A. It is a mind that can see everything just as it is, without being deluded by images and words.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Master Hyunsa said, “If you fall in with a person who is blind, deaf and dumb, how would you treat him? If we can’t treat such a person properly, we can’t say that the Buddha’s teaching is divine.” Then, Jijang, one of his students said, “I can see, hear and speak. How would you treat me?” The master burst out laughing.
Student: “Why did the master laugh upon hearing Jijang’s words?”
Master: “I know that you are not blind, not deaf and not dumb.
Commentary:
Only one who is dumb can hear a dumb person’s words just as only birds can hear birds’ words.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Part 26-1,2
“Subhuti, what do you think—can you view the Realised One in terms of the thirty-two marks?” Subhuti said, “That’s the way it is—we can view the Realised One in terms of thirty-two marks.” The Buddha said, “If you view the Realised One in terms of the thirty-two marks, then a law-giving sage ruler would be a Realised One.” Subhuti said to the Buddha, “World Honoured One, as I understand the meaning of what the Buddha says, we should not view the Realised One in terms of the thirty-two marks.”
Commentary:
As mentioned repeatedly in preceding parts, the Realised One, the Buddha signifies Emptiness, the true-Self that is formless, boundless, changeless and nameless.
As the Avatamsaka Sutra says, “When sentient beings see the true-Self, they are swayed only by its form. They can’t see the Buddha, because they don’t know that the true-Self is formless”, we can’t recognise the Realised One, the Buddha since we are deluded by forms, or images. This is why Subhuti said, “We should not view the Realised One in terms of the thirty-two marks.”
Therefore, Bodhidharma said that we should be able to see and hear what is unseen and unheard to the effect that we ought not to be deluded by images and words. When we see, or hear a thing, we ought to know that it is a function of what is unseen, or unheard.
Student: “How can I see the Buddha if we can’t see Him through thirty-two marks?”
Master: “We can see Him through thirty-two marks.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. When people fight, their goals are to get, or protect and keep something from their opponent, or enemy. They know that they are destined to die someday.
However, they are not aware that they are one with what they want to obtain and their enemy, and that killing their enemy is killing themselves.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Master Hyunsa said, “If you fall in with a person who is blind, deaf and dumb, how would you treat him? If we can’t treat such a person properly, we can’t say that the Buddha’s teaching is divine.” Then, Jijang, one of his students said, “I can see, hear and speak. How would you treat me?” The master burst out laughing.
Student: “What did Jijang mean by his words?”
Master: “He treated the person well.”
Commentary:
Treating him with care is disgracing him.
©Boo AhmAll writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Part 25-2
“Subhuti, the Realised One speaks as if there were an ‘I’, but it doesn’t mean that ‘I’ exists, yet ordinary people think that there is ‘I’. Subhuti, the Realised One says ordinary people are not ordinary people, they are just called ordinary people.”
Commentary:
Here the Buddha emphasizes again that everything is empty. He means that although he uses the words ‘I’ and ‘ordinary people’ in order to preach the Dharma, he says these words not because they actually exist but only as an expedient means to reveal the true-Self. For example, when the Buddha says, “I want to lead ordinary people to enlightenment”, he doesn’t mean that there are ‘I’, ‘ordinary people’ and ‘enlightenment’. This is why the Buddha says, “The Realised One says ordinary people are not ordinary people, they are just called ordinary people.”
Student: “If ordinary people are not ordinary people, are they the Buddha?”
Master: “The Buddha is not the Buddha, but just called the Buddha.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Untruth here means illusions that are images and words, and truth the true-Self, Emptiness that is the source which all illusions are from.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A monastic asked Master Young-woon, “What is the crux of Buddhism?” The master answered, “A donkey’s work not being finished yet, a horse’s work has already come.” The monastic, not grasping its meaning, asked for more teaching. The master said, “Although the splendid energy moves every night, meeting the spirit is rare.”
Student: “What is the splendid energy?”
Master: “It is the function of the spirit.”
Commentary:
Don’t leave your house whose garden is full of flowers in bloom, in search of spring.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Part 25-1
“What do you think, Subhuti? You should not say that the Realised One entertains this thought: ‘I should save sentient beings’. Subhuti, do not think this. Why? There really are no sentient beings the Realised One saves. If there were sentient beings the Realised One saves, then the Realised One would have image of self, image of person, image of sentient being, and image of liver of life.”
Commentary:
Although the Buddha gave himself to saving sentient beings, he never thought that he saved any sentient beings, because if he had had that kind of idea, it would have meant that he was still not freed from being deluded by images.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the crux of Buddhism is to save all sentient beings. Saving all sentient beings means freeing oneself from being deluded by images and words.
Student: “If there were not sentient beings to save, why did the Buddha preach this Sutra?”
Master: “Because we are deluded by what doesn’t exist.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. This doesn’t mean that we should discard rancour just like throwing away rubbish. It is impossible to treat rancour in that way, even though we may wish to. There is a saying ‘Everything is the Buddha’ in Buddhism.
According to this, rancour is the Buddha as well. ‘Discarding it’ here doesn’t mean to discard rancour just like throwing away rubbish but means to see rancour as the function of the Buddha.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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