One – Page 3 – Zen Fools

Buddha, Buddhism, master, Meditation, One, Photography, Practice, root, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q311. What shall we do when we have no master around us?

January 26, 2017January 17, 2017 Zen Fools

A. Don’t think that you have no master around but think that you are not ready to meet him. Ready yourself to meet a master by asking yourself the questions that you will ask a master when you meet him. When a student is ready, a master will appear. When not ready, a student can’t recognise a master even though he appears before him. In fact, he is already beside you and always ready to help you. He is waiting to be recognised by you.

All the people and everything around you are your master. Even you yourself are your master, too. They are giving Dharma talks to you every moment. Even you yourself are giving Dharma talks all the time. The point is that you are still not ready enough to hear the Dharma talk. Make yourself ready to meet him by practising hard and, sooner or later, he will suddenly appear before you.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, master, Meditation, One, Photography, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q309. Student: “What is the true-self?”

January 22, 2017January 17, 2017 Zen Fools

A. Master: “How can I explain it better than you?”

Commentary:

Wisdom never scolds or speaks ill of foolishness.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, master, Meditation, Mind, One, Photography, Practice, present, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q305. It is said that we should know the mind prior to thinking. How can we know the mind prior to thinking?

January 12, 2017January 12, 2017 Zen Fools

A. ‘Have to know the mind prior to a thinking’ is a very common saying in Zen circles. This makes sense. The problem is that people, not grasping the point of the saying, follow the words: They struggle to divide their mind into two, and distinguish the mind prior to thinking from the mind after thinking.

The core teaching of Buddhism is non-duality, oneness. Your mind is not dual or multiple. You should know that the mind which is producing thinking at this moment is not different and separate from the mind prior to thinking, but it is the very mind prior to thinking that you want to know. The mind that is reading this writing at this moment is the mind you should realise. There is no other mind than this.

Student: “What is the mind prior to thinking?”

Master: “Why do you ask me where your tongue is?”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, One, Photography, root, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q287. Why did ancient masters say that there is no Buddha in the Buddha Land?

December 1, 2016 Zen Fools

A. The Buddha Land, interpreted literally, is a land without any sentient beings where only Buddhas are. When there is only Buddha without any sentient beings, Buddha is not Buddha any more than the right is the right when there is no left.

In fact, the Buddha Land is not a land somewhere else other than the Earth where we live but simply a non-discriminating mind without any illusions. Buddha and sentient beings are, in fact, illusions, all fruits of discrimination. In other words, when we don’t make any discrimination, there is neither Buddha nor sentient beings, which is called Buddha Land. So, one of the famous ancient masters used to say, “Pass by quickly where there is no Buddha, and don’t stay where there is Buddha.”

Student: “Where is the Buddha Land?”

Master: “In your house.”

Student: “There is no Buddha, and there are only my wife and children in my house.

Master: “There is no sun to a blind man even at midday.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, One, Photography, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q286. Masters tell us to discard our ‘I’. How can I do it?

November 29, 2016 Zen Fools

A. They mean that you should eliminate the illusions of you, that is, all the labels attached to you, or all the words used to describe your identity. This is because all suffering is from your mistaking the labels attached to you as you and at the same time being attached to them.

When you are deluded by labels, like this, they are referred to as illusions. The final goal of Zen is to realise that labels are not real but only imaginary lines and to see what you are like free from labels. That is called seeing your true-self, or attaining enlightenment.

Student: “How can I discard my ‘I’?”

Master: “You should know that all you believe to be you is not you but just an illusion.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Bible, Buddha, Buddhism, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Koan, Meditation, One, Photography, Practice, Religion, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q283. Sometimes you say that we should remove all illusions, but sometimes you say there is nothing that is not the true-self. How can this be?

November 22, 2016 Zen Fools

A. It’s true that everything is the true-self and there is nothing that is not the true-self. However, it is also true that everything is an illusion and there is nothing that is not an illusion. To remove illusions doesn’t mean to detach illusions from the true-self and throw them away to a remote place. If you happen to think this way, you are going in the opposite direction away from your goal because you separate illusions from the true-self and make them two.

As we have mentioned many times, the purpose of Zen meditation is to realise oneness or non-duality. Jesus also said, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male is not male nor the female female; then will you enter the kingdom.” To remove illusions means to realise the truth that all illusions are the true-self and both of them are one. Therefore, when we are not enlightened, that is, when we can’t see things as they are, everything is an illusion, but when we are enlightened, there is nothing that is not the true-self.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Koan, master, Meditation, One, Photography, student, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q282. Student: “When only one of your shoes is left, where has the other gone?”

November 20, 2016November 20, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Scattered.”

Commentary:

Scattered, scattered.

How clear it is!

One swallowed the other.

©Boo Ahm

Bible, Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, God, master, Meditation, Mind, One, Photography, Practice, Religion, root, self, student, sutras, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q277. How can I, as a Christian, go to Heaven?

November 8, 2016November 9, 2016 Zen Fools

A. If you are to go to Heaven you should, above all, know where it is in order to go there, and then you should also know how to get there. I am going to quote from Jesus about where it is and how to get there.

Jesus said, “If those who lead you say to you, ‘See, the kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.” In other words, everything, whether Heaven or Hell, is produced by your mind. Where you are now is both Heaven and Hell. Whether it is Heaven or Hell depends on your mind.

Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male is not be male nor the female the female; and when you fashion an eye in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom.” Put more simply, this means that in order to enter Heaven, we should not discriminate. We have a very similar saying in Zen: Make the smallest distinction and you are as far from it as Heaven is from Earth. In conclusion, to realise that Heaven and Hell are only illusions produced by your mind is to enter Heaven.

Student: “How can I enter Heaven?”

Master: “Enter Hell.”

©Boo Ahm

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Koan, master, Meditation, Mind, One, Photography, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q264. Student: “The deepest lake, when dried up, reveals its bottom after all. Why can’t we see a person’s mind even when he dies?”

October 9, 2016October 9, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Because you try to see it.”

Commentary:

Cut the tendon in the air and you can see it clearly.

©Boo Ahm

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, One, Practice, Religion, root, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q262. The phrase ‘Striving to reach London while staying in London’ doesn’t make any sense to me. What does it mean?

October 4, 2016 Zen Fools

A. The purpose of Zen meditation is to experience emptiness in person. London is a symbol of emptiness and reaching London means to experience emptiness. It means, in other words, that we are trying to experience emptiness while being emptiness itself. Reaching emptiness is realising the truth that we ourselves are emptiness, not reaching it by moving towards it.

In order to see whether you grasp these words clearly, ask yourself the following question.

Student: “How do you feel when you realise emptiness?”

Master: “I’ll be wrong if I answer your question.”