A. A grandmother is female.
Commentary:
Don’t say you know a grandmother is female.
If I were asked this question, I would say, “A grandmother is male.”
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Tag: koan
Q. 68 Life
Life is sometimes sunny.
Life is sometimes moonlit.
Life is sometimes rainy.
Life is sometimes windy.
Life is sometimes snowy.
Life is sometimes cloudy.
Life is sometimes blooming.
Life is sometimes autumn-tinted.
What is your life like at this moment?
Whatever your life is like,
All of these are from the same root, your mind.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q65. What are you when your body is not you?
A. Let me tell you the answer when you have drunk all the water in the Pacific Ocean.
Commentary:
Don’t mistake the wrapping paper for the content.
If I were asked this question,
I would say, “The bottom of it is already dry because you drank it all, sir.”
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q62. (Master was ill and a student visited him to ask a question.) Student: Sir, what are you when your body is not you?
A. Master: Not ill.
Q. Student: What is it that is not ill when you are ill?
A. Master: Ouch! Ouch!
Commentary:
Master reveals himself naked when he who is not ill cries, “Ouch! Ouch!”
Why don’t you see him instead of hearing “Ouch! Ouch!”?
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q47. Student: What are you when your body is not you?
A. Master: A piece of cake.
Student: How does it taste?
Master: Bitter.
Student: What happens when we eat it?
Master: All die.
Commentary:
How mysterious!
It tastes bitter and kills all.
Why do people struggle to eat it?
When all die, all illusions die.
When all illusions die, you are eternity itself.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q44. What are you like when your body is not you?
A. The East gate, the West gate, the South gate and the North gate.
Commentary:
Don’t be pulled around to the four gates in vain. His answer is so detailed as to make people confused.
If I were asked the question, I would say, “Take a close listen.”
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q41. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”
Master: “Did you have lunch?”
Student: “Yes, sir.”
Master: “Why don’t you wash your dish?”
Commentary:
The master was very kind but too talkative.
If I had been the student, I would have thrown my dish at him.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q40. Why can’t you hear and see?
Whether a new born baby or an old person,
There is no one but answers your question.
Whether dead or alive,
There is no one but answers your question.
Whether a young flower or a broken bike,
There is nothing but answers your question.
Your eyes, your ears and even your mouth are full of the answers.
Oh, not hearing the answers is as difficult as hearing them.
Hearing and seeing nothing, you would be said to know the answer.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q38. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”
A. Master: (Kept silent)
Commentary:
Don’t say the master kept silent.
His answer sounds deafening like thunder.
If I heard the answer, I’d say, “Thank you for your kind answer.”
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Q37. Some masters advise us to stop thinking. How can we live our life without thinking?
A. When masters advise you to stop thinking, to stop thinking has two kinds: before and after reaching the final goal. When they use it in the former sense, they usually mean not that you should stop thinking in your life, but that you should not try to find the answer to the Zen question through thinking, or knowledge, during the practice. Since the purpose of Zen practice is to free you from the web of illusions but thinking produces illusions, the more thinking you do, the more complicated you make it. That is why masters urge you to stop thinking.
However, the latter is to stop thinking in the truest sense that is possible, when you have reached the final goal, which means to think without being trapped in illusions. In a word, when they tell us to stop thinking, what they mean is not to stop thinking, but to think without being trapped in illusions.
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.
Zen Fools 