buddha – Page 10 – Zen Fools

Q60. How can I obey the precepts (Buddhist commandments) well?

June 14, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Once upon a time there lived an old man in a village, who was well known as a good Buddhist and respected by all the people in the village. People often came to him for advice when they had problems in their lives. One day he happened to talk with an old monk.

Monk: I’ve heard that you are much respected as a very good Buddhist. How do you lead your life?
Old man: I always try to obey five precepts.
Monk: (looking surprised) Do you still obey the precepts?
Old man: (looking surprised) Of course, don’t you obey the precepts?
Monk: No, I don’t.
Old man: (looking more surprised) Do you break the precepts then?
Monk: Of course not.
Old man: What do you mean by that?
Monk: I neither break the precepts nor obey them.

Let me take an example. What do you think is the most important to keep your life? Of course, to be alive we need a lot of things such as food, water, air and so on. However, no one can deny that air is the most essential of all we need to keep our life because we can’t maintain our life even for a few minutes without air though we can stay alive for a few days without water and even for over a month without food. In other words, not a moment can we live without breathing. Then do we feel ourselves breathing every moment we breathe because breathing is very important?
Of course, we don’t feel ourselves breathing as long as we are healthy even though we can feel it if we try to feel it consciously. If someone, feeling himself breathing every moment, tries hard to breathe, he must have a problem in his health, especially in his breathing system of his body. Likewise, if someone, Buddhist or Christian, conscious of the precepts every moment, has to try to obey them, he must have a problem in his life.

How can we obey precepts as naturally as a healthy person breathes? In a word, the precepts should become part of ourselves, and we should be able to obey them so naturally that we can obey them unconsciously just as we breathe.
Only then can we be said to obey the precepts perfectly.
Strictly speaking, to obey precepts perfectly means not that we hold back our desires to break the precepts but that we have no precepts to obey in our mind because we have realised by practising that everything including desires to break the precepts and even the precepts themselves, is an illusion.

I don’t mean that we need not obey the precepts until we realise that everything is an illusion. We should try to obey the precepts consciously because trying to obey the precepts is not only part of practice but also the minimum moral attitude we must take as human beings. Whenever you are tempted to break a precept, trace back the temptation to its root and the temptation will die away before you know it. That is a good Zen practice as well as a way to obey the precepts. With time the precepts will become part of you naturally like breathing.

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

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, God, Meditation, mindful, mindfulness, One, Practice, Truth, Zen

Q45. How can I be mindful?

June 9, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Very simple. If you know what your mind is, you can be mindful all the time with no effort. Most people try to mindful only to fail because they strive to do what they don’t know. In other words, to be mindful is difficult since you don’t know what your mind is. Actually, most people don’t know how to start to be mindful when they try to be mindful because they don’t know their mind.

Anyway to be mindful, you must know what your mind is. How could you try to be mindful without knowing what your mind is? Try to find what your mind is and you will become mindful with no effort. What are you when your body is not you? Mind is the name of you when your body is not you, which is also referred to as true-self, true-nature, the nature, the truth, the Buddha in Buddhism and the God in Christianity. Whatever it is called, the name itself doesn’t matter. We should know what it is beyond the name.

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

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, God, Koan, Meditation, Mind, One, Practice, Religion, Truth, Zen

Q39. Could you describe what we are when our body is not us?

June 8, 2015 Zen Fools

A. In fact it is beyond description and can’t be reached through words, but it is not separate from words and can’t be explained without words. When reading a text, or hearing a talk about it, you should take it as more than words.

It is called the truth, the mind, the true nature, the true self, or the Buddha in Buddhism. In Christianity, it is referred to as the truth, the spirit in you, the word, the lord, or God – as John 8:32 says, “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
Everything, whether living or non-living, or whether saints or sentient beings, belongs to nothing but the truth. The truth is neither blue nor yellow, and has neither any frame nor any form. It is neither existing nor non-existent, and since it is boundless like the empty air, not only does it have no inside and no outside but also it can’t be measured. It is with us all the time, and we can’t escape it even for a moment.

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

Buddha, Buddhism, Meditation, Zen

Q33. When I go to temple, I feel protected while praying there, by something or someone and feel more comfortable in a temple than at home. Is my going to temple wrong?

June 6, 2015 Zen Fools

A. If you feel as you mentioned in your question without knowing what you are, or what the Buddha is, it shows that you are addicted to the illusion of the Buddha. That is, you are enslaved by the illusion of the Buddha.

I never discourage you from doing anything but encourage you to ask yourself what it is that makes your body do what you do whatever you do, whether going to temple or going to church. Why do you go to the temple? If you go to temple to pray to the Buddha, you should know at least two things: What you are and what the Buddha is. Not knowing what you are, how can you say that you pray while not knowing who prays? Not knowing what the Buddha is, how can you pray to the Buddha? You should know that a temple is not a place for praying to the Buddha, but a place for realising what you are when your body is not you.

When freed from the illusions of all things including the Buddha, you can realise what you are when your body is not you. Supposing you pray while not knowing the object of your worship; what is the difference between you and the primitive people who prayed to a huge tree, or a gigantic rock and the sun, or the moon?

Buddhism, Happiness, Meditation, Mind, Practice, Zen

Q23. I too often lose my temper with even small things. People say I am too sensitive to what others say about me. What shall I do when angry? (How can I control my anger?)

June 6, 2015June 6, 2015 Zen Fools

A. This is a good question. Many people have a similar question, I think. Now I will ask you back, “What makes you angry?” “I can’t control my anger when people speak ill of me for what I have never done. “I think your words make sense. The reason you mention can be a part of the cause that makes you angry. All people, like you, have their own reasons why they are angry when angry. They tend to try to evade the responsibility for being angry by justifying their anger. However, I will ask you one more question. “Are you angry when you don’t know the fact at all that others spoke ill of you?” I think you aren’t because we can’t be angry, or happy, with what we don’t know. How could you be angry with what you don’t know? In fact, no matter how much someone speaks ill of you, their act itself doesn’t lead you to lose your temper, unless you know the fact.

It means that the fact that others speak ill of you unduly is not the direct cause that makes you angry. If the fact were the direct cause, it would make you angry regardless of whether you know the fact or not. Then what will be the main cause that makes you angry? It is you that are responsible for being angry. You are angry only when you perceive the fact and feel it is undue. You won’t be angry if you don’t think it is unwarranted even though you perceive the fact. In a word, everything is up you. Whatever others may say about you, their words can make you neither angry, nor happy, if you don’t accept them as bad or good. You are angry when you accept them as names or abuse, and happy when you accept them as praises.
I remember Buddha’s answer to a question one of his disciples asked. One day one of his disciples said to Buddha, “I am very sorry and angry these days because a person never sees me without calling me names for no reason. What shall I do?” Buddha asked, “Whom does the gift belong to if you don’t accept it when someone gives it to you?” The disciple answered, “Of course, it belongs to the giver.” Then Buddha said, “Then, who do the names he calls you belong to if you don’t accept them?” The disciple was very happy to understand what Buddha said. Likewise, whatever others may say about you, their words can have no influence on you unless you accept them. After all it is not others but your discriminating mind that makes your angry. So the purpose of Zen practice is also said to remove our discriminating mind because seeing things as they are means seeing things without a discriminating mind.
When angry, never try to hold back or push down your anger. Admit that the main cause of your anger is within and not without, and trace your anger back to its root, or ask yourself what you are when your body is not you. Your body can’t be angry for itself. Ask yourself what makes your body angry and your anger will quieten down by itself. Killing two birds with one stone: practising Zen and removing anger.