Category: zen

Part 22

Subhuti said to the Buddha, “World Honoured One, when the Buddha attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, it means that there was nothing attained” The Buddha said, “That is so. That is so. Subhuti, there was nothing whatsoever for me to attain in unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment. This is called unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment.”

Commentary:

Attaining unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment means realising that everything is empty. That everything is empty means that there is nothing that is not empty. It follows from this that not only he who attains unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, but enlightenment itself is also empty.

So, if one thinks that there is even a single little thing to give and take that is not empty, he is far from having attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment.

Student: “If there is nothing to attain, what is the purpose of Buddhism?”

Master: “It is to help people to stop chasing and clinging to what doesn’t exist.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. Secular happiness is to possess, or be near what we want, or like and to discard, or be away from what we don’t want, or what we hate. For example, we want to have health but want to discard, or be away from illness. We want to be with the people we love and like, but want to be away those whom we hate, or dislike. All that we human beings do all our lives is to try to obtain, or achieve what we want and throw away, or avoid what we dislike. When we succeed in achieving what we love, or avoiding what we hate, we feel happy. When we fail to do this, we feel unhappy, sad, or even frustrated.

In brief, secular happiness depends on whether or not we can get what we want and avoid what we hate.

Buddhist happiness is to realise that everything that we have chased, or have run away from is not real, but merely illusionary images created by us, and to enjoy it just as we enjoy movies which are sometimes sad and sometimes happy. In summary, the Buddhist perspective on happiness depends on whether or not we can see things as they are without being deluded by illusions.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Once upon a time in China many monastics wanted to go to Mt. Ohdae that was famous as a place where Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom resided. There lived an old lady at the foot of the mountain. Whenever a monastic asked her the way to the mountain, she answered, “Go straight.” Seeing the monastic go straight just as she had told him to, she said behind him, “A normal monastic goes in such way again.” When one of Joshu’s students told Joshu about the lady, Joshu said, “Ok, I’ll go and check her” and went to her and asked her, “What is the way to Mt. Ohdae?”. The lady made the same answer ‘Go straight’. Seeing Joshu leaving her place, she said again, “A normal monastic goes in such way again.” Joshu returned to his temple and said to his students, “I checked her.”

Student: “Why did she say, ‘A normal monastic goes in such way again’ behind the monastics?”

Master: “Because they didn’t go the way she had told them.”

Student: “How should they have gone?”

Master: “A wise monastic ought to have reached the destination upon hearing the answer.”

Commentary:

Manjushri never moves about, but there is nowhere that he doesn’t reach.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 21-3

At that time, Venerable Subhuti said to the Buddha, “World-Honoured One, will there be any sentient beings in the future who, upon hearing the Dharma, will give rise to a mind of faith?”

The Buddha replied, “Subhuti, they are not sentient beings, nor are they not sentient beings. Why is this so? Subhuti, the words ‘sentient beings’ used by the Realised One are not sentient beings, but are merely called ‘sentient beings’ by name.”

Commentary:

Subhuti thinks that the Dharma preached by the Buddha is so difficult that sentient beings in the future cannot appreciate it. However, the Buddha is more worried about Subhuti than about sentient beings in the future since he is deluded by the words ‘sentient beings’ mentioned by the Buddha during his Dharma talk. In truth, Subhuti, despite his failure to grasp the Buddha’s talk, had a belief that he himself appreciated it and doubted whether sentient beings in the future could understand it as he could.

This is why the Buddha said that the words ‘sentient beings’ used by the Realised One are not sentient beings, but are merely called ‘sentient beings’ by name.

We should ask ourselves whether or not we also accept the Buddha’s words as Subhuti did.

Student: “If sentient beings are not sentient beings, but just called sentient beings, what is the difference between sentient beings and the Buddha?”

Master: “He who is deluded by words such as sentient beings and the Buddha is called a sentient being, and he who isn’t is called the Buddha.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddhism is not a religion that teaches you to worship the Buddha above clouds but one that teaches you to realise that everything around you, including yourself, is the Buddha.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

One day seeing his students quarrelling about the ownership of a cat, Namjun, holding the cat in one hand and a sword in the other, said, “If you can say, I’ll leave this cat alive, but I’ll cut it if you can’t say.” No one said, and he cut the cat into two. When he told the story to Joshu later, Joshu took off one of his shoes, put it on his head and went out of the room. Seeing it, Namjun said, “If you had been then, the cat could have been saved.”

Student: “Why did Namjun kill the cat?”

Master: “Because a sentient being is cruel.”

Commentary:

A king never kills a living thing but orders his servants to if necessary.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 21-2

“Subhuti, what is called Dharma talk means that there is no Dharma that is truly worth expounding; this is called Dharma talk.”

Commentary:

As stated previously, all things, including ourselves, are the Sutra; what is seen is the Sutra and what is heard is Dharma talk.

Dharma talk means talking about the true-Self, or the Buddha’s talk.

The true-Self that is formless, boundless, changeless and nameless, is perfection itself and eternity itself, which is the state free from discrimination. This is why it is said to be beyond words which are the products of discrimination. It contains everything, including ourselves, and there is nothing that doesn’t belong to it. In the non-dual state of the true-Self there is no one who delivers dharma talks and no one who listens to them.  To be one with the perfect state is referred to as true Dharma talk.

Student: “How is it possible to deliver Dharma talks if there is no Dharma that is worth preaching?”

Master: “You can neither stop seeing nor stop hearing Dharma, nor can you stop showing or preaching Dharma even for a moment.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. It means that getting literal and intellectual understanding about the true-Self is easy, but that seeing and realising it directly in person through the physical body is difficult.

This is a critical teaching that we should not mistake intellectual understanding for enlightenment.

No matter how plausible and logical intellectual understanding may be, it is no better than being deluded by illusions unless we can see the true-Self.

Ancient masters would say that this is like serving a thief as one’s father.

They also warned that we should not lose true ease by getting what is easy. They meant that we shouldn’t make the mistake of losing true ease, enlightenment by striving for intellectual understanding which is easy to get.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

One day seeing his students quarrelling about the ownership of a cat, Namjun, holding the cat in one hand and a sword in the other, said, “If you can say, I’ll leave this cat alive, but I’ll cut it if you can’t say.” No one said, and he cut the cat into two. When he told the story to Joshu later, Joshu took off one of his shoes, put it on his head and went out of the room. Seeing it, Namjun said, “If you had been there, the cat could have been saved.”

Student: “Why did Joshu put a shoe on his head?”

Master: “To show the cat.”

Student: “What is it like?”

Master: “Its head is the same as its tail.”

Commentary:

Although the cat is running around the temple, no one can see it. 

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 21-1

“Subhuti, do not say that the Realised One entertains this thought: ‘There are dharma talks that I preached.’ Do not entertain this thought. Why? If anybody says the Realised One preached any dharma talks, he is slandering the Buddha, because he cannot understand what I say.

Commentary:

The true-Self is the state that is perfectly free from discrimination, which never admits of even a single word. This is why the Buddha said in the Lotus Sutra, “The true-Self is impossible to show and explain because it is beyond forms, languages and words, and so sentient beings cannot recognise it. Only Bodhisattvas with firm faith can appreciate it.”

This means that although he used a lot of words by the act of speaking in regard to the true-Self, which people think of as dharma talks, he didn’t mean to explain it with words but meant to reveal its function through the act of speaking the words.

Therefore, if someone, deluded by the words, says that the Buddha delivered Dharma talks, it is because he doesn’t understand what the Buddha preached. Such an act is speaking ill of the Buddha.

Student: “If there are no dharma talks preached by the Buddha, what are all the Sutras known in the world?”

Master: “The Sutra is another name of the Buddha.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway