Category: Koan

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, Koan, master, Meditation, Mind, mindful, mindfulness, Practice, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q169. I was told to put my mind down and not to think of anything by my ex-master. How can I put down my mind?

Zen Fools

A. That is like telling a baby who can’t even stand on his own feet to run as fast as a sprinter. The first thing you should do in order to put your mind down is to know what your mind is. How would it be possible for you to put your mind down when you don’t know what it is? The key point in Zen meditation is whether or not you realise what your mind is, and not whether to put it down or not. Once you realise what your mind is, holding it or putting it down is up to you.

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One of the most common mistakes we make is to think that we know what we don’t know. You seem to be making the same mistake of trying to put your mind down, thinking that you know your mind while in fact you don’t know it. If you are anxious to put your mind down, do try to realise what it is before trying to put it down in vain. In fact, once you realise what your mind is, you can be said to have completed your practice, or to have attained enlightenment. Should you see your master again, first of all ask him what your mind is.
©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q168. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “True-self.”
Student: “Could you open your mind and show it to me?”
Master: “Of course. Flower. Sky. Tree. Stone.”

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Commentary:
A breeze stirs revealing the air.
The inside of the air is showing clearly.
Is it air or wind?
©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, Koan, Meditation, Mind, now, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q166. How can we use our Dharma discussion as part of practice?

Zen Fools

A. Discussions on Zen meditation and the Dharma are a very important part of our practice because we can help one another through them. In order to make the discussions efficient and helpful, special attitudes are required for these discussions, especially in the absence of a master who has can guide us.
When you ask your Zen friend a question, you should think you are not asking your friend, but Buddha the question and listen to him in the same way. When you are not satisfied with his answer, either because you don’t understand his answer or because you think he is giving a wrong answer, you should blame yourself for not understanding his perfect teaching rather than think he is wrong. You should keep in mind that he is telling you the truth regardless of whether his answer is right or wrong.

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When you are asked a question, you should regard the questioner as Buddha and think you are being tested by Buddha. Be frank about your practice, and try your best to make the best answer you can. Be neither happy because he agrees with you, nor unhappy because he doesn’t, since his approval itself doesn’t advance your practice and his disapproval doesn’t disturb your progress.

When you ask, asking itself is important because the answer is in your asking. When you listen, listening itself is important because the answer is in your listening. When you answer, answering itself is important because the answer is in your answering. In summary, what matters is all in you, not out of you.
©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q165. What am I when my body is not me?

Zen Fools

A. You answered your question before you finished asking it.

Commentary:
Don’t complain that the bill is being given to you when you’ve not even seen your appetiser.
You are to blame for waiting for the appetiser without noticing the main course being served.

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©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q163. I wonder why you say that we need no more practice after enlightenment, while most masters insist that we continue to practise after enlightenment.

Zen Fools

A. What is enlightenment? It means to realise that everything is empty and an illusion. To the enlightened, there is nothing to obtain because everything is an illusion. They are aware that not only practice but also enlightenment is an illusion. Then, practice, to try to obtain enlightenment is to make another illusion. In brief, the purpose of practice is to remove illusions. Why should we make new illusions while trying to remove illusions?

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Some people say it takes time to remove old bad habits that we have had for a lifetime even after enlightenment. However, the enlightened never make an artificial effort to remove them, but leave them alone to disappear by themselves of their own accord, because they know that not only old bad habits but also the disappearance of them is empty.
Waves in the sea, however wild, naturally grow calm with time when the storm stops.

 
©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Koan, Meditation, Mind, mindful, Practice, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q159. How can I clap with one hand?

Zen Fools

A. You already did.

Commentary:
The banker informs him that he is a billionaire, but he is still worried about his next meal.

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©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q156. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “A rat.”

Student: “Why do you say that you are a rat?”

Master: “Because of karma.”

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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

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Koan, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

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’?

Zen Fools

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’.

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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.

Buddhism, Enlightenment, Koan, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q149. Does our true-self accompany us when we go to hell?

Zen Fools

A. I think this is a question that can occur to you when you think your true-self is in your body and that it is so pure and holy that it has nothing to do with bad things like hell.

There is nothing larger than your true-self. Your true-self has infinite room left even when it houses millions of universes. All things imaginable, whether good or bad, happen only in your true-self. Nothing happens out of your mind. When you go to the hell, your going to hell happens in your true-self, and when going to the heaven, you go there in your true-self as well.

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Your true-self never judges right or wrong since it is always neutral or empty. It has no heaven and no hell. It neither helps you go to the heaven nor prevents you from going to the hell and vice versa. It is your discrimination that creates heaven or hell and makes you go to it.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway