Truth – Page 25 – Zen Fools

Buddha, Buddhism, Meditation, Truth, Zen

Q98. How far is hell from heaven?

August 14, 2015 Zen Fools

A. It is as far as it is from the right to the left. All the time both are in the same place at the same time. As what is the right to one man can be the left to another, and what is the left today can be the right tomorrow, so what heaven is to one man can be hell to another, and what heaven is to a man today can be hell to him tomorrow. A jail, for example, is hell to the inmates there, but can be heaven to the officials who work there for a living these days when getting a job is so difficult. To a hungry, penniless man who is pursued and threatened by gangsters, prison can be heaven, a safe shelter because it provides him with food and security. In fact, there is neither hell nor heaven, just like there is neither the right nor the left. Whether a place is hell or heaven depends on the eyes of the beholder.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Truth, Zen

Q97. It is said everything looks different after enlightenment. Do things change after enlightenment?

August 11, 2015 Zen Fools

A. No, nothing changes. Everything looks different after enlightenment not because things themselves change but because your perspective changes. In other words, you can see what you couldn’t see before. In fact there is nothing that deceives you. You deceive yourself because you can’t see things as they are.

When you are scared of a piece of broken rope since you mistake it for a snake, which is to blame for it, you or the broken rope? If you, regarding a piece of broken glass as a piece of diamond, struggle to obtain it and get disappointed when failing to get it, which is to blame for it, you or the piece of broken glass? What does a hundred dollar bill mean? It means only a piece of paper, or sweets at most to a five year old child, but it means much more to an adult. Does the bill have ageism against children?

What changes is not the object you see, but the way you see it.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, Meditation, true self, Truth, Zen

Q96. Please give me a straightforward answer to my question without beating about the bush. What are you when your body is not you?

August 10, 2015August 10, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Bush.

Commentary:
How beautiful! Taking off all his clothing, he is showing himself naked.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Truth, Zen

Q95. What does ‘enjoy being still’ mean?

August 6, 2015August 7, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Most people think it means to enjoy sitting still with our mind focused on something like our breath or Zen question during the meditation practice. Of course we can have such a feeling during the practice, and the stillness we feel during the practice will grow deeper and deeper along with it. That is a very essential process which we go through in order to reach the final goal. However, that is not the stillness mentioned in Zen meditation because as soon as we stop the practice, the stillness breaks and we come back into the noisy world. The stillness that can be enjoyed only during practice is of no practical use in our life. The purpose of Zen meditation is not to change only a given part of our life at a given time, but to change our whole life. In other words, the stillness we pursue is not temporary but permanent stillness, which we can feel only when, after removing all illusions, we realise the whole universe is still all the time regardless of whether we practice or not. Then our life is always still and peaceful, and we can enjoy stillness all the time even in a busy street or a crowded market place.

If I were asked what stillness is, I would say,

“Ten volcanos erupt at the same time.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Meditation, true self, Truth, Zen

Q93. What are you when your body is not you?

August 3, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Fire!

Commentary:
However many times you may shout “Fire!” it never burns even your mouth, not to mention a piece of dry paper.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Truth, Zen

Q92. What is the truth, the final goal we are seeking like?

July 31, 2015August 3, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Not seeing it is more difficult than seeing it. In fact it is impossible not to see it. If you try to chase it even for a while, you are going the wrong way. Everything you see and hear is the shape and the sound of the truth itself and is showing and telling itself to you. If you can see or hear only a single thing that comes to your eyes or ears just as it is, you’ll have reached the final goal without moving a step. ©Boo Ahm All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, Meditation, true self, Truth, Zen

Q91. What do you mean by ‘Everything is the gate to the truth’?

July 29, 2015 Zen Fools

A. It means that everything you hear and see is teaching you. You can reach your final goal if you grasp this teaching. Let me give you an example.

Once upon a time a monk who had been practising Zen meditation with the Zen question, ‘What was your original face like before you were born?’ happened to be walking across a market place. He saw a group of people making a great fuss around a humble looking man. The fact was that this man was caught stealing some money from an elderly woman. Some bystanders in the crowd blamed him and some were feeling pity for him. One of them said to him, “You’ve lost your face now. How can you save your face before your family?” The poor man answered with his head bent, “I have no face to lose any more.” The moment the monk heard the phrase ‘I have no face to lose’, his question ‘What was your original face like before you were born?’ was solved perfectly. The trivial word from the humble thief was the greatest teaching to the monk that he had ever heard in his life. What would not be a gate to the truth, if even such a trifle as the thief’s words is the greatest teaching?

Do you want to hear the teaching of the truth?
Listen carefully to your family and neighbours.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Meditation, Mind, Truth, Zen

Q89. How should we see things in order to remove our discriminating mind in everyday life?

July 24, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Supposing you see a vase and think it is very nice. Let’s take the phrase ‘the nice vase’ into account to see whether it is true or not.
Firstly, why is the object a vase? Is it the truth? The truth can’t be denied by anyone at any time. However, as you know, it can be anything else other than a vase according to when, where, how and by whom it is seen. It can be even a weapon in some situations. It is a vase not because the fact that it is a vase is an unchangeable and undeniable truth but because you labelled it as ‘vase’.

Now let’s consider, why is it nice? It might not be nice to others at all however nice you may think it is. It means it is nice not because its being nice is the truth but because you put a label ‘nice’ on it, which was created by your imagination.

In fact, it is not a vase, nor is it very nice unless you label it as a ‘nice vase’.
A nice vase is an illusion produced by your imagination.

When you see or hear something good or bad, you should realise that ‘good or bad’ is not produced by the thing itself but by your discriminating mind.
©Boo Ahm

Bible, Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, Truth, Zen

Q88. Why is it difficult to get the point of masters’ teachings?

July 22, 2015 Zen Fools

A. You should remember that all sayings from the Sutras, the Bible and masters are all like a piece of broken tile for knocking on the door. Let’s suppose you are locked in a burning room and trying to get out of it. The room has a single window through which you can escape from it but unfortunately you are not aware of the window. I throw a piece of broken tile at the widow in order to let you know the existence of the window, the only exit.

What should you do now? As soon as you hear the strike of the broken tile on the window or see the broken tile thrown into the room, you should be able to escape from the burning room through the window.
However, most of you pick up the tile and try to analyse it: the elements of it, location of its production, its colour, its weight, the effect it can have on the room and so on. This is the way you accept masters’ teachings, so you can’t avoid finding it difficult to get to the point of the teachings.