A. Master: “Mountains and rivers.”
Commentary:
Master’s tongue is not long enough to say the answer.
You had better hear him with your eyes.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Tag: hear
Q278. How can I see my true-self through illusions?
A. There is nothing that is not your true-self. The way all things are showing themselves is the way your true-self reveals itself. The problem is that you don’t see them as they are. In other words, it is not they but you that deceive yourself. The very things that you hear and see are called illusions when you can’t see them as they are, but called your true-self when you can see them as they are. The Sutras say that illusions are the true-self.
So, seeing and hearing what you are looking at, or listening to, at this moment as they are, is both eliminating illusions and seeing your true-self. Jesus said, “Recognise what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest.”
Student: “How can I see my true-self?”
Master: “Don’t forsake your true-self.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q195. I think I am not seeing the Emptiness of questions and answers. Maybe I have just been seeing the form till now. Am I right?
A. As I said before, you have been seeing the Emptiness since your birth. You have never stopped seeing it even for a moment, and you can’t stop it. All the Sutras say that Emptiness is form and form is Emptiness. Accordingly, seeing form is seeing Emptiness.
The problem is that you can’t recognise it because your eyes and ears are covered by your discrimination.
Student: “What is the Emptiness?”
Master: “What you see and hear is the Emptiness.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q125. If we reach our final goal through what we see and hear, how can the blind and the deaf reach the goal?
A. They can in the same way that you do. Your question shows how you are addicted to illusions. Why do you think they can’t practice because they can’t see and hear? If they had no sight, how could they feel that they can’t see? If they had no hearing, how would they realise that they are deaf? The blind and the deaf see and hear in a different way from ours, and have illusions of their own making in their way. If they think they are blind or deaf, the thoughts are also illusions. If they try to realise where such thoughts come from, that is a good Zen practice. They are as likely to reach the final goal, enlightenment, as you are.
