A. Master: “Before your question.”
Commentary:
Why are you tearing one into two while trying to make them one?
A dead sheep was neither different nor separate from the field until you thought of them as different and separate.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Everything is said to be empty because nothing by itself has its own nature. What, for example, do you think the nature of gold is? We can say its colour is yellow, it is heavier, softer and more valuable than other metal, and it doesn’t rust.
Why is it yellow? Does it say itself that it is yellow? No, it is yellow because we label it as yellow and say it is yellow. In the same way, it is heavier, softer and more valuable than other sorts of metal only because we think so. But in fact, it is neither heavier nor lighter than other kinds of metal unless we compare it with other sorts of metal and then label it as ‘heavier’ or ‘lighter’. Whether it is heavier than other kinds of metal or not depends on our view and not actually on its own nature. In summary, gold does not have its own nature unless it is labelled by us. Gold itself is not gold unless we label it as gold. Therefore, it is said that everything is empty, and all things are from the same root, our mind.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathawa
A. A monk named John said to a master, “I am alone and poor. I beg my teacher to bestow upon me the alms of salvation.” The master said, “John.” “Yes, Sir?” replied John. The master said, “You have drunk three bowls of the best wine in the world, but say that you have not yet even moistened your lips.”
Student: “What is the best wine in the world?”
Master: “That is what you are drinking now.”
Student: “I don’t know what you mean.”
Master: “Now you are swimming in the vat.”
Student: “I am still lost.”
Master: “You are vomiting the wine now.”
Commentary:
The foolish, sensitive to others’ smell, don’t realise that their own dung stinks.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Reading thousands of books and the Sutras is not as good as grasping a single word out of the books you read. Trying to realise the true meaning of a single word of the Sutra is much more beneficial than reading the Sutra a thousand times.
You should know that all books including the Sutras are not the essence of the true-self but only a kind of manual that describes the true-self. In other words, the core of what the Sutra says is not in the Sutra but in you who are reading the Sutra. You should know that the true Sutra is not the one made of paper put before you, but your true-self that is making your body read it.
You should also know that each word of the Sutra contains all the contents of the Sutra. So, if you can grasp only a single word from the Sutra, you can know the rest of the Sutra, which is enlightenment. You should think that each word is the gate to enlightenment, and try to understand it clearly rather than read many books, or read a book many times. Then it takes longer to read the Sutra than before. It may take more than a year to read the Sutra that you could previously read in two hours. Then your reading is not reading any more but practice. This is the way of reading the Sutra that I’d love to recommend.
Master: “What did you do last night?”
Student: “I read the Diamond Sutra.”
Master: “What does it say?”
Student: “It says that everything is empty.”
Master: “Did you read only that one sentence?”
Student: “I read many other sentences as well, but I don’t remember all of them.”
Master: “Don’t say that you read the Sutra after picking up and eating black beans.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Hand-copying the Sutras itself is not meditation just like wheat flour itself is not bread. It can be meditation only when you keep the question, ‘Who or what is making my body copy this Sutra?’ just as wheat flour becomes bread only when you knead the flour and bake it.
If you can keep such curiosity, all of your acts, whatever you may do, can be meditation. During a walk, you can practice walking meditation. When drinking tea, you can practice tea meditation. When talking with others, you practice talking meditation. If you can turn all your acts into meditation like this, you can be said to have become one with your practice. This means that you are very near the final goal. However, hand-copying the Sutras without such a question may enhance your penmanship, but it has nothing to do with enlightenment.
Master: “How do you practice these days in order to attain enlightenment?”
Student: “I hand-copy the Diamond Sutra.”
Master: “How long does it take to hand-copy the Sutra?”
Student: “It takes almost a day.”
Master: “You still don’t know how to copy the Sutras. You should be able to do it in a second.”
Student: “How can you do that in a second?”
Master: “Shall I show you how?”
Student: “Of course, Sir.”
Master: (slapping the student in the face) “Do you see the Sutra?”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Joshu went to a hermit’s place and said, “Hello, anybody in?” The hermit lifted up his fist. Joshu said, “The water is too shallow to anchor here,” and went away. Joshu visited another hermit a few days later and said, “Hello, anybody in?” The hermit raised his fist too. Then Joshu said, “You know how to release and how to catch, and how to kill and how to save.” And he bowed to the hermit.
Student: “Why did Joshu rate the same actions of the two hermits differently?”
Master: “Why do you blame Joshu for your fault?”
Commentary:
Who releases and catches whom?
Who kills and saves whom?
Don’t blame Joshu.
It was only for the sake of sentient beings
that Joshu soiled himself with mud and jumped into water.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. She is not wrong, but in order not to have greed we should know why we have greed. The reason that we have greed is that we can’t see things as they are. For example, when we mistake a piece of broken glass for a piece of diamond, we come to have greed and strive to attain it. When we fail to attain it, we feel disappointed and even frustrated. Even when we succeed in attaining it, we often hurt our hands in the middle of grasping it. After getting it, we are disappointed to find that it is not diamond but glass, or we keep hurting our hands while playing with it.
In conclusion, we come to have greed because we can’t see things as they are, and we try to satisfy our greed only to fail. As a result of this failure, we become unhappy. So, the main root of our unhappiness is not greed itself, but rather our foolishness in that we can’t see things as they are.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Student: “How can you both answer the question and save your life?”
Master: “In danger.”
Student: “Who is in danger?”
Master: “You are in danger.”
Commentary:
Don’t stumble over the lines drawn on flat land by you.
They can’t catch your feet however tangled they are.
Don’t be scared of your shadow.
It can’t harm you however horrible it may look.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A You are showing a good example of being deluded by illusions. You say that you are overwhelmed by the fear of doom. What is doom? The key problem here is that you don’t know what doom is even while suffering from the fear of it. You are being harassed by something imaginary drawn by you. Being pleased or troubled with imaginary figures, like this, is said to be being deluded by illusions, which can be compared to a dream. You are dreaming of being chased by the fear of doom. In fact, not only you but also all of us are dreaming in that we are being deluded by illusions. The reason why others don’t have such feelings of fear as yours is that each of us is dreaming a different dream. The best way to overcome the fear is to wake up from your dream, that is, to realise what you fear is.
You seem likely to become a good Zen student because curiosity about the doom of death and illness was the starting point of Buddhism. Buddha, when young, had such strong curiosity concerning the doom of birth, ageing, illness and death that he gave up even his succession to the throne. His strong curiosity led him to enlightenment, which is to know clearly what the essence of these is. After enlightenment, he said that our life is like a dream and that we should wake up from the dream in order to attain eternal happiness.
What matters is not for me to tell you that there is nothing to fear but for you to realise it in person. I’d like to tell you to wake up from your nightmare instead of telling you that there is nothing to fear.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Easter is a Christian holiday when Christians remember the death of Jesus and his return to life. The death of Jesus means removing illusions, and his return to life means the revealing of the true-self. So, Easter is a great lesson that reminds us of the Christian teaching that we should remove illusions and see the true-self, the true Jesus.
The Bible describes well how the true-Jesus exists in Luke 24:15, 16: ‘As they walked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; they saw him, but somehow did not recognise him.’ He is always with us wherever we are. He is with you even at this moment when you are reading this writing. The problem is that we don’t recognise him, because we are deluded by illusions. The purpose of Christianity is to recognise him. To recognise him is to attain eternal life in Christianity, or enlightenment in Buddhism.
True Easter is not a specific day of the year but the day when we can recognise the true-Jesus. Following the literal meaning is being deluded by illusions and far from the true teaching of Christ.
Student: “How can I see the true Jesus?”
Master: “Thank you for showing the true Jesus.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Zen Fools 