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Hsin Shin Ming: “15. The more you think and talk about the true-Self, the further you are from it.”

As mentioned previously, the true-Self means emptiness, and emptiness is Oneness that is not divided by our imaginary lines which are words or language. To realise or see the true Self is to see Oneness without any imaginary lines, which is enlightenment.

Thinking and talking more, with a view to realising the true-Self implies using and producing more imaginary lines, words, which is like adding more imaginary lines while trying to remove them. It is like going to the west while striving to go to the east. The reason for making a mistake of unconsciously doing something against our intention like this is that we are so addicted to our imaginary lines or words, that we are controlled by them rather than in control of them.

However, once you have realised what the true-Self is, you can’t be apart from the true-Self even for a moment and what you think and talk about are all the action of the true-Self, because you know that everything, including you, is the true-Self.

Student: “How can we realise the true-Self without thinking and talking?”
Master: “How can there be thinking and talking without the true-Self?”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Ah0qS

Hsin Shin Ming: “14. Deny the existence of things and you will fall into the existence of things. Follow the emptiness and you will forsake the emptiness.”

‘The existence of things’ implies forms. To rephrase the first sentence, it reads: Deny forms and you will fall into forms. The existence of things or forms is to the emptiness as the right is to the left. The existence of things and the emptiness are not separate and not different from each other but oneness and the same with each other, like the right and the left. Forms, as the Heart Sutra says, are the emptiness and the emptiness is forms. Enlightenment is to realise that the existence is the emptiness.

Denying the existence is denying the emptiness, and following the emptiness is following the existence of things. If you, denying the right, follow the left, could you stay in the left without the right? There is no left without the right. So, following the left without the right is as foolish as arguing that there is the right without the left.

The emptiness that you can follow is not true emptiness but another form, the existence of things. There is nothing to deny or follow in the emptiness. So, following the emptiness is following the existence of things and missing the emptiness. The emptiness is oneness that remains undivided by our imaginary lines. When the emptiness is divided into many by our imaginary lines, it becomes many. This is the existence of things called forms. So, one is many, and many are one.

Student: “What is the existence of things?”
Master: “You are asking me a question now, and I respond to it like this.”
Student: “What is the emptiness?”
Master: “I am wrong if I answer your question.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Ah0d1

What is the nature of the robe and the bowl like?

Eno, the Sixth Patriarch, was pursued by Monk Emyo up to Daiyurei. The Patriarch, seeing Emyo coming, laid the robe and the bowl on a rock, and said to him, “This robe represents the faith. Is it to be fought for by force? You may take them now.” Emyo went to move the bowl and the robe and yet they were as heavy as mountains. He could not move them. Hesitating and trembling, Emyo asked the Patriarch, “I come for the teaching, not for the robe. Please enlighten me!” The Patriarch said, “What is your true-Self when you do not think of good nor do you think of evil?” At that moment Emyo was greatly awakened. His whole body was covered with sweat. Emyo cried, bowed, and said, “Is there any other significance than your secret words and teachings like this?” The Patriarch answered, “What I have told you is no secret at all. Once you have realised your own true-Self, the secret rather belongs to you!” Emyo said, “When I was at Obai with the other monks, I never realised what my true-Self was. Now you have dispersed the clouds of my ignorance to realise it, just like a man capable of discerning warm and cold by tasting water. From now on you are my teacher!” The Patriarch said, “We both have Obai for our teacher. You keep it well, guard your own Self!”

Student: “How could the Sixth Patriarch run away with the robe and the bowl that Emoy couldn’t even lift?”
Master: “The Sixth Patriarch, aware of the nature of them, didn’t think much of them.”
Student: “What is the nature of the robe and the bowl like?”
Master: “It won’t move at all, but it is weightless.”
Student: “What did Emyo realise when the Patriarch said, ‘What is your true-Self when you don’t think of good nor do you think of evil?’?”
Master: “He realised that he had not needed to chase the Patriarch.”
Student: “What did the patriarch mean by ‘What I have told you is no secret at all. Once you have realised your true-Self, the secret rather belongs to you’?”
Master: “The secret is revealing itself. It is secret not because it is hidden but because you are blind to it.”
Student: “How did Emyo find his true-Self when the Patriarch dispersed the clouds of ignorance to realise it?”
Master: “He found that the clouds of ignorance are his true-Self.”

Commentary:
What a poor student!
The master is moving freely in the robe with the bowl.
The student, still caught under them, can’t move at all.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/A8uDL

Hsin Shin Ming: “13. Those who do not understand the Way (true-Self) will assert or deny the reality of things.”

‘Those who do not understand the Way’ implies those who are ignorant of the truth that everything is Oneness as emptiness. ‘Assert or deny the reality of things’ means to discriminate or to be deluded by illusions. That is, in other words, to make extremes.

Let’s suppose that a person from Alaska is talking to a man from the tropics about Korean spring weather that is 24 degrees centigrade now. The person from Alaska argues that it is very hot weather, but the man from the tropics says, “No, it is not hot at all, it’s very cold weather.” Then a Korean seeing their argument interrupts, “No, both of you are wrong. It’s not cold, not warm. It’s beautiful and pleasant weather.” They are asserting and denying the reality of things. Which of them is right and which is wrong?

We come to make assertions like this because we are ignorant of the fact that everything is empty and that everything is neutral when it is empty.
The truth is that the weather is not hot, not cold, not pleasant but neutral in essence. The weather never says or thinks that it is cold or warm. It is warm because we think that it is warm, cold because we think that it is cold and pleasant because we think that it is pleasant.

The first comment that Buddha made when he attained enlightenment at the sight of the morning star was ‘I’ve realised that the star is not a star’.

Student: “What happens when we understand the Way?”
Master: “There is nothing to assert or deny.”
Student: “What happens when we assert or deny the reality of things?”
Master: “The level ground becomes rough and bumpy, and we stumble over the lines drawn on flatland by ourselves.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Acpyu

Hsin Shin Ming: “12. As long as you remain in one extreme or the other, you will never know Oneness.”

What is to remain in one extreme? It is to follow illusions, or discriminate. If you happen to think there is even a single thing that is not empty, that is no other than remaining in one extreme, which automatically makes another extreme at the same time. If you believe, for example, that a tree is not empty, the tree is one extreme because it divides Oneness into two extremes; a tree and what is not a tree. The strongest extreme is your body that divides Oneness into you and what is not you. Once you realise that everything is empty, however, you can’t escape from Oneness whichever extreme you may choose, because not only the extreme you choose but you are also Oneness as emptiness.

Student: “What is one extreme?”
Master: “Every single thing is one extreme.”
Student: “How can I avoid remaining in one extreme?”
Master: “Realise that everything is empty.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Acptr

A monk asked an old woman the way to Mt. Taizan.

The old woman said, “Go straight ahead.” When the monk had proceeded a few steps, she said to herself, “This monk of sound mind also goes like that!” Afterwards, another monk told Joshu about this, and Joshu said, “Wait until I go and check the old woman.” The next day Joshu went and asked the same question and the old woman gave the same answer and said, “This monk in his right mind also goes like that.” Upon his return, Joshu told the congregation of monks, “I have checked the old woman of Taizan.”

Student: “Why did the old woman say to herself ‘This monk in his right mind also goes like that’ even though the monk proceeded as he was told to?”
Master: “Because he accepted what she said in the same way as you do now.”
Student: “Why did Joshu say that he had checked the old woman of Taizan?”
Master: “Because he checked her mind.”
Student: “Why did she say, ‘This monk in his right mind goes like that’ even though Joshu checked her mind?”
Master: “Because she accepted what he did in the same way as you do now.”

Commentary:
The innocent don’t realise that their things are being stolen while watching them.
A petty thief, being so involved in stealing, doesn’t realise that all her things are stolen by a big thief.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/A8uww

Hsin Shin Ming: “11. When you try to stop activity to achieve quietude, the very effort fills you with activity.”

‘Stop activity’ means to stop your thinking from arising, and ‘achieve quietude’ means to keep your mind quiet or peaceful. Activity is to quietude as the right is to the left.

If you try to achieve quietude by stopping your thinking from arising, you can’t help but fail to achieve it since your thought and effort to achieve quietude is also activity. That is not achieving quietude but making yet more activity. This is why the scripture says that the very effort fills you with activity. Even if you succeed in stopping your thinking from arising, how could you live your life without thinking? Achieving quietude must not be misunderstood as becoming thoughtless and emotionless like stone or wood without any thought or sense.

True quietude means not to be deluded by illusions. So, it can be achieved only by realising that activity is quietude and quietude is not different from activity because both are empty. When you are aware that both are empty, you are not swayed by activity nor do you attach yourself to quietude since you know that both are illusions. Then, you can be said to enjoy true quietude.

Student: “What is quietude like?”
Master: “It is as if one thousand bombs exploded at the same time.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Aofvy

Hsin Shin Ming: “10. Possess the Oneness of things (Possess only a single thing correctly) and dualism disappears by itself.”

The former part of this scripture has two different translations: ‘Possess the Oneness of things’ and ‘Possess only a single thing correctly’. I am going to make two different interpretations because they both make sense and can be good teaching.

‘Possess the Oneness of things’ means to know that everything is Oneness, and ‘Dualism’ means all illusions or forms. ‘Dualism disappears’ means to realise that things are empty and not to be deluded by the illusions of them.

To know that everything is Oneness means to know that everything is empty because we can realise that everything is Oneness as emptiness only when we know that everything is empty. So, when we possess the Oneness of things, dualism which implies forms or illusions disappears by itself.

‘Possess only a single thing right correctly’ means to see only a single thing as it is. Then the scripture can be interpreted as ‘If you see only a single thing as it is, dualism disappears by itself’. In fact, to see only a single thing as it is, is to see everything as it is, because everything is Oneness as emptiness. This is like realising that seawater is salty by tasting only a single drop of it. So, ancient masters used to say that everything is the gate to the Way.

Student: “How do we feel when dualism disappears?”
Master: “Like coming back home after long absence because you feel as free and comfortable as if you were back from a battle and like becoming a king since you can control illusions instead of being controlled by them.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/A9Qil

Sansheng’s Golden Fish

Sansheng asked Xuefeng, “What does a golden-scaled fish that goes through the net eat?” Xuefeng said, “I will tell you after you come out of the net.” Sansheng said, “The teacher of fifteen thousand monastics—and you can’t say a turning word.” Xuefeng said, “This old man is busy with abbot’s matters.”

Student: “Why did Xuefeng say, ‘I will tell you after you come out of the net’ when he was asked by Sansheng?”
Master: “Because he wanted to get Sansheng out of the net.”
Student: “What did Xuefeng mean by saying, ‘This old man is busy with abbot’s matters’?”
Master: “He meant that he, as an abbot, was busy teaching Sansheng.”

Commentary:
A blind man doesn’t see the net before his eyes while talking about it.
A deaf man doesn’t hear himself called names while he is abused.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/AZXmv

Hsin Shin Ming: “9. Do not get entangled in things; do not stay in emptiness.”

As I mentioned earlier, now we can see only one half; the realm of form that is the world of memory. Enlightenment is to see the other half; the realm of emptiness that is the world beyond memory. ‘Things’ in the scripture means the realm of form that is the worldly realm we live in now. ‘Get entangled in things’ means to be attached to, or indulge in worldly things, which happens because we can’t see things as they are.

The latter part ‘stay in emptiness’ means to create a form of emptiness in one’s mind and cling to it while mistaking it for emptiness. That is to make another form while trying to erase all forms, and to forsake emptiness while seeking it. That is also the result of not knowing what emptiness is, which is not being able to see things as they are.

If you realise that everything is empty, you don’t have to try to stay in emptiness, because there is nothing to cling to, or stay in, and above all there is no one who can cling since you are emptiness itself. Then there is nothing to stay in and no one to stay.

Student: “How can I neither get entangled in things nor stay in emptiness?”
Master: “See either yourself as you are, or things as they are.”
Student: “How is everything when I stay in emptiness?”
Master: “You are still getting entangled in things.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/AVsYv