Category: Uncategorized

Q. Where did Jesus go after death?

A. He went to where he was before his birth. You should know where he was before birth and is after death because it is where you should go after your death. If you are dubious about where Jesus is now after his death, it means that you still doubt if he listens to your prayers.

If you believe that he will listen to your prayers wherever and whenever you pray just as the Bible says, it means that he is always within hearing even when you offer a silent, tacit prayer. That is where he is and where you will be after death.

©Boo Ahm

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Xuefeng’s Size of the World

Xuansha was once told by Xuefeng, “The size of the world is ten feet. The size of the ancient mirror is ten feet.” Xuansha pointed to the fireplace and said, “What is the size of the fireplace?” Xuefeng said, “It is as large as the ancient mirror.” Xuansha said, “The tips of your feet have not yet touched the ground.”

Student: “Xuefeng said that the size of the world is the same the size of the ancient mirror as ten feet. Why is the former the same size as the latter?”
Master: “Because both are one.”
Student: “How large is ten feet?”
Master: “One foot.”

Commentary:
The shape of a container is one thing and the taste of the contents in it is another.

©Boo Ahm

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Hsin Shin Ming: “67. If not thus, nothing should be kept.”

‘If not thus’ means ‘If it is not like what has been described so far about the true-Self’. ‘Nothing should be kept’ means that we should not treasure anything that doesn’t accord with what has been accounted for so far’.

However, you should not make the mistake of thinking that there is something to keep. The scripture means that we should discard what doesn’t conform with what has been explained so far and not that we should cling to and keep something. When all that should be discarded has been removed, that is, when all illusions are discarded, there is nothing left but the true-Self, which is not what can be kept or lost once we have realised it, since we are the true-Self itself. Then, we don’t have to try to keep it since we are to the true-Self as wind is to air.

Student: “What should I keep?”
Master: “Discard all you can keep. Keep what you can’t keep.”
Student: “How can I keep what I can’t keep?”
Master: “No effort is needed because it keeps itself.”

©Boo Ahm

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Q. Should Buddhists be self-absorbed people who care about their own enlightenment more than awareness of life in external reality?

A. You seem to think that those who want to attain enlightenment should care about awareness of life in external reality much less than the people who are not concerned about enlightenment and that Zen practice is one thing and life in external reality is another.

Zen practice and enlightenment cannot be separate from the awareness of life in external reality because Zen practice is a sort of effort to have the right awareness of life in external reality. To have the right awareness of it, or to realise the essence of the life in external reality is referred to as enlightenment. So, if someone ignores or neglects the awareness of life in external reality in order to practise Zen meditation or get enlightened, he is not practising in the right way. Ancient masters said that everything is the gate to enlightenment. You should know that it is impossible to attain enlightenment without awareness of life in external reality.

Student: “What is enlightenment?”
Master: “It is to see your wife as she is.”

©Boo Ahm

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Yunmen’s “One Hundred Grasses”

Yunmen said to his assembly, “Say a word that covers the tips of the one hundred grasses.” No one in the assembly responded. Yunmen said on behalf of his silent assembly, “Inseparable.”

Student: “Why did Yunmen say, ‘Inseparable’ as a word that covers the tips of the one hundred grasses?”
Master: “He said a word that covers the tips of the one hundred grasses by using one of the tips of the one hundred grasses.”
Student: “Could you say a word that covers the tips of the one hundred grasses?”
Master: “Separable.”

Commentary:
Every word you say is the word that covers the tips of the one hundred grasses.

©Boo Ahm

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Hsin Shin Ming: “66. Existence’ is no other than ‘non-existence’.”

Existence and non-existence are like right and left in that they are illusions, imaginary lines. In order for ‘existence’ and ‘non-existence’ to be, the subject of existence is essential: ‘Air exists on the earth’ and ‘Water doesn’t exist in the Sahara Desert’. In short, without the subject, the word ‘exist’ cannot be. So far, we have said that everything is empty. When everything is empty, the subject, whatever it may be, is also empty. When the subject is empty, all the auxiliary words that describe the subject can’t avoid being empty.

So, the scripture means that ‘existence’ is not different from ‘non-existence’ since both are just empty illusions.

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Q. Bodhidharma said, “If you use your mind to study reality, you won’t understand your mind, or reality itself. If you study reality without using your mind, you’ll understand both.” What is it to ‘study reality without using the mind’?

A. In ‘If you use your mind to study reality’ your ‘mind’ means illusions or the discriminating mind, and ‘reality’ means the true-Self or Emptiness. ‘Both’ in ‘you’ll understand both’ means illusions and the true-Self. To understand both illusions and the true-Self clearly is enlightenment. This scripture means that we can’t realise the true-Self by using illusions, or the discriminating mind. The answer to your question is to keep questioning a koan, a Zen question instead of trying to understand the true-Self through your knowledge, by reading books.

Student: “How can I study reality without using my mind?”
Master: “Your question is the very answer to your question when you don’t use your mind.”

©Boo Ahm

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The Truth of Words and Actions

Shitou told the assembly, “Words and actions have nothing to do with the truth.”
Yaoshan said, “Going beyond words and actions also has nothing to do with the truth.”
Shitou said, “In this place, even a needle cannot enter.”
Yaoshan said, “In this place, it’s just like planting flowers on a rock.”

Student: “If words and actions have nothing to do with the truth, and going beyond words and actions also has nothing to do with the truth, what is the truth?”
Master: “Not only words and actions but also going beyond words and actions is the truth.”

Commentary:
When you can see all things like planting flowers on a rock, everything is the truth.

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Hsin Shin Ming: “65. Infinitely large and infinitely small, there is no difference, for definitions have vanished and no boundaries can be discerned.”

An infinitely large thing is not different from an infinitely small thing because both of them are empty illusions. ‘Definitions have vanished and no boundary can be discerned’ means to have realised that all definitions and boundaries are just empty imaginary lines.

When there is no boundary, there is neither inside nor outside. When there is neither inside nor outside, the smallest thing is bound to be the same as the largest thing since the smallest thing has no inside and the largest thing has no outside. In summary, when we are not deluded by illusionary labels such as large and small, the true-Self reveals itself before our eyes.

Student: “Which is the larger of the two, you or the mountain?”
Master: “I don’t know.”

©Boo Ahm

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Q. Why should I discard what I can keep in order to attain enlightenment?

A. The purpose of Zen meditation is not to know what you have but to know what you are. The reason why you can’t see yourself as you are is that you regard what you have as yourself. What you can keep, or discard is not you any more than your car is, because they can be taken away from you anytime.

However, it doesn’t mean that you should give up all your possessions such as your family, your house, your money, and so on. It means that you should discard all the names, or labels that define your identity like person, man, woman, your name, your age, your position in your job and so forth since they are not you but just names that define you and that can be changed or taken away anytime. So, ancient masters would say, “When all names that define you are discarded, your true-Self reveals itself just as the trunk and stems of a tree reveal themselves when all its leaves have been blown away by the autumn winds.” Asking yourself what you are when you are stripped of all the labels attached to you is a good practice.

Student: “How should I answer without labels if I am asked what I am?”
Master: “What do you mean by ‘I’?”

©Boo Ahm

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