final goal – Page 10

Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, meditaion, Meditation, Mind, Practice, true self, Truth, Zen

Q107. Can we realise the true-self through logic? If not, why not?

September 4, 2015September 4, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Your logic, however perfect it may be, might enable you to explain that everything is empty, but it prevents you from reaching the final goal.
To see your true-self means to remove all illusions, but trying to build a perfect logic means strengthening your established illusions and adding to your illusions by creating new ones, or adopting the ones created by others. That is to go against your original intention of eliminating illusions, which is like fuelling a fire by pouring oil onto it, thereby making it more ferocious while intending to extinguish it. That is going in the opposite direction of your goal, against your intention.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

desire, Enlightenment, final goal, meditaion, sex, sexual, true self, Truth, Zen

Q106. What shall I do with my sexual desire?

September 1, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Many people think that an ascetic life is indispensable in order to practice Zen meditation, but this is incorrect, unless you are a monk or a nun.

Why don’t you consider the same question regarding your hunger or thirst? Sexual desire is also a natural feeling that normal people have, just like feelings of hunger or thirst. What matters is how to accept it. As mentioned earlier, everything is neutral in itself. Sexual desire may either be holy, or impure lust, just as hunger may be either good or bad, that is to say harmful to us. Hunger is thought to be an essential feeling for our survival, that makes life happy, but it can also lead people to a disastrous situation if not controlled. Sexual desire should be accepted in the same way, I think.

To have sexual desire is the evidence that you are alive, healthy and normal, that is, you are very suitable for Zen meditation. In summary, Zen meditation has nothing to do with sexual desire just as it has nothing to with hunger. What matters here is not whether to have sexual desire or not, but whether or not to realise the root of it. Just try to realise the root, which is the root of compassion.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Truth, Zen

Q97. It is said everything looks different after enlightenment. Do things change after enlightenment?

August 11, 2015 Zen Fools

A. No, nothing changes. Everything looks different after enlightenment not because things themselves change but because your perspective changes. In other words, you can see what you couldn’t see before. In fact there is nothing that deceives you. You deceive yourself because you can’t see things as they are.

When you are scared of a piece of broken rope since you mistake it for a snake, which is to blame for it, you or the broken rope? If you, regarding a piece of broken glass as a piece of diamond, struggle to obtain it and get disappointed when failing to get it, which is to blame for it, you or the piece of broken glass? What does a hundred dollar bill mean? It means only a piece of paper, or sweets at most to a five year old child, but it means much more to an adult. Does the bill have ageism against children?

What changes is not the object you see, but the way you see it.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Truth, Zen

Q95. What does ‘enjoy being still’ mean?

August 6, 2015August 7, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Most people think it means to enjoy sitting still with our mind focused on something like our breath or Zen question during the meditation practice. Of course we can have such a feeling during the practice, and the stillness we feel during the practice will grow deeper and deeper along with it. That is a very essential process which we go through in order to reach the final goal. However, that is not the stillness mentioned in Zen meditation because as soon as we stop the practice, the stillness breaks and we come back into the noisy world. The stillness that can be enjoyed only during practice is of no practical use in our life. The purpose of Zen meditation is not to change only a given part of our life at a given time, but to change our whole life. In other words, the stillness we pursue is not temporary but permanent stillness, which we can feel only when, after removing all illusions, we realise the whole universe is still all the time regardless of whether we practice or not. Then our life is always still and peaceful, and we can enjoy stillness all the time even in a busy street or a crowded market place.

If I were asked what stillness is, I would say,

“Ten volcanos erupt at the same time.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

final goal, Meditation, Practice, Zen

Q94. I can’t pay all my attention to Zen practice even though I’d like to because my family wants me to share as much time as possible with them. What shall I do?

August 4, 2015 Zen Fools

A. You should not allow your practice to a make mess of your normal life. If your practice makes your family unhappy in any way, I’d say, you’d better give up your practice. To practice Zen, while making your family unhappy is against the purpose of Zen meditation since it is to be happy.

If your family doesn’t want you to practice Zen, something is wrong with you, I think. If you practice in the right way, people around you including your family members are bound to like you more because you become more considerate, patient and open-minded.

Don’t think that you will complete your practice in a short period of time. In that way, you can avoid overworking yourself, becoming ill and neglecting your family, which could cause you trouble. The idea of reaching the final goal quickly can make you impatient, which rather disturbs your practice.

Look upon each of your family members as a gate to the final goal. Their smiling, laughing, crying, eating, and sleeping are all actions of the truth you want to reach. Ask yourself what is making your wife smile, when you see her smile, and what is controlling your children’s bodies when you see them play. All of this is Zen practice. Do remember that spending time with your family can also be good practice.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Truth, Zen

Q92. What is the truth, the final goal we are seeking like?

July 31, 2015August 3, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Not seeing it is more difficult than seeing it. In fact it is impossible not to see it. If you try to chase it even for a while, you are going the wrong way. Everything you see and hear is the shape and the sound of the truth itself and is showing and telling itself to you. If you can see or hear only a single thing that comes to your eyes or ears just as it is, you’ll have reached the final goal without moving a step. ©Boo Ahm All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Truth, Zen

Q79. How can we remove illusions?

July 1, 2015 Zen Fools

A. When we say that we practice Zen meditation to escape from the trap of illusions or remove illusions, it never means separating them from ourselves, but realising the fact that illusions are the truth which is the root of everything; the final goal we long to achieve. However, many people, believing that an illusion is different from the truth, make the mistake of trying to stop thinking, when thoughts, good or bad, come to them, regarding them as illusions. That is one of the most common mistakes we make when practising Zen meditation.

Therefore, try your best to see yourself as you are or try to trace back to the root of the thinking that you look upon as an illusion. When you can see either yourself as you are, or the root of your thinking, all illusions will disappear by themselves.

Don’t avoid illusions
since they are a form of the truth.
Don’t follow the truth
since it is also an illusion.

©Boo Ahm

Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Truth, Zen

Q76. How different is an illusion from the final goal, the truth?

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 Zen Fools

A. In fact both are not different from each other, but they are one, just as sea and waves are not separate. There is nothing but the truth. If, regarding illusions as different from the truth, we try to remove illusions and reach the final goal, it is like trying to remove waves in order to see the sea. We should keep in mind that to eliminate illusions doesn’t mean to put the illusions away to another place, but means to change our viewpoint and realise that all illusions including us, are the truth itself we are looking for. ©Boo Ahm

Enlightenment, Meditation, Practice, Truth, Zen

Q73. Is there a shortcut to the final goal? What is it if any?

June 17, 2015June 17, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Let me ask you a question. What is the quickest shortcut to the earth? The final goal is difficult to reach not because it is too far away from us, but because it is too near us. In a word, nearness is rather a barrier. The harder you look for a shortcut, the farther you will get away from the final goal. The root of the desire to take a shortcut is the very final goal you are eager to reach. You should look for it within, not without. When a thought that you need to take a shortcut occurs to you, trace back the thought to its root, which is the quickest shortcut.

Do you want to take a shortcut?
Don’t move even a single step.

©Boo Ahm

Bible, Enlightenment, illusion, Meditation, sutras, Truth, Zen

Q71. Why should we not read books?

June 16, 2015June 16, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Ancient masters always advised us not to read books if we hoped to reach the final goal. However good a book on enlightenment you may read, you can’t reach the final goal through reading books without practice. Masters discouraged us from reading books because reading leads us to feel as if we were approaching the final goal as we get more knowledge on the final goal. In fact, getting more knowledge is collecting more illusions and strengthening the solidity of your illusions while reaching the final goal means breaking illusions. Actually we are going farther away in the opposite direction from the final goal against our intention.

Why do few people reach the final goal though so many people are reading so many books including the Sutras and the Bible around the world? Are the Sutras and the Bible telling a lie? It is not because they are telling a lie but because we can’t digest what they mean. The final goal, the truth, is compared to a cure-all that gives an eternal life to ill people who take it. But the cure-all is so invisible that it is almost impossible to discern it. And what all books, including the Bible and the Sutras, are saying about it is not the cure-all itself but wrapping papers that can help people to recognise the contents, the cure-all. Most people mistake swallowing the wrapping paper for taking the contents, or cure-all. If we had taken a true cure-all, we would have become well instantly.

I don’t want to discourage you from reading books, but I’d like to invite you to change the way of reading books in order to take the cure-all, instead of swallowing the wrapping paper. You should bear it in mind that every single word of the book you read is the gate to the truth, the final goal. If you digest only a single word through your body from any book you read, you can reach the final goal. If you have not reached the final goal after reading so many books, it means that you have not understood even a single word of so many words you have read. You took only wrapping papers. Trace back to the root the word or a sentence you believe you understand, or you like. That is to try to see beyond the word, an illusion. This can be compared to tearing the wrapping paper. If you can see the root, you can be said to have digested the book perfectly, to have reached the final goal. Try to see the root of each word or each sentence as perfectly as possible, instead of trying to read as many books as possible. That is a kind of Zen practice as well.