Practice – Page 11

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Q203. If I find myself affixed to a single path to truth: the path of prayer and praise, or the path of kindness and love, or the path of wisdom and meditation, or any other path of a singular mode, am I going in the wrong way?

May 19, 2016 Zen Fools

A. No, you are not wrong at all. Feel free to choose any path that appeals to you and concentrate on seeking the root from which the path comes. Whichever path you may take, you will come to take the same way after all because they are from the same root, the truth that is not dual.

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We should realise the fact that all other things, as well as all paths, are from the same root even though they may look different from each other. The root is the very truth. To realise what the root is should be the final goal of all religions.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Q202. Is it okay to go on with my worldly job in order to make money, while seeking to attain enlightenment?

May 17, 2016 Zen Fools

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

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

Q201. Student: “What is the true-self?”

May 15, 2016May 15, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Do good things and don’t do bad things.”

Student: “Even a five-year-old child could know it.”

Master: “Even though a five-year-old child can say it,

even an eighty-year-old man can’t easily put it into practice.”

Commentary:

Don’t try to distinguish good things from bad things, but try to realise what their root is.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q197. How can we remove our illusions like removing mud from muddy water in a bottle?

May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 Zen Fools

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

emptiness, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, moment, Practice, root, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q196. Student: “What is the true-self?”

May 3, 2016May 3, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Ask me one more time.”

Student: “What is the true-self?”

Master: “I am not deaf. Why do you ask the same question two times?”

Commentary:

What a poor student!

He can’t distinguish an answer from a question.

If you are to see and hear new things, stop keeping company with your old friends.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q195. I think I am not seeing the Emptiness of questions and answers. Maybe I have just been seeing the form till now. Am I right?

May 2, 2016 Zen Fools

A. As I said before, you have been seeing the Emptiness since your birth. You have never stopped seeing it even for a moment, and you can’t stop it. All the Sutras say that Emptiness is form and form is Emptiness. Accordingly, seeing form is seeing Emptiness.

The problem is that you can’t recognise it because your eyes and ears are covered by your discrimination.

Student: “What is the Emptiness?”

Master: “What you see and hear is the Emptiness.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q193. Today, I thought that trying to attain enlightenment in any way is not correct. It is dualistic. There is still an ‘I’ that is trying and an illusion of gaining something. Is this correct?

April 26, 2016 Zen Fools

A. You are absolutely right. When we say ‘trying to attain enlightenment’, it can look and sound dual because there is ‘I’ and there is ‘enlightenment’ as you mentioned. However, I can’t help but explain it in this way because there is still enlightenment for you to attain until you realise that everything is empty and that there is nothing to gain or lose. Attaining enlightenment doesn’t mean that there is duality; ‘you’ and ‘enlightenment’ to be gained, but rather that you should realise everything is empty and there is no duality.

I talk you into attaining enlightenment because you have not realised the truth of non-duality through experience even though you have a lot of knowledge about non-duality and emptiness, and say that everything is empty and there is no enlightenment to attain. Strictly speaking, only when you realise the truth that everything is empty can you say that there is no enlightenment to attain, because there is nothing to realise any more. The reason why I say that you should attain enlightenment is not that there is duality; ‘you’ and ‘enlightenment’, but that you should realise the truth that everything is empty and non-dual and so there is no enlightenment to attain.

©Boo Ahm

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

Q192. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”

April 24, 2016 Zen Fools

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.

emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Meditation, Mind, Practice, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q191. What is freedom from thoughts?

April 22, 2016April 22, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Freedom from thoughts is not to be free from thoughts but to be free from bad thoughts. It doesn’t mean to be free from good thoughts. Bad thoughts are the thoughts whose root we don’t know, which are called illusions. Good thoughts are the thoughts whose root we do know, which are called form. For instance, when we see pictures on a screen as pictures, while watching a movie, they are called form. However, if we see them as real, not pictures, they are referred to as illusions, which are the source of our suffering.

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To see things as they are, is to see things as form, which is like seeing pictures on a screen as pictures, knowing they are not real while enjoying them. When we can see things as they are, whatever thoughts you produce are good thoughts. Then, you are said to be free from thoughts.

©Boo Ahm

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Q190. Why do illusions arise?

April 20, 2016April 20, 2016 Zen Fools

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.