moment – Zen Fools

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, master, Meditation, Mind, moment, now, One, Photography, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q323. How long do I have to wait to see my true-self?

February 23, 2017February 23, 2017 Zen Fools

A. Don’t wait for it. A waiting mind can rather blind you. See it at this moment. While you spend time here waiting for it, it is also waiting for you in the same place.

An ancient master would say, “A foolish man doesn’t realise the true-self although he is with it all his life, just like a spoon or a fork doesn’t know the taste of food. However, a wise man realises the truth as soon as he listens to a Dharma talk, just like a tongue senses the taste of food.”

You have lived on it all your life, and you are chewing it every moment, even at this moment when you read this writing. Why don’t you see it at this moment?

Student: “What is the true-self, Sir?”

Master: “You already said it.”

Student: “What is it like?”

Master: “You already showed it.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Bible, Buddha, Buddhism, desire, emptiness, empty, final goal, God, illusion, Meditation, Prayer, root, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q211. Why doesn’t God listen to me when I cry to him for help?

June 7, 2016June 7, 2016 Zen Fools

A. It is not that God doesn’t listen to you, but that you are deaf to him because you are involved in listening to only your familiar noises. It is not that he hides himself from you, but that you are blind to him since you are preoccupied in keeping company only with familiar figures. He sometimes whispers and sometimes shouts. He sometimes shakes you, from time to time pushes you and once in a while pulls you. It is not God but you that are to blame for not receiving help from him. If you can cut off all images and names, his voice and figure will sound and look clear to you.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddhism, Enlightenment, illusion, Meditation, moment, now, present, root, Zen

Q128. How can I live now?

October 22, 2015October 21, 2015 Zen Fools

A. In brief you can live now if you do away with ‘now’. ‘Living now’ mentioned here means living out of the trap of illusions. You should realise the word ‘now’ is an illusion. Only when the illusions of present, past and future disappear can you live now. As long as you keep the illusion of now, you can never experience ‘living now’.

When the thought of ‘present’ or ‘now’ occurs to you, trace your thinking back to its root where it comes from. As mentioned earlier, everything is from the same root. Once reaching there, you will realise not just that you are the root itself but also that everything including present, past and future is nothing but an illusion created in and by you, the root. Then you will perceive that you are eternity itself. That is to live now all the time.

How can I live now?
Get out of now.
How can I get out of it?
Take a close look at its root.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q101. Why can’t we see our true-self?

August 20, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Don’t think that you can’t see it. You are seeing and hearing it even at this moment. You can’t avoid seeing and hearing it. The key problem is that you can’t discern it because your eyes and ears are covered with illusions. Never think that your true-self is somewhere else out of your reach. There is nothing that doesn’t belong to your true-self. Even you yourself are not an exception. Whatever you do, cry, smile, commit a cruel crime or do good deeds, they are all actions of your true-self. In summary, you can no more get away from your true-self even for a moment than you can get away from the universe. So if you chase it for a moment, it is said, you will be going the wrong way.

Meditation, mindfulness, Zen

Q58. Now I try to live at the present moment, trying not to think of the past or the future. Am I right?

June 14, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Don’t try to live at the present moment. You can’t but live at the present moment. There is no one who doesn’t live at the present moment. Whether you think of the past or the future, your doing is happening at the present moment. If not thinking of the past or the future increases our happiness, why do schools teach history to students, and why do many people try to make correct forecasts about the future?

If you do want to live at the present moment, break away the present moment. As long as you are attached to the present moment, you can’t escape from the past and the future since the present moment exists based on the past and the future. How could the present moment exist without the past and the future? The moment you break the present moment, the past and the future will disappear as well. Only then can you be said to live at the present moment. ‘Live at the present moment’, referred to as ‘Live here now’ in Zen, is to live out of the illusions of time and place and not to be attached to the present moment.

Buddhism, Enlightenment, Meditation, One, Practice, Zen

Q16. How does Zen help us connect with the present moment and with people around us?

June 5, 2015June 6, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Why can’t we connect ourselves with the present moment and people around us now? The key problem is that we can’t see ourselves as we are, that is, we don’t know what we are. Therefore we can’t see things as they are, and we don’t know what the present moment is and what people around us are. How can you connect yourself with them when you don’t know not only yourself but also them? What you need now is to try to see yourself as you are. When you can see yourself as you are, you can see things as they are. Then you are free to connect yourself with the present moment and with people around you, or separate yourself from them.