Questions & Koans

Zen

The Diamond Sutra (91)

Zen Fools

Part 25-2

“Subhuti, the Realised One speaks as if there were an ‘I’, but it doesn’t mean that ‘I’ exists, yet ordinary people think that there is ‘I’. Subhuti, the Realised One says ordinary people are not ordinary people, they are just called ordinary people.”

Commentary:

Here the Buddha emphasizes again that everything is empty. He means that although he uses the words ‘I’ and ‘ordinary people’ in order to preach the Dharma, he says these words not because they actually exist but only as an expedient means to reveal the true-Self. For example, when the Buddha says, “I want to lead ordinary people to enlightenment”, he doesn’t mean that there are ‘I’, ‘ordinary people’ and ‘enlightenment’. This is why the Buddha says, “The Realised One says ordinary people are not ordinary people, they are just called ordinary people.”

Student: “If ordinary people are not ordinary people, are they the Buddha?”

Master: “The Buddha is not the Buddha, but just called the Buddha.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Zen

A donkey’s work and a horse’s work (2)

Zen Fools

A monastic asked Master Young-woon, “What is the crux of Buddhism?” The master answered, “A donkey’s work not being finished yet, a horse’s work has already come.” The monastic, not grasping its meaning, asked for more teaching. The master said, “Although the splendid energy moves every night, meeting the spirit is rare.”

Student: “What is the splendid energy?”

Master: “It is the function of the spirit.”

Commentary:

Don’t leave your house whose garden is full of flowers in bloom, in search of spring.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Zen

The Diamond Sutra (90)

Zen Fools

Part 25-1

“What do you think, Subhuti? You should not say that the Realised One entertains this thought: ‘I should save sentient beings’. Subhuti, do not think this. Why? There really are no sentient beings the Realised One saves. If there were sentient beings the Realised One saves, then the Realised One would have image of self, image of person, image of sentient being, and image of liver of life.”

Commentary:

Although the Buddha gave himself to saving sentient beings, he never thought that he saved any sentient beings, because if he had had that kind of idea, it would have meant that he was still not freed from being deluded by images.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the crux of Buddhism is to save all sentient beings. Saving all sentient beings means freeing oneself from being deluded by images and words.

Student: “If there were not sentient beings to save, why did the Buddha preach this Sutra?”

Master: “Because we are deluded by what doesn’t exist.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Zen

Q. The Buddha said, “Rancour will never be done away with through rancour. It disappears only when we discard it.” How can we discard it?

Zen Fools

A. This doesn’t mean that we should discard rancour just like throwing away rubbish. It is impossible to treat rancour in that way, even though we may wish to. There is a saying ‘Everything is the Buddha’ in Buddhism.

According to this, rancour is the Buddha as well. ‘Discarding it’ here doesn’t mean to discard rancour just like throwing away rubbish but means to see rancour as the function of the Buddha.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Zen

A donkey’s work and a horse’s work (1)

Zen Fools

A monastic asked Master Young-woon, “What is the crux of Buddhism?” The master answered, “A donkey’s work not being finished yet, a horse’s work has already come.” The monastic, not grasping its meaning, asked for more teaching. The master said, “Although the splendid energy moves every night, meeting the spirit is rare.”

Student: “What is the difference between a donkey’s work and a horse’s work?”

Master: “The former can’t be finished but the latter is already done.”

Commentary:                                          

One who tries to find gold by breaking gold is one who mistakes gold for stone.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Zen

The Diamond Sutra (89)

Zen Fools

Part 24

“Subhuti, if someone took heaps of jewels as big as Mt. Sumeru in a billion worlds and gave them away in charity, the blessing would not compare to a hundredth part, a hundredth trillionth part, or indeed any calculable or imaginable part of the blessing of accepting, holding, reading, reciting, and explaining to others even so much as this Sutra, or a four-line verse of this Sutra.”

Commentary:

As we have seen, in the proceeding parts the Buddha repeated the scriptures four times that emphasized the importance of accepting, holding, reading, reciting, and explaining a four-line verse of this Sutra to others. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that the purpose of this Sutra is to enable people to do it, because being able to do it signifies enlightenment, the final goal of all Buddhists.

The reason why the blessing of accepting, holding, reading, reciting, and explaining to others this Sutra, or a four-line verse of this Sutra is incomparably larger than that of taking heaps of jewels as big as Mt. Sumeru in a billion worlds and giving them away in charity is that the former is to become one with the true-Self and the latter is still no better than being deluded by illusions.

What we ought to bear in mind is that accepting, holding, reading, reciting, and explaining a four-line verse of this Sutra implies not only accepting, holding, reading, reciting, and explaining a four-line verse in the text we are reading now but also seeing and hearing every single thing around us, or every single sound that reaches our ears as it is, without being deluded by images and words.

Student: “Why is a four-line verse more valuable than heaps of jewels as big as Mt. Sumeru?”

Master: “Because he who can hold, read and explain a four-line verse knows that there is no difference between heaps of jewels as big as Mt. Sumeru and a mustard seed.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Zen

Joshu’s ‘Where the Buddha is’ (2)

Zen Fools

One day one of Joshu’s students bade farewell to Joshu. Joshu said to him, “Where are you going?” The student answered, “I am going to search for the Buddha.” Joshu said, “Don’t stay where the Buddha is, and go quickly through the place where the Buddha is not. If you happen to meet a person one thousand miles away, don’t respond to him wrongly.”

Hearing this, the student said, “I will not leave then.” Joshu said, “Pick willow flowers. Pick willow flowers.”

Student: “Then, where should we go if we shouldn’t stay where the Buddha is, and should go quickly through the place where the Buddha is not?”

Master: “Joshu showed it to you.”

Commentary:

How impolite and foolish it is of you to shake off the Buddha’s hug and to go to seek him!

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Zen

The Diamond Sutra (88)

Zen Fools

Part 23-2

“Subhuti, the so-called wholesome Dharma the Realised One says is not the wholesome Dharma, it is just called the wholesome Dharma.”

Commentary:

Here the Buddha is teaching again how we should see and hear things. People, thinking that the wholesome Dharma, the Buddha’s teaching is very valuable as a way to rescue them from the ocean of suffering, tend to be attached to the Buddha’s teaching. Aware of sentient beings’ such tendency, the Buddha advised that we also ought to see and hear his teaching as empty and should not be attached to even his teaching.

The core of the Buddha’s teaching is that everything is empty, which means that the Buddha himself, without exception, is also empty. When the Buddha is empty, his wholesome teaching, no matter how plausible it may sound, cannot but be empty.

Student: “If the wholesome Dharma the Buddha said is not the wholesome Dharma but it is just called the wholesome Dharma, what did the Buddha call the wholesome Dharma?”

Master: “The Buddha showed it through the action of speaking.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway