A. Yes, uncovering the truth, you will be able to see everything as it is. Then you can see happiness. You will find you yourself are happiness itself. However, don’t think the truth is covered with something. The truth is always revealing itself everywhere at all times. The problem is that we are covered with fixed ideas or stereotypes. So our practice is to trying to see ourselves as we are without any stereotypes or fixed ideas.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
A. No. As I said, I neither ask you to do something nor discourage you from doing something. I only ask you to try to see things as they are. When you see things as they are, whatever you do depends on you. Now how can you have God when you don’t know what you are and what God is?
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
A. It is one thing to say we can be happy, when we let go of needing to understand what we are and learn to just be, and it is another to be able to just be and be happy when you are faced with unexpected and frustrating tragedies in reality. You say you let go of bad things. It is fine if you can. However, how can you let go of something when you don’t know what you are, that is, you don’t know who lets go of? We can read such good words in books but it is another story to put them into practice until we can see things as they are.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
A. Do we need to be a Korean to eat Korean food? Anyone can try it if he thinks it is good for his or her health regardless of his or her nationality. Likewise, anyone can practice Zen meditation regardless of his or her religion.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
A. By attaining enlightenment we can be happy all the time.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
A. We can see everything as it is when we can see ourselves as we are because we can see things only through ourselves. So Zen meditation can be said to be a kind of practice to see ourselves as we are.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
A. Enlightenment is to be able to see everything as it is.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
A. It is a kind of Buddhist practice to attain enlightenment.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
A. How do you think we can see everything as it is? It’s very simple, and much easier than you think. We can see everything as it is if we can see ourselves as we are, because we can see things only through ourselves. I can see everything as it is when I can see myself as I am. So, Zen is also said to be a kind of a practice to see ourselves as we are. Then how can we see ourselves as we are? How can you see yourself as you are? OK. Now, I am asking you a question? Do you have a car? Do you have a house? Do you have a mobile-phone? I believe all of you have one of them at least. When you say, “My house is small but very convenient” or when I say, “My car doesn’t work well these days”, what do they mean? When you say, “My house”, it means you own a house. It means a house belongs to you. It never means that you are your house. It never means your house is you. When I say, “My car”, it never means I am my car. It never means my car is me. Am I wrong? Likewise, when we say, “My body”, it never means I am my body, just like I am not my car when I say, “My car”. Then our final question is “What am I when my body is not me?” This is the very ultimate question we should solve, but it might take a lifetime. This is a very simple question but also a very important question for our happiness. Let me ask you one more very similar question. What is your wife when her body is not her, just like your body is not you? What are your mum and dad when their bodies are not them? In fact, we really don’t know what our wives are, what our children are, what our friends are, and so on, just like we don’t know what we are. Let’s suppose I say, “I love my wife.” In this very short sentence I mentioned, I don’t know what the subject “I” is, I don’t know what I am and I also don’t know the object “my wife”, I don’t know what my wife is. In summary, we don’t know what we say when we don’t know what we are. How can I know what I say, when I don’t know what I am? How can I love my wife, when I don’t know what she is? What does it mean when I say to you, “I love you” when I don’t know what you are? In reality, we often say, “I want to be happy”. It is a very natural idea we can have as a human being. However, how can I be happy when I don’t know what I am? How can I be happy when I don’t know who, or what, wants to be happy? This is the way we live our lives without knowing what we are(the essence of our being).
From now on, you take a (long) journey for the purpose of realizing what you are when your body is not you. I want to call this a journey for happiness, because I am sure that this journey will bring you happiness. I invite you to join our journey to happiness.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
A. Then what shall we do now to be happy? We should try to see everything as it is. To be happy we should be able to see everything as it is. Zen is a kind of Buddhist practice to see everything as it is. However, don’t misunderstand me. Don’t think I want to make you Buddhist. My job is to help you to see everything as it is. I am not here to persuade you to be Buddhist but to help you to see everything as it is. I would never encourage you to change your religion but I encourage you to try to see everything as it is. I would never ask you to live a monastic life, or ascetic life, but ask you to try to see everything as it is. I would never discourage you from doing something, but encourage you not to give up trying to see everything as it is. I will only ask you and help you to see everything as it is, because you can be happy all the time when you can see things as they are.
When you can see things as they are, you can see what you couldn’t see before. You can hear what you couldn’t hear before. Your life changes as you can see things as they are. When we can see things as they are, we can see things more objectively than before. When we can see things more objectively than before, we can make wiser decisions and wiser choices than before. As we can see, our life is a series of decisions and choices. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration that our happiness depends on the decisions and the choices we make every moment. Our wise decisions and wise choices will lead us to happiness. I am sure you can become a better husband, a better wife, better father, better mother, and a better Christian if you are Christian. So we can be happy all the time by seeing everything as it is. You can see happiness when you can see everything as it is. So, Zen is a kind of way to happiness.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
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