Questions & Koans

Q. Do random thoughts create karma?

A. This is like asking ‘Do random acts create karma?’ because thoughts are a kind of act and random thoughts are random acts. We also can say that random acts are the result of random thoughts. This is also like asking ‘Do random causes have effect?’ My answer is “Yes, they absolutely do.” Whatever you do, or whether you do something or not, you can’t avoid creating karma even for a moment.

When you do something, you have the karma of doing something. When you do nothing, you have the karma of doing nothing. You are as subject to karma, cause and effect as you are to gravity. Saying that random acts don’t create karma is like saying that taking poison randomly does not have any effect on the taker of it and that being run over randomly by a car has no effect on our bodies.

©Boo Ahm

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Dongshan’s Disclosing Mind, Disclosing Nature

Zen master Sengmi was travelling with his dharma brother Dongshan. Dongshan pointed to a temple on the roadside and said, “In that temple is a person who discloses the mind and discloses the Buddha nature.” Sengmi said, “Who is it?” Dongshan said, “Someone who has just achieved complete death as you asked.”
Sengmi said, “Who discloses the mind and the Buddha nature?” Dongshan said, “Someone who has achieved life in death.”

Student: “Who is someone who has achieved complete death?”
Master: “Someone whose illusions have all died.”
Student: “Who is someone who has achieved life in death?”
Master: “Someone who is free from the illusions of life and death.”
Student: “How does he disclose the mind and the Buddha nature?”
Master: “He does just as you do now.”
Student: “Why don’t I know that I also do that now?”
Master: “Because you are still alive.”

Commentary:
Someone who has achieved complete death is not scared of death because he has no life to lose.
Someone who has achieved life in death is not attached to anything because there is nothing that is not him.

©Boo Ahm

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“Happiness you can possess is not true happiness because it can leave you anytime. True happiness can be felt only when you are happiness itself because it can’t leave you.” Boo Ahm

©Boo Ahm

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Hsin Shin Ming: “23. Although all dualities arise from the One, do not cling even to the One.”

‘The One’ means the true-Self or emptiness, and ‘dualities’ mean forms. Enlightenment is to realise that the root of everything or all forms, including yourself, is the One which is also called the true-Self, emptiness. Therefore, this scripture means ‘Although you come to realisation that everything is from the One, the true-Self, you should not cling even to the One.

To realise that all dualities arise from the One is to realise that all dualities are empty because the One means emptiness. There is nothing to cling to or let go of and no one who will cling when everything is empty. If you cling to the One, emptiness, that is not the One but an illusion of the One. It is because you don’t know what the One is that you cling to it. Leaving all dualities and clinging to the One is like going into another burning house after getting out of a burning house. The moment you cling to the One, you can’t avoid falling into dualities since the One is divided into you and the One.

If you happen to think that there is even a small thing to cling to, you are as far apart from the truth as heaven is from the earth.

Student: “What is the One?”
Master: “Duality.”

©Boo Ahm
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Q. Is it possible for someone who does not know Buddhism or Buddha to experience the true-Self?

A. Of course, it is. To experience the true-Self is nothing special. The true-Self is not the exclusive possession of any single religious group. Instead, it is the root of not just all religions, but also all the universe itself. Each religion has given it different names such as God, Allah, Buddha and so on. The true-Self is another name of Buddha.

To experience the true-Self means that Buddhists experience what Buddha, the object of their worship is, that Christians experience what God, the object of their worship is and that unbelievers experience what the essence of their being is. This is referred to as attaining enlightenment in Buddhism and receiving the Holy Spirit in Christianity.

We should remember that the purpose of all religions is not to make people enslaved by gods created their imagination but to help them to realise the very essence of their being. A religion is just a means to realise this and nothing more.

©Boo Ahm
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Huineng Doesn’t Understand

Zen master Huineng of Mount Caoxi was once asked by a monastic, “Who has grasped the significance of Huangmei, the Fifth Patriarch?”

Huineng said, “Those who understand the Buddhadharma have it.” The monastic said, “Do you have it, Master?” Huineng said, “No, I do not have it.” The monastic said, “How come you don’t have it?” Huineng said, “Because I don’t understand the Buddhadharma.”

Student: “How come master Huineng didn’t have the significance of the Fifth Patriarch, Huangmei?”
Master: “Because he knew what the significance is.”
Student: “What is the significance?”
Master: “It is not what can be gained or lost.”
Student: “Why did Huineng say that he didn’t understand Buddhadharma?”
Master: “Because you misunderstand him.”

Commentary:
Having a precious thing, however precious it may be, is not as good as having nothing.

©Boo Ahm
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Hsin Shin Ming: “22. If there is even a trace of right and wrong, the mind is lost in confusion.”

As mentioned before, the truth, the true-Self is oneness as emptiness. There is nothing that is not the truth. Oneness, or emptiness, is the state without any labels or imaginary lines. Any trace of right and wrong means making discriminations, which is drawing imaginary lines, or labelling ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. ‘The mind is lost in confusion’ means being deluded by illusions. So, the scripture means ‘If you make even a little discrimination, you become deluded by illusions’.

However, you should not mistake this scripture as meaning that you should not discriminate between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ at all in your life. If you are attached to not discriminating between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ in order to avoid making right and wrong in your life, that itself is to make another trace of right and wrong. This is because you think that judging ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ is wrong, and not making such a judgement is right.

Having no trace of right and wrong is not to stop judging ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ but knowing that your judgement is empty in essence. Don’t hesitate, but feel free to judge ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Hesitating, or avoiding, judging ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ is the evidence that your mind is in confusion. No matter how many traces of right and wrong there may be, they don’t matter at all if you know that they are all empty.

Student: “How can I have no trace of right and wrong?”
Master: “You should know that right is not different from wrong, but one with it.”

©Boo Ahm
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Q. What does ‘leave home’ mean?

A. ‘Leave home’ usually means to become a monk or a nun because one is supposed to stay in a temple for good after becoming a monk. However, the real meaning of it is to attain enlightenment.

Our worldly life is compared to a burning house that will collapse sooner or later. Sentient beings are likened to children who are involved in playing in the house without knowing the fact that the house is burning and that it will fall down soon. ‘Leave home’ means to get out of the burning house, which means to attain enlightenment.

The purpose of Zen meditation is to get out of the burning house, whether we are monks or laymen. If you are enlightened, you have left home even though you may live as a layman in mundane world. If you are not enlightened, you are still in the burning house even though you are living a monastic life in a temple remote from worldly life.

Student: “How can I get out of the burning house?”
Master: “Don’t move even a step.”

©Boo Ahm
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Niutou and the Fourth Ancestor

Nanquan was once asked by a monastic, “Before Niutou met the Fourth Ancestor, why did hundreds of birds hold flowers in their beaks and offer them to him?” Nanquan said, “With each step, Niutou climbed the Buddha ladder.” The monastic said, “Why didn’t the birds offer flowers after Niutou met the Fourth Ancestor?” Nanquan said, “Even if he had not climbed the Buddha ladder, he’s still on Master Nanquan’s single road.”

Student: “What did Nanquan mean by saying, ‘With each step, Niutou climbed the Buddha ladder’?”
Master: “He meant that Niutou was serving Buddha.”
Student: “What did Nanquan mean by saying, ‘Even if he had not climbed the Buddha ladder, he’s still on Master Nanquan’s single road’?”
Master: “He meant that Niutou killed Buddha.”

Commentary:
However precious a thing you may have, it is not as good as having nothing.
However great a thing you may say, it is not as good as keeping silent.
It’s because Buddha dislikes saying and having things so much that he runs away the moment you have or say even ‘Buddha’.

©Boo Ahm
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Do we have to be bound by rules after enlightenment?

As mentioned repeatedly earlier, enlightenment is to be able to see things as empty by realising that everything is empty. When you can see everything as empty, there is no one to be bound and no rule to bind because both are all empty as well. The final purpose of enlightenment is to free yourself from the yokes of illusions through realising that all the illusions binding your life are empty.

However, don’t misunderstand by thinking that you can feel free to violate precepts or commandments. Once enlightened, you don’t feel disturbed by obeying them since you see them as empty and find it so easy and natural to obey them that you feel as if you didn’t obey them. This is to free yourself from the illusions of precepts.

Student: “What is the best way to obey the precepts?”
Master: “You should have no precepts to obey.”

©Boo Ahm
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