mind – Page 3 – Zen Fools

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

Q250. What is the true-self like?

September 6, 2016September 6, 2016 Zen Fools

A. It has neither a figure nor a root, but it is active all the time without staying anywhere. When you go, it makes your body go, when you sit down, it makes your body sit down, and whatever you do, speaking or keeping silent, it makes your body do it.

Although it moves in countless ways, it has no fixed rule. The harder you look for it, the farther away it is, and the harder you try to obtain it, the more you forsake it. It is with you at this moment as usual, and you can’t separate from it even for a second. The problem is that you don’t recognise it. So, it is called an open secret.

What is it that is making your body read this writing now? Once you realise what on earth it is and what it is like, you will have completed your practice.

Student: “What is the true-self?”

Master: “Pardon?”

Student: “What is the true-self?”

Master: “Nothing else other than it.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q249. Student: “What am I when my body is not me?”

September 4, 2016September 4, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “It is not difficult to say, but I wonder if you will believe what I say.”

Student: “Of course, I will believe what you say.”

Master: “I am your son.”

Commentary:

Master’s answer breaks all the world into pieces.

Who is master’s mother when he is older than his father?

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Bible, Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, God, illusion, master, Meditation, Mind, Practice, Prayer, Religion, root, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q248. In the Bible, Matthew 5:48 it says, “You must be perfect – just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” How could we be perfect like God?

September 1, 2016September 1, 2016 Zen Fools

A. In fact, we have always been and will be perfect forever, and there is nothing imperfect. ‘Perfect’ and ‘imperfect’ are all the products of our discrimination. How could there be ‘good’ and ‘bad’, or ‘beautiful’ and ‘ugly’, without discrimination? It is because of our discrimination that all things including us look imperfect.

To be perfect just as your Father in heaven is, means to realise the truth that you are perfect and not to turn ‘imperfect you’ into ‘perfect you’. In order to realise the truth, we must cease to discriminate, or remove illusions, and see everything as it is. Matthew 5:45 says, “He makes his sun shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.” This is showing that God also doesn’t discriminate between good and bad.

Student: “How can I be perfect like Buddha?”

Master: “Don’t stain yourself with ‘perfect’.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, illusion, Koan, Meditation, Mind, Practice, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q247. Which do you belong to?

August 30, 2016August 30, 2016 Zen Fools

A. One is so blind that he can’t see his mother before him and so deaf that he can’t hear a crack of thunder.

The other is so sharp-sighted that he can see an ant in a forest thousands of miles away and so sharp-eared that he can hear an ant moving in a forest thousands of miles away.

Which is the greater of the two?

Each of us belongs to either of them.

Which do you belong to?

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q 246. Master: “How old are you?”

August 28, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Student: “I’m fifty years old.”

Master: “How old is fifty years?”

Student: “I don’t know.”

Master: “How come you still don’t know your age?”

Student: “How old are you, Sir?”

Master: “Eighty years old.”

Student: “How old is eighty years?”

Master: “Eight times ten is eighty.”

Commentary:

Don’t think that the student’s right answer is five times ten.

The curved can’t contain the straight.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Bible, Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, God, illusion, Meditation, Practice, Prayer, Religion, root, self, student, sutras, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q245. How should I accept the part of the Bible, Matthew 10:37 that says, “Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples.”?

August 25, 2016August 25, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Zen has a similar saying, ‘Kill Buddha and your parents if you are to see your true-self’. Even Buddha, while alive, would say to his disciples, “If you see me, kill me.” Here, killing Buddha and your parents means removing the illusions of them and not actually killing Buddha and your real parents. Logically speaking, how would it be possible to kill the historical Buddha who passed away about 2500 years ago? The reason why masters would use such a radical expression is that the illusions of Buddha and your parents are among the illusions that are the most difficult to remove.

Likewise, in order to see God, you have to remove all illusions, among which those of God and your parents die hardest. So, the above scripture can be interpreted: ‘Those who love the illusions of their parents without trying to see their true-self are not fit to be my disciples. Those who can’t remove the illusions of their parents can’t see God, the true-self.’

Student: “When we kill our parents, we can repent of our sin of killing them before Buddha. However, where can we repent of our sin when we kill Buddha or God?”

Master: “When you come into your kingdom after a successful rebellion, there is no one who can judge you.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q244. How do I know if I am enlightened or not?

August 23, 2016August 23, 2016 Zen Fools

A. If you practice Zen meditation in the right way, you can experience small and big changes in the course of your practice. You can come across a moment when you feel a big unexplainable change. During this experience, feeling oneness with the whole universe, you realise simultaneously that everything is empty and you are eternity itself.

From then on, you can see things as form and emptiness at the same time. Then masters’ records, or the Sutras, read like your own stories, and you can understand them as clearly as if experiencing them through your whole body rather than understanding them with your head. Then, you have nothing to ask others since there is nothing that you don’t know. An ancient master once said, “When you are full after hearty food, you need not ask others whether or not you are full.” If you experience the changes mentioned above, you can be said to be enlightened even if you are not checked by a master.

©Boo Ahm

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

Q243. Student: “What is pure mind?”

August 21, 2016August 21, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Student: “What is pure mind?”

Master: “Rotten shit.”

Student: “What is dirty mind?”

Master: “Beautiful flowers.”

Commentary:

Don’t aim at the shadow on the ground of a game bird when it has flown away high in the sky.

©Boo Ahm

Buddha, Buddhism, Meditation, Mind, Practice, Religion, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q242. What would they think of people?

August 18, 2016 Zen Fools

A. People think that a cow is very beneficial and that a snake is very harmful because the former gives us milk, sometimes working power and even gives its body as food, but the latter makes poison and can harm us with it. It is said that we should be altruistic like a cow.

A cow has no intention to sacrifice itself to help people although it produces milk and has a huge body and a lot of power.

A snake has no intention to harm people although it produces poison.

It is only because of people’s discrimination that a cow is helpful and a snake is harmful.

What would they think of people?

©Boo Ahm

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

Q241. Is it necessary to practice Zen meditation for many years in order to attain enlightenment? How can I, a Westerner, expect to achieve enlightenment?

August 16, 2016August 16, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Nobody knows how long it will take for you to attain enlightenment. It may take some time, or you may get enlightened at the sound of birds tomorrow morning or at a word of my talk during the next retreat. However, don’t be impatient but pay attention only to your question. Impatience won’t help with but will disturb your practice by causing you to make more illusions. However, you should not be too relaxed. Practice just like a hen incubates eggs.

You must remember that everything is not dual but one. We are divided into a Westerner and an Easterner by our discrimination. They are only imaginary lines or labels produced by us. They are referred to as illusions because they are empty. The purpose of Zen meditation is to remove such illusions. Why do you keep the illusion, Westerner? That is going against your practice. Enlightenment is just to remove all the labels attached to you. Thinking that you can’t attain enlightenment because you are a Westerner is like thinking that Koreans can’t attain enlightenment because they are not Indian like the Buddha.