Category: zen

Part 7-3

“What is the reason? Because all things appear diverse and separate based on the eternal unchangeable Dharma.”

Commentary:

All things refer to the myriad things, or all existing forms, and the eternal unchangeable Dharma means Emptiness, or the true-Self. The saying, ‘All things are differentiated precisely based on Emptiness’ means that the world of various forms is the function of Emptiness, arising based on Emptiness. Just as waves are the way in which the ocean exists, and winds are the way in which the air exists, the essence of all things, no matter how different they appear externally, is all one—Emptiness, the true-Self.

Therefore, from the perspective of form, everything has a beginning and an end, birth and death. But from the perspective of Emptiness, the essence of form, there is no beginning and no end, it is infinite, and it remains utterly unchanged. Living a life knowing only the world of form as the whole, without seeing our essential, eternal Buddha-nature, is called being deluded by illusions. Seeing both things and Emptiness, the true-Self simultaneously—for instance, seeing both the shape of a lion and the stone at the same time when looking at a statue of a lion—is called ‘simultaneous cessation and illumination’ and being able to see in this way is what is called enlightenment.

When all things are viewed in this manner, everything seen and heard appears as the Buddha. This is referred to as ‘the Buddha’s body being manifested in every blade of grass’. At any time and in any place, even if I do not seek to follow the Buddha, the Buddha follows me, and I am constantly with the Buddha, unable to avoid the Buddha even for a moment.

However, to fail to see the Buddha right before one’s eyes and instead seek a Buddha elsewhere is no other than being deluded by illusions. If one follows the Buddha in this way, even the Buddha becomes non-Buddha. This is why it is said that if the Buddha follows the person, even the non-Buddha becomes the Buddha, but if the person follows the Buddha, even the Buddha becomes the non-Buddha.

If one reads the Sutras merely following the text and stops at a linguistic understanding, that is being manipulated by words and fooled by illusions. Criticising this point, the great masters of the past said, “If you read the Sutras following the words, the Sutras become the discourse of a demon, mara.” The Lotus Sutra also states that if one can see and listen truthfully, without being deceived by words, but rather seeing the Buddha-nature regardless of what words are read or heard, even secular texts can become Sutras. Ultimately, when we look at the Sutras, we must not be deceived by the words alone but must see our essential Buddha-nature in every word and phrase. This is why it is said, ‘If a wise person sees or hears evil Dharma, the evil Dharma becomes the Right Dharma; if a foolish person sees or hears the Right Dharma, the Right Dharma becomes evil Dharma.’

Look closely at every character in this text right now. Lift your head for a moment and look around. Gently touch whatever is near you. There is no other Buddha besides that.

Disciple: “When I look at a flower, how can I distinguish between the object and the Buddha?”

Master: “What blooms and withers is the flower; seeing what neither blooms nor withers in it is seeing the Buddha.”

The soft rain is drizzling,

The heavenly secret is already being leaked,

The clear breeze gently blows,

The Buddha is truly revealed.

Simply observe what is right before your eyes,

Do not measure or calculate with ‘this or that’.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

You should know that the terribly deep-seated root of the image of ‘I’ is not real but just an illusion like a rabbit horn. Eradicating the root of the image of ‘I’ doesn’t mean rooting out and removing it just like digging something out of earth but means realising that it is not real but imaginary. The belief that your being is limited only to your physical body, and that everything else is not you, is the image of ‘I’.

However, think of yourself. Can you exist, or move and do anything without what you think is not you? In fact, your physical body is only a tiny part of the real ‘I’ that is boundless, formless, changeless and nameless. Your image of ‘I’ has birth and death, but the real ‘I’ is free from them because it is boundless, formless, changeless.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

When a monk passed through a marketplace, he heard a vegetable seller and a customer exchanging words. The customer, holding a bunch of lettuce, asked the vegetable seller, “How long can this last without going bad?” The vegetable seller answered, “It depends on how you keep it.” At the moment the monk attained enlightenment.

Student: “What is the lettuce like?”

Master: “It is rootless and shadowless.”

Student: “How should we keep it fresh?”

Master: “Keep it where there is neither night nor day.”

Commentary:

Leave it alone. If you try to keep it well, it will wither.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 7-2

“Why? Because the Dharma preached by the Realised One can neither be obtained nor be spoken; it is neither the Dharma nor the non-Dharma.”

Commentary:

The true-Self, Buddha nature spoken of by Shakyamuni Buddha, cannot be gained or lost and cannot be explained in words. Thus, the great masters of the past said that even to call Buddha-nature ‘sacred’ is like spitting on a face washed with perfume—it defiles the Buddha-nature—and that the moment you open your mouth, you go astray.

The essence of ourselves, the true-Self, Buddha-nature, has no form and no boundaries. It includes ourselves and everything else; there is absolutely nothing that is not true-Self.

It is like the air containing all kinds of wind, and the ocean containing all kinds of waves. Just as the wind and waves cannot leave the air and the ocean, we cannot escape, gain, or discard the Buddha-nature.

Therefore, although we say, ‘The Buddha transmitted the Dharma to Kashyapa,’ and that ‘we gain the Dharma,’ these are merely conventional terms used as expedient means. This reality is something that cannot be transferred to or taken away from anyone, nor can it be discarded. The Buddha did not transmit anything to Kashyapa; rather, he confirmed the fact that we are all, just like Shakyamuni Buddha, part of the true-Self, Buddha-nature.

The fact that everything we see and hear is the Buddha is expressed in the Avatamsaka Sutra as follows:

The Buddha’s body is seated in one land,

But he appears in countless bodies throughout the world.

His form is immeasurably pure,

Filling the vast and wide Dharma-realm.

Appearing before us everywhere we go,

The Buddha expounds the wondrous Dharma through various skilful means,

Bringing benefit to all sentient beings.

The Avatamsaka Sutra also shows us how to recognise the Buddha who constantly appears before us in various forms and expounds the wondrous Dharma:

All things are neither born

Nor do they cease;

If one can understand in this way,

The Buddha will constantly appear before you.

Seeing things as neither born nor ceasing when perceiving them is said to be seeing the Buddha. In simpler terms, it means to listen and perceive things without naming them—to not discriminate or choose. In other words, to see the whole as non-dual, or one. To cling to the physical form of Shakyamuni Buddha as the Buddha, rather than seeing the True Buddha in this way, is criticised in the Avatamsaka Sutra:

Even if one were to constantly see the Buddha

For hundreds of thousands of eons,

Yet did not rely on the true principle,

And saw the world-saviour as the Buddha,

This person clings only to form,

Increasing the net of foolish doubt,

And becomes bound by the cycle of birth and death;

With blinded eyes, they do not see the Buddha.

If this reality is inexpressible in words, how should we accept the Dharma expounded by Shakyamuni Buddha for about 40 years and the words of the Patriarchs throughout history?

On this issue, Master Huangbo said to his disciples, “You are people who eat rice wine lees and pretend to drink wine.” This was a criticism of those who misunderstand the Buddha’s teachings through a literal, textual understanding—the way of gaining secular knowledge—and mistakenly believe they have grasped the Buddha’s intent.

The phrase ‘a special transmission outside the scriptures’ means to recognise precisely what the words point to, without being deceived by the words themselves. That is, when reading or listening to the Sutras, one must view every single word and phrase as both the word and the function of the Buddha. Only then, as the Avatamsaka Sutra states, will the Buddha appear in every character and every phrase.

Disciple: “If everything is the Buddha, why can’t I see it? Please show me directly, Master.”

Master: “Though I show you constantly, you always see only the old monk and cannot see the Buddha. That is what I lament.”

Disciple: “If it cannot be expressed in words, how do you teach, Master?”

Master: “I do not teach with words.”

Disciple: “Then what are all the things you have said to me so far?”

Master: “I did not speak, but you heard it as words. That is precisely your illusion.”

Cannot be grasped and cannot be spoken,

Neither Dharma nor non-Dharma,

Remove all that can be grasped,

Remove all that can be spoken,

Remove all Dharmas,

And it will be clear before your eyes.

Koan:

Patriarch Prajñādhāra attended an assembly held by the King of East India. The King asked, “Everyone is reciting the Sutras, but why do you alone not recite them?”

The Patriarch replied, “When I exhale, I do not involve myself with various causal conditions; When I inhale, I do not abide in the realm of the aggregates of form, sensation. Constantly, in this way, I recite hundreds of thousands of millions of scrolls of Sutras.”

Question 1: What is the meaning of Patriarch Prajñādhāra’s statement, ‘Constantly, in this way, I recite hundreds of thousands of millions of scrolls of Sutras’?

Question 2: What is the exact way Patriarch Prajñādhāra performs the recitation of the Sutras?

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

It is because you actually can’t see things as empty. You don’t have to repress your desire such as like and dislike. The harder you try to contain it the more you are swayed by it, because it is your being deluded by illusions. When all things are empty, not only what you like and dislike but also your being swayed by them is also empty.

Saying that all things are empty is one thing, and seeing them as empty is another. When you can see things as they are, that is, when you see what you like and dislike as empty, your being swayed by them will die spontaneously without effort.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

When a monk passed through a marketplace, he heard a vegetable seller and a customer exchanging words. The customer, holding a bunch of lettuce, asked the vegetable seller, “How long can this last without going bad?” The vegetable seller answered, “It depends on how you keep it.” At the moment the monk attained enlightenment.

Student: “How could the monk attain enlightenment by hearing the dialogue?”

Master: “He saw a head of lettuce that never withers.”

Commentary:

Few know that lettuce we enjoy is an elixir of life.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 7-1

The Buddha asked Subhuti, “Subhuti, what do you think—has the Realised One attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment? Has the Realised One preached any Dharma?” Subhuti said. “As I understand the principles expounded by you, the Realised One, there is no fixed Dharma called unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, and there is no fixed Dharma worth mentioning that the Realised One preached.”

Commentary:

The essence of the Buddha’s teaching, Buddhism, as mentioned repeatedly, is to realise that everything is empty. When everything is empty, there is nothing, including the Buddha himself who gave this discourse, that is not empty. The statement that everything without exception is empty means that emptiness is another name for the Buddha, and everything is the true-Self.

For example, to say ‘the mountain is empty and the flying bird is empty’ means the mountain is the true-Self, the bird is the true-Self, and the bird’s flying is the function of the true-Self, Buddha-nature. Though the mountain and the bird appear separate, their essence is one as the true-Self. Just as the universe has various diverse forms but those diverse forms are one cosmic appearance, all forms appear different but that they are precisely the form of emptiness.

As it says in the Avatamsaka Sutra:

“Seeing the Buddha in various forms,

yet finding him nowhere when he is present,

Searching in the ten directions,

yet failing to meet him,

Is because one is deceived by forms and words,

And thus fails to recognise the true appearance.”

This means that everything we see, hear, and feel is the Buddha, and though we are constantly seeing and hearing the Buddha, we fail to find him because we are deceived by forms and words. This is why the ancient masters said that before enlightenment, there is the Dharma to learn, enlightenment to gain, and a Buddha to see, but after enlightenment, everything—including oneself—is empty, and thus there is no Dharma to learn, no enlightenment to gain, and no Buddha to see.

Therefore, the ancient masters said, ‘No ten thousand things are the same as each other, and no ten thousand things are different from each other. That the ten thousand things are different is known to everyone, but that the ten thousand things are the same is difficult for even a sage to know.’ This means that we are all immersed in the dream-like world of form that we have created, and we are ignorant of our essential, eternal, and perfect true-Self, Emptiness. Everyone knows that all things, including humans, have a beginning and an end, and that they are subject to birth and death, but it is difficult for us to know that we are eternal beings. Shakyamuni Buddha was the first to realise this, and the purpose of Buddhism is to realise this.

The saying that the Buddha attained complete perfect enlightenment means that although, when viewed as form, he attained this great, complete enlightenment, from the perspective of emptiness upon realising it, he realised that everything—including himself—is empty. Thus, although it is conventionally said that he attained complete perfect enlightenment, there is in reality no separate thing to be called complete perfect enlightenment that was attained. Likewise, the saying that ‘the Buddha has expounded the Dharma’ means that although, when viewed as form, the Buddha expounded a vast amount of Dharma that became the Tripitaka, essentially, the Buddha himself is empty, and his discourses are merely the function of emptiness, the true-Self.

This is why Subhuti realised and stated that there is no fixed Dharma that can be definitively named complete perfect enlightenment, nor is there any fixed Dharma that the Buddha can be said to have expounded.

The core point here is that the conversation between Shakyamuni Buddha and Subhuti itself should be seen not as a dialogue between two individuals, but as the function of the true-Self, Buddha-nature. If the Buddha’s discourses are not Dharma but the function of Buddha-nature, then when reading the Diamond Sutra, every single word should be regarded as the function of Buddha-nature.

Disciple: “If the Buddha did not expound the Dharma, then what are the Buddhist scriptures we read?”

Master: “Do not distort the words the Buddha did not speak into the words of the Buddha.”

Disciple: “The Diamond Sutra says the Buddha did not expound any Dharma.”

Master: “If all the Dharma the Buddha expounded is empty, and thus there is no Dharma to be said to have been expounded, then the saying ‘there is no Dharma expounded’ is also not Dharma expounded by the Buddha. Why do you insist that this statement is the Dharma expounded by the Buddha?”

Disciple: “Then how should I view the Sutras?”

Master: “The Buddha’s Sutras have no pages and no words.”

Complete perfect enlightenment,

Seeking it hard, you cannot see it.

Constantly uttering it with the mouth all the time,

You say it does not exist.

Koan:

Emperor Wu of Liang invited Patriarch Fu Dashi to lecture on the Diamond Sutra. Fu Dashi ascended the lecture platform, struck the table holding the Sutra stand once, and immediately stepped down from his seat.

The emperor was astonished. Venerable Zhigong then asked, “Does Your Majesty understand this?” The emperor replied, “I do not understand.” Venerable Zhigong said, “Patriarch Fu Dashi has finished his lecture on the Diamond Sutra.”

Question 1:

Why did Patriarch Fu Dashi, after ascending the platform to expound the Diamond Sutra, strike the table once and immediately step down from his seat?

Question 2:

What is the meaning of Venerable Zhigong’s remark, “Patriarch Fu Dashi has finished his lecture on the Diamond Sutra.”?

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A. That is the problem all sentient beings are faced with. If all things seem to be empty to you, that means that you have attained enlightenment. It is just like you don’t know that your nightmare is empty until you wake up from it.

If we could see all our dreams as empty, our nightmares wouldn’t be nightmares any more. We are sentient beings because we can’t see things as empty, just as our nightmares are nightmares because we can’t recognise them as just dreams.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

One day Master Namjun said, “Manjusri Bodhisattva and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva arrived at the temple around midnight last night, but I struck each of them twenty times and drove them out of the monastery.”

Student: “Why did the master drive the two Bodhisattvas out of the temple?”

Master: “To show the true-Self.”

Student: “To whom did he show it?”

Master: “Why didn’t you see it?”

Commentary:

What can be driven out of temple is not the true-Self. You should see what the master couldn’t drive out of the temple.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Part 6 -5
For this reason, I, the Realised One always say you should know that my Dharma teaching is like a raft. Even the Dharma should be discarded, not to mention the non-Dharma.

Commentary:
Up to now, the Buddha has taught us not to dwell on anything—that is, not to dwell on any names (words) or forms (images), but to see and hear things as they truly are. When it is said that everything is empty, there are no exceptions: the Buddha’s body is empty, too. When it is said not to dwell on anything, there are no exceptions: we must not dwell even on the Buddha, or on the Buddha’s words. Yet sentient beings, instead of seeing the core truth that the Buddha wishes to reveal through his teachings, treat the teachings themselves like precious treasures and cling to them. The Buddha, seeing this, declares that even his own teachings are merely expedient means to reveal the true-Self and are empty, like a hare’s horn—so we must never dwell even on his own words.

To see his teachings as a raft does not mean to ignore them entirely. It means to hear not only them but also all other things not as the words of the human Sakyamuni, but as the voice of true-Self. In other words, regard every single word, every single line, as a gate into the Pure Land, as the function of the true-Self. In reality, when we read the Sutras, every syllable is the Pure Land itself; every sound is the sound of the Pure Land.

The very moment we see or hear in this way, we cross the river and arrive in the Pure Land—we attain enlightenment. At that moment, the raft is no longer a raft, the Diamond Sutra is no longer the Diamond Sutra, and the countless other Sutras are no longer the Sutras; we realise they are all emptiness (the true-Self) itself.

Just as medicine is no longer medicine once a patient is fully healed and restored to health, so the raft is no longer a raft to one who has crossed the ocean—one who is enlightened. At that point, everything seen with the eyes and heard with the ears becomes the Sutra; every sound that comes out of one’s own mouth becomes the Dharma talk and a four-line verse (Gatha).

This is why Master Deoksan, who devoted his entire life to the Diamond Sutra and was universally recognised as its greatest authority, after awakening declared: “Even the most profound and subtle discourses are like raising a single hair in vast space; even possessing all the most important things in the world is like dropping a single drop of water into the great ocean.” He then burned the commentary on the Diamond Sutra that he had cherished and carried with him all the time.

Disciple: “If we must discard the Buddha’s teachings like a raft, then what is the Buddha’s teaching?” Master: “The Buddha’s teaching is crossing the river; the raft is merely the expedient means to cross it.” Disciple: “How can I use the raft to cross the river?”
Master: “If you place even one foot on it, it will sink.”
Disciple: “Must I discard the raft even before crossing the river?”
Master: “If you can leap from the raft in the middle of the river, you are a great hero.”

Raft, ferry, passenger ship—
Choose whichever you like and board it,
Cross swiftly.
Even a leaf can carry you across—
Why cling only to the raft?

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway