When Master Angsan was a head monk, he received a letter and a mirror delivered from his master Wisan. Angsan, showing the mirror to the assembly, said, “Tell me whether this mirror belongs to me Angsan, or my master Wisan? If you say that this is Wisan’s, this is in my hand now. If you say that this is mine, this is what Wisan had delivered to me. If you can say, I’ll leave them alone, but if you can’t, I will break it.” No one could say the answer, and Angsan broke it by throwing it on the floor.
“Subhuti, when I also recall the past when I was a wizard of patience for five hundred lives, I had no image of self, no image of person, no image of sentient being, no image of a liver of life during all that time as well.”
Commentary:
That when the Buddha was a wizard of patience, he had no image at all means that he didn’t have a difficult time bearing any suffering whatsoever because there was nothing to endure, since everything was empty to him.
Here the Buddha is telling us how to withstand the suffering, difficulties we are faced with in our daily lives.
The mundane way to withstand suffering is to put up with it and wait until it is resolved, or fades away with time. This implies that we cannot avoid difficulties until they ease. This is why we sometimes say that time heals all wounds. However, when they happen to overwhelm us due to our failure to control them, we can be faced with a lot of unexpected side effects.
However, the Buddhist way is not to put up with suffering but to realise that there is no suffering to withstand and that there is no one to bear any suffering by seeing both as empty.
Student: “If suffering is empty, then shouldn’t we see a doctor, or take medicine when we have physical problems?”
Master: “It’s up to you because all your choices are empty when everything is empty. The Buddha had food although hunger is empty.”
A. The core of Zen is not how to change, or how to avoid what happens to you and how to wait for what is happening to you to pass, but how to enjoy it by changing your perspective. The Buddha said that we sentient beings are floundering in the ocean because we cannot see things as they are.
He said that we create illusionary images and that we spend our lives chasing, or running away from them. In short, we are being deluded by illusions created by us. Zen meditation helps people to realise that all things we pursue, or try to avoid, are not real but illusionary.
Master Jangsa called a monk by name, “Sangseo.” When Sangseo answered, “Yes” Jangsa said, “Sangseo is not the original being.” Sangseo asked, “Is there any other being but the one who is responding now?” Jangsa said, “Sangseo cannot be called the most venerable one.” Sangseo said, “Then, is that which never responds to you my original being?” Jangsa said, “It has been the source of birth and death not only when you answer, or when you don’t answer but also since time immemorial.”
Student: “What is Sangseo’s original being?”
Master: “Your original being.”
Student: “What is it?”
Master: “You can’t not only speak even a word but also move a finger without depending on it.”
Commentary:
Although a king never sows and harvests in person, all servants who sow and harvest depend on him.
“Subhuti, the practice of patience, the Realised One says, is not practice of patience but it is just called the practice of patience.”
“Why? Subhuti, it is like when I was dismembered by King Kali long ago. At that time I had no image of self, no image of person, no image of sentient being, and no image of a liver of life. Why? When I was being dismembered in the past, if I had had an image of self, an image of person, an image of sentient being, and an image of a liver of life, I would have become angry and spiteful.”
Commentary:
As the Buddha said in the previous part 14-7, if the uppermost practice the Realised One expounds is not the uppermost practice; this is called the uppermost practice, it is natural that the practice of patience is not practice of patience; it is just called the practice of patience. Seen from this perspective, self, a person, sentient being and a liver of life are not self, a person, sentient being and a liver of life; these are just called self, a person, sentient being and a liver of life. Seeing and hearing everything in this way is referred to as seeing everything as it is, seeing everything as empty, or seeing the true-Self.
The Buddha could rise above becoming angry and spiteful because he was aware that King Kali was not King Kali; it was just called King Kali and that ‘dismember’ is not dismember but just called dismember, and because he had no image of self. From the Buddha’s perspective, there was no King Kali to dismember the Buddha and no Buddha for King Kali to dismember.
Furthermore, there is no difference between King Kali and the Buddha since they are oneness as emptiness when they are seen as empty. In other words, King Kali is the true-Self when we see him as he is whilst he is a kind of Mara cruel enough to dismember the Buddha when we don’t see him as he is.
This is why an ancient master said that good news is hidden in King Kali.
Student: “Who is King Kali?”
Master: “It is he who breaks Oneness into many.”
Student: “Who suffers the pain when King Kali dismembers the Buddha?”
Master: “It is King Kali because he makes the error of cutting himself.”
A. It is true that there seem to be a lot of Buddhists who have such a belief, but such a thing never happens. According to the Buddha’s teaching, there is no one else other than ourselves who not only makes karma but also can emancipate us from karma. In other words, sentient beings are struggling with suffering they created by wrapping themselves with invisible ropes. This is why ancient masters said that even thousands of saints cannot free us from the ropes unless we stop binding ourselves with such ropes.
To conclude, Buddhism is not a religion that teaches how to get blessed by praying to the Buddha but a religion that teaches people how to escape from the ropes, that is, how to realise that we are the perfect being as the Buddha.
Master Jo said, “What can be called Emptiness is not true Emptiness, and what can be called form is not true form. True form is formless, and true Emptiness is nameless. What is nameless is the father of names, and what is formless is the mother of forms, the source of all things and the beginning of Sky and Earth.”
Student: “Why is true Emptiness nameless?”
Master: “Because it is formless and beyond words.”
Student: “Isn’t true form formless as well?”
Master: “Yes, this is why form is Emptiness and vice versa.”
“Why? Subhuti, the utmost practice the Realised One expounds is not the utmost practice; this is called the utmost practice.”
Commentary:
This part shows that although the Buddha preached six kinds of practice as an expedient to attain enlightenment, and said that they are the utmost practice, they are also essentially empty. The Buddha seemed to be concerned that his teaching might become another illusion rather than a gate to enlightenment through attachment to his words ‘the utmost practice’. The Buddha meant that his teaching is nothing to anybody if we end up with mere intellectual understanding, that is pursuing it by following words won’t do us any good if we don’t realise it.
This is why the Buddha said that he didn’t say even a single word. The Buddha said that even the Buddha himself who preached this Sutra is empty, to emphasise that everything is empty and that we should not be deluded even by his physical body.
Student: “What is the utmost teaching if the utmost practice is not the utmost practice?”
A. It means the eight right ways to attain enlightenment; Right understanding, Right thought, Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness and Right concentration.
People are prone to feel overwhelmed by the number. However, we should not think that each of them is separate from each other and that we should acquire each of them. In fact, they are all one, and each of them is a gate to enlightenment. If we can open one of them and pass through it, that is, if we can perform any one of them exactly, the rest of them are done spontaneously without extra effort.
Master Jo said, “What can be called Emptiness is not true Emptiness, and what can be called form is not true form. True form is formless, and true Emptiness is nameless. What is nameless is the father of names, and what is formless is the mother of forms, the source of all things and the beginning of Sky and Earth.”
Student: “How do you teach people about Emptiness if it is nameless?”
Zen Fools 