A. Exactly right. You will become happiness itself the moment you reach the answer.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Category: Meditation
Q18. Whenever I practice Zen meditation, a lot of thoughts and ideas prevent me from focusing my attention to my question. I spend most practice time struggling to get rid of the thoughts. How can I remove my thoughts and concentrate on my question?
A. Very good question. That is the most common problem we are faced with during practice. Even very old memories of your childhood you have forgotten so far come into your mind and keep you from focusing your attention to your question. Don’t try to stop your thinking or remove your thoughts. The harder you try to do away with the thoughts, the more thoughts will arise. So, don’t try to fight against your thoughts. You will lose the battle exhausted. If you repeat the same pattern many times, you will be so exhausted and discouraged that you might come to give up your practice in the long run. However, the solution to the problem is very simple and easy.
Just trace back to the root which the thoughts stem from. When you are angry, just trace back to the root from which your anger comes out. The moment you see or reach the root, you will see yourself as you are, or reach your final goal. What an easy and nice practice this is! Then, the more thoughts come to you, the more practice you can do. Why should we struggle to remove our thoughts? In this way you can turn your problems into practice.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q17. We were asked, “You are bound at the wrist and feet and holding on to a branch by your teeth above a canyon….a guy comes along and shouts ….’Give me your name, or I will shoot you!’ What would you do?” I meditated on this for some time, then asked “is the answer to let go?”……as in to achieve enlightenment, do we have to learn to let go of everything we have been programmed to believe and look beyond the here and now?
A. ‘Let go of’ or ‘put down’ are very popular words among people who are interested in meditation, or how to keep their mind calm. They are very nice phrases and I never discourage you from letting go of or putting down. I do hope you can let go of or put down all things. In order to let go of things, we should be able to see everything as it is, by seeing ourselves as we are. If we can’t see things as they are, we can’t let go of things. As far as I know, some people are so anxious that they sometimes tend to fool themselves into believing that they let go of everything, pretending to let go of everything.
How can we let go of things when we don’t know what we are? When we can see everything as it is, by seeing ourselves as we are, we come to let go of things without any effort. So, I encourage you to try to see things as they are, rather than try to let go of things. When you focus all your attention to seeing yourself as you are, all your troubles will steal away and you will find that your problems are not a problem at all. The key point of letting go of things is not to let go of things, but to realise there is nothing to let go of.
Don’t try to let go of things.
That will only impose one more work on you.
How could you let go of things while not knowing what you are?
When you can see everything as it is, all your troubles will disappear before you let go of them.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q16. How does Zen help us connect with the present moment and with people around us?
A. Why can’t we connect ourselves with the present moment and people around us now? The key problem is that we can’t see ourselves as we are, that is, we don’t know what we are. Therefore we can’t see things as they are, and we don’t know what the present moment is and what people around us are. How can you connect yourself with them when you don’t know not only yourself but also them? What you need now is to try to see yourself as you are. When you can see yourself as you are, you can see things as they are. Then you are free to connect yourself with the present moment and with people around you, or separate yourself from them.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q15. Will there be any courses that combine Zen meditation and photography?
A. Yes, Zen meditation has a strong connection with different art forms and we will seek to explore this in some of our workshops.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q14. What is the best way to continue the meditation?
A. The strong point of Zen meditation is that it doesn’t require any special time or special place. As I said, if you can keep the question, it is a good practice, or a good meditation, wherever you are and whatever you do. Continue to ask yourself the same question you asked during our weekend program until you find the right answer. There’s no other way than it. Just as I said, ask yourself what makes your body do what you do whatever you may do. As time passes, your question will be part of you. Then the meditation will become much easier and even interesting, and work by itself in spite of you. Then you will begin to see what you couldn’t see before and hear what you couldn’t hear before.
What is it that is wondering ‘what is the best way to continue the meditation?’ A dead body can’t wonder. If you just keep wondering it, you are just wondering and thinking. But if you ask yourself what makes your body wonder, you come to practice Zen meditation. How simple!
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q13. Is seeing things as they are the same as uncovering the truth and is uncovering the truth the same as finding happiness?
A. Yes, uncovering the truth, you will be able to see everything as it is. Then you can see happiness. You will find you yourself are happiness itself. However, don’t think the truth is covered with something. The truth is always revealing itself everywhere at all times. The problem is that we are covered with fixed ideas or stereotypes. So our practice is to trying to see ourselves as we are without any stereotypes or fixed ideas.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q12. Do we have to have God or religion in Zen meditation?
A. No. As I said, I neither ask you to do something nor discourage you from doing something. I only ask you to try to see things as they are. When you see things as they are, whatever you do depends on you. Now how can you have God when you don’t know what you are and what God is?
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q11. You say we can only be happy when can know what we are when we are not this body, but is it not that peace and happiness is found when we let go of needing to understand what we are and learn to just be?
A. It is one thing to say we can be happy, when we let go of needing to understand what we are and learn to just be, and it is another to be able to just be and be happy when you are faced with unexpected and frustrating tragedies in reality. You say you let go of bad things. It is fine if you can. However, how can you let go of something when you don’t know what you are, that is, you don’t know who lets go of? We can read such good words in books but it is another story to put them into practice until we can see things as they are.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q10. Do we need to be a Buddhist to practice Zen meditation?
A. Do we need to be a Korean to eat Korean food? Anyone can try it if he thinks it is good for his or her health regardless of his or her nationality. Likewise, anyone can practice Zen meditation regardless of his or her religion.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
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