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: Meditation
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
Q153. Student: “What am I when my body is not me?”
A. Master: “Where are you from?”
Student: “I am from New York.”
Master: “How did you come?”
Student: “By plane.”
Master: “How is the weather there these days?”
Student: “Very fine.”
Master: “That’s all. Nothing else.”
Commentary:
Is that all? What is that?
When lost, turn back the way you’ve just come.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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
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
Q146. What should I depend on in order to attain enlightenment?
A. You should depend on what you are depending on each moment. In fact, what matters now is not what to depend upon but whether or not you know what you are depending on this moment. Whatever you are doing now: speaking, listening, standing, sitting, drinking, and so on, you are doing it by depending on it. You are even reading this writing by being dependent upon it. You can’t do anything without it. The problem is that you don’t know what it is while relying on it.
To realise what you are depending on at this moment is to attain enlightenment. Ancient masters would say, “You are wandering around in search of a cow while riding it.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q145. What do you think of reciting mantra? What mantra would you recommend?
A. I never discourage you from doing anything. One thing you have to remember is that mantra has no power in itself at all. Many people think that mantra has a very special or mysterious holy power that can help them to achieve their goals. Not only mantra but also the Sutras have no such power by themselves. Buddha said that nothing has its own nature. However, if used in the right way, mantra can be a means of practice to realise your true-self. When reciting mantra, you should try to realise what is making your mouth recite it.
Anything can be a mantra; your spouse’s name, children’s name, names of things you like, such as coca cola or even the name of your pet. It doesn’t have to be a noun or a single word like mentioned above. It can be an adjective like ‘beautiful’ or ‘holy’ or a verb such as ‘go’ or ‘dance’. A sentence can be a good mantra as well, for example ‘I love you’. The key point is not what mantra to recite but how to recite it. Whatever mantra you recite, just try to realise what is making your body recite it. Then reciting mantra can be a good practice, which is not different from Zen.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q144. By all means possible, I want to realise what I am when my body is not me. What am I?
A. You can’t hide it.
Commentary:
Why don’t you recognise it while revealing it at every moment?
Don’t seek it and it will show itself.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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