Questions & Koans

Touzi’s “Harmonising the Ten Bodies”

Touzi Datong was once asked by a monastic, “What is the harmonising of the ten bodies of the Buddha?” Touzi got down from the sitting platform and stood with folded hands. On another occasion a monastic asked, “What distance is there between ordinary ones and the sacred one?” Touzi got down from the sitting platform and stood with folded hands.

Student: “Why did Touzi get down from the sitting platform and stand with folded hands when he was asked about the harmonising of the ten bodies of the Buddha?”
Master: “Because you didn’t see the Buddha but saw just Touzi.”
Student: “Why did Touzi get down from the sitting platform and stand with folded hands when he was asked about the distance between ordinary ones and the sacred one?”
Master: “What is right before one’s eyes is as invisible as if it were thousands of miles away to the blind.”

Commentary:
When you see ordinary ones and the sacred one at the same time, there is no distance at all between them.
When you can see only the ordinary ones, the distance is beyond description because the sacred one is invisible.

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

Hsin Shin Ming: “17. To return to the root is to find the essence, but to pursue appearances is to miss the Source.”

‘To return to the root’ means to realise who or what makes your body think, or talk, when you think or talk. It also means to see and hear beyond the names of things when you see or hear things. ‘To find the essence’ means to find the true-Self.

‘To pursue appearances’ implies to follow the names and forms of things, or imaginary lines. To see your body as the essence of your being and be attached to it is a typical example of pursuing appearance. ‘To miss the Source’ means to miss the true-Self, which is to be deluded by illusions.

To conclude, to realise what or who makes your body read this writing is to find the true-Self, or attain enlightenment. To see your body as the essence of your being is to miss the true-Self, or be deluded by illusions. In brief, to realise who or what drives your body when you do something is to find the essence, or attain enlightenment.

Student: “What is the Source?”
Master: “Pardon?”
Student: “What is the Source?”
Master: “That’s it.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Ap3qv

Hsin Shin Ming: “16. Cease all thinking and talking, and there is nothing that will not be revealed to you.”

‘Cease all thinking and talking’ should not be mistaken for becoming insensible, or thoughtless, like a patient with serious dementia. It means to stop discriminating, that is, stop being deluded by illusions. In order not to be deluded by illusions, we should realise that everything is empty by seeing everything as it is. To see things as they are, you should be able to see yourself as you are and know what you are when your body is not you. In other words, to know who thinks and talks when you think, or talk is to cease thinking and talking.

‘There is nothing that will not be revealed to you’ means that there will be nothing that doesn’t turn out to be empty, or that there are no illusions that delude your seeing and hearing.

So, if you can see yourself as you are, you are not deluded by illusions through your realisation that everything is empty.

Student: “How can I cease thinking and talking?”
Master: “Why do you want to cease thinking and talking?”
Student: “So I can see the true-Self.”
Master: “Thinking and talking are the action of your true-Self. “

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

How should we understand the scripture ‘Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary’?

This is an expression that shows what Jesus is. Speaking of our physical body, it is unimaginable, illogical and impossible for a human being to be born of a woman who has never had any sexual relation with a man. We are always born as a result of the sexual union between male and female. Once we are born, we are doomed to die of ageing and illness. Birth, ageing, illness and death are inevitable for our physical body.

The words that Jesus was born of a virgin woman, Mary means that he is not a physical body that comes into being as a result of the combination of opposite genders. If we thought of the physical body of a young man who was crucified as Jesus, he would not exist any longer, because he was already killed at that time. Then, who or what on earth would we be worshipping now?

According to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus said, “When you see one who was not born of woman, prostrate yourselves on your faces and worship him. That one is your father.” This means that the true Jesus is not his physical being but some absolute being that transcends birth and death. He was here before his birth, is still here now and will be here forever. He revealed himself through a human body to teach people that the essence of our being is eternity itself, beauty itself, perfection itself and happiness itself.

Then, who or what is Jesus? Who or what on earth are we worshiping now?
If the physical body of young man who was crucified is not Jesus, who or what is the true Jesus who transcends birth, ageing, illness and death? To realise what he is and become like him is to attain eternal life, or true salvation, which is called enlightenment in Buddhism.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/A9QIW

Hsin Shin Ming: “15. The more you think and talk about the true-Self, the further you are from it.”

As mentioned previously, the true-Self means emptiness, and emptiness is Oneness that is not divided by our imaginary lines which are words or language. To realise or see the true Self is to see Oneness without any imaginary lines, which is enlightenment.

Thinking and talking more, with a view to realising the true-Self implies using and producing more imaginary lines, words, which is like adding more imaginary lines while trying to remove them. It is like going to the west while striving to go to the east. The reason for making a mistake of unconsciously doing something against our intention like this is that we are so addicted to our imaginary lines or words, that we are controlled by them rather than in control of them.

However, once you have realised what the true-Self is, you can’t be apart from the true-Self even for a moment and what you think and talk about are all the action of the true-Self, because you know that everything, including you, is the true-Self.

Student: “How can we realise the true-Self without thinking and talking?”
Master: “How can there be thinking and talking without the true-Self?”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Ah0qS

Hsin Shin Ming: “14. Deny the existence of things and you will fall into the existence of things. Follow the emptiness and you will forsake the emptiness.”

‘The existence of things’ implies forms. To rephrase the first sentence, it reads: Deny forms and you will fall into forms. The existence of things or forms is to the emptiness as the right is to the left. The existence of things and the emptiness are not separate and not different from each other but oneness and the same with each other, like the right and the left. Forms, as the Heart Sutra says, are the emptiness and the emptiness is forms. Enlightenment is to realise that the existence is the emptiness.

Denying the existence is denying the emptiness, and following the emptiness is following the existence of things. If you, denying the right, follow the left, could you stay in the left without the right? There is no left without the right. So, following the left without the right is as foolish as arguing that there is the right without the left.

The emptiness that you can follow is not true emptiness but another form, the existence of things. There is nothing to deny or follow in the emptiness. So, following the emptiness is following the existence of things and missing the emptiness. The emptiness is oneness that remains undivided by our imaginary lines. When the emptiness is divided into many by our imaginary lines, it becomes many. This is the existence of things called forms. So, one is many, and many are one.

Student: “What is the existence of things?”
Master: “You are asking me a question now, and I respond to it like this.”
Student: “What is the emptiness?”
Master: “I am wrong if I answer your question.”

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/Ah0d1

What is the nature of the robe and the bowl like?

Eno, the Sixth Patriarch, was pursued by Monk Emyo up to Daiyurei. The Patriarch, seeing Emyo coming, laid the robe and the bowl on a rock, and said to him, “This robe represents the faith. Is it to be fought for by force? You may take them now.” Emyo went to move the bowl and the robe and yet they were as heavy as mountains. He could not move them. Hesitating and trembling, Emyo asked the Patriarch, “I come for the teaching, not for the robe. Please enlighten me!” The Patriarch said, “What is your true-Self when you do not think of good nor do you think of evil?” At that moment Emyo was greatly awakened. His whole body was covered with sweat. Emyo cried, bowed, and said, “Is there any other significance than your secret words and teachings like this?” The Patriarch answered, “What I have told you is no secret at all. Once you have realised your own true-Self, the secret rather belongs to you!” Emyo said, “When I was at Obai with the other monks, I never realised what my true-Self was. Now you have dispersed the clouds of my ignorance to realise it, just like a man capable of discerning warm and cold by tasting water. From now on you are my teacher!” The Patriarch said, “We both have Obai for our teacher. You keep it well, guard your own Self!”

Student: “How could the Sixth Patriarch run away with the robe and the bowl that Emoy couldn’t even lift?”
Master: “The Sixth Patriarch, aware of the nature of them, didn’t think much of them.”
Student: “What is the nature of the robe and the bowl like?”
Master: “It won’t move at all, but it is weightless.”
Student: “What did Emyo realise when the Patriarch said, ‘What is your true-Self when you don’t think of good nor do you think of evil?’?”
Master: “He realised that he had not needed to chase the Patriarch.”
Student: “What did the patriarch mean by ‘What I have told you is no secret at all. Once you have realised your true-Self, the secret rather belongs to you’?”
Master: “The secret is revealing itself. It is secret not because it is hidden but because you are blind to it.”
Student: “How did Emyo find his true-Self when the Patriarch dispersed the clouds of ignorance to realise it?”
Master: “He found that the clouds of ignorance are his true-Self.”

Commentary:
What a poor student!
The master is moving freely in the robe with the bowl.
The student, still caught under them, can’t move at all.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/A8uDL

Hsin Shin Ming: “13. Those who do not understand the Way (true-Self) will assert or deny the reality of things.”

‘Those who do not understand the Way’ implies those who are ignorant of the truth that everything is Oneness as emptiness. ‘Assert or deny the reality of things’ means to discriminate or to be deluded by illusions. That is, in other words, to make extremes.

Let’s suppose that a person from Alaska is talking to a man from the tropics about Korean spring weather that is 24 degrees centigrade now. The person from Alaska argues that it is very hot weather, but the man from the tropics says, “No, it is not hot at all, it’s very cold weather.” Then a Korean seeing their argument interrupts, “No, both of you are wrong. It’s not cold, not warm. It’s beautiful and pleasant weather.” They are asserting and denying the reality of things. Which of them is right and which is wrong?

We come to make assertions like this because we are ignorant of the fact that everything is empty and that everything is neutral when it is empty.
The truth is that the weather is not hot, not cold, not pleasant but neutral in essence. The weather never says or thinks that it is cold or warm. It is warm because we think that it is warm, cold because we think that it is cold and pleasant because we think that it is pleasant.

The first comment that Buddha made when he attained enlightenment at the sight of the morning star was ‘I’ve realised that the star is not a star’.

Student: “What happens when we understand the Way?”
Master: “There is nothing to assert or deny.”
Student: “What happens when we assert or deny the reality of things?”
Master: “The level ground becomes rough and bumpy, and we stumble over the lines drawn on flatland by ourselves.”

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

Hsin Shin Ming: “12. As long as you remain in one extreme or the other, you will never know Oneness.”

What is to remain in one extreme? It is to follow illusions, or discriminate. If you happen to think there is even a single thing that is not empty, that is no other than remaining in one extreme, which automatically makes another extreme at the same time. If you believe, for example, that a tree is not empty, the tree is one extreme because it divides Oneness into two extremes; a tree and what is not a tree. The strongest extreme is your body that divides Oneness into you and what is not you. Once you realise that everything is empty, however, you can’t escape from Oneness whichever extreme you may choose, because not only the extreme you choose but you are also Oneness as emptiness.

Student: “What is one extreme?”
Master: “Every single thing is one extreme.”
Student: “How can I avoid remaining in one extreme?”
Master: “Realise that everything is empty.”

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

A monk asked an old woman the way to Mt. Taizan.

The old woman said, “Go straight ahead.” When the monk had proceeded a few steps, she said to herself, “This monk of sound mind also goes like that!” Afterwards, another monk told Joshu about this, and Joshu said, “Wait until I go and check the old woman.” The next day Joshu went and asked the same question and the old woman gave the same answer and said, “This monk in his right mind also goes like that.” Upon his return, Joshu told the congregation of monks, “I have checked the old woman of Taizan.”

Student: “Why did the old woman say to herself ‘This monk in his right mind also goes like that’ even though the monk proceeded as he was told to?”
Master: “Because he accepted what she said in the same way as you do now.”
Student: “Why did Joshu say that he had checked the old woman of Taizan?”
Master: “Because he checked her mind.”
Student: “Why did she say, ‘This monk in his right mind goes like that’ even though Joshu checked her mind?”
Master: “Because she accepted what he did in the same way as you do now.”

Commentary:
The innocent don’t realise that their things are being stolen while watching them.
A petty thief, being so involved in stealing, doesn’t realise that all her things are stolen by a big thief.

©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway http://ow.ly/i/A8uww