One day Master Namchun said, “No Buddha of the three worlds knows it, but rather a cat, or white cow knows it.”
Student: “How is it when all the Buddhas don’t know?”
Master: “They showed their modesty.”
Student: “How is it when a cat, or a white cow knows?”
Master: “It shows its honesty.”
Commentary:
Modesty and honesty are from the same root.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Part 13-3
“What do you think, Subhuti—is there any doctrine that the Realised One has preached?” Subhuti said to the Buddha, “World Honoured One, there is no doctrine that the Realised One has preached.”
Commentary:
The purpose of the Buddha’s preaching was to reveal the formless and nameless true-Self through the expedient means of words. Our purpose in reading the scriptures must align with this: to see the essence of our existence —the true-Self (Buddha-nature, Emptiness, Buddha).
However, sentient beings have a long-standing habit of clinging to words and forms. If the Buddha says, “All things are empty,” they cling to the phrase ‘all things are empty’. If he says, “Do not cling,” they cling to the command ‘do not cling’. Knowing this, in the preceding section (parts 13-1, 2), the Buddha warned his disciples not to be deceived by his expedient words, saying, “The Perfect Wisdom that the Buddha himself speaks of is not Perfect Wisdom; it is merely named Perfect Wisdom.” Following this, he spoke even more forcefully, stating that he has never taught any Dharma at all.
If we take the text literally and believe there is no Dharma taught, how should we view the Sutra we are reading now? If we simply accept ‘there is no Dharma taught’ as a factual statement, we are once again being deceived by words.
The Avatamsaka Sutra says, “By vainly discriminating the Dharma explained in words with meagre wisdom, obstacles arise, and one fails to know their own mind.” Ancient masters also said, “The words of the Buddha cannot be engraved on paper or stone.” In short, the Buddha spoke words that are not words to reveal the true-Self that cannot be captured in writing. If sentient beings try to understand this through discrimination based on shallow intellectual knowledge, they will ultimately fail to understand.
Bodhidharma once said, “If you know that words are not words, then speaking all day long is the Way. But for those who follow words, even a whole day of silence is not the Way.” This means that whether you are reading the Sutra, or living your daily life, you must see every word and phrase as the functioning of the true-Self. If you can see and hear this way, you will see the Buddha in every word and phrase of the Sutra. Furthermore, you will realise that everything you see and hear—including your own speech and every sound you create—is the functioning of the true-Self.
When this happens, you cannot help but see the true-Self at every moment, everywhere; you cannot avoid it even if you try.
Thus, Bodhidharma said:
When one knows, the Dharma follows the person.
When one does not know, the person follows the Dharma.
When the Dharma follows the person, even what is not Dharma becomes Dharma.
When the person follows the Dharma, even the Dharma becomes non-Dharma.
When the person follows the Dharma, all Dharma is false.
When the Dharma follows the person, all Dharma is true.
He further warned that reading the Sutras while only following the words without knowing this principle is useless by saying, “If you do not see your own true-Self, there is no benefit in chanting the Buddha’s name, reciting Sutras, performing rituals, or keeping the precepts.”
Disciple: “If there is no Dharma taught by the Buddha, what is the Buddha’s teaching?”
Master: “His teaching is not words.”
Disciple: “If it is not words, then what is it?”
Master: “It is not difficult to tell you, but I fear you will misinterpret it.”
Disciple: “Please tell me.”
Master: “His teaching is words.”
Koan:
A monk asked Master Joshu, “It is said that the Supreme Way is not difficult; it only avoids choosing. What is it not to choose?” Joshu: “In the heavens and on earth, I alone am the honoured one.” Monk: “That itself is still choosing.” Joshu: “You dimwit! Where is the choosing?”
Question 1: Why did Joshu say, “In the heavens and on earth, I alone am the honoured one,” in response to the monk’s question?
Question 2: Why did the monk respond to Joshu by saying, “That itself is still picking and choosing”?
Question 3: If you were in that monk’s position, how would you respond to Joshu’s remark, “You dimwit! Where is the choosing?”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Trying to see them as one is practice. Can you guess what you were like five hundred years ago, before you were born into this world? Can you say that what you were like was different from what a flower, or a bird was like five hundred years ago before it came into existence as a flower, or a bird? What do you think that you, the flower, and the bird will be like five hundred years from now?
No matter what you may be like, and no matter how different you may appear to be from the others in the world at the moment, you are one with them in essence as the earth, or as the universe. The purpose of Buddhism is to realise the truth in person through practice.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A monk asked Master Daesu, “When the cosmic fire blazes and the entire great thousand worlds collapse, does this also collapse along with them?”
“It collapses,” he replied. The monk said, “Then I will follow it.” The master said, “Follow it, then.”
Student: “How can we stay alive when this collapses with the entire great thousand worlds?”
Master: “Don’t flounder in vain to escape it.”
Commentary:
Don’t take splendid lotus flowers for raging flames.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Part 13-1, 2
Then Subhuti said to the Buddha. “World Honoured One, what is this sutra to be called? How should we uphold it?” The Buddha said to Subhuti, “This sutra is named Diamond Prajnaparamita; you should uphold it by this name. Why? Subhuti, the prajnaparamita explained by the Buddha is not prajnaparamita but just called prajnaparamita.”
Commentary:
When we speak of this Sutra, we are literally referring to the sermon titled The Diamond Sutra for Attaining Wisdom delivered by Sakyamuni Buddha at the Jetavana Monastery in Sravasti.
Diamond symbolises the ultimate strength that neither breaks nor changes.
Wisdom here means the perfection of wisdom.
Thus, it signifies unchanging, perfect wisdom, or the attainment of unchanging, perfect wisdom.
The core of Buddha’s teaching that we must keep in mind is that all things are empty — meaning non-dual, or that all things are one. Regardless of what the Buddha said, the purpose of his words was to reveal Emptiness, the Buddha-nature, which is non-dual.
As the Avatamsaka Sutra says, “The Buddha fills the world with a subtle voice, preaching the Dharma for countless eons; yet all those teachings are contained within a single word.”
This means that although terms like this Sutra or Wisdom, may sound different and seem to carry different meanings, they are merely expedient means created by the Buddha to help sentient beings recognise the formless and nameless Buddha-nature. In essence, they are all functions of the true-Self, Buddha-nature, we should know without being deluded by words.
This is why in part 8-3, it is said: “What is called the Buddha Dharma is not the Buddha Dharma.” In part 10-2, Subhuti says, “Adornment is not adornment; it is merely named adornment.” Similarly, the Buddha said, “Perfect Wisdom is not Perfect Wisdom; it is merely named Perfect Wisdom,” warning us not to be deceived by the words themselves. In other words, there is no separate, special thing called Diamond Sutra; rather, he is pointing to the very source from which the sound of those words arises. That source is the True Sutra that the Buddha intended, and one must clearly realise this.
As an ancient Zen master once said:
Everyone possesses their own Sutra,
but as it has no form or letters,
no one knows how to read it.
One who can read that Sutra
will enter Nirvana without birth or death,
will not seek the path of a Bodhisattva,
nor strive to become a Buddha.
Disciple: “How should I uphold this Sutra?”
Master: “See it as you wish, but I do not permit you to uphold it.”
Disciple: “Why do you forbid upholding it?”
Master: “To uphold it is to defile it.”
One should have no place where the mind abides.
To uphold is to abide.
If you abide, it is no longer Perfect Wisdom.
Koan:
When Joshu visited Yunju, Yunju said, “You are getting on in years; why do you not find a place to stay?”
“Where is the place I should stay?” Joshu asked.
Yunju replied, “There is an old temple site at the foot of the mountain.”
“Then why don’t you, Master, stay there yourself?” Joshu countered.
At this, Yunju remained silent.
Joshu then went to Sooyou. Sooyou also said, “You are getting on in years; why do you not find a place to stay?”
Joshu said, “Where is the place I should stay?”
“You are so old, yet you still do not even know where you should stay!” Sooyou replied.
Question 1: What is the meaning of Joshu’s response to Yunju: “Why don’t you, Master, stay there yourself?”
Question 2: What is the meaning of Sooyou’s remark: “You are so old, yet you still do not even know where you should stay!”?
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
It’s because you acquired your belief that all words are illusionary not by honestly earning it through patient practice, but by stifling your doubts, although you say you know that all words are not real but illusionary. To present evidence that all words are illusionary, no matter how malicious and spiteful the words are which someone may reproach you with, they are nothing to you and can’t influence you at all unless you accept the words as names.
This is the evidence that all words are illusionary. If they were not illusionary but real, they should influence you regardless of whether you are conscious of the fact. This is why ancient masters said that losing one’s head during a conversation is an example of being deluded by words.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A monk asked Master Daesu, “When the cosmic fire blazes and the entire great thousand worlds collapse, does this also collapse along with them?” “It collapses,” he replied. The monk said, “Then I will follow it.” The master said, “Follow it, then.”
Student: “The Buddha and all ancient masters said that this (the true-Self) is boundless, formless and changeless so far. Why did Master Daesu say that it collapses?”
Master: “Because the Buddha hid himself in the flames.”
Commentary:
Sentient beings are ones who only see, or hear a tiny part, not the whole.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Part 12
“Furthermore, Subhuti, wherever this Sutra is expounded, even a four-line verse, the place is worthy of the offerings of all heavenly beings, human and asuras as if it were a stupa and shrine of Buddha.”
“This is to say nothing of he who accepts, keeps, reads aloud and recites it in its entirety. Subhuti! You should understand this. Such a person will achieve the supreme and rarest dharma. The place where this Sutra is, is where the Buddha and his venerable disciples are.”
Commentary:
The core of this section lies in explaining what this Sutra truly is, how one should uphold and recite it, and what the results of such practice are.
First, try sharing the four-line verse of this Sutra with your family or acquaintances, or hand them a physical copy of the Sutra and see what happens. Do heavenly beings, humans, or Asuras come to make offerings to you? Store multiple copies of the Sutra in your home or office and observe. If you follow only the literal words, hundreds of stacked volumes are merely piles of paper that emit no light of their own. Reciting them out loud for a lifetime is no different from repeatedly singing a popular song; reciting them in a secular public space might even draw criticism rather than respect.
As mentioned in the previous part 11-2, ancient masters warned, “If you understand the meaning by relying on the words, the Buddhas of the three worlds will become your enemies,” or “If you read by relying on the words, the Sutra will become Mara’s talk.” This was said to prevent us from merely chasing shadows of language.
To explain the Sutra once more, it does not refer to characters printed on paper or silk, or carved in wood or stone. Here, Sutra means the Buddha, or Emptiness. When we say all things are empty, Emptiness is another name for the Buddha or the Pure Land. Everything we see and hear, including ourselves, is the Buddha and the Buddha’s talk. Therefore, this Sutra is also the Buddha. This means that everything in the world—every sight and sound—is the Sutra; there is nothing that is not the Sutra.
In this state, ‘I’ and the Sutra are one, with no gap or distinction between the two. ‘I’ and this Sutra are the Buddha himself. As the Avatamsaka Sutra states, “The names of all things are the names of the Buddha,” ‘I’ and the Sutra are simply different names for the Buddha.
Knowing that ‘I’ myself is the Sutra (the Buddha) is what it means to accept and keep the Sutra. Seeing everything as the Sutra and perceiving every movement and sound as the four-line verse of the Buddha’s sermon is what it means to read and recite the Sutra. Acting and speaking with the realisation that your every move and every sound is the functioning of the Buddha is what it means to preach the four-line verse.
When you become the Sutra in this way, wherever you are is where the Sutra exists. When the place where you stand becomes the place where the Sutra dwells, that place is where the Buddha and his venerable disciples reside. Wherever you are becomes the Vulture Peak assembly and the Pure Land.
Disciple: “What is this Sutra?”
Master: “It does not burn when entering fire, and it does not get wet when entering water.”
Disciple: “What is the four-line verse?”
Master: “It cannot be dictated or written down.”
Woken by the sound of the Sutra in the early morning,
Falling asleep to the sound of the Sutra late at night,
Yet no one knows the very first line of this Sutra.
Koan
An old woman sent a messenger to Master Joshu with an offering of wealth, requesting that he read the entirety of the Sutras.
Joshu descended from his Zen seat, walked in a circle around it once, and said, “I have finished reading the entirety of the Sutras.
The messenger returned and relayed this to the old woman.
The old woman said, “I asked him to read all the Sutras once; why did the Master only read half of them?”
Question 1: What is the meaning of Joshu’s walking in a circle and saying, “I have finished reading the entirety of the Sutras”?
Question 2: What is the meaning of the old woman’s remark, “Why did the Master only read half of them?”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Understanding that life and death are nothing but empty words is one thing, and internalising the fact through physical experience is another. This is why practice is needed. For example, if I give you detailed explanations about a traditional Korean food — its shape, its colour, its taste, its ingredients — repeatedly many times, you can have knowledge about it and guess what it is and tastes like. Then, you can think you know it and even explain it to others, although you have never tried it.
Strictly speaking, it cannot be said that you know the Korean food, but you think that you know it. That is referred to as dry knowledge in Buddhism, another name of an illusion. In the same way, you are not aware of the fact that everything is empty, because you have never experienced the words ‘everything is empty’ in person. I am sure you can surmount your problem sooner or later if you practise hard.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
When Namchun visited Bakjang, Bakjang asked him, “Is there any Dharma that has not been spoken by any sages since ancient times?” Namchun said, “Yes, there is.” Bakjang said, “What is the Dharma that has not been uttered?” Namchun said, “It is not mind, not Buddha, and not four holy Truths.” Bakjang remarked, “You have already said it.” Namchun said, “That is how I see it. How is it for you, Master?” Bakjang said, “I am not a great Zen master. How could I know whether there is something to say, or not?” Namchun said, “I don’t understand.” Bakjang said, “I’ve already said too much to you.”
Student: “Why did Bakjang say, ‘I’ve already said too much to you’ although he had already said that he didn’t know whether there was something to say, or not because he was not a great Zen master?”
Master: “The master never wastes any words.”
Commentary:
Spring never says that it is coming, but we know it by seeing trees budding.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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