Questions & Koans

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, master, Meditation, Photography, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q302. Do masters still have the same emotion as we do?

Zen Fools

A. They feel things in the same way sentient beings feel: They are hungry when they don’t have food, feel cold in winter and hot in summer. They are angry at the sight of unjust things, feel happy when seeing good things and feel sympathetic with poor people or animals in suffering. Without such feelings, how would they have compassion for sentient beings?

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The difference between the enlightened and sentient beings is how to accept or deal with such feelings. Sentient beings are controlled by such feelings because they don’t know the truth that everything is empty, while the enlightened never let such feelings run their life since they are aware of the truth. How the enlightened handle such feelings is compared to a clean mirror. A mirror reflects black colour when a black thing comes and red colour when a red thing comes, but it never becomes black or red. In other words, they can see things as if seeing a movie. While seeing a movie, they feel sad, happy and angry, but they come back to their usual emotion after the movie.

 

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, illusion, Meditation, Photography, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q301. What is the difference between form and emptiness?

Zen Fools

A. No difference at all. Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Whether it is form or emptiness is in the eye of the beholder. The problem is that we are so addicted to seeing things only as form that we can’t see them as emptiness.

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It is like seeing a golden lion only as a lion without knowing that it is gold. The purpose of Zen meditation is to be able to see both the lion and gold, or form and emptiness, at the same time and to realise that the essence of the lion is gold, and that the essence, gold, never changes even if the form of the lion is changed into whatever other form.

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, master, meditaion, Photography, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q300. Student: “What is the true self like?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “It is not the shape of male or female.”

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Commentary:

Don’t measure others by your yardstick.

It is the shape of male and female.

 

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathawa

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

​Q299. Is faith a stepping stone for or an obstacle to enlightenment?

Zen Fools

A. Right faith and wrong faith are to your enlightenment as good food and bad food are to your health. Right faith is said to be a cornerstone rather than a stepping stone for enlightenment, which is very essential on the way to enlightenment. Wrong faith leads you in the opposite direction from your goal.

Right faith means a combination of the belief in the truth that you are a perfect and eternal being, determination to realise the truth by all means and the confidence that you can realise the truth. In fact, right faith is the foundation of Zen and it is impossible to attain enlightenment without right faith.

Wrong faith in Zen is to believe that there is an absolute being such as Buddha, or God somewhere else and that we have to depend on him for our eternal life or happiness since we are imperfect. That is no other than idol worship, or primitive religion. This means that we are deluded by imaginary figures created by our imagination. Producing imaginary figures is an obstacle to enlightenment because removing imaginary figures is the essence of Zen.

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

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, master, Meditation, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q298. Is enlightenment by Zen esoteric?

Zen Fools

A.  Some people seem to have such an idea. The reason why it seems esoteric is not that it is hidden and transmitted secretly to only a few chosen people but that it is difficult to grasp through experience, not as knowledge.

From a historical point of view, no masters tried to hide it, but tried to share it with as many people as they could. They didn’t spare their effort to help people attain enlightenment until the last moment of their lives. We can see several cases in which masters gave teaching to their students even at the last moment of their life. To tell the truth, it can be said to be an open secret.
Let me quote a beautiful and holy situation when a master gave his teaching on his deathbed.
The master was about to enter transformation (to die). Sitting, he said: “After my death do not allow my True Dharma Eye to perish.”

Sansho, his student, burst out: “How could your True Dharma Eye perish?”

The master asked: “What then will you say when in future people put questions to you?”

Sansho gave a Katsu.

“Who could know that my True Dharma Eye would perish through this blind ass,” said the master, and revealed his Nirvana.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, moment, Photography, root, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q296. How is it possible to remove all at once and not gradually the illusions that we have made up for decades?

Zen Fools

A. Our practice is like trying to brighten an old room that has been dark since it was made, even though it is installed with a nice electric light. We are looking for the light switch of the old room that has never been lit so far. The key problem is that we have no idea of the switch; where it is and what it is like, because we have never used it, or even seen it before. We can be said to be fumbling for the switch in the dark room. It may take time to find it, but it doesn’t take time to lighten the room once you find the switch. The moment you switch on the light, all the darkness will disappear. Likewise, all illusions disappear at the moment you attain enlightenment.

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Student: “How can I remove all the illusions in an instant that I have made up for decades?”

Master: “It takes no time and no effort to remove them because they are empty.”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Bible, Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, illusion, Meditation, Photography, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q295. Shouldn’t I remove not only illusions but also the true-self since illusions are the true-self?

Zen Fools

A. Of course, you should remove the true-self, too if you can. You should remove not only the true-self but also your mother and father. Only when have you removed all of them can you see the true-self and the true form of your parents.

 

Jesus said, “Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple to me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross in my way, will not be worthy of me.” Ancient Masters also said, “If you are to see the Buddha, kill Buddha.”

 

Why did Jesus tell people to hate their parents while saying that we should love our neighbours as ourselves? Why did Masters talk people into killing Buddha while teaching how to see Buddha? Both advised us to remove names, which are just imaginary lines.

 

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When we say ‘the true-self’, the name ‘true-self’ is not the true-self but only a label used to express the true-self. The more important a thing is to you, the more difficult its name is to remove. So, Masters would say that the more reasonable a comment sounds, the more firmly it will stick to you.

 

You should remove all names, or labels, whatever they are and no matter how important they look to you.

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, student, Uncategorized, zen

Q294. Student: “It is said that everything is empty to the enlightened. Is Bodhidharma enlightened?”

Zen Fools

A. Master: “Empty.”

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Commentary:

What counts is not whether Bodhidharma is enlightened but whether you are.

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, master, Meditation, Photography, Practice, root, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, zen

Q293. Is it possible to transmit enlightenment to other people?

Zen Fools

A. ‘Transmit enlightenment’ and ‘Transmit dharma’ are very common sayings in Zen. These, however, are very incorrect expressions that can bring about misunderstanding. Enlightenment is neither a physical matter nor a type of knowledge that we can give and take in the way that we can do with gold, or the four rules of arithmetic.

 

Suppose that there is a person who, not knowing that he is already part of the Earth, wishes to go to the Earth. As a result of your efforts to help him, one day he realises the truth that he is part of the Earth that he has been so anxious to reach. You can say to him, “At last you have now realised the truth that you are part of the Earth.” Likewise, saying ‘You’ve now realised dharma,’ usually while giving a symbolic thing like a piece of writing or a robe, is said to be the transmission of dharma. The bowl and robe given to his student by Bodhidharma is a good example of this. Therefore, ‘Transmit dharma’ doesn’t mean to transfer dharma but rather to approve a student’s realisation of dharma.

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Student: “How can I receive enlightenment?”

Master: “You should have no hands.”

 

©Boo Ahm

 

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway