master – Page 4 – Zen Fools

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, master, Meditation, Photography, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q302. Do masters still have the same emotion as we do?

January 6, 2017January 6, 2017 Zen Fools

A. They feel things in the same way sentient beings feel: They are hungry when they don’t have food, feel cold in winter and hot in summer. They are angry at the sight of unjust things, feel happy when seeing good things and feel sympathetic with poor people or animals in suffering. Without such feelings, how would they have compassion for sentient beings?

The difference between the enlightened and sentient beings is how to accept or deal with such feelings. Sentient beings are controlled by such feelings because they don’t know the truth that everything is empty, while the enlightened never let such feelings run their life since they are aware of the truth. How the enlightened handle such feelings is compared to a clean mirror. A mirror reflects black colour when a black thing comes and red colour when a red thing comes, but it never becomes black or red. In other words, they can see things as if seeing a movie. While seeing a movie, they feel sad, happy and angry, but they come back to their usual emotion after the movie.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q296. How is it possible to remove all at once and not gradually the illusions that we have made up for decades?

December 22, 2016December 22, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Our practice is like trying to brighten an old room that has been dark since it was made, even though it is installed with a nice electric light. We are looking for the light switch of the old room that has never been lit so far. The key problem is that we have no idea of the switch; where it is and what it is like, because we have never used it, or even seen it before. We can be said to be fumbling for the switch in the dark room. It may take time to find it, but it doesn’t take time to lighten the room once you find the switch. The moment you switch on the light, all the darkness will disappear. Likewise, all illusions disappear at the moment you attain enlightenment.

Student: “How can I remove all the illusions in an instant that I have made up for decades?”

Master: “It takes no time and no effort to remove them because they are empty.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, master, Meditation, student, Uncategorized, Zen

Q294. Student: “It is said that everything is empty to the enlightened. Is Bodhidharma enlightened?”

December 18, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Empty.”

Commentary:

What counts is not whether Bodhidharma is enlightened but whether you are.

©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, master, Meditation, Mind, Photography, Religion, root, self, student, sutras, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q290. I have made it a rule to read the Diamond Sutra and Zen books every day for over ten years. Is this a good way?

December 8, 2016December 8, 2016 Zen Fools

A. It is said that going one kilometre by studying books is not as good as going one metre by practising. It’s because the former adds to illusions whereas the latter decreases them. The former regresses rather than advances us in Zen meditation. So, ancient masters would say, “Trying to attain enlightenment through books is like trying to pick the moon with a pole.”

Instead of spending so much time reading the Sutra and Zen books, I would like to advise you to allocate 90% of this time to practising meditation. The remaining 10% of this time can still be used for reading.

Whatever you do, wherever you are, you are practising well only if you keep questioning what is making you do what you are doing. Reading the Sutras for ten hours is not as good as drinking tea, or washing the dishes for an hour with the question in your mind.

Master: “What did you do last night?”

Student: “I read the Diamond Sutra.”

Master: “How much did you read?”

Student: “I read three pages.”

Master: “You didn’t see the Sutra, let alone read it. The true Sutra has no pages.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q288. Student: “You always say that everything including mountains and rivers is an illusion. What is not an illusion?”

December 4, 2016 Zen Fools

Master: “Mountains and rivers.”

Commentary:

Mountains and rivers block your insight into mountains and rivers.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q285. Student: “You always say that everything within sight is the true-self. How can you show it to me?”

November 27, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Am I not within your sight?”

Commentary:

Why can’t the student see what is within his sight even though there is no barrier between them?

Instead, put up a barrier and he will see it.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Koan, master, Meditation, One, Photography, student, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q282. Student: “When only one of your shoes is left, where has the other gone?”

November 20, 2016November 20, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Scattered.”

Commentary:

Scattered, scattered.

How clear it is!

One swallowed the other.

©Boo Ahm

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

Q279. Master: “Your true-self was before this world was created, and it will not collapse even when the whole universe collapses.”

November 13, 2016November 11, 2016 Zen Fools

Q. Student: “What is the true-self?”

A. Master: “Your body.”

Student: “This also collapses when the universe collapses. What is the true-self?”

Master: “Your body.”

Commentary:

Don’t say that your body collapses.

If you know how it collapses, your true-self will be clear before you.

©Boo Ahm

Bible, Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, God, master, Meditation, Mind, One, Photography, Practice, Religion, root, self, student, sutras, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q277. How can I, as a Christian, go to Heaven?

November 8, 2016November 9, 2016 Zen Fools

A. If you are to go to Heaven you should, above all, know where it is in order to go there, and then you should also know how to get there. I am going to quote from Jesus about where it is and how to get there.

Jesus said, “If those who lead you say to you, ‘See, the kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.” In other words, everything, whether Heaven or Hell, is produced by your mind. Where you are now is both Heaven and Hell. Whether it is Heaven or Hell depends on your mind.

Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male is not be male nor the female the female; and when you fashion an eye in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom.” Put more simply, this means that in order to enter Heaven, we should not discriminate. We have a very similar saying in Zen: Make the smallest distinction and you are as far from it as Heaven is from Earth. In conclusion, to realise that Heaven and Hell are only illusions produced by your mind is to enter Heaven.

Student: “How can I enter Heaven?”

Master: “Enter Hell.”