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
Category: root
Q154. How do you think Zen meditation can help Christians to overcome original sin?
A. According to the Bible, man can’t have eternal happiness or find salvation because of the original sin he committed in the beginning of time. The sin was eating the fruit of the tree of life, and as a result, our mind became discriminating, which prevents us from seeing God. The Bible says that we can be forgiven for the sin and find salvation only by believing in God.
To find salvation means to return to the original state prior to eating the fruit. And to believe in God means to see God, just as the old saying goes, ‘Seeing is believing’. Seeing God is possible by removing the discriminating mind.
The Sutras say that whatever good things we may do, we can’t enjoy eternal happiness without life and death, even though we can enjoy temporary happiness, unless we realise the true-self by removing the discriminating mind.
The core teachings of Christianity and Buddhism are the same in that we can enjoy eternal happiness by eliminating the discriminating mind. Zen meditation is a practice to remove the discriminating mind.
So, to help Christians to remove their discriminating mind is to help them to overcome original sin.
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
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
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
Q128. How can I live now?
A. In brief you can live now if you do away with ‘now’. ‘Living now’ mentioned here means living out of the trap of illusions. You should realise the word ‘now’ is an illusion. Only when the illusions of present, past and future disappear can you live now. As long as you keep the illusion of now, you can never experience ‘living now’.
When the thought of ‘present’ or ‘now’ occurs to you, trace your thinking back to its root where it comes from. As mentioned earlier, everything is from the same root. Once reaching there, you will realise not just that you are the root itself but also that everything including present, past and future is nothing but an illusion created in and by you, the root. Then you will perceive that you are eternity itself. That is to live now all the time.
How can I live now?
Get out of now.
How can I get out of it?
Take a close look at its root.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q125. If we reach our final goal through what we see and hear, how can the blind and the deaf reach the goal?
A. They can in the same way that you do. Your question shows how you are addicted to illusions. Why do you think they can’t practice because they can’t see and hear? If they had no sight, how could they feel that they can’t see? If they had no hearing, how would they realise that they are deaf? The blind and the deaf see and hear in a different way from ours, and have illusions of their own making in their way. If they think they are blind or deaf, the thoughts are also illusions. If they try to realise where such thoughts come from, that is a good Zen practice. They are as likely to reach the final goal, enlightenment, as you are.
Q124. I always struggle with continuous thoughts during meditation. Will they disappear with time?
A. No, they won’t disappear in that way. You can’t win the fight.
When a thought arises, you can’t lock it in even with thousands of locks, can’t tie it up even with thousands of ropes, or destroy it even with a heavy hammer.
Don’t distinguish it as either good or bad, and also don’t try to stop it. Distinguishing between good and bad is adding one more thought to the existing thoughts, and trying to stop them is strengthening them. Fighting with thoughts is like fighting with shadows as long as you don’t realise the root. Leave them alone and just trace them back to their root. All the various thoughts are from the same root. The moment you realise the root of the thoughts, they will lose their power and change from your enemy to your servant.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q110. What shall I do when I have hatred for my friend for no particular reason?
A. Loving someone and hating someone, or loving someone today and hating him tomorrow, and the other way around is the way we live our lives. You don’t have to be worried about the fact that you hate your friend. The key point here is that you don’t know the root of the hatred you have for your friend. Saying you hate your friend, you actually don’t know who it is that hates your friend and who your friend is because you don’t know what you are. In brief, you don’t know who hates whom.
Either trace back your hatred of your friend to its root, or ask yourself what makes your body hate him, instead of repressing emotion. When reaching the root, that is finding the answer to the question, you will realise all emotions you feel are only illusions and then you can accept everything you experience like seeing a movie.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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