I – Zen Fools

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, master, Meditation, Photography, Practice, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q322. The main idea of Buddhism is ‘non-I’. What on earth are we if there is no ‘I’?

February 21, 2017February 21, 2017 Zen Fools

A. Saying that there is no ‘I’ means not that there is no ‘I’, but that there is nothing specific worth mentioning as ‘I’. However, if there were no your ‘I’, what would get your body to read this writing now?

In fact, ‘non-I’ is another expression of the fact that everything is empty and one. When everything is empty, everything is oneness as emptiness. When everything including you is oneness, oneness is part of you and you are part of oneness. When everything including you is oneness, there is nothing else but oneness. Then oneness is all and nothing else. This means that all is you and there is nothing else that is not you since oneness is you. When there is nothing else but you, all is you and you are all.

In order for you to become you, there must be someone or something else that is not you that you can be discriminated from. When all is you and you are all, you are not you any more, just as red is not red any more when all is red. So ‘non-I’ means not that there is no ‘I’ at all but that there is only ‘I’. So, Buddha said, “In the whole universe, only I exist” when he was born.

Student: “What happens when there is no ‘I’?”

Master: “All becomes you.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Koan, master, Meditation, Photography, Practice, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q291. Student: “How can I become one with the universe?”

December 11, 2016December 10, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “You should melt everything and make it you.”

Student: “How can I do it?”

Master: “Make yourself melt into air.”

Commentary:

When there is no ‘I’, there is nothing that is not ‘I’.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q286. Masters tell us to discard our ‘I’. How can I do it?

November 29, 2016 Zen Fools

A. They mean that you should eliminate the illusions of you, that is, all the labels attached to you, or all the words used to describe your identity. This is because all suffering is from your mistaking the labels attached to you as you and at the same time being attached to them.

When you are deluded by labels, like this, they are referred to as illusions. The final goal of Zen is to realise that labels are not real but only imaginary lines and to see what you are like free from labels. That is called seeing your true-self, or attaining enlightenment.

Student: “How can I discard my ‘I’?”

Master: “You should know that all you believe to be you is not you but just an illusion.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, Practice, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q193. Today, I thought that trying to attain enlightenment in any way is not correct. It is dualistic. There is still an ‘I’ that is trying and an illusion of gaining something. Is this correct?

April 26, 2016 Zen Fools

A. You are absolutely right. When we say ‘trying to attain enlightenment’, it can look and sound dual because there is ‘I’ and there is ‘enlightenment’ as you mentioned. However, I can’t help but explain it in this way because there is still enlightenment for you to attain until you realise that everything is empty and that there is nothing to gain or lose. Attaining enlightenment doesn’t mean that there is duality; ‘you’ and ‘enlightenment’ to be gained, but rather that you should realise everything is empty and there is no duality.

I talk you into attaining enlightenment because you have not realised the truth of non-duality through experience even though you have a lot of knowledge about non-duality and emptiness, and say that everything is empty and there is no enlightenment to attain. Strictly speaking, only when you realise the truth that everything is empty can you say that there is no enlightenment to attain, because there is nothing to realise any more. The reason why I say that you should attain enlightenment is not that there is duality; ‘you’ and ‘enlightenment’, but that you should realise the truth that everything is empty and non-dual and so there is no enlightenment to attain.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, One, Religion, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q162. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”

February 14, 2016February 14, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “I am you.”

Commentary:
Watch out!
You are prone to fall into the den of ghosts.

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Koan, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q151. I heard that we should remove our ‘I’ and experience ‘non-ego’ in order to see the true-self. How can I remove my ‘I’?

December 15, 2015December 6, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Don’t try in vain to remove your ‘I’. You can’t do so because you don’t know what it is. Just try to know what you are when your body is not you. When you reach the final goal, you realise that it is not worth mentioning ‘I’. In short, the illusion of your ‘I’ will disappear. Then, you can be said to experience or realise ‘non-ego’.

When you can’t see yourself as you are, you see the illusion of your ‘I’ as yourself. When you can see yourself as you are, you come to realise the essence of your being, your true-self called Buddha Nature. When you don’t know what you are, your ego is you, but when you know what you are, you have no ‘I’ to remove. Then you feel oneness.

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Meditation, Practice, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q142. Should ‘I’ be thrown away to attain enlightenment?

November 24, 2015 Zen Fools

A. It is a very common saying in Zen that we should discard ‘I’ in order to attain enlightenment. This saying, however, is like putting the cart before the horse. This nonsensical saying is possible because we don’t know what we say. How would it be possible to discard ‘I’ without so much as knowing what it is? However hard we may try to discard ‘I’, it never disappears unless we realise what it is.

In fact, it is can’t be removed by force but disappears by itself when we realise what it is. The truth is not that it disappears, but that you realise that there is no ‘I’. In other words, you should realise that what seems to be your ‘I’ is just an illusion.

Trying to remove your ‘I’ without knowing what it is, is like trying to sweep away a shadow cast on the ground. If you are to remove your ‘I’, try to realise what it is instead of trying in vain to eliminate it.