A. Master: “If you describe it, you are wrong.”
Commentary:
If you cannot describe it, you are also wrong.
What he does speaks louder than what he speaks.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Category: true self
Q300. Student: “What is the true self like?”
A. Master: “It is not the shape of male or female.”
Commentary:
Don’t measure others by your yardstick.
It is the shape of male and female.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathawa
Q298. Is enlightenment by Zen esoteric?
A. Some people seem to have such an idea. The reason why it seems esoteric is not that it is hidden and transmitted secretly to only a few chosen people but that it is difficult to grasp through experience, not as knowledge.
From a historical point of view, no masters tried to hide it, but tried to share it with as many people as they could. They didn’t spare their effort to help people attain enlightenment until the last moment of their lives. We can see several cases in which masters gave teaching to their students even at the last moment of their life. To tell the truth, it can be said to be an open secret.
Let me quote a beautiful and holy situation when a master gave his teaching on his deathbed.
The master was about to enter transformation (to die). Sitting, he said: “After my death do not allow my True Dharma Eye to perish.”
Sansho, his student, burst out: “How could your True Dharma Eye perish?”
The master asked: “What then will you say when in future people put questions to you?”
Sansho gave a Katsu.
“Who could know that my True Dharma Eye would perish through this blind ass,” said the master, and revealed his Nirvana.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q296. How is it possible to remove all at once and not gradually the illusions that we have made up for decades?
A. Our practice is like trying to brighten an old room that has been dark since it was made, even though it is installed with a nice electric light. We are looking for the light switch of the old room that has never been lit so far. The key problem is that we have no idea of the switch; where it is and what it is like, because we have never used it, or even seen it before. We can be said to be fumbling for the switch in the dark room. It may take time to find it, but it doesn’t take time to lighten the room once you find the switch. The moment you switch on the light, all the darkness will disappear. Likewise, all illusions disappear at the moment you attain enlightenment.
Student: “How can I remove all the illusions in an instant that I have made up for decades?”
Master: “It takes no time and no effort to remove them because they are empty.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q295. Shouldn’t I remove not only illusions but also the true-self since illusions are the true-self?
A. Of course, you should remove the true-self, too if you can. You should remove not only the true-self but also your mother and father. Only when have you removed all of them can you see the true-self and the true form of your parents.
Jesus said, “Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple to me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross in my way, will not be worthy of me.” Ancient Masters also said, “If you are to see the Buddha, kill Buddha.”
Why did Jesus tell people to hate their parents while saying that we should love our neighbours as ourselves? Why did Masters talk people into killing Buddha while teaching how to see Buddha? Both advised us to remove names, which are just imaginary lines.
When we say ‘the true-self’, the name ‘true-self’ is not the true-self but only a label used to express the true-self. The more important a thing is to you, the more difficult its name is to remove. So, Masters would say that the more reasonable a comment sounds, the more firmly it will stick to you.
You should remove all names, or labels, whatever they are and no matter how important they look to you.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q293. Is it possible to transmit enlightenment to other people?
A. ‘Transmit enlightenment’ and ‘Transmit dharma’ are very common sayings in Zen. These, however, are very incorrect expressions that can bring about misunderstanding. Enlightenment is neither a physical matter nor a type of knowledge that we can give and take in the way that we can do with gold, or the four rules of arithmetic.
Suppose that there is a person who, not knowing that he is already part of the Earth, wishes to go to the Earth. As a result of your efforts to help him, one day he realises the truth that he is part of the Earth that he has been so anxious to reach. You can say to him, “At last you have now realised the truth that you are part of the Earth.” Likewise, saying ‘You’ve now realised dharma,’ usually while giving a symbolic thing like a piece of writing or a robe, is said to be the transmission of dharma. The bowl and robe given to his student by Bodhidharma is a good example of this. Therefore, ‘Transmit dharma’ doesn’t mean to transfer dharma but rather to approve a student’s realisation of dharma.
Student: “How can I receive enlightenment?”
Master: “You should have no hands.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q291. Student: “How can I become one with the universe?”
A. Master: “You should melt everything and make it you.”
Student: “How can I do it?”
Master: “Make yourself melt into air.”
Commentary:
When there is no ‘I’, there is nothing that is not ‘I’.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q290. I have made it a rule to read the Diamond Sutra and Zen books every day for over ten years. Is this a good way?
A. It is said that going one kilometre by studying books is not as good as going one metre by practising. It’s because the former adds to illusions whereas the latter decreases them. The former regresses rather than advances us in Zen meditation. So, ancient masters would say, “Trying to attain enlightenment through books is like trying to pick the moon with a pole.”
Instead of spending so much time reading the Sutra and Zen books, I would like to advise you to allocate 90% of this time to practising meditation. The remaining 10% of this time can still be used for reading.
Whatever you do, wherever you are, you are practising well only if you keep questioning what is making you do what you are doing. Reading the Sutras for ten hours is not as good as drinking tea, or washing the dishes for an hour with the question in your mind.
Master: “What did you do last night?”
Student: “I read the Diamond Sutra.”
Master: “How much did you read?”
Student: “I read three pages.”
Master: “You didn’t see the Sutra, let alone read it. The true Sutra has no pages.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q288. Student: “You always say that everything including mountains and rivers is an illusion. What is not an illusion?”
Master: “Mountains and rivers.”
Commentary:
Mountains and rivers block your insight into mountains and rivers.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q287. Why did ancient masters say that there is no Buddha in the Buddha Land?
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
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