Category: zen

No matter how many Buddhas you have seen and served, you have seen and served only the illusions of them unless you’ve realised that you are the Buddha.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 20

“Subhuti, what do you think—can the Buddha be seen by his perfect physical body?” “No, World Honoured One. The Realised One is not to be seen by his perfect physical body. Why? The perfect physical body mentioned by the Realised One is not a perfect physical body, but it is called a perfect physical body.”

Commentary:

The Buddha means Emptiness that is formless, boundless, nameless and changeless. In other words, the Buddha is eternity itself and perfection itself.

This is why he cannot be seen by his physical body that has birth and death, a certain form, and changes.

The reason why Buddha mentioned the perfect physical body is not to describe His physical body but to reveal the true-Self through the act of saying ‘perfect physical body’. This is why Subhuti said, “The perfect physical body mentioned by the Realised One is not a perfect physical body, but it is just called a perfect physical body.” So, if we, deluded by His words, try to see the Buddha by his perfect physical body, we cannot see Him.

However, we cannot avoid seeing him even at this moment if we are not deluded by words.

Student: “If the Buddha can’t be seen by his physical body, how can we see Him?”

Master: “We can see Him by His physical body.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. The purpose of all other religions as well as Buddhism, I think, is to make people free from challenges, or obstacles.

The Buddhist way to be free from them is not to appeal to a certain almighty being for removing them, or taking us away us from them. From the Buddhist perspective, challenges and obstacles don’t exist on their own initiative but are illusions that are the products resulting from our failure to see things as they are. So, Buddhism is a religion that enables people to be free from being deluded by challenges and obstacles through teaching them to see everything as it is.

©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 was Namjun so cruel as to cut a living cat when he ought to have had compassion as a Buddhist?”

Master: “Because you mistake medicine for poison.”

Commentary:

Those who are punished for the sin they didn’t commit are sentient beings.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 19

“Subhuti, what do you think—if someone were to fill the universe with seven kinds of precious stone to use for giving in charity, would this person gain many blessings because of this?” “Yes, World Honoured One. This person would gain very many blessings because of this.” “Subhuti, if blessings had substance, the Realised One would not say that many blessings are gained. Because blessings are non-existent, therefore the Realised One says many blessings are gained.”

Commentary:

The key point here is what the blessings that the Buddha meant are. Blessings that sentient beings think have substance and are existent have forms and beginning and end. They are just illusions like a rabbit-horn.

However, the true blessing the Buddha meant is to realise that we are one with the true-Self, the Buddha. The true-Self has no substance and is neither existent nor non-existent, and it is formless and boundless. It means that it is perfect, limitless and eternal.

Even if someone were to fill the universe with seven kinds of precious stone to use for giving in charity, he can’t gain as much blessing as the Buddha meant if he can’t see all the precious stone he offers as the true-Self. Only when he can feel one, as the true-Self, with what he offers can he enjoy the limitless and eternal blessing that the Buddha meant. This is why the Buddha says that many blessings are gained. 

Being able to see the true-Self at this moment in each word spoken by the Buddha is truly to gain blessing. 

Student: “If blessings are non-existent, how can we gain them?”

Master: “They are spread before your eyes and even in your hands.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha’s teaching is not to quieten one’s mind but to realise that one’s mind is already stillness itself.

©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 cut the cat?”

Master: “In order to show what can be neither divided nor broken.”

Commentary:

What can be divided is forms, and what cannot be divided is Emptiness.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

18-4

“What is the reason? Subhuti, the past mind cannot be grasped, the present mind cannot be grasped, and the future mind cannot be grasped.”

Commentary:

As the Buddha said in part 18-3, “All the minds that the Realised One has mentioned are not mind but they are just called as such,” minds are not real but just imaginary labels that are used as an expedient to point to the essence of our being that is the state perfectly free from illusions; images and words.

The mind that the Buddha meant to indicate through the word ‘mind’, represents the true-Self, Emptiness, or Oneness that is the state perfectly free from illusions; images and words. It, as previously discussed, is essentially nameless, boundless and formless. It is even neither existent nor non-existent. Everything is mind and there is nothing whatsoever that is not mind. Even we ourselves are also part of mind. We refer to it as mind, the true-Self, the Buddha, and Oneness just for the sake of convenience so that we may explain it. This is why it is said that the essence of mind is no-mind.

Mind can’t be divided into multiple parts; the past mind, the present mind and the future mind because it is formless, boundless and neither existent nor non-existent. Only things that exist with a certain form andboundary are possible to divide. Furthermore, we are not separate from mind but one with it. It is not only impossible but also makes no sense at all for a man to divide himself into multiple parts and to grasp them. So, it is said that mind, the true-Self can be neither given nor taken.

Student: “If the past mind cannot be grasped, the present mind cannot be grasped, and the future mind cannot be grasped, what is the mind?”

Master: “Don’t fail to miss the fragrance whilst being attracted by falling petals.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

There is a saying that the worst enemy is one that doesn’t exist. The Buddha said that everything that we regard as real is not real but imaginary, and that trying to achieve, or avoid such illusions which are like a mirage created by ourselves is sentient beings’ lives.

According to the Buddha’s words, birth and death are also not real but illusionary. Death is an illusion that our imagination created, and we are scared of it in the same way that we are seized with fear of a ghost we have never seen in a deserted old house that is known to be haunted, all because of our imagination. 

In summary, we cannot avoid death because it does not exist. The best way to avoid it is to realise that it is not real but merely illusionary.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway