Questions & Koans

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

A. Although you say that rummaging through the grass is futile, you cannot attain enlightenment without the things that you call grass, because they are actually the very true-Self. You mistake them for grass because you don’t see them as they are.

You should know that the grass is no other than the true-Self you are looking for. There is a saying that seeking to attain one by discarding the other is struggling with illusions. Try to see what you think of as grass just as it is, without being swayed by its image and name.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

A monk asked Master Joshu, “It is said that the perfect enlightenment is not difficult, and one should simply cease choosing. What does it mean to cease to choose?” Joshu replied, “In the heaven and on earth, I alone am the honoured one.” The monk said, “That, too, is still choosing.” Joshu responded, “You foolish monk! Where is the choosing in that?”

Student: “Why did Joshu say, ‘You foolish monk! Where is the choosing in that?’?”

Master: “A guilty conscience needs no accuser.”

Commentary:

Everything is the true-Self to the Buddha, and everything is an illusion to a sentient being.

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

Part 6 – 4

“Why? If all these sentient beings’ minds grasped at forms, they would be attached to the image of self, the image of person, the image of sentient being, and the image of soul. Why? It is because even grasping at an image of Dharma would be to be attached to the image of self, the image of person, the image of sentient being, and the image of soul, not to mention that grasping at an image of non-Dharma would be to be attached to the image of self, the image of person, the image of sentient being, and the image of soul. Therefore, you should not grasp at not only the Dharma, but also non-Dharma.

Commentary:

To grasp at images with the mind means failing to see things as they truly are and being deceived by forms and names (words). In the Heart Sutra, this is referred to as “deluded dreams,” and in the Faith in Mind (Xin Xin Ming), it is described as “discriminating” or “picking and choosing.”

As the saying goes, “When a single speck of dust arises, the entire universe arises with it.” Whether it is a good or bad image, when one image arises, all images arise simultaneously. Here, the images of self, person, sentient beings, lifespan, and Dharma are mentioned, but the teaching is that no matter what image arises, countless images arise with it. Thus, we are instructed not to grasp at any image. We should not be deceived even by the image of the Buddha. The Buddha said that those who try to see the Buddha through sound or form—that is, through images—are practising a false path (Dharma) and cannot see the Buddha. In the Avatamsaka Sutra, it is written: “If one sees the Buddha without grasping at any image, that person truly knows the Buddha and can see the true-Self.” Only by not being deceived by the physical form of the Buddha can we see the eternal, true Buddha, which is our own essence. This is why ancient great masters would say, “If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.”

When we do not grasp at images—that is, when we see and hear all things as they truly are, without being deceived by forms or names—everything becomes the Buddha, and there is nothing that is not the Buddha. When we grasp at images while seeing and hearing, everything becomes Mara and illusion. But when we see things as they truly are, everything is enlightenment and the Buddha. Illusion and enlightenment, Mara and the Buddha, are not separate entities but one and the same. To abandon illusions in pursuit of enlightenment is like discarding flour to make bread. Thus, it is said that “illusion is the mother of enlightenment” and “illusion itself is enlightenment.”

When we see everything as it truly is, there is nothing, including ourselves, that is not the Buddha. Wherever I go, the Buddha follows me. But if I am deceived by images and chase after the Buddha, I am not following the Buddha but chasing after an illusion. The Buddha is non-duality, that is, He is everywhere, and there is no place without the Buddha present. To say that the Buddha in one temple is more efficacious than the Buddha in another is to say that there are multiple Buddhas who differ from one another. To say that one should go to a temple to see the Buddha is to suggest that the Buddha is only in the temple and not at home. This implies that the Buddha is not one but many. It follows after this that there is a distinction between places where the Buddha is and is not. Such thinking is not the Buddha’s teaching but being swayed by images, acting in opposition to the Buddha’s teachings while claiming to be His disciple, and in reality, chasing after delusion.

Just as when one image arises, all images arise simultaneously, if we hear or see even a single thing as empty, all things are seen as empty. When great masters say, “This staff transforms into a dragon and swallows the entire universe,” they mean that if this staff is seen as empty, the entire universe is seen as empty.

This text, too, should be read without grasping at the image of a ‘sutra’. Only then can you see the Buddha in every single word.

Disciple: “How should I receive the master’s words without grasping images?”                     

Master: “The problem is that I am not saying a word, yet you take my saying as words.”

Do not be deceived by the teaching to abandon images,

And do not strive to cast aside images.                                                                                             

To abandon images in pursuit of the true-Self Is like discarding flour to seek bread.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway