practice – Page 9

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Q193. Today, I thought that trying to attain enlightenment in any way is not correct. It is dualistic. There is still an ‘I’ that is trying and an illusion of gaining something. Is this correct?

April 26, 2016 Zen Fools

A. You are absolutely right. When we say ‘trying to attain enlightenment’, it can look and sound dual because there is ‘I’ and there is ‘enlightenment’ as you mentioned. However, I can’t help but explain it in this way because there is still enlightenment for you to attain until you realise that everything is empty and that there is nothing to gain or lose. Attaining enlightenment doesn’t mean that there is duality; ‘you’ and ‘enlightenment’ to be gained, but rather that you should realise everything is empty and there is no duality.

I talk you into attaining enlightenment because you have not realised the truth of non-duality through experience even though you have a lot of knowledge about non-duality and emptiness, and say that everything is empty and there is no enlightenment to attain. Strictly speaking, only when you realise the truth that everything is empty can you say that there is no enlightenment to attain, because there is nothing to realise any more. The reason why I say that you should attain enlightenment is not that there is duality; ‘you’ and ‘enlightenment’, but that you should realise the truth that everything is empty and non-dual and so there is no enlightenment to attain.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q192. Student: “What are you when your body is not you?”

April 24, 2016 Zen Fools

A.Master: “What are you when your body is not you?”

Commentary:

If you are to grasp the Master’s kind answer, you should listen with your ears closed.

emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Meditation, Mind, Practice, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q191. What is freedom from thoughts?

April 22, 2016April 22, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Freedom from thoughts is not to be free from thoughts but to be free from bad thoughts. It doesn’t mean to be free from good thoughts. Bad thoughts are the thoughts whose root we don’t know, which are called illusions. Good thoughts are the thoughts whose root we do know, which are called form. For instance, when we see pictures on a screen as pictures, while watching a movie, they are called form. However, if we see them as real, not pictures, they are referred to as illusions, which are the source of our suffering.

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To see things as they are, is to see things as form, which is like seeing pictures on a screen as pictures, knowing they are not real while enjoying them. When we can see things as they are, whatever thoughts you produce are good thoughts. Then, you are said to be free from thoughts.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

emptiness, empty, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Koan, master, Meditation, Mind, mindfulness, Practice, present, root, self, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q190. Why do illusions arise?

April 20, 2016April 20, 2016 Zen Fools

A. They arise because you don’t know what they are. In fact, you don’t know what an illusion is even though you often mention it. You can’t remove or stop it from showing up because you don’t know what it is.

In fact, there are no illusions at all. There is only the truth, or the true-self. The problem is that you are mistaking the truth for illusions. Enlightenment is to realise that all illusions are the truth, or the true-self. As the Diamond Sutra says, to realise that a flower is not a flower, but emptiness, is enlightenment. To realise that an illusion is not real, but empty, is enlightenment. Realising that an illusion is not an illusion, but the truth, or the true-self is enlightenment.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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Q189. Master: “What is the true-self?”

April 17, 2016April 20, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Student: “It’s hidden in the sofa.”

Commentary:

Even the sun looks hidden to the blind while clearly revealing itself to the sharp-sighted.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Happiness, illusion, Meditation, Mind, Practice, Religion, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q188. How can we be reborn in the Pure Land?

April 14, 2016April 14, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Many people think that the Pure Land is a very special, heavenly place somewhere else other than the Earth where ardent believers will be reborn after death. In fact, the Pure Land is where you can go only when alive, not after death.

The Pure Land symbolises our mind, our true-self free from illusions. Now we can be said to be living in an impure land in that our mind, the Pure Land, seems to be an impure land covered with illusions because of our discrimination. To be reborn in the Pure Land doesn’t mean to be reborn somewhere else other than the Earth, but to realise your true-self or attain enlightenment. That is to realise the truth that we are already living in the Pure Land by removing illusions. Attaining enlightenment is compared to a rebirth since, after enlightenment, we start to live a different life from the life we have lived so far, free from birth and death.

Student: “Where is the Pure Land?”

Master: “You will be in an impure land the moment you seek it.”

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

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

Q187. How can we do our best in our practice without being attached to enlightenment?

April 12, 2016April 10, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Let’s suppose you want to go for an excursion by car to New York City, across the Continent of North America from San Fransisco, California. In order to reach your destination, which side do you think you should pay more of your attention to, your goal, New York City or careful and safe driving? Safe arrival at your goal is the result of your careful driving. If you are more preoccupied with your destination rather than with safe driving, you are likely to be impatient and want to reach there as soon as possible. The impatience to reach your goal quickly can tempt you to drive too fast, which can cause your car to have trouble or an accident. That can make your journey take longer than it should, or make it difficult for you to continue your journey.

Focus on how to practise well. You should pay all your attention to your practice and not to enlightenment. Attachment to enlightenment can cause you to have yet another strong illusion that brings negative side effects such as being neglectful of your family, your business or your health. This just is making matters worse while trying to improve things. Just as it is not the attachment to your destination but safe driving that takes you to your destination, so it is not the attachment to enlightenment but diligent practice that leads you to enlightenment.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway

Buddha, Buddhism, emptiness, empty, final goal, Koan, Meditation, Mind, self, student, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q186. Student: “Why is it so difficult to express the true-self?”

April 10, 2016April 10, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Not difficult at all.”

Student: “Do it for me, Sir.”

Master: “Difficult.”

Commentary:

Don’t draw a bow after the thief ran away.

If I were asked to do it, I would say, “Easy”.

©Boo Ahm

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

Q185. How can I be on the middle path?

April 7, 2016 Zen Fools

A. The best way to be in the middle is to eliminate either of both extremes. If you remove either of them, the other disappears by itself, because they exist relying on each other. The right, for example, can’t exist without the left, and the left can’t exist without the right. There can’t be wrong without right and the other way around.

However, don’t make the mistake of wasting your efforts to remove either of them by force. You can never succeed in removing them in that way because they are illusionary and not real. The only way to remove them is to realise the truth that the extremes are not real things but just illusions created by your discrimination. When we don’t think of the right and the left, there is no right side and no left side. Only when we fix one side as the left does the opposite side become the right. Therefore, once you realise that one extreme is not real but illusionary, the other extreme disappears by itself.

©Boo Ahm

Buddha, Buddhism, Enlightenment, final goal, Meditation, Mind, true self, Truth, Uncategorized, Zen

Q183. Student: “How can I take the boat that crosses the sea of birth and death?”

April 3, 2016 Zen Fools

A. Master: “Get aboard.”

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Commentary:

If you get aboard, you will sink.

If not, you won’t cross the river.