A. Master: “I would avoid it by entering an old shelter.”
Commentary:
Fish don’t think that they are wet.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Category: Koan
Q205. How do the enlightened deal with so-called illusions?
A. I would like to compare their life to a king’s life.
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
Q204. Student: “How is a tree when it withers and all its leaves are fallen?”
A. Master: “It totally reveals its body.”
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
Q202. Is it okay to go on with my worldly job in order to make money, while seeking to attain enlightenment?
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.
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
Q197. How can we remove our illusions like removing mud from muddy water in a bottle?
A. To remove our illusions, like removing mud from muddy water, doesn’t mean to remove them from our mind to another place in the same way that we might move things from one place to another; rather, we should realise that illusions are not real but empty. In other words, it is necessary to realise that what we think of as mud is not mud at all, but just water itself; it only appears as mud due to our discrimination. Trying to move illusions to another place is like trying to remove lion’s horn. The only way to remove lion’s horn is just to realise that no lion has a horn.
Student: “How can I remove my illusions?”
Master: “Where are they?”
Student: “They are in my mind.”
Master: “Where is your mind?”
Student: “I don’t know.”
Master: “Try to find your mind before trying to remove your illusions.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q192. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”
A.Master: “What are you when your body is not you?”
Commentary:
If you are to grasp the Master’s kind answer, you should listen with your ears closed.
Q190. Why do illusions arise?
A. They arise because you don’t know what they are. In fact, you don’t know what an illusion is even though you often mention it. You can’t remove or stop it from showing up because you don’t know what it is.
In fact, there are no illusions at all. There is only the truth, or the true-self. The problem is that you are mistaking the truth for illusions. Enlightenment is to realise that all illusions are the truth, or the true-self. As the Diamond Sutra says, to realise that a flower is not a flower, but emptiness, is enlightenment. To realise that an illusion is not real, but empty, is enlightenment. Realising that an illusion is not an illusion, but the truth, or the true-self is enlightenment.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q186. Student: “Why is it so difficult to express the true-self?”
A. Master: “Not difficult at all.”
Student: “Do it for me, Sir.”
Master: “Difficult.”
Commentary:
Don’t draw a bow after the thief ran away.
If I were asked to do it, I would say, “Easy”.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q173. Where do we go after we die?
A. If you are anxious to know where you will go after death, you should know where you are now. How could you expect to know your future which is invisible, not knowing the present right before your eyes? Once you know where you are standing now, you can know not just where you will go after death but also where you were before you were born. In order to know where you are, you, first of all, should know what you are. How could you know where you are, not knowing what you are?
Your true-self is not born and does not die. It has always been and will be the same without any change forever. It never changes at all. You are eternity itself. Death and birth are only illusions. The problem is that you are not aware of this truth because you can’t see things as they are. The end of Zen meditation is to experience the truth through your body.
Do you want to know where you will go after your death?
Watch carefully what you are stepping on.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q172. Is mind different from thoughts?
A. Thoughts are to mind what winds are to the air and waves are to the sea. In other words, thoughts are the actions of mind, and thoughts are temporary but mind is permanent. In brief, mind is the root of all thoughts, and is called true-self as well in Buddhism.
When we can see mind, the root of thoughts clearly, we can control thoughts, but most people are controlled by them because they cannot see mind for thoughts. After all, we become enslaved by the thoughts produced by us. Zen meditation is a practice to see mind.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Zen Fools 