Category: root

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

Q367. I felt I saw Buddha in someone. Is this possible?

Zen Fools

A. When seeing self-sacrificial or wise figures in someone, people tend to feel the same way as you did. This is one of the new experiences that Zen students can go through. What matters is to see Buddha inside you. Only Buddha can recognise Buddha. To Buddha, everything is Buddha, and there is nothing that is not Buddha. If you can see Buddha only in a certain person, or in a certain place for a certain time, that is an illusion. Once you see Buddha, from that moment everything including yourself looks and sounds as Buddha all the time, forever.

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However, the fact that you felt you saw Buddha in someone is showing that you are very much involved in Zen meditation because it is a very common experience in Zen practice. If you keep practising hard, you will have such experiences more frequently. This is good evidence that you are making progress. However, you should not cling to pleasant experiences or try to repeat them. However wonderful or terrible they may appear, don’t care about them. Even if Buddha appears, leave him alone. That is to kill Buddha when meeting Buddha.

 

Student: “I saw Buddha in someone.”

Master: “You saw yourself.”

Student: “Then, why can’t I see Buddha again?”

Master: “Because, then, you were Buddha, but now you are not.”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q364. What if enlightenment brings us unhappiness?

Zen Fools

A. Such a thing never happens. Enlightenment means to attain eternal happiness. If someone says that he is still unhappy after enlightenment, he is confessing not only that he is not enlightened but also that he doesn’t know what enlightenment is. Your question is like ‘What if eating too much makes me hungry?’ or ‘What if earning huge wealth makes me poor?’. Enlightenment means to realise that you are eternity itself and happiness itself.

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Student: “What if enlightenment brings us unhappiness?”

Master: “Be willing to accept it. That is the happiness that you are looking for.”

Student: “Why should I accept unhappiness while looking for happiness?”

Master: “Your unhappiness results from mistaking happiness for unhappiness. Enlightenment is to realise that unhappiness is not different from happiness.”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q363. Why did the pagan say that Buddha had cleared away the clouds of his mind and had made him enter into awakening?

Zen Fools

A. A pagan asked Buddha, “Without words, without silence, will you tell me the true Self?” Buddha kept silent. The pagan bowed and thanked the Buddha, saying, “With compassion you have cleared away the clouds of my mind and have made me enter into awakening.” After he left, Ananda asked the Buddha what he had attained. The Buddha said, “A good horse runs even at a shadow of the whip.”

 

Student: “The pagan asked Buddha to tell him the true Self without words and without silence, but Buddha kept silent. Why did the pagan say that Buddha had cleared away the clouds of his mind and had made him enter into awakening?”

Master: “It is because you are deaf that you say that Buddha kept silent. What Buddha expounded sounded so loud that it broke the pagan’s eardrums.”

Student: “What is the shadow of the whip that Buddha mentioned when he was asked by Ananda?”

Master: “You are not a good horse.”

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Commentary:

The pagan and Ananda took the same medicine.

The former became well thanks to the medicine,

but the latter is giving dry coughs with it caught in his throat.

Why don’t you hear what Buddha expounded while hearing what the pagan said?

Why don’t you see the shadow of the whip that the pagan saw?

You are not only deaf but also blind.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Meditation, Mind, One, Photography, Practice, root, sex, sexual, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q 361.When we resolutely pursue our awakening, do situations arise within the illusion to deepen our practice? For example, Mara’s daughters came to tempt the Buddha, so was his attachment to sexual desire being tested? So, where we have very strong attachments, will these appear more powerfully in our life as an opportunity for us to deepen our practice?

Zen Fools

A. In Zen we have a saying that the higher your practice is, the more powerful Mara (temptation) is. In fact, this is one of the sayings that are very often misinterpreted. Most people think that this saying means that the more your practice grows, the more powerful Mara becomes. We have this interpretation because we usually make good progress when we face a big challenge in our life as a test of our practice and try to overcome it. However, it is not true that the more your practice grows, the more powerful Mara becomes, because this would mean that as your practice became higher and higher, it would attract more and more powerful Mara.

 

The correct interpretation is that the greater your practice becomes, the more powerful Mara that you can surmount grows. The better your practice becomes, the more capable you become of surmounting Mara. Although you can overcome only a small Mara when your practice is weak, you can overcome much more powerful Mara when your practice develops. In other words, the richer you become, the larger and the more expensive the house that you can buy becomes. The stronger your muscles become, the heavier the weights that you can lift become.

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Speaking of sexual desire, not only the Buddha but also we sentient beings have attachment to it. So, it was not that Mara’s daughters came to tempt the Buddha since his practice was of a high level, but rather that he could overcome the temptation of sexual desire which is one of the most difficult instinctual desires to surmount.

 

When faced with a challenge in your life, don’t think that your practice has brought it upon you, but look upon it as a test of your practice. Then your challenge will turn into your practice, and you can deepen your practice and solve your challenge at the same time. Two birds with one stone.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q360.Why couldn’t Daitsus Chisho Buddha attain Buddhahood?

Zen Fools

A. A monk asked Seijo, “Daitsu Chisho Buddha practiced Zen meditation for ten kalpas in a Meditation Hall but could not attain Buddhadood (enlightenment) because the true Self didn’t appear before him. Why was this?” Seijo said, “Your question is a very appropriate one!” The monk asked again, “Why couldn’t he attain Buddhahood in spite of such a long Zen meditation in the Meditation Hall?” Seijo replied, “Because he could not.”

 

Student: “Why did Seijo say, ‘Your question is a very appropriate one’ about his student’s question?”

Master: “Because the student was telling the truth.”

Student: “Why couldn’t Daitsus Chisho Buddha attain Buddhahood?”

Master: “Because he didn’t do wrong.”

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Commentary:

All Sutras are only Mara’s talk to him who doesn’t recognise his own Dharma talk.

Even Mara’s talk is a Dharma talk to him who knows what he himself says.

It was because Daitsus Chisho Buddha couldn’t attain Buddhahood that he was admired.

He would have become a laughingstock if he had attained Buddhahood.

Water becomes ice at zero degrees, but ice becomes water at zero degrees.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, master, Meditation, One, Photography, root, self, suffering, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q359. Is death the end of life or a new start?

Zen Fools

A. It is both at the same time. Is this moment the end of your past life or the start of your future? Whether it is the starting line or the finishing line depends on your view. There is no beginning without end and no end without beginning, which is like left and right in that there is no left without right and no right without left. In fact, beginning and end, and right and left are all imaginary labels produced by you, and they can be changed anytime according to your perspective.

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Ask yourself what death is instead of whether it is the end or a new start. Ask yourself whether you are alive or dead. If you are alive now, were you alive or dead 500 years ago before your birth? If you had been dead then, it would mean that something dead became a living thing like you. If you had been nothing then, it would mean that nothing became something. Does it make sense? Furthermore, no one can deny the truth that we are part of the universe. And the universe is neither alive nor dead. It means that we are not dead and not alive as well.

 

If there is no beginning and no end, death is neither beginning nor end. When there is no start and no end, birth is neither start nor end, either. In brief, birth and death are also imaginary labels like start and end.

 

Student: “Is death the end of life or a new start?”

Master: “Are you right or left?”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Koan, master, Photography, root, self, sutras, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q357. How can I avoid going where I am going to die?

Zen Fools

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett fielded questions at the annual shareholders meeting for his company Berkshire Hathaway. When asked about reflections and lessons learned in his long life, Warren Buffett referenced Charlie Munger, the 93-year-old vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who says, “All I want to know is where I’m going to die so I’ll never go there.”

(Reference: NPR, May 6, 2017: ‘Oracle of Omaha’)

 

A. Student: “Can I know where I am going to die?”

Master: “Yes, you can.”

Student: “Where is it?”

Master: “It is where you are alive.”

Student: “How can I avoid going there?”

Master: “Don’t move even a step.”

Student: “Do you mean that I should stay here where I am alive now?”

Master: “Don’t stay here, either. Don’t you remember my saying that where you are going to die is where you are alive?”

Student: “Where should I stay if I should neither move a step nor stay where I am now?”

Master: “Don’t move at all, but don’t stay anywhere.”

Student: “How far is it?”

Master: “It can’t be nearer.”

Student: “Why is it so difficult to get there?”

Master: “Because you are going the wrong way.”

Student: “What is the right way?”

Master: “Get there quickly and directly.”

Student: “How can I get there quickly and directly?”

Master: “You already took the wrong way.”

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Commentary:

Do you want to know where you don’t die?

It can’t be nearer.

The right way to there is invisible.

If it takes even a second to get there, it’s the wrong way.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, illusion, One, Photography, root, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q356. Why is it said that everything is empty?

Zen Fools

A. Everything is said to be empty because nothing by itself has its own nature. What, for example, do you think the nature of gold is? We can say its colour is yellow, it is heavier, softer and more valuable than other metal, and it doesn’t rust.

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Why is it yellow? Does it say itself that it is yellow? No, it is yellow because we label it as yellow and say it is yellow. In the same way, it is heavier, softer and more valuable than other sorts of metal only because we think so. But in fact, it is neither heavier nor lighter than other kinds of metal unless we compare it with other sorts of metal and then label it as ‘heavier’ or ‘lighter’. Whether it is heavier than other kinds of metal or not depends on our view and not actually on its own nature. In summary, gold does not have its own nature unless it is labelled by us. Gold itself is not gold unless we label it as gold. Therefore, it is said that everything is empty, and all things are from the same root, our mind.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathawa

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

Q355. If everything is the true-self, even birds, are they nearer to enlightenment than humans because they kill only for food, not for pleasure?

Zen Fools

A. In fact, whether we do good conduct or bad conduct is one thing and attaining enlightenment is another. You can make good karma by doing good conduct, but you can’t attain enlightenment by doing it. In other words, you might enjoy a temporarily better life as a result of good conduct, but you can’t get eternal happiness, or solve the matter of life and death.

According to the Sutras, one of Buddha’s students attained enlightenment although he had killed 99 people before becoming Buddha’s student.

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Doing good conduct, or making good karma, is compared to banking money little by little, and attaining enlightenment is likened to attaining eternal life and inexhaustible wealth. However how much money you may put aside in the bank, the money will run out some day. Above all, your wealth, no matter how great it is, becomes of no use to you once you pass away.

 

However, we become eternity itself by transcending life and death through enlightenment, which is called eternal life in Christianity. Christianity also says that we can’t enter heaven unless we believe in God, no matter how much good conduct we may do. ‘Believe in God’ here means to see God, which means to see everything as it is. This is to attain enlightenment in Buddhism.

 

Student: “Can I attain enlightenment by doing good things?”

Master: “No, not at all.”

Student: “Should I do bad things?”

Master: “Of course not.”

Student: “Then, what shall I do?”

Master: “Do nothing.”

Student: “How can we live without doing anything?”

Master: “Do good things, but don’t let even your right hand know what it does.”

 

©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

Q354. What is the best wine in the world?

Zen Fools

A. A monk named John said to a master, “I am alone and poor. I beg my teacher to bestow upon me the alms of salvation.” The master said, “John.” “Yes, Sir?” replied John. The master said, “You have drunk three bowls of the best wine in the world, but say that you have not yet even moistened your lips.”

 

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Student: “What is the best wine in the world?”

Master: “That is what you are drinking now.”

Student: “I don’t know what you mean.”

Master: “Now you are swimming in the vat.”

Student: “I am still lost.”

Master: “You are vomiting the wine now.”

 

Commentary:

The foolish, sensitive to others’ smell, don’t realise that their own dung stinks.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway