one – Page 6 – Zen Fools

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, illusion, Meditation, Practice, true self, Truth, Zen

Q103. How can we feel oneness with our surroundings?

August 25, 2015August 25, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Why do you think we can’t feel oneness? The habit of labelling prevents us from feeling oneness. Labelling is drawing lines that divide one into many. When we label a thing as red, we separate it from what doesn’t look red. The label, ‘red’ is a line that divides one into what is red and what is not red. When labeling a thing as good, the label ‘good’ is a line that divides one into what is good and what is not good.

We have produced countless divisions and are so addicted to them that we have forgotten the root, the original shape that we come from. The labels or divisions are referred to as illusions in Buddhism because they are not real but imaginary. Zen meditation can be said to be a practice that makes many into one by eliminating all labels or illusions. The most common and difficult label to erase is ‘I’. In order to eliminate the ‘I’, you need to realise what you are when your body is not you. When we eliminate the imaginary line ‘I’, then we can feel oneness with our surroundings.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Enlightenment, final goal, illusion, Truth, Zen

Q76. How different is an illusion from the final goal, the truth?

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 Zen Fools

A. In fact both are not different from each other, but they are one, just as sea and waves are not separate. There is nothing but the truth. If, regarding illusions as different from the truth, we try to remove illusions and reach the final goal, it is like trying to remove waves in order to see the sea. We should keep in mind that to eliminate illusions doesn’t mean to put the illusions away to another place, but means to change our viewpoint and realise that all illusions including us, are the truth itself we are looking for. ©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.

Enlightenment, Meditation, One, Truth, Zen

Q48. When practising at home alone, how can I know whether I am doing well or not? Can I feel any change when doing well as told?

June 9, 2015 Zen Fools

A. In the beginning you might feel it difficult to focus on your question, but it becomes easier and easier over time and the question will be internalised sooner or later.
Once your question becomes one with you, your practice feels very easy and even interesting, and you feel as if it is going on of itself, with little effort. Whatever you do, you feel your work is not separate from your practice, when we say work and practice are one. Then you start to feel what you couldn’t feel before: see and hear what you couldn’t see and hear before. For example, you can be surprised or shocked to hear a sound from a bird, a dog, a car, a person, the wind or anything. On hearing a sound, not knowing what it means, you feel it as the sound of the truth, feeling yourself becoming one with the universe. Sometimes you may feel as if your body has disappeared or collapsed down, becoming one with the universe. You are so happy at that moment that you might burst into tears.

The feeling doesn’t last long but your practice seems to go better and you get more confidence. Experiencing such changes, you come to grasp the words ‘see with ears and hear with eyes’. What is most important here is that you must not be attached to them, nor must you try to avoid them.
No matter how good or marvellous things are that you may experience; you must not attach yourself to them, keeping it in mind that it is also no more than an illusion. You should not be attached even to enlightenment.

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway.

Buddhism, One, Zen

Q25. Why do we fight and tear the planet apart if we are one? Surely preservation should prevail?

June 6, 2015June 16, 2015 Zen Fools

A. As I mentioned earlier, we do whatever we do for the purpose of attaining happiness. So we fight and tear the planet apart, it can be said, to increase our wealth in the hope that the more wealth we have, the more happiness we will have. The key problem here is that we don’t know what we are because we cannot see things as they are. Regarding ourselves as separate from nature, we very often don’t realize the fact we human beings are also part of nature.

In fact, fighting and tearing the planet apart is fighting and tearing ourselves apart. This happens, I think, because we don’t experience in person the fact we are one, even while saying we are one with our mouth. If we can truly feel that we are one and that nature is part of us, how couldn’t we try to preserve her as we try to keep ourselves healthy?

Buddhism, One, Zen

Q24. If we are one, why bother to multiply? If we are one, why do we divide?

June 6, 2015June 6, 2015 Zen Fools

A. Some people prefer one to multiple and others like multiple better than one, believing that one will bring them more happiness than the other. Some of them regret the choices of their own making.

One is multiple and multiple is one.
Why not multiply?
Whichever choice you may make, one or multiple, the result is all the same when you can see things as they are.
Why not be free to make a choice as you like?

Buddhism, Enlightenment, Happiness, Koan, Zen

Q21. To counter act any thoughts that would come into my head I would repeat the question. I had to repeat the question many times in the 30 minutes. I assume that this will be required less with practice?

June 5, 2015June 6, 2015 Zen Fools

A. When thoughts come into your head, trace back to the root from which the thoughts come. When you repeat the question in your mind, do doubt what listens to the question. That is a very good practice as well. If you keep practising as directed, you will become one with the question and need not repeat it any more.