Category: Zen

The Sixth Ancestor, Huineng, went to Faxing Monastery, where the temple flag was waving in the wind. Two monastics were arguing about whether it was the wind or the temple flag that was moving. They discussed this back and forth but could not agree on the truth of the matter. The Sixth Ancestor, seeing this, said, “It’s neither the wind nor the flag that is moving. It’s your mind that is moving.” The two monastics were immediately awestruck.

 

Student: “The Sixth ancestor said, ‘It’s neither the wind nor the flag but your mind that is moving’. Then, what is mind?”

Master: “The wind and the flag.”

 

Commentary:

The wind and the flag are to mind as a breeze and a storm are to air.

 

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

 

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An old master said: “Yajnadatta thought he had lost his head. When he ceased from his frantic looking for it, he had nothing further to seek.” 

Venerable ones, just be your ordinary selves and refrain from fanciful imaginings. 

 

Commentary: 

Once upon a time there was an empty shrine deep in the mountains in China. It had been deserted for a long time because it was known for being haunted. A master decided to reside there. One night a ghost whose name was Yajnadatta appeared before the master and asked a favour of him. The master, never embarrassed at all, asked what he could do for him. Yajnadatta, lamenting his difficult fate, confided to the master, “Sir, I lost my head a long time ago. How can I find my lost head?” Then, the master said, “If you had no head now, how could you speak to me like this? Is your mouth separate from your head?” On hearing this, he ceased looking for his head. ‘Yajnadatta’ can be compared to those who make vain efforts to seek the true-Self externally, chasing fanciful illusions of the Buddha, without realising that they are the Buddha itself.  

Student: “Where is the Buddha?” 

Master: “Where are you? 

 

©Boo Ahm 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway 

A. It can be seen in both ways; the point of view of the realm of forms and that of Emptiness, the true-Self.

From the viewpoint of the realm of forms, karma is the law of cause and effect. Your question is like asking, “Does my today’s life govern my tomorrow’s life?”. Taking your today’s life into account, what you are today is the karma of how you lived yesterday. Compared with what you were yesterday, you today are not what you were yesterday but the result of rebirth. In the same way, how you live today will be the karma of what your life will be like tomorrow. If you, for example, go to bed without dinner, you will be reborn as a hungry person tomorrow. What is certain is that how you live now will govern what your life will be like in the future, which shows that karma governs our rebirth.

However, from the viewpoint of Emptiness, everything is empty. There is nothing that is not empty. Then, not only karma but also rebirth is empty. Once you have realised that everything is empty, even when faced with an unfavourable result of karma, you, not caring about it, are untroubled by it because you are aware that it is empty. That is said to be escaping or being freed from karma.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Nanyang arrived at the front of the palace with Emperor Suzong. Nanyang pointed at a figure of a stone lion and said to the emperor, “Your Majesty, this lion is extraordinary. Please say a turning word.”

Emperor Suzong said, “I cannot say anything. Will you please say something?”

Nanyang said, “It is my fault.”

Student: “Why couldn’t Emperor Suzong say anything?”

Master: “Because you mistake the extraordinary lion for the stone lion.”

Student: “What is the extraordinary lion that Nanyang meant if he didn’t mean the stone lion?”

Master: “An extraordinary lion.”

Student: “What was Nanyang’s fault?”

Master: “That is the roaring of the extraordinary lion.”

 

Commentary:

Why don’t you hear the roaring of the extraordinary lion while being so sensitive to the buzzing sound of a tiny mosquito?

 

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

 

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Venerable ones, time is precious! Yet you run about hither and thither, studying Zen, learning the Way, mistaking Zen for names and phrases, seeking the Buddha and patriarchs and good teachers, full of arbitrary judgments. Do not commit such errors. Followers of the Way, you each have a father and mother. So, what more do you seek? Turn around and look into yourselves.

 

Commentary:

As mentioned many times before, enlightenment is to be able to see and hear everything as it is, which is to see and hear everything without any labels, names. You should know that the Way, enlightenment is not what can be achieved by learning academically and that Zen is not what can be practised by studying in the way we learn a subject at school. Enlightenment is to realise that you are the Buddha itself. Concentrating on confirming the truth that you are the Buddha is true Zen. If you try to find the Buddha externally, whatever effort you may make, it’s just exhausting yourself chasing shadows. This is no other than to grasp at the shadows and lose the substance. ‘You each have a father and mother’ means that you have the true-Self and that you should look into yourselves to see your true-Self instead of seeking it in vain externally.

 

Student: “Where is the Buddha?”

Master: “In the mug.”

Student: “Why can’t I see the Buddha in the mug?”

Master: “Because you see the mug.”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

 

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A. One of my favourite Bible scriptures is John 14:20 that says, “Jesus said, ‘I am in you and you are in me’.” Christmas should be a day when we can see Jesus; not the image of crucified Jesus from two thousand years ago but the eternal Jesus. We should see all people as Jesus by realising that each of us is one with Jesus just as John 14:20 in the Bible says.

Even if Jesus were to be born into this world a hundred times, it would be of no use if we only follow his image without grasping the meaning of his teaching. That is no other than following dead Jesus whilst forsaking living Jesus.

Merry Christmas Jesus!

 

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

 

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Shiti asked his attendant monastic, “Where have you been?”

The monastic said, “I went to the monastics’ hall and had a meal.”

Shiti said, “Do you think I don’t know that you went to the monastics’ hall and had a meal?”

The monastic said, “What else could I have said?”

Shiti said, “I was asking you about the essential matter.”

The monastic said, “If you ask me about the essential matter, I say I went to the monastics’ hall and had a meal.”

Shiti said, “You didn’t miss it. That’s why you are my attendant.”

 

Student: “What does going to the monastics’ hall and having a meal have to with the essential matter?”

Master: “It has nothing to do with it.”

Student: “Why then did Master Shiti approve the monastic when he said that he had gone to the hall and had a meal?”

Master: “Because you missed it.”

Student: “What is it?”

Master: “You are showing it to me now.”

 

Commentary:

When you don’t miss it, there is nothing that is not the essential matter.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

 

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Not even for a fraction of a moment does he aspire to Buddhahood. And why? An old master said: “If you seek the Buddha by karmic actions, the Buddha will become a great symptom of birth and death.”

 

Commentary:

‘Not even for a fraction of a moment does he aspire to Buddhahood’ means that the true man of the Way never attaches himself to the illusion of Buddhahood since he is firmly confident that he is Buddhahood itself. However, to those who pursue enlightenment, Buddha, the true-Self, the Emptiness and Oneness can sound so attractive and tempting that a lot of practitioners are deluded by the illusions of them. ‘Seek the Buddha by karmic actions’ means to seek the Buddha by doing good deeds whilst believing that the Buddha is somewhere in the universe. This is a good example of being deluded by the illusion of Buddha. That’s why the Buddha becomes a symptom of birth and death which are illusions. So, ancient masters would advise their students to kill the Buddha if they met Him so that they might prevent their students from being attached to such illusions.

 

Student: “What is the Buddha?”

Master: “The Buddha is not the Buddha?”

Student: “Then, what is the Buddha?”

Master: “The Buddha.”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

 

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A. Religion is to help people escape from the suffering that all human beings are subject to. The way to help people to escape from their suffering varies according to each religion.

Buddhism, for example, is a religion that helps people to realise that they are happiness itself and perfection itself by leading them to see everything as it is by ceasing discrimination.

However, unfortunately many Buddhists believe that there is Buddha with a lot of His assistants, Bodhisattvas and that they can achieve their wishes by praying or making offerings to them. This is far from Buddhism. A religious leader who leaves or leads his followers to go the wrong way can be compared to a blind man who is leading many other blind men.

Religion, as a means through which to attain happiness, is needed for our happiness.

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

 

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Shishuang went to study with Daowu and asked, “What is the transcendent wisdom that meets the eye?” Daowu called out, “Novice!” A novice monastic responded.

Daowu said to the novice, “Add some water to the jar.”  Then he said to Shishuang, “What did you ask?”

Shishuang repeated the question. Daowu stood up and walked away. At this point Shishuang had realisation.

 

Student: “What did Daowu mean by telling the novice to add some water to the jar?”

Master: “He stood up and walked away.”

 

Commentary:

If you add water to the jar, you can’t stop being thirsty.

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

 

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