Questions & Koans

How should I pray for my mother who is ill in bed?

Whom are you going to pray to, God or Buddha? What is God? What is Buddha? Why do you pray to him? Do you pray to him because he is an almighty being and love or compassion itself? Then, you don’t have to bother to pray to him since he is always not only supposed to know your mum’s situation because there is nothing that he doesn’t know, but also supposed to help her regardless of your prayer, since he is not so biased or narrow minded that he helps only those who please him and neglects those who don’t.

If you really want to pray, don’t pray for your mother but pray to her. Pray to her by serving and pleasing her in the same way that you try to please God or Buddha. Take what she does and says as the answer to your prayer and try to understand it. That is true prayer and true practice at the same time.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/C1W77

Yuezhou’s Path to Nirvana

Yuezhou Qianfeng was once asked by a monastic, “They say that you have one path to nirvana. I wonder, what is the path?” Yuezhou drew a line with his staff and said, “It’s right here.”

Student: “Why did the master draw a line with his staff when he was asked about the path to nirvana?”
Master: “He showed both the path to nirvana and nirvana itself.”
Student: “What is the path? What is the nirvana?”
Master: “Take the path quickly and you will reach there.”

Commentary:
When what the master said is understood, that’s nirvana, but if it is not, that is the path.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/C1W1a

I am angry when I see that my daughter is like me.

Your problem is not that your daughter resembles you but that you hate yourself. Your hatred for your daughter is not for her but for yourself. If you loved yourself, the fact that your daughter resembles you would make you happy since you can be near someone who appeals to you. The solution to your question is to love yourself.

In order to love yourself, you ought to above all know what you are. You also should know that what you have hated so far is not yourself but the illusions of you. You have been deluded by the illusion of you because you don’t know what you are.

Ask yourself what you are when your body is not you and you will realise that the essence of your being is much greater and holier than you can imagine. Keeping this question is Zen meditation, which will help you mitigate your hatred and turn it into love for yourself even before finding the answer.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/C1VOS

Hsin Shin Ming: “21. Do not hold to dualistic views, and don’t follow anything to find the Way, the true-Self.”

Dualistic views means discriminating views or illusions, and ‘do not hold to dualistic views’ implies ‘do not cling to discriminating views or illusions. ‘Don’t follow anything’ means ‘don’t follow illusions’. This scripture means ‘Don’t discriminate and don’t follow illusions while mistaking them for the Way’.

When you stop discriminating, you can see everything as it is. To see everything as it is, is to see everything as empty. When everything is empty, there is no one to follow and nothing to be followed. If you happen to think that there is anything for you to cling to, however tiny, it is the evidence that you are still holding on to dualistic views and far from seeing the Way. So, in order to prevent us from clinging to illusions, ancient masters would say that all the Sutras were devil’s talk and that we should kill even Buddha and all Patriarchs.

Student: “How can I stop following things?”
Master: “There is nothing to follow.”
Student: “I still don’t understand.”
Master: “You are following my words now.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/C2Yvb

Xuefeng’s “Turning the Dharma Wheel”

Zen master Yicun of Mount Xuefeng pointed with his finger at a furnace and said to Xuansha, “All Buddhas in the three worlds are in here, turning the great dharma wheel.” Xuansha said, “The king’s regulations are rather strict.” Xuefeng said, “How so?” Xuansha said, “Stealing is not permitted.”

Student: “What did Yicun mean when he, pointing at a furnace, said that all Buddhas are there, turning the great dharma wheel?”
Master: “He showed the king.”
Student: “Why did Xuansha say, ‘The king’s regulations are rather strict’ and ‘Stealing is not permitted’?”
Master: “Because nothing can be stolen in the king’s nation even though everything is left alone without being guarded.”

Commentary:
Once you have realised the king’s strict regulations, you are allowed to steal the whole universe.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/C1OyV

The Bible says that God gives us what we want when we pray to God heartily. Does Zen practice also help us to obtain what we want?

Zen meditation doesn’t help us to obtain something that we are lacking but helps you us to realise that we are already perfectly blessed with all we need. I think that the Biblical quotation above has the same meaning.

Taking this Biblical phrase literally can evoke or bolster our greed and selfishness rather than control and reduce them. This is degrading God to a biased mundane being that prefers those who are pleasing him to those who are not. To believe in God in this way is not to worship him but to profane him, which is also to debase our dignity.

I’d like to interpret this quotation as ‘We will realise that we already have all we need when we can see clearly who God is’.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/AZZzq

Hsin Shin Ming: “20. Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish false opinions.”

‘Search for the truth’ means to search for the true-Self, and ‘cherish false opinion’ means to mistake names which are just imaginary lines as real. The fact is that there is nothing that doesn’t belong to the truth. There is nothing other than the truth. We are already the truth itself as well. We can’t get out of the truth, or cease to be the truth even for a moment. The reason why we don’t see the truth is not that it is far from us but that false opinions prevent us from seeing it.

Our problem is that we search for truth with false opinions of it. This is like building a barrier of false opinions before our eyes that blocks our sight. The more false opinions we have, the stronger and the higher the barrier becomes. The harder we search for it in this way, the further we become from seeing it.

So, you should try to realise what it is that searches for the truth instead of searching for the truth in vain. Realising what you are is realising the truth because you are no other than the very truth itself.

Student: “What is the truth?”
Master: “What is not?”
Student: “I am still lost.”
Master: “That’s it, too.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Ax32b

The World-Honoured One’s “Esoteric Speech”

Zen master Daoying of Mount Yunju was once asked by a government official who had brought an offering, “It is said that the World-Honoured One had esoteric speech and Mahakasyapa did not hide it. What is the World-Honoured One’s esoteric speech?”

Yunju said, “Officer.” The officer said, “Yes!” Yunju said, “Do you understand?” The officer said, “No, I don’t.” Yunju said, “If you don’t understand it, that is the World-Honoured One’s esoteric speech. If you do understand it, that is Mahakasyapa’s not hiding it.”

Student: “What did Yunju mean when he talked about the World-Honoured One’s esoteric speech and Mahakasyapa’s not hiding it?”
Master: “He meant that the World-Honoured One’s esoteric speech is wrapping paper, and Mahakasyapa’s not hiding it is the content.”

Commentary:
Ore is a just a piece of stone to a layman but jewellery to an ore expert.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/AofDd

Hsin Shin Ming: “19. Changes that seem to occur before us, appear real only because of ignorance.”

‘Changes that seem to occur before us, appear real’ means that we mistake what doesn’t occur for something that really occurs, that is, we are deluded by illusions. A good example of this is a dream we have during sleep.

‘Because of our ignorance’ means ‘because we can’t see things as they are’ or ‘because we can’t see things as empty’. Put in other words, we mistake illusions for reality just like we mistake a dream for reality during sleep, because we can’t see things as they are.

So, ancient masters would compare enlightenment with awakening from a dream by saying, “Awake from your dream, and all illusions will disappear by themselves.” According to the Diamond Sutra, Buddha also said, “If you can see all things as your dream, you will see the true-Self.”

Student: “How can I awake from my dream?”
Master: “Don’t think that you are asking me a question now.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Ax2Ik

Hsin Shin Ming: “18. The moment you are enlightened, you go beyond appearances and emptiness.”

Enlightenment means to see things as they are, and seeing things as they are means seeing things without labelling them, which is to see things as empty. So, ‘you are enlightened’ means that you see everything as empty. ‘Appearances’ means forms or things. When everything is empty, all appearances are not appearances anymore because they become oneness as emptiness. Then, there is just emptiness and nothing else. When there is only emptiness, emptiness is not emptiness anymore because there is nothing else to distinguish from it. Therefore, when you are enlightened, you are not deluded by appearances and don’t cling to emptiness. That is to go beyond appearances and emptiness and to see things in both ways; as appearances and as emptiness.

Student: “How can I see things in both ways; as appearances and as emptiness?”
Master: “When you see your question as appearance, it is a question, but it is an answer to your question when you see it as empty.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Ap3w7