Truth – Zen Fools

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?

June 6, 2017 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.

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, illusion, master, Meditation, One, Photography, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q366. Student: “At what point does a dead sheep decomposing in a field become the field?”

June 4, 2017June 2, 2017 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Before your question.”

Commentary:

Why are you tearing one into two while trying to make them one?

A dead sheep was neither different nor separate from the field until you thought of them as different and separate.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q365. If we know that everything is just labels, why can’t we remove them easily?

June 2, 2017 Zen Fools

A. The knowledge that everything is just labels is quite different from the realisation that everything is just labels. In fact, we don’t know exactly what labels are while saying that everything is just labels. That is why we can’t remove them easily. The purpose of our practice is to see clearly what a label is, which is to realise that everything is empty. Once we realise what a label is, we don’t care about labels because we know that they are not real entities but only imaginary lines produced by us like the horn of a rabbit or the hair of a turtle. Taking labels for real entities is being deluded by illusions, and being able to see labels as imaginary lines is enlightenment. Then, we are said to be free from illusions, or not to be deluded by illusions.

Student: “Why can’t I remove illusions easily?”

Master: “Because you don’t know what they are.”

Student: “I know that everything is an illusion.”

Master: “When everything is an illusion, not only your question but also you and I are illusions. Who asks whom what?”

©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?

May 30, 2017 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.

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?

May 28, 2017May 28, 2017 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.”

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, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Meditation, Photography, Practice, Religion, self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q362. Buddhism talks about non-attachment. Should we therefore try to be unattached to meditation and Buddhist teaching?

May 25, 2017May 25, 2017 Zen Fools

A. It is true that we should try to be unattached even to meditation and Buddhist teaching. However, it is not that we attain non-attachment by suppressing our desire, but that non-attachment comes by itself as a result of our realising that everything is empty.

The core teaching of Buddhism is to realise that everything is empty through seeing everything as it is. When we realise that everything is empty and that there is nothing to be attached to, our attachment perishes of its own accord. Unless we realise that everything is empty, we might be able to control or suppress our attachment for quite some time, but we can’t remove it for good.

Buddhist teaching and meditation are like medicine for curing us of attachment. Once we get well after taking medicine, we don’t need it any longer, and our attachment to medicine disappears naturally. However, you won’t be cured of the disease, attachment, if you only keep away from medicine while you are sick. Keeping away from medicine in order to remove your attachment to medicine while you are sick is making matters worse and making another strong attachment to non-attachment.

Student: “How can I attain non-attachment?”

Master: “Don’t discard your attachment.”

Student: “Why do you tell me not to discard my attachment?”

Master: “Because your attachment is the very non-attachment.”

©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?

May 23, 2017May 22, 2017 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.

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?

May 21, 2017May 21, 2017 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.”

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

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?

May 18, 2017May 18, 2017 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.

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

Buddha, Buddhism, illusion, love, master, Meditation, One, Photography, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q358. Is love just a label and not actually the true Self?

May 16, 2017May 16, 2017 Zen Fools

A. The truth is that there is nothing that is not the true Self. At the same time, it is also true that everything is an illusion. Whether everything is an illusion, or the true-self, depends on whether or not you can see it as it is. When you can see everything as it is, everything is the true-self, but when you can’t see things as they are, everything is an illusion.

When you can see things as they are, your love is the action of the true-self. Then your love is referred to as compassion, true love or wise love.

However, when you can’t see things as they are, both you and the object of your love are illusions. In other words, when you don’t know what you are and what the object of your love is, how can you say that you love someone or something without knowing who loves whom or what?

Then you are said to be attached to and deluded by an illusion, love, which can often lead you to frustration and unhappiness.

Student: “May I, as a practitioner, love?”

Master: “I don’t tell you to not love but advise you to know who loves whom.”