can’t contain the straight.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q243. Student: “What is pure mind?”
A. Student: “What is pure mind?”
Master: “Rotten shit.”
Student: “What is dirty mind?”
Master: “Beautiful flowers.”
Commentary:
Don’t aim at the shadow on the ground of a game bird when it has flown away high in the sky.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q240. Master: “Are you married?”
A. Student: “Yes, Sir.”
Master: “Do you know your wife?”
Student: “Of course, Sir. I share the same bed with her.”
Master: “How many hairs does she have on her head?”
Student: “I don’t know. How could I know that?”
Master: “Don’t say that you know your wife then.”
Commentary:
Don’t try to extract juice by squeezing dry sticks.
The number of the fingers of a hand is five.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q237. Student: “All forms return to emptiness. Where does emptiness return to?”
A. Master: “Waves never leave the sea.”
Commentary:
Winds never return to air because they never leave air.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q231. Student: “What is the true-self?”
A. Master: “What do you think it is?”
Student: “I have no idea.”
Master: “You are right.”
Commentary:
Master opens the shell and offers the flesh.
Why do you try in vain to eat only the hard shell?
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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