A. Master: “It totally reveals its body.”
Commentary:
It stands on the Earth supporting the sky and filling the universe to the full.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Tag: practice
Q203. If I find myself affixed to a single path to truth: the path of prayer and praise, or the path of kindness and love, or the path of wisdom and meditation, or any other path of a singular mode, am I going in the wrong way?
A. No, you are not wrong at all. Feel free to choose any path that appeals to you and concentrate on seeking the root from which the path comes. Whichever path you may take, you will come to take the same way after all because they are from the same root, the truth that is not dual.
We should realise the fact that all other things, as well as all paths, are from the same root even though they may look different from each other. The root is the very truth. To realise what the root is should be the final goal of all religions.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q202. Is it okay to go on with my worldly job in order to make money, while seeking to attain enlightenment?
A. Enlightenment is to realise that everything is empty and so there is nothing to gain or lose. That means that there is nothing that you should or shouldn’t do in the world. Zen meditation is to try realise the truth.
The key point is not what you are doing for a living, but whether or not you try to realise the truth in the right way, that is, try to realise what you are when your body is not you. If you try to realise what makes your body do your work while doing it, that is good practice. In terms of that, your job can be a good gate to enlightenment. Work and practice are one to a good Zen man.
Student: “What is the true-self?”
Master: “It is what is asking me the question now.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q201. Student: “What is the true-self?”
A. Master: “Do good things and don’t do bad things.”
Student: “Even a five-year-old child could know it.”
Master: “Even though a five-year-old child can say it,
even an eighty-year-old man can’t easily put it into practice.”
Commentary:
Don’t try to distinguish good things from bad things, but try to realise what their root is.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q199. I am always so disturbed by the noises of my family members during my practice that I end up getting upset and spoiling my practice. What can I do to solve this problem?
A. Don’t think of them as obstructions but as helpers. Your idea is like complaining that the wind is preventing you from finding air when you are diligently looking for air. The wind can be likened to your family members and air to your final goal. In fact, they are what you are looking for even though they look different from what you are seeking. They only look so because you can’t see them as they are.
Everything is the gate to enlightenment. If you can see only a single thing, whatever it is, as it is, you will reach the final goal. Your family members are also the gate to enlightenment even though they appear otherwise. Ask yourself what makes your body hear the noises and makes your body get angry. Ask yourself what they are when their bodies are not them and what causes their bodies to make such noises. Sooner or later, you might feel more grateful rather than angry with them. If you can find the correct answer to either of these two questions, you can be said to have attained enlightenment.
Student: “What is the true-self?”
Master: “There is nothing that is not it.”
Student: “Why can’t I see it?”
Master: “Because you seek something else other than what you see and hear.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q198. Student: “What is your true-self?”
A. Master: “I don’t have such a thing.”
Student: “Then, what are you when your body is not you?”
Master: “True-self.”
Commentary:
A wrapper, however attractive, is harmful to your health if you eat it.
Throw it away and eat only the contents.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q197. How can we remove our illusions like removing mud from muddy water in a bottle?
A. To remove our illusions, like removing mud from muddy water, doesn’t mean to remove them from our mind to another place in the same way that we might move things from one place to another; rather, we should realise that illusions are not real but empty. In other words, it is necessary to realise that what we think of as mud is not mud at all, but just water itself; it only appears as mud due to our discrimination. Trying to move illusions to another place is like trying to remove lion’s horn. The only way to remove lion’s horn is just to realise that no lion has a horn.
Student: “How can I remove my illusions?”
Master: “Where are they?”
Student: “They are in my mind.”
Master: “Where is your mind?”
Student: “I don’t know.”
Master: “Try to find your mind before trying to remove your illusions.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q196. Student: “What is the true-self?”
A. Master: “Ask me one more time.”
Student: “What is the true-self?”
Master: “I am not deaf. Why do you ask the same question two times?”
Commentary:
What a poor student!
He can’t distinguish an answer from a question.
If you are to see and hear new things, stop keeping company with your old friends.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q195. I think I am not seeing the Emptiness of questions and answers. Maybe I have just been seeing the form till now. Am I right?
A. As I said before, you have been seeing the Emptiness since your birth. You have never stopped seeing it even for a moment, and you can’t stop it. All the Sutras say that Emptiness is form and form is Emptiness. Accordingly, seeing form is seeing Emptiness.
The problem is that you can’t recognise it because your eyes and ears are covered by your discrimination.
Student: “What is the Emptiness?”
Master: “What you see and hear is the Emptiness.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q194. I feel that I don’t have a goal to pursue anymore. What I already am is the final goal. I just have to keep going until what I am reveals itself. And it will reveal itself in everything else too. Is this correct?
A. If you can feel that way, your practice can be said to have reached a stable stage. You are doing really well. As you said, what you are is the final goal, nothing else and nowhere else. The problem is that you don’t know what you are. You should know that it is not hidden but already revealing itself even at this moment.
The moment you realise, or see that ‘what you are’ is revealing itself, you become oneness with the whole universe without any exception. Then, you are your own Lord throughout heaven and earth because there is nothing that is not you in the universe. I do hope that you will realise it soon.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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