Category: zen

A. It is true that there seem to be a lot of Buddhists who have such a belief, but such a thing never happens. According to the Buddha’s teaching, there is no one else other than ourselves who not only makes karma but also can emancipate us from karma. In other words, sentient beings are struggling with suffering they created by wrapping themselves with invisible ropes. This is why ancient masters said that even thousands of saints cannot free us from the ropes unless we stop binding ourselves with such ropes.

To conclude, Buddhism is not a religion that teaches how to get blessed by praying to the Buddha but a religion that teaches people how to escape from the ropes, that is, how to realise that we are the perfect being as the Buddha.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Master Jo said, “What can be called Emptiness is not true Emptiness, and what can be called form is not true form. True form is formless, and true Emptiness is nameless. What is nameless is the father of names, and what is formless is the mother of forms, the source of all things and the beginning of Sky and Earth.”

Student: “Why is true Emptiness nameless?”

Master: “Because it is formless and beyond words.”

Student: “Isn’t true form formless as well?”

Master: “Yes, this is why form is Emptiness and vice versa.”

Commentary:

Remember that Emptiness and form are also names.

©Boo AhmAll writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 14-7

“Why? Subhuti, the utmost practice the Realised One expounds is not the utmost practice; this is called the utmost practice.”

Commentary:

This part shows that although the Buddha preached six kinds of practice as an expedient to attain enlightenment, and said that they are the utmost practice, they are also essentially empty. The Buddha seemed to be concerned that his teaching might become another illusion rather than a gate to enlightenment through attachment to his words ‘the utmost practice’. The Buddha meant that his teaching is nothing to anybody if we end up with mere intellectual understanding, that is pursuing it by following words won’t do us any good if we don’t realise it.

This is why the Buddha said that he didn’t say even a single word. The Buddha said that even the Buddha himself who preached this Sutra is empty, to emphasise that everything is empty and that we should not be deluded even by his physical body.

Student: “What is the utmost teaching if the utmost practice is not the utmost practice?”

Master: “It is hidden in the utmost practice.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. It means the eight right ways to attain enlightenment; Right understanding, Right thought, Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness and Right concentration.

People are prone to feel overwhelmed by the number. However, we should not think that each of them is separate from each other and that we should acquire each of them. In fact, they are all one, and each of them is a gate to enlightenment. If we can open one of them and pass through it, that is, if we can perform any one of them exactly, the rest of them are done spontaneously without extra effort.

Student: “What is right action?”

Master: “An action that can’t be spoken.”

Student: “What is right speech?”

Master: “It is speech that cannot be acted upon.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Master Jo said, “What can be called Emptiness is not true Emptiness, and what can be called form is not true form. True form is formless, and true Emptiness is nameless. What is nameless is the father of names, and what is formless is the mother of forms, the source of all things and the beginning of Sky and Earth.”

Student: “How do you teach people about Emptiness if it is nameless?”

Master: “I just show it to them.”

Student: “How do you show it?”

Master: “What have you seen so far?”

Commentary:

Don’t try to find what is nameless by name.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 14-6

Buddha said to Subhuti, “It is so. It is so. If anyone, on hearing this sutra, is not shocked, not frightened, and not intimidated, you should know that this person is extremely rare.”

Commentary:

‘It is so. It is so’ means that a person who, through hearing this sutra, believing in it, understanding it, accepting it and upholding it, is free from all images and is never deluded by any images, is called the Buddha.

So, if we have become free from all images through reading this sutra and are never deluded by any images, we should not be deluded any longer by the words in ‘If anyone, on hearing this sutra, is not shocked, not frightened, and not intimidated, you should know that this person is extremely rare’. Instead, we should be able to realise the function of the true-Self in each word and feel oneness with it.

‘This person is extremely rare’ means that he is like the Buddha. When it is said that the true-Self, or the Buddha is extremely rare, it is referred to as rare not because it is actually rare but because it is rarely perceived. In fact, it is the most common and the most abundant once we discern it since there is nothing that is not it.

Student: “What is rare?”

Master: “It is rare when you can’t see it, but nothing is more common and abundant than it when you can see it.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. The historical Buddha realised that we sentient beings, compared with what we ought to be, are only half awake, that is, we can see only the realm of form and that we are enjoying just a tiny part of the happiness we deserve.

Zen meditation helps people to develop the latent power to enjoy not only the realm of form but also the realm of Emptiness, the other half of our lives that we possess but habitually fail to use, by leading us to see everything as it is.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

An ancient master said, “The true-Self is simultaneously as hard as iron and as soft as air. Although it appears to be present, it is invisible when we look for it. Though it is always with you in every step you take, no one discerns it. When you are in search of it, it doesn’t appear to be present, but you can neither stop seeing and hearing it nor escape from it even for a moment.”

Student: “Why is it said that the true-Self is simultaneously as hard as iron and as soft as air?”

Master: “Because it cannot be broken with a sharp axe by a grown-up, but can be lifted by even a three-year-old child.”

Commentary:

Don’t say that finding the true-Self is difficult whilst touching hard, or soft things every day.

©Boo AhmAll writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 14-5

“Why? This person will have no image of self, no image of person, no image of a being, no image of a liver of life. Why? The image of self is not a characteristic; the image of person, the image of a being, and the image of a liver of life are not characteristics. Why? Being freed from all images, he is called the buddha.”

Commentary:

This person means a person who hears this sutra, believes in it, understands it, accepts it and upholds it. He is a person who, free from all images, is never deluded by any images. Such a person, this scripture says, is called the Buddha.

In other words, we are essentially the Buddha, but we are sentient beings because we are deluded by images, illusions. We are like a king who is dreaming that we are begging for coins in the streets as a beggar. This is why enlightenment is compared to awakening from sleep.

In short, if we can grasp any single word in this sutra we are reading at this moment, we become freed from all images, that is, we become awakened from our dreams and can be called the Buddha as well. 

No matter how well you have understood this writing, you are still far from being freed from all images if you can’t see the true-Self in these words.

Student: “If the state, or the one that is freed from all images and names is the Buddha, what is he, or it like?”

Master: “Beyond words.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. The four noble truths are words that show what Buddhism, the Buddha’s teaching is. They are dukkha, attachment, extinction and way. Put briefly, dukkha means that nothing is permanent and that everything is in the middle of ceaseless change, whether it is good, or bad.

Attachment means being anxious to keep someone, or something and being unhappy without them. Our unhappiness begins with a mind to keep impermanent things permanently. This is why attachment is referred to as the source of our unhappiness.

There are two interpretations of extinction and way. Firstly, extinction implies removing our attachment through realising that everything is empty, and way means enlightenment that is attained as a result of extinction. Secondly, way signifies not an end but a means, a kind of practice to remove, extinguish attachment through eight right ways, and extinction can be achieved through the course of way.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway