Category: zen

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Mind, root, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q146. What should I depend on in order to attain enlightenment?

Zen Fools

A. You should depend on what you are depending on each moment. In fact, what matters now is not what to depend upon but whether or not you know what you are depending on this moment. Whatever you are doing now: speaking, listening, standing, sitting, drinking, and so on, you are doing it by depending on it. You are even reading this writing by being dependent upon it. You can’t do anything without it. The problem is that you don’t know what it is while relying on it.

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To realise what you are depending on at this moment is to attain enlightenment. Ancient masters would say, “You are wandering around in search of a cow while riding it.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Koan, Meditation, Mind, sutras, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q145. What do you think of reciting mantra? What mantra would you recommend?

Zen Fools

A. I never discourage you from doing anything. One thing you have to remember is that mantra has no power in itself at all. Many people think that mantra has a very special or mysterious holy power that can help them to achieve their goals. Not only mantra but also the Sutras have no such power by themselves. Buddha said that nothing has its own nature. However, if used in the right way, mantra can be a means of practice to realise your true-self. When reciting mantra, you should try to realise what is making your mouth recite it.

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Anything can be a mantra; your spouse’s name, children’s name, names of things you like, such as coca cola or even the name of your pet. It doesn’t have to be a noun or a single word like mentioned above. It can be an adjective like ‘beautiful’ or ‘holy’ or a verb such as ‘go’ or ‘dance’. A sentence can be a good mantra as well, for example ‘I love you’. The key point is not what mantra to recite but how to recite it. Whatever mantra you recite, just try to realise what is making your body recite it. Then reciting mantra can be a good practice, which is not different from Zen.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, Meditation, Practice, root, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q144. By all means possible, I want to realise what I am when my body is not me. What am I?

Zen Fools

A. You can’t hide it.

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Commentary:
Why don’t you recognise it while revealing it at every moment?
Don’t seek it and it will show itself.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddhism, compassion, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q143. Is enlightenment the final end or a process?

Zen Fools

A. To those who are not enlightened, it can seem to be the final end of Zen meditation as well as a process for wisdom and compassion for others. However, to the enlightened, it can be said to be the final end because they feel oneness or non-duality.

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After enlightenment, whatever they may do, whether wise or compassionate, it is the action of the truth. They do all things without doing since they are free from all illusions. Wisdom is not wisdom any more, and compassion is not compassion any more but an illusion to them. There is nothing else other than the truth after enlightenment. So enlightenment is the final end.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Meditation, Practice, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q142. Should ‘I’ be thrown away to attain enlightenment?

Zen Fools

A. It is a very common saying in Zen that we should discard ‘I’ in order to attain enlightenment. This saying, however, is like putting the cart before the horse. This nonsensical saying is possible because we don’t know what we say. How would it be possible to discard ‘I’ without so much as knowing what it is? However hard we may try to discard ‘I’, it never disappears unless we realise what it is.

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In fact, it is can’t be removed by force but disappears by itself when we realise what it is. The truth is not that it disappears, but that you realise that there is no ‘I’. In other words, you should realise that what seems to be your ‘I’ is just an illusion.

Trying to remove your ‘I’ without knowing what it is, is like trying to sweep away a shadow cast on the ground. If you are to remove your ‘I’, try to realise what it is instead of trying in vain to eliminate it.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, master, Meditation, student, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q141. Student: “Where are you when your body is not you?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: (Pointing to the tea cup before him) “It’s in the cup.”
Student: (After looking very closely into the cup.) “There is nothing in it, Sir!”
Master: (Looking into the cup) “It’s here.”

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Commentary:
Master is showing it clearly.
Why is the student jumping into the cup?
Where is ‘here’?
©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Practice, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q140. What should I do when I encounter a question during practice or when reading something about Zen?

Zen Fools

A. First of all, never try to satisfy your curiosity about Zen or enlightenment by reading books. When you hit upon a question during practice or when reading books concerning Zen, don’t depend on books for the answer to your question. The books will present you with new questions, which will lead you to read more books and they will pose yet more questions. This will be endless. That is like trying to meet your hunger with pictures of food. You can not reach the final goal through reading books any more than you can satisfy your hunger by looking at pictures of food.

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When you encounter a question beyond your understanding, ask yourself the question rather than consult another book. It might take some time, but you will never fail to get the right answer from yourself. So, ancient Masters would say that reading for a day is not as valuable as practising for an hour.
Remember that Buddha attained enlightenment not by reading books but by practice. When he was asked by his disciples on his deathbed how they should practice after he passed away, he replied, “You should practice depending on the lantern of yourself and the Dharma”.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Mind, mindful, mindfulness, Practice, present, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q139. Do you think that all kinds of meditation can lead to enlightenment like the saying, ‘All roads lead to Rome’?

Zen Fools

A. It is true that all roads lead to Rome. However, why have most people who have tried to reach Rome failed to do so? Even if we take the right road but go in the wrong direction we will never get to Rome. Only when we take the right road in the right direction can we reach Rome. If we go in the wrong direction, then the harder we try the further we will get from Rome.

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Which road we should take doesn’t matter since all roads lead to Rome. However, in order to take the right road in the right direction, we should first of all know exactly where we are. The most important and the first thing to do in order to reach your destination, is to find out where you are standing when you are lost in a strange place. When you can realise your location, then your destination, Rome will reveal itself.
©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, Happiness, illusion, Meditation, Practice, zen

Q138. What am I when my body is not me?

Zen Fools

A. The source of all suffering.

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Commentary:
When you don’t know it, it’s the source of all suffering.
When you know it, it’s the source of happiness.
©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

compassion, illusion, love, Meditation, Practice, zen

Q137. Are compassion and love also illusions?

Zen Fools

A. Suppose that you unconditionally helped someone who is in need. There can be two scenarios.

The first is that you want to show off or are secretly proud because you think you had compassion for a suffering person. The moment you thought that you had compassion, your compassion was not compassion any longer but an illusion. This is because you created a new illusion of compassion concerning your act.

The second is that you never had the idea that you helped someone because you took it for granted, just as if you had fed yourself because you felt oneness with the other person. Then you can be said to have had true compassion because you didn’t have any thought of compassion. In this case, your kindness is not an illusion.

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We should know how to do nothing, or how to do without doing. This means that we should not leave any trace in our mind after doing something, just like a flying bird never leaves any trace in the air. Everything is both the truth and an illusion at the same time. Your act becomes an illusion at the moment you label it.

So, the Sutras say that to do good without doing good brings about immeasurable merit.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway