A. Master: “Am I not within your sight?”
Commentary:
Why can’t the student see what is within his sight even though there is no barrier between them?
Instead, put up a barrier and he will see it.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Master: “Scattered.”
Commentary:
Scattered, scattered.
How clear it is!
One swallowed the other.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Q. Student: “What is the true-self?”
A. Master: “Your body.”
Student: “This also collapses when the universe collapses. What is the true-self?”
Master: “Your body.”
Commentary:
Don’t say that your body collapses.
If you know how it collapses, your true-self will be clear before you.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. If you are to go to Heaven you should, above all, know where it is in order to go there, and then you should also know how to get there. I am going to quote from Jesus about where it is and how to get there.
Jesus said, “If those who lead you say to you, ‘See, the kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.” In other words, everything, whether Heaven or Hell, is produced by your mind. Where you are now is both Heaven and Hell. Whether it is Heaven or Hell depends on your mind.
Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male is not be male nor the female the female; and when you fashion an eye in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom.” Put more simply, this means that in order to enter Heaven, we should not discriminate. We have a very similar saying in Zen: Make the smallest distinction and you are as far from it as Heaven is from Earth. In conclusion, to realise that Heaven and Hell are only illusions produced by your mind is to enter Heaven.
Student: “How can I enter Heaven?”
Master: “Enter Hell.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Master: “Don’t speak ill of it. It has never hidden itself.”
Commentary:
It’s like a lost child who has not seen his mother for so long that he can’t recognise her while being in her bosom.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Master: “Together all the time.”
Student: “How can I tell them apart?”
Master: “Speak to them. One who speaks to you is a thief, and the other who doesn’t is a guest.”
Commentary:
Don’t mistake a guest as being dumb. If you ask him about the true-self, he never fails to give you a correct answer.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Master: “It’s already open”
Commentary:
If you stick to ‘open’, it’s already locked.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Master: “Because you try to see it.”
Commentary:
Cut the tendon in the air and you can see it clearly.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. The purpose of Zen meditation is to experience emptiness in person. London is a symbol of emptiness and reaching London means to experience emptiness. It means, in other words, that we are trying to experience emptiness while being emptiness itself. Reaching emptiness is realising the truth that we ourselves are emptiness, not reaching it by moving towards it.
In order to see whether you grasp these words clearly, ask yourself the following question.
Student: “How do you feel when you realise emptiness?”
Master: “I’ll be wrong if I answer your question.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
A. Student: “How shall I take care of a guest?”
Master: “Don’t welcome him.”
Student: “How should I turn away a thief?”
Master: “Don’t reject him.”
Commentary:
If there is anyone you should serve or fight against, you are still being deluded by illusions.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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